| Middlesbrough | Sheffield Wednesday | ||
| Reach | 10′ | ||
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
56% 12 3 5 13 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
44% 4 2 1 12 |
The Pulis that stole Christmas
After a series of ex Boro managers appearing in the fixture list we now have another series (well two in a row) of managerless clubs. That you would hope would be an added advantage but whether it is Typical Boro or just Typical Pulis we couldn’t be sure about this game and certainly far from confident despite lashings of seasonal hope leftover from yesterday. This reverse fixture at the same time last year was momentous for both clubs with the unlikely scenario of both Managers being sacked shortly after the game which Boro won.
Twelve months on and the Owls are on the lookout for a Manager again with rumours of Steve Bruce about to be unveiled. TP meanwhile has “revamped” the Boro squad and transformed things by being four points better off than this time last year prior to kick off. Cynics may say small margins but I guess if it means finishing the season eight points better off come May then it might look more appealing which is more than can be said for the fayre presented at the Riverside of late. History had the sides level pegging with 46 wins each and 18 draws so home advantage should theoretically tip things in Boro’s favour but it’s our away form that is keeping us in the play offs not home form where we have a tendency to choke.
Wednesday had earned a solitary point in their previous five championship outings whilst in their last meetings between the sides Boro had beaten Wednesday five out of six times drawing only once with the South Yorkshiremen. Team news pre kick off was that Bannon would be back for the Owls along with Downing for Boro with Shotton rated doubtful. Lee Bullen had shuffled a few things in his pack since Luhukay departed including restoring veteran Westwood in goal. Pulis had gone with his predicted negative eleven with three Centre backs, McNair deputising for the injured Shotton and fresh from his rest Downing restored to the side in place of Saville. The only major surprise was the inclusion of young Stephen Walker to the bench.
Boro kicked off and immediately went on the attack or more likely it was because Wednesday retreated into ultra-defence mode with nobody venturing over the half way line. The opening ten minutes looked promising as McNair managed to get a few telling crosses in with Wednesday looking nervy at the back and the early signs were that Boro may get something from this game. One of those telling balls led to a Downing shot that was grass height but had Westwood scrambling. On Ten minutes Flint rose above everyone to stretch his neck muscles but directed his header up and over instead of in a downwards trajectory. So far not great but steady from Boro as Lee Bullen just looked more than happy to simply out defend the master Pulis.
The first serious adventure from the Owls came just before the fifteen minute mark as they launched a counter attack. Ex Boro boy Adam Reach cleared it out to Ex Makem Fletcher who found the lively Bannan, who played in Joao sprinting clear down the left wing. After doing all the hard work the final delivered ball from Joao was thankfully a poor one. Immediately after that brief exertion Joao went down off the ball as Boro were attacking and as the ball was being passed around and not for the first time went backwards Besic sportingly played it out on the half way line to allow treatment and as it happened Joao’s removal for Onomah to come on in his place. This seemingly innocuous occurrence and the fact that Joao was the Owls top scorer should have been a positive omen.
That enforced change however meant that Bullen changed things slightly and realising that Boro had no key to the Owls resolute defence started probing a bit more and it didn’t take long for the now influential Bannon to play a peach of a lobbed ball through to Adam Reach running in behind the Boro backline to cheekily and all too easily collect and slip the ball under a suspect looking Randolph from a tight angle. There wasn’t a single celebratory nuance from Reach as he was mobbed by his Owls teammates in front of the North Stand in respect to his former club and fans. As it turned out those few moments of respect and appreciation for the Riverside faithful was the only thing to be appreciative of for the remainder of the entire afternoon.
I have a feeling that that single goal will prove to be a pivotal moment in shaping Boro’s season. Things started to turn scrappy and messy and Clayts was booked shortly afterwards for a “challenge” on Reach fearing another Wednesday break. By the thirty minute mark the Riverside mood had turned from festive to toxic as boos were ringing round greeting every backwards and “recycled” pass from Boro. It wasn’t unanimous by any means but in front of over 30,000 fans it was very clear and very audible with I would guess around 40% of the Boro fans registering their contempt at the farce that just went from bad to worse in front of them.
There were so many negatives in individual performances to overall team selection and tactics that it is extremely difficult to pick out one thing. Assombalonga isn’t and never has been a lone Striker. He was so isolated it was ridiculous and was totally, completely and utterly ineffective. Playing with Three CB’s and two Wing backs with a wall of defensive Midfielders in front of them at home against a side that has been so poor and so out of form that they sacked their Manager was negative beyond any sense or crumb or respectability or credibility. Downing was supposed to be the No.10, the link up man between midfield and Assombalonga but had to drop so deep to try and collect the ball that when he did there was nobody in front of him in central midfield meaning he had to go back or sideways.
There was absolutely nothing on the pitch that looked remotely like taking the game to Wednesday or perhaps more importantly that had the skill and the intent to do so. Friend and Howson did attempt a few dribbles and runs but they ran into walls of defenders with no support. The few times the ball was played anywhere remotely near Assombalonga he was alone, isolated and surrounded by blue and white shirts, crowded and with nobody to lay the ball off to or to create an opening. That said if Britt moved any slower he would have been done for loitering and soliciting. Being honest, I don’t blame him, had I been given such a futile, pointless and thankless task I think I would have walked off the pitch and thrown my shirt at Pulis. Had TP been of Eastern European or Middle East origin he would (and should) have been up before the war crimes commission for the use of chemical weapons such was the stench and putrid affair having to be stomached by the home support.
Worst of all was that while the many disgruntled in their best (and suspect) Rock Island, Bilberry, Alaskan Duck, DYKN and Herbert Dross Christmas refinery were becoming scathing and clearly unimpressed it was obvious that the Players didn’t buy into what was being asked of them either. You could tell they were robotically adhering to instructions that they had no belief in. Everything that could be broken was broken, despondent, clueless, dishevelled, disorganised, lacking shape and discipline the Boxing Day entertainment wasn’t just the leftovers from Christmas day it was the remnants of what the dog threw up after a nicked mince pie too many.
There was a penalty claim as the ball hit Hector on the arm which looked more like arm to ball but the Ref was having none of it in doing so perhaps believing that it was kinder to put us out of our misery than to provide false and undeserved hope. I’m sure there have been worse and equally poor
dysfunctional performances from Boro in the history of the Riverside but that first half took some beating. Anyway the half thankfully and gratefully petered out and ended still 1-0 down. If you are wondering what went on between Reach’s goal and the other thirty or so minutes until half time I’m sorry there was nothing, absolutely nothing at all, just repeated passing, probing, recycling, passing back and across and then back across again and then interspersed with a half-hearted despondent probe down the flanks. Even MMP didn’t try and cover up the loud boos and jeers as the confused and sorry looking rabble disguised as TP’s preferred starting eleven trounced off somehow managing to find their way to the tunnel without the aid of a sat nav between them.
The second half saw the Boro players run out to abject silence apart from MMP blasting out his seasonal 80’s collection. In an earth shattering shift of seismic proportions Pulis had taken off a CB (Fry) for Hugill and actually played the by now statuesque Assombalonga with a Strike partner as we lined up for the second half in the dubious hope that we might get back into the game. That said I’m not sure that the opening ten minutes of the first half were representative of actually “being into it” in the first instance as Wednesday were so deep that the Life Guards from Eston Baths were scrambled to try and find them at one stage.
Maybe it was the famous Diamond formation that TP was playing in the second half but whatever way you looked at it there was still a huge blindingly obvious gap in the middle of the park where there should have been some threat or perhaps even creativity from Boro instead of a Vacuum. Ten minutes in and Tav was nowwarming up and in doing so put in more of a shift than those actually employed out on the pitch. The introduction of Hugill had had zero effect on our inability to create anything due to a lack of skill and pace in the build-up, every move in slow motion and telegraphed. Finally as the clock ticked towards 70 minutes the penny dropped as boos intensified and TP introduced Tav for Clayton as Wednesday were clearly happy to hang on to what they had earned. Bullen responded by bringing on Pelupessy for Hutchinson who had been largely forgotten by Luhukay.
For the first time all afternoon Boro finally had a spark, a zest, an energy that not for the first time had been overlooked and ignored by the Manager. The lively youngster had a glanced header plucked out of the air by Westwood which give some hope that singlehandedly he might just be able to have an impact. Then with twelve minutes left until the end of normal time Lewis Wing was predictably brought on to try and salvage something from a game that should have been approached as a massive opportunity to string a few wins together instead of looking like we were relegation threatened and desperate to cling on for survival. With two Strikers, Tavernier and Wing we now looked like we could seriously pose a threat as we suddenly had pace, drive, energy, desire and intent.
McNair took one for the team as we pushed forward with Boyd nearly breaking from the Wednesday half as we looked for an undeserved equaliser. The Owls were now effectively “time managing” every break in play with Palmer finally cautioned as a much belated token gesture by the Ref with howls of derision and whistles in the Stadium. With five minutes remaining Lewis Wing cracked in a shot that had the North Stand out of their seats but it went a couple of feet wide of the post. The side that was finishing the match for Boro was probably the line up most of us wanted to start as we belatedly began to show some spirit. There were five minutes of additional time allowed but it was all too little, too late for a by now half empty Riverside. MOM for me was Tav as he changed the game and made an immediate and obvious difference with his pace, energy and positive approach.
As for what happens now and what the club should do is open for much debate. No doubt TP will point to the restrictions in his squad and diabolically poor recruitment but whilst they are absolutely genuine charges to be levelled at Steve Gibson and his senior club management team the selection and tactics are down to Tony Pulis. Neither Steve Gibson nor the Recruitment incompetents decide that Britt Assombalonga can operate as an isolated lone striker, they don’t decide to play against a struggling opponent at home and line up as though they were facing Barcelona with an overkill of slow defenders and midfielders. Today was the worst of everything and not for the first time this season, any slight improvement came about as a reaction to the negative failure of Pulis’s preferred methodology and favourites. As unbalanced and poor as the squad may be in certain areas it is ridiculous, futile and unprofessional to force square pegs into round holes instead of playing to the strengths and abilities of what you do actually have to work with. The continued omission of the likes of Wing and Tav in favour of non-productive expensively assembled flops was laid bare this afternoon as the lone Striker insistence failed yet again and yet again failed miserably.
At some point something has to change and quickly, since the 22nd of September nil-nil home draw against Swansea to the present time which is exactly three months and eight home matches we have only won seven points at home which puts us in the bottom three of Championship sides home form. Only bottom club Ipswich have won less home points in that time, six against our meagre seven points. That type of form needs drastic culling action and as toxic as today’s atmosphere turned in parts any future semblance of that level of clueless ineptness out on the pitch will leave SG with a very simple decision to make, put simply it couldn’t get any worse unless left unattended.