Blog Posts

Sunderland		Middlesbrough
Asoro Williams McManaman ▮ Clarke-Salter	11′ 58′ 90’+6 24′	Bamford Leadbitter ▮ Traore	49′, 68′ 53′ (pen) 37′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	51% 17 7 4 14	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	49% 11 4 2 10

Defensive Callumity costs Boro

Normally I begin these pieces with a bit of up to date background info on our opponents and how they are shaping up with specific regard to any problems, injuries, suspensions and possible team selection headaches etc. coming onto the game. This however is Sunderland and it’s very difficult to know where to start and where to finish. Allegedly Ellis Short is now so desperate that he is willing to give the club away if someone is willing to take on the supposed £170m debt.

I wonder if Chris Coleman knew when he took the job on that the depth of the clubs problems are even deeper than the former Wearmouth Colliery upon which it stands and that the monumental Davy Lamp outside was supposed to be a beacon of light for the clubs future. Either way it looks a complete shambles from the outside looking in with League 1 Football beckoning (or worse should Short pull the plug on his unbeloved sojourn in the world of Soccer). Ellis Short’s Wikipedia page describes him as “founder of Kildare Partners, a private equity fund investing in distressed European real estate assets”. Well they certainly don’t come any more distressed than SAFC!

On the actual footballing front defender Adam Matthews and midfielder Ovie Ejaria were hoping to be available to Chris Coleman in the Makem’s desperate struggle for survival against their “local rivals” as oppose to “a derby” of course, Middlesbrough. Matthews has been struggling with a hamstring injury while Ejaria was 50/50 with a thigh problem.

Boro were concerned about Ben Gibson and if he had recovered from his illness bug on Tuesday evening. After 85 consecutive games his absence should have been sorely missed but all credit to Dael Fry who slotted in seamlessly alongside Ayala and given today’s opponents many thought it would make sense to let Ben fully recover and give Dael another run out.

Of more concern was the doubt over our new found Goal Machine who seemed to somehow tweak his ankle in the dying seconds on Tuesday night? Rumours during the week had ranged from a slight twist and he will be fine to a broken metatarsal but the formal diagnosis was much worse with a fractured ankle and will now be out for the season. Other than that TP’s Friday pre match conference gave little away and as we now know what TP says in those conferences and what is actually going through his mind can be somewhat disingenuous.

Boro were looking to make it 6 wins on the trot against the Black Cats and with odds of 21/20 It was a game that looked almost impossible to lose especially with Sunderland letting in eleven goals in their last five league games with 10 of them coming in the first half. The hope for those of us travelling up the A19 was that the sea of pink plastic would have grown significantly by half time as is now the custom these days on Wearside. The Hull victory over Sheffield United last night piled huge additional pressure onto Sunderland but simultaneously provided Boro with a massive incentive as an away win today would put us in sixth spot with Bristol not playing until Sunday.

TP went with Assombalonga for Gestede and restored Gibson to CB in place of Fry who took a seat on the bench and thereby keeping disruption to the starting eleven to a minimum with everyone else in their usual positions or so we thought as Traore was on the left flank. Coleman had Matthews available and so went with wing backs or more likely five at the back. He gave starts to both Asoro and Maja up front as he realised with a solitary goal apiece all season between them the teenagers probably weren’t going to be a major concern for Boro’s back line on their own.

The teams entered the pitch in bright winter sunshine but with a distinct chill in the air caused by the proximity to the North Sea rather than the Home fans although that was subjective. Judging by the empty seats and lack of enthusiasm from the Makem fans the “derby” question had been answered as they kicked off. Early intent was seen from Asoro after a poor Shotton clearance led to the youngster blasting his effort well over the bar.

Cattermole gave away possession allowing Boro their first serious foray into the Sunderland half but he got back making amends for his error as the game started with plenty of energy. Sunderland were certainly attempting to have a go and those wing backs were endeavouring to create rather than defend surprisingly. The Swedish youngster Asoro got his head to the ball beating a Shotton/Ayala sandwich this time from a long throw in after a flick on beat Friend to open the scoring exploiting some sloppy defending on eleven minutes. Boro had been “outPulised”, beaten at their own game. Traore had been anonymous up to this point apart from one dribble which was perhaps no surprise considering he was ineffectively deployed on the left yet again.

Boro needed to clear their heads and get stuck in because the opening quarter of an hour was non-descript with Sunderland good value for their lead. McNair clattered into Paddy and looked to be in some pain for his efforts and not long after Matthews looked to have also hurt himself after a tackle on Friend. Twenty minutes gone and the most cause for Boro optimism at this point was that Sunderland may end up with a few players struggling through injury.

A Shotton throw in was launched for Ayala who had run forward into the Sunderland half but it went out aimlessly for a goal kick which summed up the lacklustre start from those in white shirts. A break from Asoro nearly doubled the lead for Sunderland as Boro contrived to try and find some shape with both Friend and and Shotton guilty of some defensive panics. Immediately afterwards Traore who by now had been switched to the right since going behind was scythed down by Clarke-Salter in a challenge that sent Adama literally flying into the air on the half way line and rightfully receiving a straight red for his horrendous assault. Why Traore was stationed on the left was bizarre as it is well known that Sunderland have struggled down their left flank all season so surely Adama on the right would have been a match made in heaven?

Now down to ten men after 28 minutes Coleman was forced into a reshuffle to try and defend his side’s slender lead. Traore meanwhile had become the target for abuse from the Home fans jeering and booing his every touch of the ball for his audacity in avoiding a broken leg. A couple of minutes later a ball in from Friend presented Traore with a half chance but he stabbed it over the crossbar. A Downing free kick was then poorly executed as Boro had begun to start to make the extra man count but still no breakthrough was forthcoming.

McNair looked crocked and was hobbling around as Coleman looked at his scant options and didn’t want to bring off one of his more experienced players so early in the game. His previous challenge on Bamford looked to have seriously left its mark on the Northern Ireland International rather than Paddy. A Grant corner then saw a Bamford effort cleared away for another Boro corner, immediately after/during Sunderland clearing the corner there was an “off the ball” incident involving Traore and Oviedo. Adama got his marching orders as a consequence reducing both sides to ten men but not before he threw several strops and fits on his way off the pitch including a verbal assault on the fourth official and even wrestling with a team mate trying to usher him away down the tunnel.

Less than ten minutes now to go to half time, a poor start, a failure to take advantage of ten men and Boro now found themselves down to ten men due to sheer petulance from Traore and in his absence now zero creativity. McNair eventually limped off with Welsh International Williams taking his place just before half time.

Maja picked up a yellow for a challenge on Leadbitter which saw Grant put in another of his infamously poor free kicks straight into Camp’s arms. I sometimes wonder if Stewy and Grant have a wager on who can take the worst corner or free kick so consistently poor are their deliveries of late. Eight minutes of additional time due to the injuries to McNair and Matthews and the two sendings off didn’t inspire Boro in what was a below par first half for the visitors.

The half time whistle went. Overall we had looked flat, lacking conviction and were second best to Sunderland’s fighters for survival. After the first sending off we had come back into it but with Traroe then seeing Red we just faded. My take on it was that Boro had started this game with the same mind-set they finished off with on Tuesday night and had struggled to shake that mentality off. TP not for the first time since his arrival had some major talking to do during the interval, like Downing and Leadbitter’s set pieces a pattern is emerging and not a good one.

The twenty players started the second half with Boro kicking off and Shotton then immediately hoofing a ball aimlessly. Our full backs pushed up with Shotton, Stewy and Friend linking up and feeding Bamford who controlled brilliantly from Friend’s header in a packed box turning, twisting and swivelling to equalise. The game then entered a manic few minutes as Boro wasted a quick free kick then Assombalonga was going wide past Camp who “brought” him down after a cleared ball deflected into the Sunderland box off Shotton and a penalty was awarded to Boro literally seconds after Paddy’s goal. Grant stepped up and despite his dire free kicks his spot kicks are calm, cool and collected and he stroked it home into the bottom right hand corner for Boro to take a 2-1 lead.

George Honeyman raced free into the Boro box from the KO and Shotton interrupted his flight just outside the box. Sunderland now had an opportunity to quickly draw back level but fortunately Cattermole hit it wide much to Randolph’s relief. Ten minutes of the second half gone and the match had erupted into life as Assombalonga now latched onto a ball down the other end only for the Lino’s flag to rule him offside. Oviedo then went past Downing on the left flank to put a ball into Sub Williams who had lost Grant and blasted it unmarked into the Boro net (just as the home fans had been getting onto the backs of the Black Cats) pulling it back to 2-2 and restoring hope once again to the beleaguered home fans.

Boro were once again rocking again as the Black Cats had their tails up sensing shell shocked Teessiders who had thought they had already done enough to seal the points. Heads once again needed to be cleared as silly balls were now being given away and Boro needed a spark. That spark came in the form of Harrison as Britt was taken off much to his disgust and my surprise. TP I suspect felt that we needed more energy and pace than Britt provided and almost instantly Paddy had a chance that he fluffed after being played in by Besic. Coleman then responded by bringing on McManaman in an effort to turn the game in his favour.

With Bamford now leading the line Besic once again put a clever ball through the split Sunderland defence that Paddy latched on to, went wide of Camp and cut back an acute left footed shot to send the away fans euphoric.

The game was by no means over as literally anything could happen and Sunderland still fighting as the Boro fans gave a rendition of “you’re going down”. McManaman meanwhile tested Randolph’s palms and Shotton fortunately cleared the danger then in the next phase managed to give a free kick away for a foul on Williams. Fortunately Shotton himself reacted first to the ball with McManaman closing in hitting a wild shot wide.

TP then made two changes with Grant and Stewy coming off for Clayts and Howson respectively. Grant received a warm ovation from both sets of fans as he made his way for Clayton with TP presumably wanting to add some fresh legs with a like for like swap. Coleman countered with George Honeyman coming off for Sunderland and Aidan McGeady coming on with a quarter of an hour to go. A well won corner won by Asoro hassling Ayala was flapped at by Randolph as Sunderland still had belief and no wonder considering the manic events of the afternoon in general.

Pulis was out instructing his players to keep their heads and remain calm rather than do anything rash. Howson was then wiped out by McGeady in a clash of the subs which ended in a Boro free kick from Howson himself but the ball was once again a poor one and this time neither Downing nor Grant were on the pitch to blame. Sunderland desperately needed something from the game and were pushing but also looked susceptible and the lively McManaman reminded Randolph once again to stay alert with Shotton coming to the Boro Keeper’s rescue once more who wasn’t having the best of afternoons. Cemented to the bottom of the table versus potentially sixth place meant that anxiety levels were high and rising as the Black Cats pushed forward with McManaman trying to entice Friend into a rash penalty but the Ref was having none of it.

Six minutes of added time was found from somewhere. Clayton played a ball through for Bamford and he was fouled by Oviedo. Bamford stood isolated supported only by Harrison arriving late and decided to take charge of the free kick. He fizzed the ball over the Sunderland wall forcing Camp into a save in what was by far the best set piece of the afternoon. In fairness to Paddy he made a strong claim this afternoon to be the man to fill Gestede’s central striker vacancy.

A foul on Williams saw the Ref wave play on and Asoro almost nicked an equaliser but Randolph got down this time making a good save. A corner in the last minute for Sunderland found McManaman ridiculously free running around the back of the Boro defence in another atrocious piece of defending to pull the sides level and with it Boro remained out of the top six after having briefly entered it and the game ended 3-3.

MOM for Boro was Besic but overall Boro were unconvincing throughout the afternoon. This game highlighted far too many avoidable deficiencies across the entire side from woeful set pieces, poor discipline again to defending that was pure comedy made worse by the fact that defending corners and poor concentration had done for us yet again.

Pulis hoping the Mackems continue
to make a habit of losing to Boro

Boro head to their charitable north-east neighbours Sunderland on Saturday in anticipation of collecting their usual donation of three points to help them with their worthy cause of closing the gap on the promotion pack. After play-off rivals Fulham and Bristol City shared a point in midweek, they now face tricky fixtures against Wolves and Cardiff respectively, which offers the tantalising prospect of Tony Pulis’ team actually breaking into the top six. Boro will be in confident mood of picking off another fellow relegated club after the midweek victory over Hull, especially with the Wearside outfit low on confidence after returning to the foot of the table following defeat at relegation threatened Bolton. Boro are usually lucky when the familiar opposition of the Black Cats cross their path and have enjoyed a spell of good results in recent times. Admittedly Tony Pulis said he didn’t possess a magic wand when he took over, but with the season fast heading towards its conclusion, many supporters are hoping his new broom will help Boro conjure up a winning run with some wizardry on the pitch.

As welcome as it was to beat Hull on Tuesday, Tony Pulis needs his Boro team to go on a winning run if they are to end up in the play-off zone come the end of the season. Not an easy task if you consider Boro have just once managed three wins in a row (Reading, Hull, Sunderland) and in addition only twice managed back-to-back victories (Games 2-3: Sheff Utd, Burton and Games 23-24: Sheff Wed, Bolton). After nine league games in charge since replacing Monk, the new Boro manager is still looking to win two successive league games and that was probably not why he was installed by Steve Gibson. The trip to Sunderland gives him his best opportunity so far of achieving this feat and only after that box has been ticked should we start talking about continuing the run against Leeds, Birmingham or Barnsely.

Sunderland are once again staring relegation in the face and even manager Chris Coleman is sounding resigned to the fate of the club as they continue where they left off last season. The former Welsh national manager has already seemingly placed the blame at the bullet-ridden feet of the Wearside club’s owner Ellis Short. The aloof American has abandoned the spurned supporters to leave them feeling like a humiliated jilted bride in a replica red and white striped wedding dress who has barricaded herself in a Stadium of Light executive box with just a congealed chocolate fountain and several crates of room-temperature Asti Spumante to see her through to the inevitable confirmed relegation. Coleman declared: “Obviously Ellis wants to sell the club and they [the fans] recognise that maybe his love for the club was yesterday… so until we get someone that wants to turn a corner with it and love it, care for it and look after it, you get the negativity.” All of which has seemingly left the club in search of a cat loving philanthropist who is somehow capable of grabbing the steering wheel off the absent owner to prevent him driving the club off the Seaburn Cliffs by proxy.

The accounts of the Black Cats are heavily in the red with a debt, which depending on reports, is estimated between £150-200m, with owner Ellis Short having investing less than £2m on new players this season despite £47m parachute payments and £30m received from the removal of former keeper Jordan Pickford to Everton. Coleman understands all the anger and frustration from everyone associated with the club but admits they have no choice but to accept the situation and said “We’ll take that on the chin. But until we have a new owner with new ideas, we are where we are.” – which appears to be somewhere between rock bottom and the hardest of hard places. However, after Coleman swapped Wales for the wails of Wearside his words at his unveiling were hardly ones that looked like rousing the supporters: “Someone’s going to turn this club around. Whether it’s me or whether it’s the next one, sooner or later this club will start climbing again, start playing in front of a full house again” – I suspect it may be later, very much later.

Short will have his work cut out to find a buyer for a club that so rarely delivers – though there is one possible American buyer seemingly fond of red and white stripes in the news recently that although may not have the faithful on Wearside licking their lips in anticipation, it will perhaps have them lickin’ their fingers instead. Whether these potential new owners have the secret recipe for success is another matter but a suitable owner for Sunderland could well be Colonel Sanders along with his recent infamous organisational ability. However, before any upstanding Mackem is tempted to reach for their phone and dial the police with evidence of fowl play, they should be warned that their local constabulary may be following the lead of Tower Hamlets Metropolitan Police Service on such matters. If you’re not aware, they urged the public to stop calling them to report that KFC has run out of chicken by tweeting: “Please do not contact us about the #KFCCrisis – it is not a police matter if your favourite eatery is not serving the menu that you desire.” Maybe so but try telling that to Chicken Runners on Teesside who have gone cold turkey and have been contemplating the possibility of deep frying foam hands to get through the crisis. Nevertheless, serving up a well battered boneless product that includes a moist tissue at the end is something Sunderland fans have got used to over the years.

Sunderland		Middlesbrough
Chris Coleman		Tony Pulis
P33 – W5 – D11 – L17 – F34 – A58		P33 – W15 – D6 – L12 – F43 – A31
Position Points Points per game Projected points	24th 26 0.8 36	Position Points Points per game Projected points	8th 51 1.5 71
Last 6 Games Bolton (A) Brentford (H) Bristol City (A) Ipswich (H) Birmingham (A) Hull (H)	F-T (H-T) 0:1 (0:1) L 0:2 (0:2) L 3:3 (0:3) D 0:2 (0:2) L 1:3 (0:2) L 1:0 (1:0) W	Last 6 Games Hull (H) Cardiff (A) Reading (H) Norwich (A) Sheff Wed (H) QPR (A)	F-T (H-T) 3:1 (2:1) W 0:1 (0:1) L 2:1 (1:0) W 0:1 (0:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (2:0) W

Along with Sunderland, Boro have been no stranger to defeats this season, though whilst they have not suffered as many they have nevertheless proved costly and the job of a manager is to deliver psychological messages that prevent defeats from undermining the team’s confidence. When a team loses, particularly narrowly, the manager will often focus on the key events that didn’t go in their favour – such as a refereeing decision or an individual error. The aim is to rationalise the defeat and try to find legitimate excuses for the failure to win so that the players remain convinced that they were capable of achieving victory under the manager’s methods. When this is not possible, an alternative tactic is often to say ‘we were simply not good enough on the day’ or ‘we must learn from our mistakes’ – this is instead creating a mood that the team had an off-day and can do much better. In both instances the manager wants to keep the players confident that the team is capable of winning games, both as individuals and under his game plan.

This ‘excuse’ strategy is geared towards getting a response from the players so that they will continue to play with the belief that they will perform better in the next game and hopefully win. Winning after losing a game will usually help negate the impact of the previous loss but much will depend on the overall mentality and ability of the team in deciding if this is sustained or not. Creating a winning mentality also needs the manager to instil the right attitude into the players and part of that is also learning to deal with the consequence of winning. It sometimes creates the trap of believing that you are better than you are, which can results in players thinking that they only have to turn up to win a game against perceived weaker opposition. This is why we often talk about needing leaders on the pitch, who like the name suggests, lead by example and will always give 100% regardless of the strength of the opposition – or even 110% if their manager is prone to hyperbole and an advocate of quantitative impossibilities. Without such players in the team there is a risk that some will play within themselves in the belief they will ultimately beat their opponents due to the perceived superiority.

Psychologists have shown that the emotional response to losing or making a mistake can manifest itself in one of two ways – engaging in risky behaviour to try and make up for the failure or becoming instead over-cautious out of fear of repeating the error. It’s something we may observe with strikers who have gone on barren runs or defenders who have made a costly error. If the player can follow up a bad performance with good one or even score a goal then the slate has been wiped clean in their mind – but it’s no fun to watch a player struggling on the pitch as their confidence has deserted them and suddenly the crowd are on their backs. More experienced players who have come through similar runs should have the resolve to get through it but sometimes it can stall the career of a younger player, who often finds themselves out of the team and feeling their chance has gone. That’s why good managers will view mistakes by players as an opportunity to learn and not try to openly blame or discard them from the team.

So what is it about winning that lifts those who experience it? Well when biologists are not busy on random projects like growing human ears on the back of mice, they sometimes turn their attention to other less tabloid-friendly matters. Studies have shown the testosterone levels of athletes who win races increase significantly and this in turn increases the chemical dopamine, which is the chemical messenger that hits the reward centre in our brains and makes us feel better. In the animal kingdom, the ‘winner effect’ is a term that describes how competing males first fight off weaker contenders to boost their dopamine hits to their brain as it then subsequently means they are far likelier to win a contest against a stronger contender.

It’s a bit like the scenario of a young male lion, possibly called Roary, who wants to boost his confidence ahead of a pending battle against a big bad wolf from the Birmingham area, he would first perhaps test himself against a toothless lame Tiger from a nearby circus run by clowns before attempting to savage the beaten-up neighbourhood black cat from up the road. So when Boro fans start singing to the Sunderland supporters “can we play you every week” it’s not intended as an unkind bout of gloating but is simply their inner evolutionary biologist wanting to get their team up for the next big game against stronger opposition. All this valuable work helps us understand the biochemical consequences of sport – though researchers are still awaiting funding to discover how much the testosterone levels would increase if you were to shout ‘Boo’ behind a mouse with a huge ear on its back while it wasn’t looking.

Anyway, the task of a manager who wants to tap into this ‘winner effect’ phenomenon should be to try and extend the concept of winning from merely just the actual result and instead make it into a more fluid concept – though some will already be familiar with the fluid nature of what constitutes success in the eyes of Boro managers from listening to post-match interviews over the years. Though rather than talking about attempts after the game to rationalise the failure to win, it is important for a manager to set individual and group goals ahead of the game, which can then be used to gain positives when they are achieved. It is not possible that simply setting the target of winning a game can be used to help a group of players progress, so other measures need to be used to build the confidence and a sense of achievement. For example, keeping a clean sheet is often used as one such goal – though under some recent Boro managers it sometimes seemed that was indeed the only goal witnessed!

How the club ultimately performs over the current season tends to be judged in the context of what the expectations were. Whilst we all may have our own ideas of what we are expecting from our team (with some supporters less easily pleased than others) its normally from the owner where the real expectations are driven. If we look at Boro, it was clear from Steve Gibson that he had indicated that automatic promotion was the target – with his infamously misquoted sentiment of wanting to ‘Smash the League’ seemingly engraved on the baseball bat that was used to beat the manager and players with every dropped point and position below the top. Whilst ambition is admirable, being measured against over-ambitious targets has a similar effect of being on a losing run – both are held up as failure and anything below automatic promotion was perceived as thus from both inside and outside the Boro camp. It probably also didn’t help to suggest that before a ball was hardly kicked in anger, it was boasted that we had the best squad in the league – possibly the biggest budget but that is never a measure of quality unless it is wisely spent.

Did some of the players suffer from loss of confidence as a result of not sitting at the top of the table? Or were the players who were brought in not mentally tough enough to fight for the right to sit at the top of the table? Perhaps the continued pressure of needing to try and win each game in order to play catch-up with expectations has ultimately prevented the team from building a good run of results. If you also add into the equation that a significant number of players in the squad were still feeling bruised and fragile from their Premier League experience, then it may have been better in hindsight to have set the target of making the play-offs as the only target and then less people will have viewed the season in the context of under-achievement.

The idea of setting manageable goals in sport is a crucial aspect of the psychology of ensuring achievement – If expectations are placed beyond what can realistically be achieved, then without a well defined improvement plan, the mental pain response will kick in and leave sportsmen feeling miserable – which is certainly true in the case of Boro followers, who have generally felt miserable all season as most expected a lot more. Too many people were perhaps caught up in the hype that spending big money equated to a guarantee of success rather than just the price of failure being more costly.

Despite Tony Pulis having a less than auspicious start to his tenure, there are some signs that he has a good understanding of how to get the best from his players. His transformation of Adama Traore from a bit-part player with potential to probably now our most effective player has been to his credit. He has done this by focusing on what the player can do well and giving him some slack on other aspects – it has improved his confidence and made him feel an important member of the team, which has added belief in himself and belief from others too. The problem of giving a player too many tasks to carry out will lead to them failing at some and distract from what they do best, which contributes to undermining their confidence. Pulis was also not afraid to drop players who weren’t performing in their roles and with Assombalonga it appears it’s going to be a hard road ahead. Two goals for Gestede will have given him a boost that he can be a Pulis target man that also scores goals and with Bamford showing he still has the scoring touch it leaves Britt with a lot to prove. Whether he will get the pitch time to show it is another matter and at some point he may mentally start to shut down if he no longer believes he can offer something that his manager wants.

Overall there are perhaps signs that Tony Pulis has enough players at his disposal who are maybe capable of showing the form needed to reach the top six goal that many were starting to think was just beyond reach. Mo Besic has shown in his last two outings that he offers the drive that was missing in central midfield with the hope that Jack Harrison will also soon be match fit to add a little extra guile to the team. If some of the strikers also rediscover their scoring touch then it will mean Boro could be finally ready to go as the business end of the season arrives. However, failure to pick up the points against a poor Sunderland side at the weekend will leave the concept of forming a ‘winning mentality’ back on the drawing board as Boro miss out on yet another opportunity to prove their critics wrong.

So will Boro be the alpha male that get the much needed dopamine hit after defeating the neighbourhood pretenders? Or will the Black Cats reveal our beta-release team is just not up to scratch? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will the KFC chickens finally come home to roost at the Stadium of Light?

Middlesbrough		Hull City
Gestede Bamford	15′, 68′ 45′	Evandro	41′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	33% 11 4 4 8	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	67% 9 5 4 10

Boro take “The Deep” to a new level

The Tigers had won just one of their last 18 visits to Boro arriving at the Riverside desperately engaged in yet another relegation dogfight after their demotion with Boro last season. After the mutually consenting departure of Leonid Slutsky, Nigel Adkins now has the dubious task of trying to save the Tigers, something that even the WWF would have enough sense to walk away from. They are of course beset with injury problems as is often the case for struggling sides as luck deserts them and obligatory fate deals cruel blow after cruel blow. Pre match news from Humberside was that Harry Wilson and Jarrod Bowen were out along with Moses Odubajo and James Weir. Hernandez was optimistically tipped to get a place on the bench rather than a start after coming back from injury but he didn’t materialise. Kingsley was still out and Seb Larsson would be sitting out the second of his two game ban.

The positive news for Adkins was that Boro nemesis Grosicki should be near fit after a few weeks out and that Dawson would have Hector back alongside him at CB. Hope sprung eternal that tonight maybe TP might abandon the wasteful and quite frankly pointless exercise of Rudy alone and abandoned. An hour before kick-off we saw that TP had gone with the same again with the exception of Paddy back in for Howson. I have to say that there were more than a few raised eyebrows and shakes of the head in the North Stand concourse around me at the team news.

The Boro line up however was to take another twist before KO as Ben Gibson had to pull out after complaining of being unwell during the warm up meaning that Dael Fry was hurriedly and unexpectedly partnering Ayala at the back for Boro. The shuffle also meant that the spare seat on the bench was filled at the last minute by forgotten man Lewis Baker. The game commenced with Boro looking lively and in the opening quarter of an hour or so Besic caught the eye with his reading of the game and energy, chasing things like a demented Jack Russell on Saltburn Beach. Tellingly he was playing forward balls for the wide men and Gestede to chase. It made a refreshing change from the metronomic midfield norm for Boro. Bamford was again on the left, Adama right and with what looked like Besic and Downing slightly forward of Grant who was protecting the back line.

Paddy nearly opened the scoring when he almost latched onto to a ball played over the top of Dawson and Hector but his touch was a bit heavy. Traore had really looked up for this one and was tormenting the Hull defence twisting and turning them inside out. A cross from Adama found Gestede at the far post but his header glanced off the upright sparing McGregors blushes in the Hull goal resplendent in an unmissable Hi-Vis Pinky/Orangey ensemble. On the quarter hour another cross in this time from Shotton found Bamford or more honestly arrived slightly behind him but Paddy flicked up a boot and managed to add another lobbed trajectory utilising his heel for Gestede to this time head home to open the scoring. Hmmm I know I had joked pre match about a hat trick from him but one off the woodwork and now a goal after just 16 minutes had me thinking!

At this stage Boro looked comfortable, relaxed and by far the better side but they also took their foot of the gas and Hull gratefully welcomed the encouragement to push Boro as they sought an equaliser. The thought of Hull getting back into the game seemed remote but still Boro sat tight, kept their shape and didn’t seem perturbed that they were inviting pressure. Adama had a few trademark bursts so that was enough to keep them occupied as we looked completely comfortable. A bizarre Refereeing decision however resulted in a corner after Stewy had challenged and won a ball that to me at least looked like it had deflected off a Hull Player and Randolph simply ushered it out for a goal kick. Much to everyone’s astonishment including the Hull players a corner was given to the visiting Tigers in their dark blue kit (presumably due to the blatant colour clash of Amber and Black with Boro’s Red and White).

Hull now had a few Corners during the game that were taken short and had all fooled Boro several times and yet we never learnt or responded to the lesson. This one was another well worked routine and the ball came in low to the edge of the box rather than lofted into the big lads and unmarked Evandro despatched the ball to make it 1-1 four minutes before half time. Prior to the goal there had been a few moans and groans from the home support disappointed and frustrated in equal measure at the tactics Boro were employing to stifle the game and unnecessarily living on the edge at times.

Throats were being cleared for a few choice words at what was unfolding in preparation for the half time whistle along with some prescription recommendations for the Ref and his Official running the East Stand touchline. As the half closed a sloppy sideways pass in the Hull defence was latched onto and intercepted by Paddy, he sprinted into the Hull box avoiding a sliding challenge that would have had Leroy Sane or Dele Alli in wondrous freefall complete with arched back, slow motion mid-cycle turn and mid-air twist. Paddy though kept his composure, stayed on his feet and dinked the onrushing McGregor to make it 2-1 and so the anticipated cacophony of boos and jeers at half time were replaced by the joy of another of our Strikers actually scoring. His celebratory routine was somewhat bizarre as it looked to me similar to “that” Robbie Fowler one but listening to his interview in the Car on the way home it was apparently something that over 14 year olds would be lost with.

Boro were first out of the Tunnel for the second half with no changes. Randolph’s distribution had been a bit wayward, Ayala had a dodgy moment or two and Friend was running and overlapping but not really penetrating. Shotton was solid and well supported by Adama who got back and put a few telling challenges in but also caused a few nervy defensive moments but in all this Dael Fry looked the most settled and composed. Elsewhere on the pitch Besic had quietened a little but Gestede was having his best game, running and chasing and was unlucky to be booked for what was adjudged to have been a high boot in the first half.

From the second half KO Adama immediately made one of his dribbling runs that should have put the game to bed but it fizzled out along with a Besic dead end later on. Despite our superiority it had the makings of a very strange game, Boro were in control yet looked as though they were almost inviting Hull to get back into the match. Hull were clearly sensing that they could get something plus had nothing to lose and were now taking the game to Boro.

Adama broke free again down the right and skinned the Hull defence as he had been doing with ease all evening and cut the ball back across the 6 yard box for Gestede who was closing in to deflect the ball into the net to make it 3-1 and with that Rudy had doubled his tally for the Season. As I was seriously beginning to wonder if the hat trick was on he had another brilliant opportunity as the ball came to him with the goal at his mercy on the edge of the box but he somehow managed a swivelling air kick with the ball stuck between his legs and normal Rudy service was resumed.

Up until this point the game was no classic but felt we should have had a couple more goals. Instead of pushing on we sat further back than I have ever witnessed a Boro side sit back in a very long time. Defensively our defenders were in their own 18 yard box hacking and nervously swinging and slashing at the ball when it came anywhere near them not helped by our midfield that was treading on their toes. Pressure was mounting and we seemed to want to sit so far back the Red Faction had to clear a few seats to accommodate their heroes. This was defending and sitting deep that even Karanka would have found negatively dispiriting. I haven’t got any stats but I would wager that the last thirty minutes of the second half was the most time the ball had stayed in one half of the Riverside pitch. The North Stand felt totally isolated as Boro commenced desperate keystone cops, last minute defending against a very poor side robbed of key players and bereft of confidence.

It’s strange, winning 3-1 but witnessing that was an affront to the senses made worse by some tactical subbing and tinkering. Yep Adama was put out wide left again and to make matters even more perplexing Howson was brought on for Paddy to seemingly play wide left behind Adama although I suspect that it was more where he ended up than planned (maybe not). Cranie was introduced for Stewy to go and play wide right and previously Besic had been retired presumably due to fatigue for Clayts which made some sense. We had throw ins that we somehow managed to get the ball back into our own danger area whilst recycling the ball and put ourselves in trouble. Set pieces from Grant were poor and offered little including a free kick with an Assombalonga angle on it although not quite as high and no nesting birds were injured. This was painful to witness.

Winning was great, winning ugly is supposed to be satisfying but the last half of the second half was the most puerile and soul destroying performance that I have witnessed at the Riverside. It was chaotic and a marginally better side than Hull’s second finest would have ripped us wide open. Three points are three points but that was a very unpleasant experience to endure. We ended the game with Adama now playing centre forward with Rudy dropping deeper to help the onslaught and hoofing balls out of defence which came straight back at us.

In the dying embers Adama took the ball up the pitch to remind the North Stand what it looked like and brought out a full stretching save from McGregor. The resultant Boro corner ended up with a short, tight, mix up between Adama and Grant, ultimately losing possession and putting us back in danger. How on earth that constituted football on any level is beyond me, it was simply an awful second half spectacle, akin to gouging your own eyes out only less pleasurable. Ticket renewals? Good luck to the Marketing team with that one despite the win.

MOM was probably Adama again but I’m going to give it to goal machine Gestede for the massive upturn in his personal performance and of course his two goals.

Boro in last chance to salvage season
as the joy of pessimism darkens mood

If Boro’s faltering promotion campaign is to salvage anything, then they will be looking to overturn a rather rusty Hull who are listing badly as they scrap for survival while anchored just above the Championship Plimsoll line. Few will be anticipating a riveting contest as the Teessiders entertain (in the loose sense of the word) a fellow relegated team at the Riverside on Tuesday evening and many are beginning to wonder if Tony Pulis has the ability to brighten the gloomy forecast that lies ahead for the remaining voyage that once harboured dreams of promotion. The clouded judgement that oversaw the refitting of the team in the summer has increasingly left supporters feeling in a less bouyant mood, as despite a new man at the helm, Boro have failed to turn the tide with the passage of time.

Tony Pulis said this week that he felt at home surrounded by the Teesside Docks but one wonders if his Reading moment (Ottis) came a week too late as he appears to be sittin’ on the dock of the bay wastin’ time as the season drifts away – though perhaps on reflection another verse from the song is probably more appropriate: Looks like nothing’s gonna change, Everything still remains the same, I can’t do what ten people tell me to do, So I guess I’ll remain the same – it certainly sounds more in tune with his stubborn footballing philosophy and the lack of cohesion between the outfield players, which is beginning to prove less than a hit with the lost souls of Teesside with more than a hint of the blues.

The Boro faithful are hoping that someone somewhere at the club may also be able to shed some light on why this team have failed to offer the opposition something resembling a serious goal threat in recent weeks. That lightbulb moment has yet to arrive when somebody flicks the switch in the tactical head of Tony Pulis as he stares at a lone lost striker who thinks he’s on the pitch to flick the ball to an invisible team-mate who never arrives. At some point many suspect the manager may ultimately begin to wonder whether a system that employs three non-scoring forwards may not be the best method of engineering a promotion-winning team.

Whilst many players appear to be left somewhat in the dark as to how they see their futures under Pulis, a few years ago, scientists at National Physical Laboratory developed a black that is so dark that it is now the blackest substance known to man and can absorb 99.96% of all the visible light. This high-tech coating of carbon nanotubes is known as Vanta Black (Vertically Aligned NanoTube Arrays) and is currently being used by installation artist Anish Kapoor who said, “Imagine a space that is so dark that as you walk in you lose all sense of where you are, what you are, and especially all sense of time” – though after recent performances you could be forgiven for thinking it sounds like the kind of place that Tony Pulis has been taking his team to train. However, should Boro lose to Hull on Tuesday to end all but the faintest of lingering hopes for making the play-offs, then scientist will need to develop an even blacker black to describe the mood in the Riverside stadium.

As the Boro supporters still await the new dawn promised by the arrival of Tony Pulis, they at least can console themselves that they don’t exist in the twilight world of the other two teams which fell through the trapdoor of the Premier League’s darkened basement. There is a very real prospect that both the Tigers and the Black Cats will fail to claw their way out of trouble and will drop a further division down through the Championship cat-flap. Hull achieved a rare win last time out against Aitor Karanka’s Forest, which was only their second win in 16 games since we last beat them 3-1. Former Scunthorpe physio and Southampton manager Nigel Adkins has taken over from Leonid Slutsky as manager but the divisions between the supporters and the Allam family still casts a shadow over the club – despite claims that the owners wish to sell there appears little belief that they mean it.

Middlesbrough		Hull City
Tony Pulis		Nigel Adkins
P32 – W14 – D6 – L12 – F40 – A30		P31 – W6 – D11 – L14 – F42 – A47
Position Points Points per game Projected points	9th 48 1.5 69	Position Points Points per game Projected points	21st 29 0.9 43
Last 6 Games Cardiff (A) Reading (H) Norwich (A) Sheff Wed (H) QPR (A) Fulham (H)	F-T (H-T) o:1 (0:1) L 2:1 (1:0) W 0:1 (0:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (2:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L	Last 6 Games Nottm Forest (A) Preston (A) Leeds (H) Sunderland (A) Reading (H) Bolton (A)	F-T (H-T) 2:0 (2:0) W 1:2 (1:2) L 0:0 (0:0) D 0:1 (0:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D 0:1 (0:1) L

Although optimism may be in short supply among the Boro faithful, it was perhaps the famous French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, who did most to persuade us of the joys of pessimism. He declared that ‘Misery is the norm’ and stated “If our condition were truly happy we should not need to divert ourselves from thinking about it.” Indeed, he argued that “man’s greatness comes from knowing he is wretched” – though he probably wasn’t advocating self loathing per se but pointing out the incompatibility between the grandness of our aspirations and the reality of life that ultimately leads to disappointment. However, rather than blaming general negativity for our gloom, he thought the source was instead ‘hope’ and it was with regard to our aspirations that this hope was primarily to blame for anger and embitterment.

He believed it was far better to have limited expectations, as the religious context of his time preached that failure and boredom were not a sign of error but instead a signal that life was just proceeding according to plan. Optimism on the other hand was based on the view that things will improve and life can be more perfect, which is a philosophy that is nearly always destined to end in disappointment as he posed that mankind is a flawed species. Pascal’s work on the subject was compiled and published posthumously as the ‘Pensées’ (which translates as ‘Thoughts’) – it was primarily a theological work that used the opposing philosophies of scepticism and stoicism with the aim to “bring the unbeliever to such despair and confusion that he would embrace God”.

While the concept of scepticism probably needs no introduction for the doubt-mongers on Teesside, the move to Stoicism may need some encouragement as the concept is based on the path to happiness being found in accepting the moment as it presents itself and not allowing yourself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, while at the same time treating others in a fair and just manner. Clearly a quantum leap for the hardened football supporter to suddenly bear witness to the unfolding events on the pitch without such emotional opinionated involvement – though perhaps Stoicism is best summed up by one of Teesside’s famous sons as ‘It is what it is’.

Whether the sceptical Boro supporters will remain stoic this season is hard to say but it’s unlikely that the despair and confusion they are currently witnessing in disbelief of what has unfolded on the pitch will lead them to embrace the methods of Tony Pulis. Nevertheless, a pessimistic outlook doesn’t have to entail a life bereft of joy as we are told pessimists can have a far greater capacity for appreciation than their more positive counterparts. The gloomy among us never expect things to turn out well and so may be amazed by the modest successes which occasionally ‘makes me happy when skies are grey’ (as the famous terrace song goes) – even though they also think that their Boro may never notice the ‘love’ they have for them, which all sounds like complex state of delusion and denial.

Those pessimists out there of a sceptical nature, who may be struggling to think that they’re on the right path to happiness, will be glad to know that experts of the none taxi-driving profession have been studying how people process positive and negative information. It turns out that some brains tune in automatically to the negative stuff while others can filter this out and instead focus on the positive – I won’t mention any names but you know who you are! Unsurprisingly, people who are pessimistic remember far more negative than positive things, while optimists tend to recall relatively more of positive rather than negative – for example, some may just focus on the actual penalty blazed over the bar by Britt, while other will have been impressed to actually see him in the box for a change. The key is selectivity, as it’s not that optimists don’t remember bad things it’s just that they pay relatively more attention to positive things and tend to remember the good rather than the bad. Of course in the carefully scientifically controlled environment of the Riverside it may be difficult to get an equal number of positive and negative events – especially in the last 18 months – unless of course my observation is biased towards pessimism but then again if the displays had been balanced Boro probably wouldn’t have gone through four managers in the last 12 months!

In the words of one former leader who was known to have his demons and enjoy a drink, Winston Churchill once famously said “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. However scientists have studied the brains of pessimists and optimists and have noticed the differences in how they are wired. The research indicates that the biases on how somebody perceives something, no matter how minor, build up over time and have a cumulative effect. Each small tendency to orient towards the negative reinforces the ‘rainy brain’ pathways embedding them even deeper and making them harder and harder to change.

The good news for long-suffering Boro supporters contemplating the likely longevity of their diminishing whisky stocks, is that these biased neural pathways can theoretically be re-trained with a long-term programme that is reverse engineered to obtain a healthier balance between the ‘rainy’ and ‘sunny’ brain – plus it doesn’t necessarily involve switching allegiance to a more successful club. These techniques are aimed at those who are not clinically depressed but would simply like to become a bit more optimistic, as there is also scientific evidence to suggest being optimistic is not only healthier but leads to a longer life – though hopefully it’s not in line with the cynical theory that giving up alcohol doesn’t actually make you live longer, it just seems like it!

The technique is called cognitive bias modification, or CBM, which works by presenting two images side by side very rapidly and asking people to respond to small targets that appear in either location that subtly re-train the brain to shift the attention away from bad images and towards more pleasant ones. For example, maybe a picture of Rudy Gestede falling over the ball on the left and an image of Adama Traore running past three defenders on the right – perhaps even a photo of the Riverside scoreboard indicating 0-0 on the left and something ridiculous like 3-0 on the right – clearly the therapy has to be subtle so we shouldn’t move into any fantasy scorelines in the early stages. However, it’s not at first apparent where you should look if a photo of Garry Monk was on the left and one of Tony Pulis was on the right – as far as I’m aware putting your head in your hands is not one of the allowed options.

Some may argue that they are perfectly happy to wallow in the misery of following the Boro safe in the knowledge that seldom hoping for the best and fearing the worst is part of the Teesside DNA. It is after all their birthright, having descended from several generations of supporters who liked nothing more than a good post-match moan as the team kindly confirmed their expectations that the spell of typical Boro is unbreakable. As Pascal proposed, it’s not the negative disposition and acceptance that your aspirations are unlikely to be fulfilled that does the damage – it’s actually the hope that kills you!

So will Boro keep the optimism of promotion afloat as they lighten the mood at the Riverside? Or will lumbering Hull sink our remaining hopes as they kill the dream dead in the water? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will Tony Pulis push the boat out and silence the sceptics with attacking football.

Cardiff City		Middlesbrough
Morrison	33′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	50% 16 3 5 13	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	50% 6 1 3 10

Toothless Boro lack bite

This game was to be a real test of Tony Pulis’ Boro. A late undisciplined lunge from sub Adama Traore under GM handed victory to the Bluebirds up at the Riverside earlier in the season in a game where Boro rightfully felt hard done to for their efforts that day. Going into the match it was feeling like a pivotal moment, win and suddenly the hopes of the Play Offs may not be so ridiculous and surely it was time that this Boro squad delivered a blow to someone in the top half.

TP’s main injury concerns this week were restricted to two former Bluebirds, thigh strained Fabio and big Rudy. The Benin striker has seemingly developed a bad back after a stroll on Redcar Beach earlier in the week although there was no truth in the rumour that he twisted said back in an effort to control a lemon top. Speaking of lemons, the main talking point was who would start up front if Gestede was still incapacitated? Bamford hasn’t had an opportunity to lead the line, Britt has looked disinterested at times and his pedantic penalty had many wondering if he may even miss the bus to South Wales.

Wily Warnock had never lost a home game against Boro with any of his clubs. Boro had won three out of their last four away games in the Championship with the loss as a consequence of ten men against Norwich. Cardiff had beaten Sunderland and Bolton in their last two home games but tellingly they had lost the two home games before that to Preston and Fulham so were beatable. Surely today had to be the day when something had to break for Boro especially as the weekend fixture list had thrown together a top half pairing extravaganza meaning points had to be dropped elsewhere.

The Boro Striker conundrum was solved at 2.00pm when the Boro team list revealed that Gestede had recovered from his back strain with Britt benched alongside Paddy. Boro lined up with Besic alongside Grant and Traore on the left supporting Gestede with Howson central and Downing on the right. For a side that can’t create chances removing Bamford to include another defensive midfielder was both head scratching and ominous.

The game started with a quick throw-in to Cardiff and then Traore getting upended much to Grants annoyance which he conveyed to the Ref. A few minutes later Boro won a corner which Grant screwed up completely with a low hit ball that nobody in a Red shirt seemed to be on the same page including Grant!

The opening ten minutes saw things fairly level with neither side dominating proceedings, the Cardiff Striker Zohore was looking a bit of a handful but neither Keeper had been troubled with the nearest attempt being from the result of a Cardiff Shotton style throw in eventually blocked by George. Cardiff did have a few long range punts which were never going to worry Randolph. Meanwhile Adama and Stewy had switched flanks presumably in an effort to disrupt the Cardiff Anti Adama Batteries. On twenty minutes Adama broke and ran towards the Cardiff goalmouth, rounding Ralls but his shot wasn’t up to his usual standard of late with Etheredge in the Cardiff goal gathering.

The “other” Traore in Blue was brought down by Shotton which resulted in a dangerous free kick just outside the Boro box. As the ball was about to be played in Ayala and Morrison were indulging in a bit of pushing and shoving but the cross eventually ended up with the ball on the far side of the Boro box out of danger but the signs were growing that Cardiff were starting to pressurise Boro. The best opportunity for Boro came with 15 minutes left of the first half with Adama (who else) creating a chance for Howson but the score remained 0-0.

Cardiff then had claims for a Penalty as Shotton foolishly brought down Zahore but Ref Darren Bond adjudged it to have happened just outside the box. Hoilett fizzed the resultant free kick across to Morrison who glanced it into Randolph’s goal to make it 1-0. The ball was flying straight into Randolph’s hands and to allow Morrison to simply nick it like he did was very poor from the ROI keeper.

Boro had to clear their heads as Cardiff looked to be growing in confidence and a Boro free kick five minutes later ended up going backwards as if to illustrate the point that Boro had zero creativity. Needing a goal to level things before half time there didn’t appear to be too much on show to give cause for optimism apart from the hope of a bit of Adama magic. Interestingly Cardiff always looked a threat from their set pieces whereas Boro looked just embarrassing and devoid of ideas.

The first booking of the game came just before half time when the Bluebirds Traore was taken out by Mo Besic as the Everton loanee lived up to his stereotyped reputation with the home fans baying for a Red. It was clear that nothing had changed with regards to our attacking effectiveness as Gestede again looked isolated and very unlikely to double his goal tally for the season. Disappointingly, the first half was just a repeat of the same old same old up front for Boro, which is now becoming a growing cause for concern. The second forty-five minutes would require TP to open his mind because as things stood serious sanity questions were being asked and the groundswell of opinion was that offensively it hasn’t and wasn’t working under Pulis. The sacrifice of pace and width for solidity at the back has solved one problem but created another bigger problem intermittently papered over by Adama.

There were unconfirmed reports of an earthquake in South Wales just before half-time and the hope with the travelling army was that it was actually a huge penny dropping with TP. Both sides took to the pitch for the second half with no changes in personnel, surprisingly as Pulis presumably was determined to prove his methodology of no support and no creativity for a non-scoring striker was the correct one. As it was Sol Bamba collided with Gestede in the opening seconds of the half with Rudy looking much the worse for wear after the collision.

A sloppy throw-in from Boro gifted Cardiff another attacking opportunity which put Boro right back where they had finished the first half on the back foot. Stewy broke and put a cross in for Gestede but he mistimed his jump, fortunately the play broke back in Boro’s favour when we then won a corner after a Shotton throw in came off Bamba. The corner predictably came to nothing and Boro were back defending and under pressure once more. Whatever the half-time team talk was and whatever the tactical reasoning behind it was, it was eminently clear that it sucked to use modern day parlance. Gestede was winning nothing, outnumbered two v. one yet again; somehow TP thought once again that this would yield results with a lone striker who can’t score. Boro’s best chance came when Downing should have done better with a poor attempt, which didn’t trouble Etheridge, something which again was pointed out this week on Diasboro.

At this stage Boro looked toothless and out of ideas. Adama was well shackled and there was nothing being offered than even remotely looked like a goal was going to arrive any time soon. Frustratingly this was the same scenario at the end of the first half yet absolutely nothing was done and arguably that same scenario had been present for a series of games now under TP. As bad as Monk was for being clueless about his tactics in general, today Boro’s attack under TP was equally as clueless.

Finally the earthquake must have rattled something as Britt came on for the unremarkable Besic as TP went with three at the back, Stewy wide right, George wide left and Shotton, Ayala and Gibson the three CB’s. The question in my mind was why the radical switch around then when it had been abundantly clear now for weeks that this lone striker tactic never looked like working.

Hoilett then had a great chance with a volley at close range but Randolph managed to get down to it making amends for his earlier flap which gifted Morrison his goal. Warnock was making a sub to rejig his line up to now match Boro’s three at the back with their Traore getting the hook for Peltier. Cardiff were still in control with Adama Traore now seemingly in a more central role, Gestede still pointlessly jumping for headers and Britt just looking lost. For a management “tweak” this one ranked pretty low and as Boro fans we have seen plenty of those in the past to be able to judge. The impact was shall we say somewhat less than earth shattering in contrast to the seismic activity elsewhere in the region.

All Boro hopes now seemed to be resting on throw ins and set pieces yet the Cardiff defence had dealt with high balls all afternoon with cigars and deckchairs out. The pantomime Shotton long throw-ins continued yet their effectiveness was as blunt as they had been all afternoon. A Zahore attack was fortunately thwarted by Grant as he then launched a quick Boro counter attack which ended with Britt on his Assombalonga presumably from shock. Harrison was readied to make his debut in a desperate double substitution with Bamford , which saw Howson and Gestede off in their place. Less than ten minutes left and the tactics were switched around once again.

Another Shotton long throw in ended up yet again with Zahore breaking and Randolph dribbling the ball wide and in doing so had several Boro fans in need of CPR. Scenes were now looking disorganised, chaotic and resembled kick and rush football (or throw and rush in Boro’s case). Cardiff looked comfortable and the more likely to get a second with Hoilet pulling the strings. Warnock wound the clock down by bringing on Halford for Paterson. In stoppage time Boro won a free kick which saw Downing send in the ball which resulted in a bit of a melee with Bennett heading a Bamford effort clear. Harrison then sent the ball back in which was cleared for a corner, which saw a chance from Shotton cleared. The last Boro chance of the game characteristically ended with a cross from Shotton which was on a par with Britt’s penalty last week.

Today saw a weak and unconvincing performance from Boro with zero ability to create or attack. TP has Adama as a solitary attacking threat and without a moment of magic from the erratic Spaniard it is worrying that offensively Tony Pulis seemingly has no more of a clue than his predecessor Garry Monk did. Playing to a set style and fixed game plan is fine if you have the players and skill sets to do so. To try and force it with Players who have not and do not possess the physical traits in some cases and ability in others is just plain stupidity. Running down the season until the summer transfer window is all well and good but fans pay hard earned money to support their team and hope to see some semblance of a fight, not cowering, covering their heads under an avalanche of blows to the head with not so much as a single retaliatory reply.

Not good enough, not even remotely close and if it continues things could get unpleasant well before the summer if this sterile dross continues. Having a long term plan only works if you are here for the long term as GM found out. I was and still am a firm believer that long term TP can bring us back up and keep us up but right now my frustration is bordering on disgust at the state of our attacking organisation and abject lack of ability to carry out a threat. There were too many negative players and non-contributory players selected today. Besic adds nothing that we didn’t already have at the club he is fine as cover for Grant or Clayts, Gestede struggles as he has since he arrived and Assombalonga looks to have all the enthusiasm of a root canal filling at the moment.

Mitigating factors of “not my squad” or “not my players” will only go so far for so long. Season ticket reminders for early birds renewals are being touted, only playing in 60% of the pitch is not a great renewal incentive. Right now questions are being asked of TP and his fruitless tactics, maybe not quite as many as GM had amassed come December but they are growing and fast. Targeting a summer rebuild now is a very dangerous approach. It is too far away and surrendering everything for the sake of playing in a particular preferred style without the attributes to make it work is a dangerous game. Disillusioned supporters don’t renew tickets and those that still go will not sit quietly watching repeated failings with patience and understanding. Football is a results game first and foremost.

Is the measure of Boro’s task
ahead roughly the size of Wales

Boro manager Tony Pulis heads to the familiar land of his fathers on Saturday hoping his team will be in full male voice as they hit the right notes against Cardiff. The size of the task facing Boro as they attempt to make it at least to the play-offs is difficult to quantify – though it’s perhaps the standard measure in these parts that our prospects must be viewed as roughly that of the size of Wales in comparison to the size of the promised land we seek. However, if the relative chances of a play-off spot are indeed equal to an area the size of Wales, then the dream of automatic promotion is quickly becoming greater in magnitude than the lost super-continent of Gondwanaland.

Perhaps our play-off hopes would be better represented by the Slavic mythical island of Buyan, which is believed to have the ability to appear and disappear at will depending on which direction the wind blows – though in Boro’s case our chances seem to disappear with each wave of gloom that floods the Riverside after every defeat. Nevertheless, there is a real fear in Wales that their birthright of being the metaphorical land measurement of choice will soon be gone as the post-Brexit world will instead start adopting the almost equally-sized country of Slovenia as their relative area comparison – where were the buses emblazoned with that pivotal fact in the referendum campaign? It was I believe conspicuous by its absence!

However, when it comes to promotion, many supporters believe their team have already missed the bus, if not fallen under it. Though for all its fits and starts (mainly hissy and false), Boro’s promotion aspirations are still within touching distance as the marathon of a Championship season enters the decisive last third, with many now regretting not taking on enough fluids earlier – albeit of the alcoholic kind. A win against Cardiff would give everyone a second wind and leave them feeling full of beans after optimistically eyeing the run of upcoming fixtures against Hull, Sunderland, Leeds, Birmingham, Barnsley and Brentford. Indeed, Boro must look at these pre-Easter games as probably their last chance to exercise their promotion credentials and put pressure on the teams ahead of them if they want to avoid a hard border between them and the top six emerging.

The main concern is that Boro’s forwards still look short on confidence and Assombalonga’s levels probably reached new depths, which were inversely proportional to the heights achieved by the ball that sailed over the bar from his impromptu spot kick. Bamford is also struggling to believe that he’s going to keep his place in the team that he earlier lost under Monk, albeit a place that takes him away from the position from where he was bestowed Championship player of the season in his first spell at the club. Big Rudy Gestede has yet to prove his role as a target man is nothing more than that of creating an aimless goal for those behind him rather than a means to actually getting one.

When Boro last played Cardiff there was little to indicate that there was any particular gulf in class between the sides – indeed both teams showed little to suggest they were favourites for promotion and it was only Adama coming on as quite literally as a late impact sub that gifted the Bluebirds a late penalty and all three points. The fact that Neil Warnock’s team have opened up a ten point gap over Boro merely suggests that the Teessiders have failed to take their opportunities. Whereas Cardiff have stuck to their task to leave them only one point short of an automatic promotion spot with just under the required 2 points per game. One opposition player Boro supporters may be interested to catch a glimpse of is Yanic Wildschutt and one wonders how he would have fared under the guidance of Tony Pulis given how Adama has flourished since his arrival.

Cardiff City		Middlesbrough
Neil Warnock		Tony Pulis
P31 – W17 – D7 – L7 – F47 – A27		P31 – W14 – D6 – L11 – F40 – A29
Position Points Points per game Projected points	4th 58 1.9 86	Position Points Points per game Projected points	9th 48 1.6 71
Last 6 Games Bolton (H) Millwall (A) Leeds (A) Sheff Wed (A) Sunderland (H) QPR (A)	F-T (H-T) 2:0 (2:0) W 1:1 (1:1) D 4:1 (3:0) W 0:0 (0:0) D 4:0 (0:0) W 1:2 (0:0) L	Last 6 Games Reading (H) Norwich (A) Sheff Wed (H) QPR (A) Fulham (H) Preston (A)	F-T (H-T) 2:1 (1:0) W 0:1 (0:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (2:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L 3:2 (1:2) W

Boro have more or less become the Adama Traore show under Tony Pulis and with every MOM performance will come the realistion that with increased attention from the outside comes the ever-growing prospect that he won’t be a Championship player after the summer. One individual cannot a team make, but if Boro can harness a promotion bid in the wake of the high performance showboat waves he’s beginning to make in the football world, then it’s likely to be our only hope of seeing him in Boro shirt next season. Perhaps the worse case scenario is that Adama tears up the division for the rest of the season and Boro fall short as a team – though at least he’ll command a fee several multiples in excess of just getting our money back that many would have settled for a few months ago.

The unknowns in the Boro squad are the new arrivals in January, which if we believe some of the hype surrounding their ability, then they should be offering competition for places in the very near future. It may well be Jack Harrison, who was voted the second best player under 24 in Major League Soccer, is a possible starter on the left given nobody has of yet managed to nail that position. Mo Besic on the other hand will need to compete with Leadbitter, Howson and Clayton for one of the two places available – most likely he’ll be introduced from the bench but that is never usually a game-changing substitution and it may be a while before he gets enough time on the pitch to make an impression.

Overall the defence has picked itself and there no longer appears to be much competition at full-back since Tony Pulis arrived, with George Friend now restored on the left and Ryan Shotton taking over from Christie on the right. Though it seems this week the two Boro full-backs have tried to keep their competitive edge by getting involve in a fierce dual against each other off the pitch – for those who missed this particular battle, George and Ryan went head-to-head in the meanest of contests at Rockliffe Hall as they were tasked with baking and decorating a Victoria sponge cake – this tasty encounter was won by Shotton thanks to his innovative lemon curd variation that knocked Friend’s old school ‘UTB’ decorated effort out of the ballpark.

Older supporters may be trying to recall a similar contest between John Craggs and Terry Cooper, where they both attempted to make an industrial strength cup of tea that allowed the spoon to stand vertically without touching the sides. Indeed, others may even remember the ‘raw meat’ challenge between Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris and Norman ‘Bites Yer Legs’ Hunter, who took it in turns to attempt to remove the opposition forward’s limbs and put them through a mincer before serving them on a plate for the physio. The real man image has certainly changed for the modern player with possibly home-made quiche replacing the pre-match fag and a pint that some fans expected their heroes should adopt to more closely match their own regimes – especially as back in the day, working men frowned upon anything with suspicion that sounded remotely healthy. I just hope the Cardiff players are not expecting a cakewalk as they get up close and personal and pour scorn on the pâtissier passing skills of our full-back bakers. One Boro player still disappointed at being overlooked for the cake challenge and a chance to finally make a name for himself at the club is Lewis Baker – not only is he no longer considered as one of the best 16 players at the club but he’s now not even known as one of best bakers!

Talking of Victorian fruit cakes – Jacob Rees-Mogg may be steeped in the oldest of old school values but he would certainly have little time for those Boro remoaners who would prefer to stay in the Championship this season rather than risk an unmerited exit into the big bad world of the Premier League without being fully prepared. Having failed so miserably last time when we went up, there is a view that the best way to stay up is to arrive as a fully functioning team and make as few changes as possible to your playing style and squad. In some ways we have already seen this season how it has been a difficult process to integrate players and new tactical methods once, let alone twice. Boro still appear to be working out how to play without the luxury of pre-season games to iron out problems and finding the right balance is proving a slow process. Indeed, it’s hard to see many of our current squad being deemed top-flight players should Boro sneak up this season and we’d no doubt be looking at wholesale changes again – forwards who can’t make an impact in the Championship are unlikely to do better at a higher level and midfielders who can’t find a way past journeymen opponents will not face an easier task against fitter, stronger and more skillful players.

The danger for the doubters is that Tony Pulis may be too set in his ways and his conservative approach to tactics may be short on ideas to counter the more modern pragmatic coaches that Boro will face in the top tier. Whether he has run out of new innovations or can still adapt may depend on your viewpoint of whether the game has moved on or not – sometimes old ideas suddenly appear fresh to those who have grown tired of the latest trends that fail to provide improvement. It’s perhaps why those who embody ‘old school’ virtues suddenly appear a refreshing option in the eyes of the public, who hear nothing in the same old noises to offer them hope or catch their attention. Whatever the message, people are seemingly drawn to characters who appear to talk with enthusiasm and confidence – the question is whether what they represent is built on imagination or just the lack of it.

Take our friend Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is all of a sudden being talked of in the media as the next man to lead the country, it emerged last year to much amusement that he named his sixth child ‘Sixtus’ (latin for ‘the sixth’) and it’s hard to say whether that was out of imagination or just out of desperation from running out of ideas? Though given the child’s full name, Sixtus Dominic Boniface Christopher, I suspect he has some magical random name generating machine in his attic that he consults in Latin on such matters – especially if you look at the names conjured up for his other five children – Peter Theodore Alphege, Mary Anne Charlotte Emma, Thomas Wentworth Somerset Dunstan, Anselm Charles Fitzwilliam and Alfred Wulfric Leyson Pius. Though it looks like his wife may have been charged with naming their daughter Mary. However, his sons may consider themselves lucky that they didn’t attend Linthorpe junior school in the early seventies instead of Eton or Hogwarts (or wherever the elite send their kids these days) – as I suspect as they adjusted their pinstriped waistcoats while waiting for their name to be called in the morning register they may as well have just stuck a big piece of paper on their backs with ‘kick me’ written on it with the Latin translation in a fluorescent red felt-tip pen.

The question that now remains to be answered is whether Tony Pulis represents both the past and the future in terms of his footballing philosophy. Has the game moved on to the point where old school managers only know enough to limit the risk of defeat or do they in fact know how to make less complicated more effective teams from the pool of limited talented players at their disposal. Boro’s problem is perhaps convincing some of the key players that they can be effective in a system that they may suspect is not where their long term futures lies and are not buying into the new man. Alternatively, have they flattered to deceive and are they indeed only good players when a manager plays to their limited strengths. It may well be that showing the right character will be increasingly important in the coming months, as I expect with three games in a week, the season is coming closer to being defined one way or the other.

So as Boro survey the promotion landscape will they map their journey into the play-offs with a South Wales sized victory? Or will the play-off aspirations of a small town in Europe be pushed by the Bluebirds further over the proverbial white cliffs? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will the old school ties of Pulis and Warnock see them help each other to a point in a game of defensive solidarity.

The latest in a series of profiles and interviews, Orginal Fat Bob gives his personal view on the life and career of a footballing guest before sitting down for a chat and asking a few questions. Our Diasboro special guest this week is Dave Roberts…

1. The Overview – the man and his career

Dave Roberts is a man of many talents Radio broadcaster, TV Presenter and Sports Personality, Middlesbrough Mayoral candidate (he came third in May 2015 election after standing as an independent, behind winner Dave Budd and former hedge fund manager Andy Preston in second), football referee – plus he’s even done a bungee jump off the transporter bridge!

When I asked him why he had decided to do a bungee jump, he laughed and told me a rather unexpected story… “The bungee jump was to bring closure to my fool of a great great uncle, Daniel McAllister, who when a little drunk lost a bet to dive from the top of the then new transporter bridge and in doing so unsurprisingly became the first person to die from jumping off it. It had always been a family tale that someone had apparently done this, so I began an investigation to try and confirm it. The problem was that the McAllister family line had disappeared so we could never prove it. That was until I undertook a search of the Teesside archives and microfiche Gazette archives and there he was, in all his not so glamorous glory.” –  incidentally, you can see Dave beginning his bungee jump in the header graphic photo.

Dave always does however, come across first and foremost as a Boro supporter! He gave me a photo of him on the Beeline bus, holding his scarf up in true supporter style (see photo below) as an excited ten-year-old. He remembers it fondly from his more youthful days and thinks he was going to a Boro away match in London in 1973. Like a lot of us on this blog, we all remember Bee Line going to away games using their coaches. Beeline used to have the bus garage at the top of Linthorpe Road, not far from where I used to live as a boy, before they moved to Eston. My friend and I, whose father worked there, often went to see the coaches being serviced and cleaned. I always recall staring up at them, not believing that one day I would be using them myself. It brings back happy days for a lot of Boro fans with the big bee logo on the rear of the coach.

Dave Roberts was born in Middlesbrough and he left school in 1980 to start as an electrician with ICI Wilton Works on Teesside before moving into research within ICI’s Research and Technology division as an Experimental Physicist. He is a bubbly personable guy like all those associated with Broadcasting and an avid Boro fan. I met him earlier this season when he was a guest of Jim Platt at the Riverside, where he talked at length about his love for the Boro and his career in Broadcasting.

He left ICI in 1989, to focus on his broadcasting career and In 1981 he started working at BBC Radio Cleveland, (BBC Tees) in Middlesbrough and whilst there, a mid-morning programme he presented about living with HIV & AIDS was submitted for UK national broadcasting awards. He then moved to Teesside’s commercial station, Radio Tees (TFM Radio). He was a programme assistant for my good friend and former business associate Graham Robb, who in those days was a DJ on the late-night phone-in show. Dave played a character called ‘The Priestfield Pest’ but I must confess I have never heard it.

He then presented a Saturday sports programme paired with his existing football commentary role covering Middlesbrough FC. He began freelancing for Capital Gold Radio in London providing reports and commentaries on football games as well as ITV Sport. He regularly appeared on ITV Sport providing live reports at football matches throughout England. Following the birth of the Premier League, he also conducted after-match interviews for BBC Match of the Day. But his TV career began in earnest when he joined BBC North to cover Durham County Cricket Club, where he became known as the commentator for Brian Lara’s world record breaking cricket innings of 501 not out. He later joined BSKYB’s channel UK Talk to present the daily sports show Sportstalk and Channel 5’s Live and Dangerous.

In August 1998, when Sky launched their 24/7 Sky Sports News channel, he joined full-time and established SKY’s North East Bureau and operated as Bureau Chief and reporter and was seen on a daily basis reporting from the region’s training grounds, press conferences and live at matches of English Premier League clubs.

In 2003, after 5 years full-time with Sky, he left the UK to take up a Presenter/Commentator role with Singapore-based ESPN Star Sports. He covered Euro 2004 from Portugal, 2005 UEFA Champions League Final and World Cup Germany 2006. One story he tells is of travelling to Damascus, Syria to cover AFC Cup Finals where he was arrested by Syrian secret police. This was not his only brush with trouble, in 2005 newspaper reports claim he was ‘roughed up’ by Thai Prime Minister’s secret police at Government House after asking the, then PM, questions in a press conference, on his attempt to buy Liverpool FC. The report says he had been instructed not to ask questions after being identified as not one of the regular press members.

After leaving South East Asia Dave next appeared on ESPN as a Presenter/Commentator for ESPN International. He immediately began presenting the internationally networked football program ESPN Soccernet Press Pass and providing commentary on European and international football matches as well as two new international SportsCenter programmes (Australia/Africa).

Like me, Dave is a former referee and whilst I have never seen him referee we do share mutual friends like Jeff Winter.

2. The Interview – a quick chat

OFB: What was the first Boro match you remember going to see?

DR: The first game I attended was Boro’s 2-0 defeat of Oxford at Ayresome back in January 1969 (so I’m told) however the first I can remember was the trip to Boothferry Park in 1971 where we put 3 past Hull only to lose 4-3. I was 7yrs old at the time.

OFB: Who was your favourite Boro player then and others that you watched at that time?

DR: Only ever one in this era, Jim Platt and I remind him of this every time I see him. I wanted to be a keeper because of Platty and at 5’ 9” I wasn’t tall, but I did make it to the Boro Juniors playing under the much-feared George Wardle, bless him.

OFB: How did you become involved with Boro?

DR: 2 things, first I was born in Boro and second, my mum was a mad keen Boro fan so there was only one way I was going to go. As a teenager she’d travel the length and breadth of the country to follow the lads and I was bitten by the same bug. She then helped set up the Boro Supporters Club and used to make the sarnies for all the coaches so away games became easy. At 13yrs old I started training with Boro Juniors and at 15yrs old I became the youngest committee member of any football supporters club. You could say Boro was my life!

OFB: What has been your most memorable game, your own individual performance in front of the camera and best experience with the fans?

DR: There’s more than one. Luton on the League Liner (train) in 1974. The 1-0 win courtesy of Millsies goal had clinched the 2nd Division title with 6 games to go and Stewie Boam chased me the full length of the train for being ‘cheeky’. Of course we had the great UEFA Cup comebacks and Eindhoven, just to be in the UEFA Cup Final was immense.

As for my own performance, not camera but three on radio – first trying to interview a naked Bruce Rioch in a Chelsea dressing room immediately after Boro had won promotion in the 1988 playoff final 2nd leg. Then the 1998 Coca Cola Cup Final for TFM. I had missed out on commentating on the ZDS Cup Final due to a change in staff after I had done the semi-final and then I had just left Century Radio before the 1997 League & FA Cup Final double, so to be at Wembley commentating on Boro in a major final was stuff of dreams. Then there was the Brian Lara 501 commentary for the BBC. To think I’m up there on the sporting archive shelf alongside the likes of Kenneth Wolstenholme is truly amazing.

I’ve had amazing times as a Boro fan, Man City last year with De Roon’s last gasp equalizer was terrific, Eindhoven was amazing as was sitting in the Old Trafford press box with Ali with us both wearing Brazil shirts to celebrate the signing of Juninho (we were fans on the radio not commentators). But THE best moments were the two UEFA Cup comeback nights at the Riverside. I was working in the USA for ESPN at the time and had to fly across the Atlantic for each game. Thanks to MFC they’d given me a place in the press box and when Massimo did his thing in the semi final comeback I went berserk. I was reduced to a babbling wreck, crying my eyes out as I jumped up and down on top of the press box bench like a true idiot.

OFB: Is your job as glamorous as it looks?

DR: I have to say it is. When you are on the ‘inside’ doing this type of work you don’t realise how lucky you are. I’ve been trusted to be at many ‘private’ events and can count many former Boro players and managers as personal friends. I’m fortunate enough to be able to pick up the phone and call the likes of Robbo or Steve McClaren, Juninho, Marco Branca. Higgy’s a great pal as is Robbie Mustoe. Even though I left SKY Sports over 13 years ago and stopped commentating on the Boro on radio longer ago than that, people on Teesside still recognise me as that Boro commentator bloke, glamourous yes, but it is truly humbling.

OFB: Is your job as exciting as it seems?

DR: I’ve been locked up by Syrian secret police, been driven towards Baghdad during the height of the Saddam Hussein troubles and given a good whacking from the Thailand Prime Ministers body guards, so I’m not sure exciting is the right word. The better moments have been reporting from pitch-side at FA Cup, Champions League and World Cup Finals and refereed games in front of 110,000 fans – all of this has happened as a result of the job. A lot of people have said they’d give their right arms to do this and I can see why.

OFB: What was your worst game or experience and why?

DR: Personally, Bristol Rovers when I was commentating for TFM. We lost the game and we were awful that night. I remember saying on-air that Parky was ‘Bristol’s best player’ and the whole team then blanked me. I had to ask Mogga what was going on and he set the record straight from the players points of view. It was a foolish thing to say and I had to apologise to Gary for the comment I’d made and that has stayed with me ever since. Professionally, there was Big Mal at Coventry in 1996. I’d only just convinced the Century Radio bosses to allow him back after his ‘colourful’ outbursts the season before. Then it came, as the referee blew for a free kick against Neil Cox near to the corner flag, Ali screamed ‘He played the ball!’ and Big Mal followed up with the same line with a couple of expletives added. My mobile phone rang, Mal looked at me with puppy dog eyes, I had to give him the finger across the throat sign and Mal disappeared to the bar for the remainder of the game and his radio career came to an end. It was an amazing 18 months working with Big Mal, I know Ali (god bless him) and myself had endless stories to tell over far too many beers. There is a book in it I’m sure.

OFB: Who was in your opinion the best manager that Boro have ever had and why?

DR: You can’t rule out Steve McClaren, he won us our first piece of serious silverware, took us to a european final and gave us tremendous moments along the way. Then there was Robbo, the catalyst for great Boro changes. The Little Fella, Rav, Emerson, Boksic and co, what wonderful memories and a truly amazing time to be a Boro fan. But I’m plumping for Big Jack. A true no nonsense man-manager, a man who would tell Boamie to stand on the foot of the centre forweard at corners because if you do he can’t jump for the header. The image of Big Jack collecting the training tops before kick-off stays with me and that promotion winning season of 73-74 followed up with being top of the old First Division coming into Christmas was special. Pity Jack didn’t buy Mariner when he had the chance, he was worth 220k Jack and I’m convinced that one signing would have won us the 1st Division title.

OFB: Who has been the greatest influence on your career and why?

DR: Commentating, the late Peter Jones who worked for 5 Live – he painted pictures in your mind. Refereeing, Pierre Luigi Collina (sorry Jeff) had the grace to apologise to Roy Hodgson for disallowing a goal due to a refereeing mistake. Radio presenting – Graham Robb, Mad After Midnight just got me hooked. Business, Richard Branson – he shows how if you put your mind to something you can make it happen.

OFB: Which opposing team and which player did you fear Boro playing against?

DR: Leeds – we just never got the rub of the green when we played them. Mind you the 4-1 drubbing with Cantona in the side was a joy to behold – that game also got me started with TV by me convincing Brian Barwick (then editor of Match of the Day) to let me do after match interviews, but that’s for another day. Hated playing against Dennis Wise, always chippy, nasty & dirty. Worked referees and was just not a nice human being.

OFB: Who is your current favourite Boro player and why?

DR: We all love Adama, the way he leaves opponents in his shadow is a thing of pure beauty. Then there’s Clayts, shoring up the midfield and you can’t not look at Randolph in goal, but I’ve surprised myself with this one. I have to go purely on form and say ‘One of Our Own’ Stewie Downing. I think he’s been tremendous over the past 3 or 4 months and by putting in shift after shift he’s even won over the boo boys. At the grand old age of 33, he’s a shining light of commitment at the moment to many of the younger stars.

OFB: How do you think the match day has changed from the time that you started watching and being involved with professional football to the present day?

DR: Money. Everything today is based on profit & loss and balance sheets. Clubs even charge kids to be a mascot – I think clubs have forgotten the fans and their importance to the community. If you were to suggest to chairmen today that clubs belong to the fans or that fans were a club’s biggest asset they’d laugh in your face. Sad though it is, that crucial link has been long chopped through.

OFB: If you could be a fly on the wall, is there any dressing room you would wish to eavesdrop on?

DR: Home dressing room at the Stadium of Light after a Boro season card holding referee had denied them a blatant penalty but stiffed them at the other end in the last minute by pointing to the spot for the away team.

OFB: Do you have any regrets in your career, or missed opportunities?

DR: I do regret not continuing my refereeing career in England. I was flying when I had to choose between staying or going to Singapore to be a football TV presenter. However, the experiences both my family and myself have had have been truly amazing, so I’ll settle on not following up with an idea I had before the internet kicked in. That was to list all cars that were for sale on a computer and set up a system where people looking to buy cars could log in to that computer from anywhere in the country to see what was available. It was all to be done on-computer connection – I think that might just have had legs, you could call it something like Tinternet perhaps. Nah, it’ll never catch on.

OFB: Who was the nicest person that you have interviewed and why?

DR: Gary Speed, a true gent. He would always say hello, stop and talk and genuinely ask if you were okay when you bumped into him. He also asked me for advice several times on all kinds of things, he was one amazingly nice human being. From a Boro perspective my old mate Robbie Mustoe, another genuine guy and I’m so pleased to have gotten him his first job on TV in America. Robbie is as genuine as they come and I’m delighted to see him as THE best summariser on US TV today.

OFB: Whereabouts do you live these days, what are you doing and what are your career ambitions?

DR: I’ve just moved from Yarm to Ingleby Barwick. We are renting for 6 months before buying a house. Having moved around the world for the best part of 15 years it’s time to put the roots firmly down again on Teesside.

Business wise I have my own broadcast production operation, we put outside broadcasts into sports events like Formula 1 tracks and football grounds. We make RedArmy.TV the weekly Boro fans TV show you can get on Freeview and Virgin Media. That’s a great story as it is staffed entirely by Boro fan volunteers who I’ve coached in TV production skills and some of the guys n gals are now flying. Unlike other online fan platforms we’re not about making money, no-one gets paid and I pay all the costs of running the show.

My business has just pitched to film every EFL game starting next season for the next 6yrs, we have been shortlisted and it’s off to London next month to present our case to try to win the long contract. If we get it it’ll be fantastic for Teesside as everything will be done from Middlesbrough and it’ll create several jobs. I’ve also been helping bring other jobs to the area and we’ve just landed a ‘super-ambulance’ manufacturing project to Stockton. This too will create jobs and we are hopeful this will be the start of a much larger project that could create up to 1,500 jobs, all badly needed for Teesside.

OFB: Whom have you made a lifelong friend through football?

DR: I like to think Higgy and Robbie Mustoe, both great guys who I know I can pick up the phone to any time. Neither come from Teesside but both have so much affinity with the area I’d be happy to claim them as our own. For those who’re about to point to Robbie being in the USA, yes he is, but you should hear how he talks about the area, he loves it!

OFB: Is it nice for you to think that you can act as an ambassador for Middlesbrough’s town, the Teesside area and its people?

DR: I’m passionate about the town and its people. I’ve been fortunate to live in some wonderful places around the world, but I’ve always missed home. Whether I was presenting World Cup Final programmes on ESPN, commentating on Champions League Finals or negotiating large corporate deals for Fox, I always, and without exception, managed to get a Boro reference into my work. It got so bad I was nicknamed ‘Mr Middlesbrough’ by Rodney Marsh when I worked with him presenting a daytime TV football show in London. I love my town, my club and the area and no-one will ever stop me from being an unofficial ambassador for it. Perhaps one day someone might allow me to be an ‘official’ one.

OFB: Do you think that Tony Pulis is the manager that we have been waiting for and needed to get us into the Premiership and stay there?

DR: Yes, we needed structure. I was a big supporter of the signing of Garry Monk however in the end he didn’t seem to know quite what to do and the squad size ballooned and players didn’t seem to be putting in a full shift. Pulis is old school, he’ll not take any prisoners, I’ve already heard he’s given ultimatums to some senior players and we’re starting to see discipline come to the surface. I still haven’t ruled out 2nd place, as I write we are 9pts adrift but that is nothing with just under half a season to go. I have money on us to go up automatically, under Monk there was every chance that dosh was lost, however I’m still confident the bet is still alive. Worst case, we’ll be in the play-off final and who doesn’t fancy a trip to Wembley with the Boro again.

OFB: Do you think we can still achieve promotion this year?

DR: Oh yes, as above, yes, and automatically too!

OFB: As a former referee, do you think the standard has declined in the Championship this season or is it that the game is so fast we need the modern technology to make a correct decision?

DR: No, I truly don’t think refereeing standards are falling. I just think I think there’s far more scrutiny of decisions as there’s more money in the Championship so decisions are becoming far more crucial and you just have far more importance riding on them. As for modern technology, you can burn VAR on the half way line before kick off for me. Goal line technology was as far as they should have gone – it is comical to think we might stop a game of football for 4 minutes just because a guy in a bedroom in Essex might have spotted something the referee has gotten wrong. Forget it, the faster it crashes and burns the better for me.

OFB: Finally, if you hadn’t had the career that you have had, what do you think you would have done as a profession?

DR: I started out as a footballer with the Boro juniors but did not have the commitment to see it through. I then became an electrician after school and even now in my spare time I bash walls as I renovate rundown houses, so I’m sure my Dad would have had me in the building game. Saying that though, when ESPN in Singapore came calling in 2003, I was flying with my refereeing and had to make a decision whether it was refereeing of TV, I chose TV but if I hadn’t perhaps I could have been a Boro season card holder who denied Sunderland a blatant penalty and stuffed them with a last-minute spot-kick at the other end. Now where is that time-machine?

OFB: A huge thank you Dave for taking the time to talk to Diasboro and all our readers, posters and bloggers.

Middlesbrough		Reading
Traoré	44′ 49′	Martin	78′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	41% 14 3 6 13	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	59% 7 2 8 11

Sub par Boro rescued by Adama

With one side six points off the Play-offs and the other six points from a relegation place the stakes were higher than most neutrals might think scrolling down todays fixtures. The dichotomy for Boro fans coming into this one was where we an improving club under TP gathering a head of steam or a club sliding further away from any play off ambitions as our three remaining “Strikers” continued to misfire?

In the away dug out, Jaap Stam was literally hamstrung. Efforts to get the Royals back to winning ways were seriously restricted as Swift, Richards, Harriot, Barrow and McShane, were all either out or extremely doubtful with “Hammies”or niggles. January loanee Tommy Elphick has had to return to his parent club Villa for a knee operation whilst Jordan Obita was also likely to be a non-starter due to a knee problem of his own as was Joseph Mendes. Under fire and under pressure Stam could have been forgiven for pleading mitigating circumstances for Readings current plight but football is a fickle game and only results keep Managers in their posts these days and the Berkshire natives were very restless this week.

Tony Pulis had been hinting at a few knocks and late checks with his own squad but as we get to understand the new manager it’s appears that TP likes to keep his opposite numbers routinely guessing. He never reveals his hand during pre-game pressers much preferring to down play his sides chances, something which is by now probably a set default from propping up the Premiership with perennial escape acts. His current Boro challenge however is somewhat different in that he needs to get up first before his defensive escapology strengths come to the fore. After another goalless outing last week questions were starting to be mooted on Teesside rather than being openly asked if TP can be as effective in sorting out his attack as he seems to have been at the back.

With fresh faces to choose from, home advantage and Reading in somewhat of a tailspin a convincing no nonsense victory was not only expected from Boro this afternoon but anything less than all three points would like as not be viewed with considerable disdain on the Tees. For the Royals their long suffering season of abject dismay and probable hangover after last season’s penalty play-off defeat has to end sometime, and upon taking my seat in the blustery and chilly North Stand there was that “Typical Boro” niggle at play, hopefully the endurance of the Royals “13th Man” fans would be tested for just that little bit longer come five o’clock.

The good news for Reading fans was that Jaap Stam had been able to muster eleven fit and hardy souls to take the pitch but excluding Chris Martin (the Derby striker rather than the Coldplay one) who took a place on the bench while Pulis decided to bring back Howson in place of Clayton in an otherwise unchanged line up from last weekend.

Boro started the game in the ascendancy totally dominating proceedings to the point where those of us in the North Stand considered a crowdfunding page to try and get some recompense for the fact that the entertainment was confined to the Reading half of the pitch for opening 6 or 7 minutes. Reading did muster a corner in that time which saw van den Berg literally grab Randolph in a bear hug which went unnoticed by the officials but thankfully it came to nothing as Boro cleared their lines and resumed their occupation of the Reading half.

The remainder of the first half didn’t deviate too much from that in so far as Boro were in complete control and that this Reading side was so devoid of belief and confidence it was almost embarrassing. I was sat watching proceedings and felt sorry for those who had made the long trip up from Berkshire to witness their side put in such a hapless, hopeless and gutless performance. Everything they touched turned to that dog stuff that responsible owners deposit in little black plastic bags. This had all the makings of a cricket score as Boro pushed and probed, and pushed and probed some more knocking the ball around with aplomb and yawwwwwn more probing and after around 20 maybe 25 minutes it began to dawn on the home support that this had all the makings of total domination, chances not taken and falling to a late sucker punch.

This Reading side was the worst I have seen at the Riverside and after Birmingham and then Sunderland in the cup that takes some doing believe me. Whilst we were resolute at the back we were positively clueless going forward. Movement means that players have to run, anticipate, create openings, channels, spaces whatever but we simply passed it around like the Chuckle Brothers, playing 44 minutes of “to you, to me” football. The ills and shortcomings of our attacking prowess were as far removed from being solved or improved as ever. Just as the crowd were disappearing for their half time Bovril’s and relief breaks Adama picked up the ball and skinned Bacuna not for the first time as he had tormented and “Traoritised” the Reading back line all afternoon to cut in to the box and release a left footed thunderbolt giving Mannone no chance to deservedly give Boro the lead just seconds before the half time whistle.

The second half commenced and with Boro now a goal to the good Reading had to come out and gone were their time wasting efforts of the first half. Picking up where he left off Adama happened upon a ball after a weak defensive header and set off again running into the box and despatching another rocket past the despairing Mannone to make it 2-0 and the commencement of what we thought would be a landslide victory. In response and probably too little too late, Stam brought on Martin and Clement for the unassuming Bodvarrson and miniscule Kelly who had earlier wasted Reading’s only half chance of the game in the first half.

Boro were in the ascendency despite our front line not functioning. Gestede won headers but there was no follow up from anyone, Paddy was tackling and harrying but being penalised for his apparent aggressiveness and had a few chances but his best opportunity was fired right across the goal. Balls were being played to Adama’s feet rather than into space for him and Paddy to chase and run onto. Despite being 2-0 up it was very frustrating as a spectacle to watch.

We were then witness to possibly the most bizarre and ineffective substitution and tactical switch to grace the Riverside by a Boro manager in 22 years. Reading had gone to three at the back and pushing to get themselves back into a game that by now looked far beyond them. You could see that in all the pressure and exertion they were now applying a few swift balls out to Paddy or Adama and they would be finished off. Instead TP decided to remove Paddy which OK fair enough he had missed a few opportunities but was getting back tackling and defending and still posed a threat going forwards. Not his best game but no more uninspiring than any other in a Red shirt Adama apart. On came Clayton, a defensive midfielder to replace one of our few remaining attacking outlets. Adama was switched to the left, yep that’s right Adama on the left, and guess what, he disappeared yet again from the game and Bacuna was the most relieved man in the Stadium as he was now free to push forwards in support of the Reading attack.

Boro now looked totally destabilised, unhinged and unbalanced. I’m not sure where Clayts was supposed to play or who was replacing the Bamford role presumably Downing but suffice to say TP handed Reading the initiative and we were then penned in for long periods with no outlet and no response.

From being a side than in reality should have by now been four or five goals to the good we became a nervous, desperate and disparate outfit now clinging to the two goals that were incredibly now looking the slenderest of margins. That it descended into this was shameful and unacceptable; a team that was light years ahead of the opposition and cruising with the cigars out despite having no effective attack had just shot themselves in the foot by a tactical self-imposed management disaster. Tinkering at an incompetent level is all I can describe it as; there was now no shape, no structure and no organisation, just pure panic. Had GM still been in charge there would have been choruses of “you don’t know what you’re doing”, it was incredible to witness.

Bizarrely with ten minutes to go TP decided to take our only remaining striker Rudy off who had been heading balls all day to little avail to replace him with barren Britt. The forgotten man then took up the lonely isolated position to try and provide some respite from the Royal rampage that was threatening to nick a point after Reading sub Martin had pulled one back a minute earlier via a shot through a Boro back nine. I’m not sure what on earth is going on at Rockliffe but Britt looked more unfit and slower and off the pace than ever.

Against the run of play, Adama (of course) charged forward from the left flank where he was still stationed and was clipped to win a penalty. If ever Boro needed respite and a break it was right here and now to finally put this game to bed and with it all three points. As the North stand chanted Adama’s name in the hope that he would be allowed to go for his hat trick Britt and Grant had a “discussion” which ended with Britt taking responsibility and with it the need to get a much needed confidence boosting goal for himself. Fair enough, and as we all waited with baited breath the crowd gave a chorus of “do do do Britt Assombalonga” to boost his spirits in the run up.

A split second later and Britt had managed to silence the entire Riverside. Instead of just taking the Penalty he decided on one of those momentary stops (or hesitation more like) and blasted the ball about as high as Johnny Wilkinson in his prime could muster. It was so bad it was either a blatant and deliberate salute to the Manger who has seemingly discarded him or a Player whose confidence is shattered entirely. I’m not sure hoping that it is the latter is entirely the better of the two options. As brilliant as TP has been for the likes of Adama and Ryan Shotton he has had the exact opposite effect elsewhere.

This was a game that should have been killed and over after twenty minutes but reality is that three moments of brilliance from Adama covered up glaring inadequacies and the obvious fact that tactically we are no closer to sorting out our attack. It was all made so much worse by a substitution and Adama switching flanks that nearly cost us the game. A surreal feeling coming away from the Stadium relieved that we had struggled to win but somehow scrapped over the line against the worst side to date to visit the Riverside and thereby making the win feel like a defeat. MOM was by a country mile Adama Traore but TP and his backroom staff need to up the ante because quite frankly that was very poor fayre very nearly made so much worse by a second half tactical cock up.

Will Boro’s promotion aspirations
go walkabout after visit of the Royals

Footballing puritan and the much lauded protector of many a club’s Premier League status, Tony Pulis, will be looking to outflank the limited forces of the Royals as he goes into battle with his new model Boro army of no-frills no-nonsense charges this weekend. Whilst the Boro faithful have got used to joyless trips to the Riverside in recent times, the new regime’s introduction of a ban on goal celebrations has perhaps been a step too far in the eyes of many a fun-loving season ticket holder. Looking back at the reformist days when those caught playing football on a Sunday faced being whipped, some impatient Teesside hardliners may soon start advocating a similar punishment for players witnessed not playing football to the required standard on a Saturday afternoon. All Somewhat draconian perhaps, but still our best hope for a goal this weekend may be to place the opposition keeper in the stocks for wearing an overly brightly coloured jersey – though we’d still be reliant on the Boro strikers being able to make the ball hit the target.

However, before dismissing the unfair caricature being formed of Anthony Richard Cromwell Pulis, those wishing to draw similarities between the football and military tactics of both men may be interested to read: “Cromwell had no formal training in military tactics, and followed the common practice of ranging his cavalry in three ranks and pressing forward, relying on impact rather than firepower.” – though to be fair to the Boro commander, the lack of firepower is not entirely of his own making. Whether all the players see themselves as Roundheads fighting for the Boro cause is not certain, but following recent randomly headed balls, doubts have already been cast on the spherical credentials of the cranium for at least one striker in big Rudy.

Nevertheless, some on Teesside will be looking forward to the visit of the Royals as it offers an opportunity to ignore the class divide – albeit between the class we expected for the money paid and the reality of what we actually got. Many will be enthusiastically cheering our majestic midfield as they stroll backwards and forwards on their impromptu walkabout across the pitch before stopping to ask the usual question of the strikers “and what do you do?” – to which the answer is invariably “I’m currently unemployed” or possibly “I’ll let you know when I find out”.

What has emerged in the court of Tony Pulis is a feeling that we are now in the reign of a manager who knows what he wants to do but doesn’t necessarily know how to get there with quite a few of the players at his disposal – plus it’s not even certain that many of players see themselves fitting into his plans once the discontented winter has given way to an unsprung blooming of progress and the summer has come and gone. Although, the team defensively is playing with a renewed belief that the opposition won’t score unless they do something special, this is also the exact same problem facing Boro going forward. We need to do something special to score at the moment, whether it be George’s biennial screamer or Adama’s first goal for his club, these are not the norm but are proving to be the exception under the measured new ruler.

The last time Boro played Reading, Garry Monk was under pressure after his team had gone five games without a win and picked up just a single point from their previous three home games. The game at the Madejski Stadium proved to be the start of a minor revival as Boro won three in a row (the only time this season) as they followed it up with wins against Hull and Sunderland. However the performances against Reading and particularly the Mackems were not great and the improvement in results was not sustained as Boro lost 4 of their following 6, which ultimately lead to the dismissal of Monk after the next game against Sheffield Wednesday shortly before Christmas. Little has changed from Jaap Stam’s point of view since then, he’s still failing to capture the form that saw his team get to the play-off final last season and is increasingly under pressure from the Reading supporters, who appear to be running out of patience after just one victory in their last six games. Though whether the Dutchman will find recent comments from his centre-back Liam Moore helpful is unclear, after he declared “You can’t let it carry on for another three to four games and then look at the table” – but hopefully they won’t get a lift on Teesside.

Middlesbrough		Reading
Tony Pulis		Jaap Stam
P30 – W13 – D5 – L11 – F38 – A28		P30 – W8 – D8 – L14 – F33 – A39
Position Points Points per game Projected points	9th 45 1.5 69	Position Points Points per game Projected points	18th 32 1.1 49
Last 6 Games Norwich (A) Sheff Wed (H) QPR (A) Fulham (H) Preston (A) Aston Villa (H)	F-T (H-T) 0:1 (0:1) L 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (2:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L 3:2 (1:2) W 0:1 (0:0) L	Last 6 Games Millwall (H) Burton (A) Brentford (H) Hull (A) Birmingham (H) Barnsley (A)	F-T (H-T) 0:2 (0:0) L 3:1 (0:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L 0:0 (0:0) D 0:2 (0:1) L 1:1 (0:0) D

With the visit of the Owls in the last home game seeing a less than barn-storming stalemate at the Riverside, the trip to Norfolk likewise proved not to be a breath of fresh air either. Although Boro dug deep after being reduced to ten men just before the half-hour mark, they buried themselves in the art of defending as they became entrenched in their own half as if hanging on to a one-goal deficit wasn’t going to prove to be anything other than pointless. While scoring goals has become more than a minor problem under Pulis, there was little indication from the Canaries that they’d been left short of breath by any whiff of excitement detected by Boro’s virtually non-existent attack – in fact even the sight of some of the weary travelling faithful slipping into unconsciousness failed to provide any warning signs to the players that they needed to quickly get out of their own half before time ran out on any hopes of rescuing the game.

It’s clear to many of those looking in that there are no outward signs under Pulis that his team have a clear vision of what is needed to change them into an effective attacking force. It appears Boro are still wondering which combination of forwards to trial next in the hope that we will get more than errors. Interestingly, we discovered this week that Newcastle striker Mitrovic was snatched or even snapchatted from under Boro’s deadline-day noses by Fulham manager and fellow serbian Slavisa Jokanovic – for those, like apparently Tony Pulis, who have no idea about Snapchat, it’s a mobile service that allows users to send multimedia messages that can be set to discreetly self destruct in 1-10 seconds – I must say it sounds ideal for tapping up players in a Mission Impossible style scenario where a manager could test the water with any player he fancies – “Good morning Mr Mitrovic. Your mission Aleksandar, should you choose to accept it, is to put the round thing in the bloody opposition net… As always, should you or any of your teammates be caught posting this on Twitter, the secretary of the club will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds” – no doubt before Woody pipes up a few minutes later “I think you forgot to say who you were Boss”. I expect it will take some practice for the older managers to get the hang of this social media malarkey as a means of recruitment.

One striker Boro do have the services of on Saturday is Rudy Gestede after the club were surprisingly successful in getting his Carrow Road red card rescinded. Many had anticipated or even hoped his ban would be extended for making a frivolous appeal – but who’s laughing now? In truth probably nobody as the hopes of our season appear to have been pinned on having the big but limited Benin striker available for the coming weeks. If anything it’s probably a testament to the summer recruitment that Boro seem to be left with Gestede being the only striker fit for purpose – Fletcher never looked the part with Braithwaite no longer wanting to be part, Assombalonga can’t seem to play as the Pulis target man and doesn’t know where his next goal is coming from, while Bamford’s form appears to be dipping back to that which saw him fail to make an impact after he left Boro the first time. It’s hard to see where the goals will come from if Tony Pulis continues to play a system that none of our forwards look like they are flourishing under. It’s been said that Pulis makes players feel ten feet tall – though it seemingly helps if you first start with giants.

Still it’s possible the new rusty recruits may soon be fast-tracked onto the pitch to help the Boro cause – Mo Besic almost got onto the pitch against Norwich but perhaps even Pulis suddenly thought better of throwing on a predominantly defensive midfielder as a means to chase the game. He may be ultimately more dynamic than either Clayton or Leadbitter but Besic is perhaps not the answer to what the team are currently lacking. Jack Harrison is not short of admirers in the football world and he’s being tipped for the top by many – the problem is he’s not played since early November and has no experience of the hectic nature of the Championship, where he may struggle if not match-fit to make the kind of impact many are anticipating. Good players should shine eventually but at this moment in time I see him as a hopeful punt and we saw how another promising prospect in Baker just didn’t find his feet before disappearing from the picture altogether.

Whether the the arrival of a new pair of eyes on the coaching side will be able to add a fresh perspective on the stale attack is possibly asking a lot of Curtis Fleming. The former Boro right-back may have been a firm fans favourite but he is perhaps not the box-office appointment to give the team star quality. The heat is definitely on, but while some may like it hot, many at the Riverside have still not warmed to the new management. However, the more observant Boro followers will have perhaps noticed that the new Pulis Fleming axis has a somewhat Hollywood feel with it’s less formal Tony Curtis moniker – the question is which of the star’s former movies will best represent this new partnership? Will it be the ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ as the club gain promotion or are we looking at ‘The Great Impostor’ as Boro slide down the table? The key may depend on whether they find the answer to the ’40 [million] Pounds of Trouble’ that was inherited in the summer – though as it stands, Boro are now ‘The Outsider’ in ‘The Great Race’ for the play-offs and we need to start winning soon to pull off a promotion ‘Houdini’ act this season. Anyway, let’s hope ‘The Defiant Ones’ manage to escape the shackles and unchain the attacking potential of the team and get the opposition on the run instead!

So will the hungry Boro faithful see an end to the goal famine under Tony Pulis that has left them feeling starved of entertainment as they celebrate a footballing feast? Or will Reading turn the Riverside into a library as they hush the crowd as they suffer in silence? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will any of the Boro players be a little too exuberant in pressing the flesh as the referee rolls out the red cards for the visit of the Royals?

The latest in a series of profiles and interviews, Orginal Fat Bob gives his personal view on the life and career of a footballing guest, before sitting down for a chat and asking a few questions. Our Diasboro special guest this week is John Hendrie.

1. The Overview – the man and his career

John was another one of my favourite players when he played for the Boro. He always performed with a swagger. Not particularly tall in stature and barrel chested, he always had a smile on his face and was known for being a practical joker. He wasn’t a pushover by any means though and often displayed a fiery streak, which resulted in him receiving bookings and the occasional sending off. He will always go down in the history books as the player who scored the last ever goal at Ayresome Park. To celebrate this event and to have a personal record of this, I bought a large framed photograph of this momentous occasion, which is signed by him. When I mentioned to John that I had a framed photograph of him scoring the last goal, true to his nature John tried to sell me another one! This photograph hung for many years on my office wall until I retired from work. It now has pride of place in my eldest son’s man cave. It is a great talking point, but also gives me an excuse to go and have a look at it whilst taking the opportunity to have a drink at the bar.

For me and many others, my other lasting memory of John will be the wonder goal that he scored at Ayresome Park, whilst playing in a more central role up front against Milwall. He collected the ball just outside our own penalty area and then weaved past the entire Millwall team before slotting the ball home into the net. It was the first time that our former manager Bruce Rioch had returned to Ayresome Park, but this time as the opposition manager. The way John danced around those players was mesmeric and if a Brazilian had scored it, we would have said it was the best goal ever seen in English Football.

I also recall us playing against Blackburn on the 5th December in the 92-93 season, when Lennie Lawrence was our manager. It was after we had sold (Rippers), our own Stuart Ripley to Blackburn who was playing against us on that day that I remember so well. John scored a fabulous hat-trick, enabling the Boro to run out 3-2 winners. After his third goal, all the crowd started chanting to the Blackburn fans and coaching staff, “you signed the wrong [expletive] winger, wrong [expletive] winger etc… much to the amusement of John and the other players.

John’s career started at Coventry City in June 1980 and he became a full time professional in May 1981. He them moved to Bradford City, where he played 173 consecutive league games, winning one promotion and narrowly missing out on another.

When talking to John on a previous occasion we touched upon the Bradford City, Valley Parade Stadium, Fire disaster. This event happened during their last third Division fixture between Bradford and Lincoln City on Saturday, 11 May 1985. Unfortunately, the casualties were 56 dead and injuries to another 265 spectators. The Stadium was well known for its old design which had a wooden roof on the main stand. Warnings had been given about a major build-up of litter just below the seats and in those days spectators smoked in the stands. John recalled how it was his most nightmarish day in football as he had friends and family in the stand, as did the other players. None of his family were injured, but looking at him, it showed that the tragedy has made a lasting impression on this likeable guy.

Following spells with Newcastle United and Leeds United, he then moved to Boro and scored 44 goals for us. He played as a deep-lying striker or winger for us and helped us win promotion to the newly founded FA Premier League in 1992. He was our leading scorer in 1995 when we won promotion back to the top flight. He was replaced by the little fella (Juninho), so he moved on to Barnsley in 1996 where he finished his career. He contributed towards their promotion and they finished Division One runners-up and became top division members for the first time in their history. He was unable to prevent Barnsley from suffering relegation in 1997–98 however and after the end of that season he succeeded Danny Wilson as manager before finally leaving the club.

He can now be found on most match days at the Riverside where his bubbly personality ensures that he entertains new fans as well as the ones who used to applaud him from the stands. Always ready to chat he talks to us now:

2. The Interview – a quick chat

OFB: What year did you join Boro as a professional footballer?

JH: During the Summer of 1990.

OFB: Where did you stay? Did you rent, or did you live in digs?

JH: I lived at my home in Menston near Ilkley.

OFB: Who was your favourite Boro player and others that you have played with?

JH: I had two favourite players, Juninho and Paul Wilkinson.

OFB: Who were the best and worst trainers in the team?

JH: The best trainer was Nick Barmby and the worst was John Wark.

OFB: When did the team travel for away games, how did they get there, by bus or by train?

JH: We travelled mostly by Bus, but during the Bryan Robson days we often flew to games.

OFB: How many players usually travelled and did the Directors travel with you?

JH: We had a large squad of players which usually included an apprentice for the experience. The manager, coaching staff and physio also travelled with us. No Directors ever came with us they always made there own way to the away games.

OFB: Did you have nice hotels or was it just bed and breakfast?

JH: We always stayed in very good hotels.

OFB: Who did you room with for away matches?

JH: Mostly I was in a room with Paul Wilkinson, but I sometimes shared with Robbie Mustoe or Phil Whelan.

OFB: Who was the joker in the team?

JH: There were two of us who were the jokers, me and Trevor Putney.

OFB: Can you tell us any amusing anecdotes or pranks that were played?

JH: When Lennie Lawrence was the manager we had three different training venues which we used at various times. We would change at Ayresome Park first and then go and look at the blackboard on the wall outside the dressing room, which displayed that days training location. On April Fools day I sabotaged it! I changed the venue and two cars with players drove off to Norton. I then changed the blackboard again and three cars went to Kirklevington. The rest of us stayed at Ayresome Park which was the right place to train that day. It came as no surprise that the training at Ayresome Park was delayed by a few hours – This was when no one had mobile phones and we couldn’t round up the lads to come and join us. They were at the wrong grounds kicking the ball about and wondering where everyone else was. Luckily for me, Lennie saw the funny side of it and I got away with it.

OFB: Whose boots did you clean as an apprentice and who cleaned yours?

JH: When I was at Newcastle Steve Howie cleaned mine. When I was an apprentice at Coventry in 1980, I cleaned the boots of Jim Holton who went on to play for Manchester United and Scotland.

OFB: Did you try and emulate your style of play, on any individual player who played in your position?

JH: My heroes were both Celtic players, Jimmy Johnstone and Kenny Dalglish.

OFB: What was your most memorable game, your own individual performance and best experience with the fans?

JH: I had several memorable games and experiences. The Millwall game when I ran the length of the pitch and scored. My hat-trick against Blackburn when we won 3-2 and the fantastic atmosphere at Ayresome Park when I scored the last goal there. It was a sea of red and white and I’ll never forget it. (He has the same choices as me! OFB)

OFB: What was your worst game or experience and why?

JH: I remember losing to Aston Villa by five goals to nil and we were absolutely awful.

OFB: Is there a game that you wished you had played in, either for Boro or another team?

JH: I always regretted not playing for Boro in the F.A Cup Final at Wembley, I’d left the club some eight months previously and I was devastated that they were there without me.

OFB: Who was in your opinion the best manager that Boro have ever had and why?

JH: I always enjoyed playing under all my managers, but particularly, Bryan Robson.

OFB: Who was in your opinion, the manager that had the greatest influence on your career and why?

JH: Undoubtedly it was Dave Sexton who gave me my top-flight debut at 18 for Coventry against Spurs when we won 2-1. I’m indebted to him for giving me my chance.

OFB: Which opposing team and which player did you fear playing against?

JH: The player I didn’t like playing against was Paul McGrath who was so underrated.

OFB: Which opposing team and which player did you like playing against?

JH: I always enjoyed playing against Blackburn because I always seemed to score against them. I also loved playing at Anfield and Old Trafford and scored at both grounds during my career.

OFB: Who is your favourite Boro player of all time and why?

JH: My favourite Boro player of all time is Graeme Souness, who was a born leader.

OFB: Who is your current favourite Boro player and why?

JH: It has to be Stuart Downing, who is a good servant and ambassador for Middlesbrough Football Club.

OFB: How do you think the match day has changed from the time that you played professional football to the present day?

JH: Nowadays there is a lot more media scrutiny.

OFB: If you could be a fly on the wall, is there any dressing room you would wish to eavesdrop on?

JH: Jose Mourinho

OFB: Do you have any regrets in your career, or missed opportunities?

JH: No, I’ve no regrets, you pick your bed and you lie in it.

OFB: Do you still follow the Boro and their results

JH: I work at the Boro on matchdays acting as a host in the Middlehaven Suite, everyone is welcome at Diasboro to pop in and see me for a chat.

OFB: Whereabouts in the Country do you live these days and what do you do?

JH: I still live in the same village in Menston near Ilkley.

OFB: Whom have you made a lifelong friend through football?

JH: I have several lifelong football friends, that many I couldn’t name just one.

OFB: Finally, if you hadn’t had a professional career as a footballer, what do you think you would have done as a career?

JH: I don’t know, perhaps I may have joined the armed forces.

OFB: A huge thank you John for taking the time to talk to Diasboro and our readers and I’m sure that a few of us will be booking a place at the Riverside in the Middlehaven suite to have a chat with you.

Norwich City		Middlesbrough
Trybull	44′	Gestede (Sent Off)	28′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	74% 21  6  5  9	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	26%  9  1  4 11

Boro fail to cut the mustard

Pre-game there was some speculation that young midfielder James Maddison was struggling with a hamstring problem and hopefully might not make todays encounter. Norwich Club Captain and under the circumstances aptly named Pinto (one for the Ford aficionados) was ruled out after injuring his knee getting out of his car. All these injury concerns should be good news for Boro but considering that Wednesday had up to eight players out injured on Tuesday it was questionable if TP’s men would be capable of taking advantage of it.

Boro had been scoring on their travels previously and the hope was that our top scorer Ayala would be on form because our Strikers have conspicuously been found wanting since Pulis’ arrival. Norwich had their own Home ground hoodoo and so surely that allied to our scoring shackles being removed when travelling would hopefully yield a couple of Goals for Boro.

The Boro new boys Cranie, Harrison and Besic were all given a seat on the bench but surprisingly Howson was also benched in favour of Adam Clayton who must have impressed TP with his recent battling displays. Up front as anticipated by many Rudy Gestede was preferred to Britt Assombalonga, more than a few Boro fans however remain unconvinced that merely being tall and enabling the ball to bounce off your head doth not a footballer make. Maybe this afternoon Rudy will make his mark on the game.

James Maddison was declared fit after all and lined up in midfield for the Canaries. Early proceeding saw a quick chance for Downing and then the effervescent Maddison came close for City only to be blocked by Clayts. The first corner came off Friend and went to Norwich but was cleared away by Bamford. Boro survived an early bit of pressure to then win a free kick for a Hanley foul on Gestede which ultimately came to nothing. The game lost some of its early Norwich impetus as Boro got to grips and settled. A Pulis “hoofed” ball aimed for Gestede fell for Bamford but Paddy’s shot was wide against his former employers. Just minutes later Paddy was again on the goal trail but his shot went harmlessly across the front of goal. Since the opening six or seven minutes Boro had started to get to grips with the game and now giving the Norwich midfield and defence something to worry about especially as Adama gradually became more involved as we started to push up.

Adama was now causing concerns within the Norwich ranks and attracting some unwanted attention in terms of challenges but like Tuesday night he wasn’t always alert to the game going on around him and as much as a threat offensively he was a bit of a weak link by not always reading the game quickly enough and staying alert defensively. The first card of the day went to Gestede for a high challenge on Alex Tettey which was alleged to be dangerous by Ref Mike Jones, it wasn’t intentional but perhaps on reflection a bit silly. Nelson Oliveira then won a theatrical free kick which Premiership Ref Jones awarded against Ben Gibson for what looked like the most innocuous of challenges. Fortunately the resultant free kick from 35 yards out ended up nearer Portman Road than Darren Randolph’s goal as the clock just ticked past twenty five minutes.

On the half hour mark Rudy Gestede certainly made his mark on the game by flying into a totally unnecessary two footed tackle near the half way line on Grant Hanley with his studs up and deservedly received his marching orders in what was a moment of headless unprofessional stupidity.

The resulting free kick had howls from the home fans for a penalty after a collision involving Ben Gibson from which Boro broke and our new main striker Traore burst free but it ended with Bamford blasting wide. Traore again tore the Norwich defence apart and instead of shooting himself he played in Bamford whose chance ended up with a corner for Boro. The sending off fired Boro up and Norwich looking a bit rattled as Adama led the line and chased and closed down now free of his defensive shackles.

Norwich began building slowly again as Boro gradually retrenched. Maddison dummied Grant unleashing a long range shot which fortunately went straight at Randolph in what was the first serious Norwich threat since the sending off. Just a minute later Norwich took the lead as Boro were still sitting back inviting long range shots. This time from 25 yards out Trybull unmarked by both Clayton and Leadbitter let fly. The midfield pair uncharacteristically stood back presumably in awe of Trybull’s footwork to see the ball sail through the Boro defence and into the net as Randolph managed to get a fingertip to it.

Boro responded immediately by going up field with Bamford and Traore linking well and Trybull this time guilty of bringing down Bamford for a yellow card and free kick for his troubles. Grant’s ensuing free kick cleared the wall but unfortunately also cleared the crossbar. The half time whistle went immediately afterwards providing TP with a much needed opportunity to reorganise his pack.

There were no changes at half time from either side as Boro recommenced with Traore still leading the line with Stewy right and Paddy on the left. The red shirts were sitting deep once again inviting Norwich to shoot from distance which based on Tom Trybull’s opening goal possibly wasn’t the most convincing of tactics. Norwich proceeded to dominate things as Boro were now firmly on the back foot in the opening exchanges with Adama a virtual spectator, literally at times!

A forceful Adama shoulder “nudge” on Hanley surprisingly led to a corner for Boro which after a goal mouth scramble ended with Stewy lobbing the ball over Gunn’s crossbar. The game had dipped a little until a free kick just outside the Boro box saw James Maddison hit it under the Boro wall and just past the upright. Howson was being warmed up as TP looked to be ringing the changes. A frantic assault on Randolph’s goal saw Ayala defending well helping to protect his Keeper and the ball eventually went out for a Boro Goal Kick. Norwich made a change with goal scorer Trybull coming off for Leitner with Howson apparently still unready to enter the fray and hopefully create an outlet of sorts for Boro.

Boro were now struggling to make any impact and Howson eventually brought on surprisingly for Striker Bamford with the former Norwich and Leeds man now going right and Stewy switched to the left. Not surprisingly the yellow shirts were swarming all over Boro making their man advantage count as ten man Boro made very hard work of proceedings.

The game plan of keeping Traore up front wasn’t working as Boro simply couldn’t get the ball out of defence as Randolph was once again forced to make a diving save to keep us in the game. From the ball out Traore won a throw-in in the Norwich half which Shotton then launched into the box and going out for a corner. Frustratingly Downing swung the corner ball straight into the hands of Gunn who immediately launched a counter attack again forcing Randolph into action to save further Boro blushes. Under the circumstances that was a very poor Downing corner and nearly finished Boro’s afternoon because of poor ball into the box when in reality it was of the utmost importance to profit from.

With just under twenty minutes remaining Maddison was taken off by Farke to preserve his prize asset much to Boro’s relief with Vrancic taking his place. Meanwhile Boro had Britt, Besic and Harrison warming up as TP considered his options in what would be a final throw of the Boro dice. Randolph was once again called into action to save from Murphy as Boro struggled to break out and ease the pressure. With ten minutes remaining there was still no decisiveness from the Boro dug out until finally and what felt like far too late Britt was readied. A free kick to Boro was taken short by Downing who received it back again and then lumped the ball into the Norwich box and straight into Gunn’s gloves. Once again the Norwich Goalie launched it quick to break out but thankfully Randolph was quick to anticipate the risk and sprinted out to clear the danger.

Britt then did finally come on for Clayts as Boro went 432 to try and rescue something from the game with Traore playing just behind Assombalonga. Farke made his final change giving Hernandez his debut clearly feeling confident that the game was now won. Britt charged through the Norwich defence but was fouled giving a free kick just outside the box with Grant assertive in taking it but his delivery was about as weak as Downing’s corners had been all afternoon gifting Gunn an easy collection with two minutes remaining. Once again Norwich broke quickly from Gunn’s gloves with Oliveira being challenged by Gibson and winning a corner. As Boro again cleared their lines Traore was clear on the left and clattered into by Tettey but instead of letting the game flow the Ref made a decision equally as idiotic as Gestede’s tackle to pull the game back and in doing so giving a huge advantage to the home side much to the Boro bench’s annoyance.

The dying seconds were now frantic as Britt nearly created something as Norwich were composing themselves allowing the seconds to tick down. A last second corner to Norwich was the final twist of the knife effectively ending the afternoon as the Canaries took all six points from Boro this season.

Boro had been growing into and looking good in the game and likely to at least get a point up until the 28th minute and Gestede’s lunatic lunge which effectively finished off any Boro hope of a result in Norfolk and with it severely denting hopes for a place in the Play Offs. The only positive I can take from this afternoon is that Gestede will now be out for three games leaving only Bamford and Assombalonga to pick from and that in itself should remove any doubt in Pulis’ mind about his striking options and tactics. It is difficult to be too critical of our offensive performance today under the circumstances but it certainly needs addressing as patience and goodwill is ebbing away along with belief in the stands. MOM was for me was shared between Shotton and Ayala but one of these days I’d much rather be giving it to one of our Strikers!

Boro head to Norfolk hoping
away wins are the new normal

After yet another non-scoring disappointing display at the Riverside on Tuesday, Boro are back on the road where they’ve found scoring goals relatively easy under Tony Pulis. As they head to Norwich, the Teessiders will hoping their third trip away will yield another three goals as it did at both Preston and QPR. In fact it’s probably only those two results that have kept the Boro manager from facing a lot more criticism than he’s so far had – but a loss at Carrow Road on Saturday will perhaps start to dent supporters confidence in the ability of the new man to make Boro into serious contenders this term. A win would leave Tony Pulis with a respectable 10 points from 18 in his first six games but anything less will leave his Boro team appearing decidedly below par – Monk was dismissed after achieving just 9 points from his last six games.

With Boro’s planned promotion season looking somewhat undercooked, perhaps the Boro chairman Steve Gibson could ask the advice of Norwich director Delia Smith on why his plans to serve up tasty attractive football have proven to be half-baked. Perhaps the unpalatable truth is that the random expensive ingredients for success purchased by the last head chef were always going to be a recipe for disaster and Boro are now just getting their just desserts for squandering their resources. Although I suspect the search for the hidden magic formula at Carrow Road usually entails Delia emerging from her hospitality suite and asking the usual questions “Where are you? Where are you? Let’s be ‘avin you!” – though apparently rather peculiar or odd behaviour in these parts generally goes unnoticed as it’s deemed ‘Normal for Norfolk’. Incidentally, the origins of that less than complimentary phrase appear to derive from the previous convention of doctors to scribble NFN in a patient’s notes if they thought they were intellectually challenged.

The challenge facing Boro at the weekend will be to seek revenge after the Canaries inflicted a 1-0 defeat on Garry Monk’s team at the Riverside back in September – in fact Norwich supporters can possibly count the number of times their team has achieved a single goal victory this season on one hand, with five coming on the road and the other one at Carrow Road. Though despite the regional myth, the mathematical benefits of Polydactylism is not statistically restricted to those in born Norfolk and while ‘fingers galore’ may sound like the unlikely female companion of 007, there have in fact been two Bond girls born with an extra digit – Gemma Arterton, who played Agent Field in Quantum of Solace and Halle Berry from Die Another Day – neither of whom were from Norfolk I believe.

Norwich are currently in their second season in the Championship after, like Boro, only surviving a single season in the Premier League. Their parachute payments have not as yet helped them rebuild a squad capable of mounting a promotion challenge and after ditching Alex Neil last March, they made an unlikely choice to revive the club’s fortunes with the German Daniel Farke. Sporting the look of a mean but cool Miami Vice henchman who ejects punters from his boss’s casino for attempting to count cards at the Blackjack table, Farke is not a man who also enjoys gambling on the pitch as his team have struggled to score goals this season and have lost as many as they have won – though in the footballing world Tubbs and Crockett sound like the names of the ideal no frills centre-back pairing in League Two. I suspect the plan of Norwich was to try and emulate Huddersfield’s appointment of David Wagner since Farke was the man who succeeded him as the coach of Borussia Dortmund reserves when he left for the Terriers. The bad news for Boro is that after starting the season off-key, the Canaries appear to be finally on song as they’ve lost only one of their last six games and are currently third in the form table.

Norwich City		Middlesbrough
Daniel Farke		Tony Pulis
P29 – W11 – D7 – L11 – F29 – A33		P29 – W13 – D6 – L10 – F38 – A27
Position Points Points per game Projected points	13th 40 1.4 63	Position Points Points per game Projected points	8th 45 1.6 71
Last 6 Games Brentford (A) Sheff Utd (H) Bristol City (A) Millwall (H) Burton (A) Birmingham (A)	F-T (H-T) 1:0 (1:0) W 1:2 (0:1) L 1:0 (0:0) W 2:1 (0:1) W 0:0 (0:0) D 2:0 (1:0) W	Last 6 Games Sheff Wed (H) QPR (A) Fulham (H) Preston (A) Aston Villa (H) Bolton (H)	F-T (H-T) 0:0 (0:0) D 3:0 (2:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L 3:2 (1:2) W 0:1 (0:0) L 2:0 (0:0) W

Some supporters are now beginning to wonder if they were unconvincingly spun the tale of how Tony Pulis was going to be their knight in shining armour to ride to the rescue of Boro’s tarnished promotion season. Whilst the new Boro boss has added some much needed organisation to shore up the defensive frailties that were apparent under Monk, those at the sharp end of the pitch have by in large remained a blunt instrument that still struggles to bludgeon the opposition into anything approaching submission. Similarly, as Boro head to Norfolk on Saturday hoping to ask questions of the opposition, some may remember the pre-CGI old-school stop frame animated Anglia ITV ident of a unconvincingly spun silver shining knight on horseback, followed by those immortal words ‘From Norwich it’s the quiz of the week’. The star prize is still up for grabs for any of the contestants put forward by Tony if they can provide any quick-fire answers to the question ‘what does a striker do?’ – though no-one has yet won the coveted ‘home entertainment’ prize as the Riverside still awaits a winner in ‘Strike it Lucky’ as Boro followers hope their visits don’t become pointless.

Despite Tony Pulis promising to trim his squad, those tuning in for the Boro version of the ‘Sale of the Century’ on Wednesday night may have been left as disappointed viewing figures – all the talk of players only being sold if the price was right and not loaned wasn’t really bought into. Only Christie got involved in an auction, with Fulham making a late £3.5m bid to secure the services of our limited addition at full-back, which basically was our lot in terms of cash deals. Fletcher didn’t add to our bounty either as he instead walked the plank onto the sinking ship at Sunderland, where hopefully he’ll do his best to help ensure the Black Cats cross our path next season – just in case Boro are sold short with our promotion campaign as we have grown dependent on those six points.

At least Boro managed to move on probably our most expensive signing ever (based on cost per hour) as the lad from Watford, Guedoverit, had his contract cancelled by mutual embarrassment – meaning having paid £3.5m and probably at least £1m in wages for just over 180 minutes pitch time, he cost the club around £1.5m per hour of first-team football played. Incidentally, it may well have been cunning plan to cancel his contract in case Karanka suddenly remember who he was – or perhaps it was just insurance as I believe clubs can sign free agents beyond deadline day. It’s probably nothing more than unfounded speculation that our former boss needed a symbol in his squad that adequately represented the failure of the board to back him so if things don’t go to plan he can exclaim “I wanted Adam Clayton and all I got was the lad from Middlesbrough”.

Whilst the details are yet to emerge, Martin Braithwaite’s loan move to Bordeaux is likely to be one of those that automatically turns into a permanent deal in the summer – much like Jordan Rhodes did last year. Some may view it as a tragedy that the player and club have parted company so soon and it’s not clear if Pulis wanted to specifically say Au revoir to the former Toulouse forward. Perhaps the player was worried in a World Cup year that his career at Boro had exited stage left and he’d be somewhat forgotten in the state of the Denmark if he remained in a metaphorical small footballing hamlet in Europe. Possibly it was a case of a club showing firm interest in an individual forward, where there was an obvious surplus at Boro – it may have quite easily been Bamford or Assombalonga instead but finding an English club willing to match their market value was perhaps unlikely and moving a player to a non-competitor, like an overseas club or Sunderland, has little risk returning to bite you in the backside.

As for Boro’s three new recruits, all of whom arrived on loan, it’s hard to say whether they will be expected to have any immediate impact as they all appear to be lacking game time. Jack Harrison, who started spreading the news that he was leaving New York City to join Manchester City before heading to Teesside, is frankly short of match fitness after not playing for a couple of months. Bosian midfielder Mo Besic has barely played much football in his last couple seasons following a long lay-off after a cruciate ligament injury and will unlikely be seen as a starter in the near future. Also short on first-team action is Martin Crainie, who has appeared just three times this season for Huddersfield and is probably been signed as cover for both right-back and central defence. It therefore appears that Tony Pulis will be attempting to continue with those who remained at the club and will hope his forwards find a better understanding on the pitch.

Some supporters are suggesting Tony Pulis is working towards next season’s promotion campaign and wanted to keep his chairman’s resources for the summer, when he’ll shape a team in his image. I don’t really buy into that completely as Boro sit just three points outside the play-offs with a third of the season still to play. What we may see is the manager looking to find out whether Bamford or Assombalonga can play as his support striker with Downing and Adama charged with providing supply. We shouldn’t forget Monk was shown an early exit because of worries over this season not the next one – Top six is still the target for Pulis.

So will a nicely trimmed Boro squad let their hair down and continue their scoring spree away from home? or will Norwich clip our wings and leave us short at the back and sides? As usual your prediction on score, scorers and team selection – plus will Mark Page be also heading to Norwich to get some tips from the master Alan Partridge?

Middlesbrough		Sheffield Wednesday
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	49% 21 9 9 8	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	51% 12 1 3 6

Wednesday woe for weary Boro

The South Yorkshire club last battled with Garry Monk’s Boro in December in what was to be a fateful day for both Club’s Managers. It’s not often after a game of football where both Managers get the sack. Boro’s fortunes haven’t improved much in terms of placings since then but performances have, albeit somewhat subjective without the points return to prove it. Wednesday on the other hand have been on something of a run (or so I had read in a few places) but I have yet to understand how exactly as since the defeat against GM’s Boro they have played five, won one, lost two and drawn two in the Championship. Hardly breath-taking and nothing I would suggest for Boro to get worked up about. I guess it all depends on when or where you start measuring and since Jos Luhukay took over they had in fairness been unbeaten in his four games in charge prior to tonight albeit that includes the FA Cup, stats eh!

No doubt they will have missed Tom Lees their influential CB who was reportedly back in training but felt (hoped in my case) unlikely to be risked at the Riverside or so was the general consensus amongst Owls fans in the build-up. Jos Luhukay will have been pleased to get some good news about Lees in terms of fitness with his squad because Barry Bannan, Kieran Lee, Gary Hooper, Kieran Westwood, Fernando Forestieri and Sam Hutchinson were all ruled out with injuries. Surely with that list of predominantly their best players (bar Rhodes, Butterfield and Reach of course) they were there for the taking if Boro got their act together?

For Boro Dani Ayala was our only selection poser regarding fitness with the big question for Boro fans being would Fry or Christie start at the back. Up front was more of a lottery as TP seemed no nearer to settling his offensive unit although the Cup game against Brighton may have whittled his thought processes down a bit. Prior to the team announcements Gestede was considered the likely target man especially in case Nuhiu was playing to counter him at set pieces more so given Ayala’s likely absence. As it transpired neither Nuhiu nor Gestede started the game and Dani Ayala’s ice packs must have worked miracles as he once again lined up alongside Ben Gibson taking his rightful place surprising most in attendance.

TP largely went same again as QPR and why not, we scored three goals away from home and that had to be the objective tonight as the three home games so far under his reign have all fired uninspiring blanks. Traore started on the right in front of Shotton, Stewy in the middle with Bamford left and Britt up front. We started the game with some intent and chased, harried and closed down to good effect and looked by far the better side. That lasted for the first quarter hour and then the game dipped along with our intensity and like as not energy levels. It all got a bit messy after that for both sides.

Wednesday had won the toss and switched ends so that Boro started the game playing towards the North Stand in the first half. If it was a deliberate Traore trap then perhaps it was a masterstroke as without Pulis barking orders Adama looked lost again. Granted he did have some spectacular runs and indeed managed a free kick early on in a dangerous position just outside the Owls 18 yard box for which the Wednesday culprit Thorniley collected a yellow card but the ball (like most all evening) floated in was too predictable aiming at Dani Ayala which with the benefit of a few videos had clearly been researched by Jos Luhukay.

Adama was infuriating and breath taking in equal measure, dancing past two or three defenders regularly but with crosses that the last KLM flight arriving into Teesside Airport during this evening’s game would have had a better chance of reaching. For some reason in between his flashes of brilliance he reverted back to that lost little boy gazing at all the bright lights in the fairground, his focus seemingly distracted from what was going on around him. On a few occasions Shotton (who was excellent by the way) was anticipating him to start a run into open space behind the defence ready to play the ball through but Adama stood motionless or worse still ran towards Shotton to collect the ball.

Traore preferred the ball in a static stance and then started on a burst instead of seeing gaps, anticipating and running into them. TP must have seen the same thing as he done what most of us on here implored him not to do and switch him to the left wing part way through the first half. It went against everything in my book but it was the right thing to do as Adama appeared disengaged and very sedate during passages of play unless he had the ball literally placed at his feet from close range. It didn’t really improve things as he was very sloppy in possession, more so than ever perhaps yet still pulled a dazzling run out now and then but the crosses when they did come down had snow on them.

Britt was up there all alone but looked a forlorn figure. Chasing lost cause high balls into the box or dropping deep to try and get involved meant he was ineffective all evening. Bamford was lively but seemed to have applied too much dubbin (or the modern silicone equivalent) on his boots as the ball seemed to skid off him as he tried to control and twist and turn his way into setting up or creating opportunities. Stewy was running and chasing everything and anything, his heat map must look impressive for those tactical bods in the stand with their analytical laptops. He ran every lost cause and chased every opportunity and for me was head and shoulders MOM for his endeavour, spirit and effort alone.

Friend was equally as energetic but some of his balls were woeful and put us on the back foot but overall he got more right than wrong and at least offered some threat down his flank especially in the second half when Adama was switched back again to be alongside the dug outs. Grant was snapping and snarling in his usual manner into tackles breaking up play and Howson for me was a close second to Stewy for MOM which meant I was surprised when he was taken off into the second half for Clayton to go alongside Grant. Fatigue perhaps or struggling with a knock but if it was tactical it was a headscratcher as he was one of the few making positive runs at the Wednesday defence.

I’m struggling to recall any serious threats on Randolph’s goal all game. There were a few efforts but most were half the height of Boro’s overhit crosses all evening which meant they ended up well into the top tiers of the respective North and South stands. The biggest applause of the evening was when Adam Reach’s name was read out on the team sheet announcements and when Jordan Rhodes warmed up on the touchline. There were undoubtedly efforts and thankfully shots from Boro. Britt even managed to block a goal bound Ayala effort but most were long range daisy cutters which didn’t trouble Wildsmith in the Wednesday goal.

Paddy had an effort that was scooped over, Britt must have had his mums slippers on as he fluffed a few half chances and Stewy was limited to a few long range efforts that in truth although spectacular were not going to worry the Wednesday defence anytime soon and that includes right now, meaning that whatever time it is you are reading this at if we played until Easter this Boro side still wouldn’t have scored.

As mentioned Clayts came on for Howson in a triple Pulis swap with Assombalonga going off for Gestede and Braithwaite replacing Bamford. Nothing changed however just more over hit high balls lumped into the far side of the box where Gestede had half a chance of getting his head to them but they had no chance of being directed and besides Braithwaite was invariably busy scrapping out on the left linking up with George.

All in all a clinical and impressive Boro defence once again for the most part apart from a few second half panics. Dawdling nearly cost us a few times usually as a consequence of the ball being given away cheaply and thoughtlessly in the first instance which the North Stand expressed their views on by offering some constructive criticism none of which can be put into print on here but suffice to say it was an invitation to try the alleged Pulis style of Hoof Ball elaborated on with a few adjectives.

Wednesday were not a good side. Undeniably depleted but they were organised and effective mainly because we allowed them to be by having little serious threat up front. Adama was below his recent par tonight but still the only exciting or creative force. Stewy ran a Marathon and was in top form but there still doesn’t seem to be any organisation or planning with our attacks or the individuals charged with that responsibility. Now whilst I’m hanging these non-striking Strikers out to dry for their sterile efforts it has to be said that not all the blame can be laid entirely at their door. Tactically our offensive plays really are offensive but in the sense that they are in fact an affront to the senses of the watching masses.

Our corners seem to be to the near post for a flick on to the back post or one simple over hit ball straight to the back post where Ayala is supposed to win everything. In fairness to our tall Spaniard he does a damn good job and was unlucky not to find himself on the score sheet tonight so zero criticism from me towards Dani. It does get a bit predictable however and therefore easy to counter for the opposition defence. Adama’s runs seem to be outside the box mainly as he is fed (or more routinely collects) the ball on the flank, dances past four or five defenders but most of it outside the box. The speed he runs at and the tricks he pulls off would be far more dynamic inside the 18 yard box some of the time as the fear of a challenge leading to a penalty or the likelihood that Adama would keep on going and instead of running to the by-line he may well run the ball over the goal line!

Paddy tried but nothing was working for him and alarmingly he looked lost at times and frustrated that balls were either being played to him in tight spaces (for most of the night) or in areas that were not dangerous. He too did himself no favours as there appears to be little movement off the ball in and around the opponent’s goal mouth and far too many passes which quite frankly are just that, passes but none into space, anticipating runs or dragging defenders out of position. The result of this is defenders and midfielders easily getting back to cover, packing out the final 20 yards of the pitch and us trying to pick our way through treacle. Little wonder then that we are making zero impression at home on the goals front.

Wednesday never really tried to win this game and whilst perhaps parking the bus would be unkind to them there is a reason why they have a growing tally of 0-0 draws under Jos Luhukay. As great as our defensive organisation is a credit to the new management team our attack now stinks out the Riverside. Having £30 odd million pounds worth of supposed Striking talent at our disposal doesn’t ring true, as bad as they all are at the minute they surely cannot all be as bad as that collectively?

Something isn’t working and I accept that they may not be to the Manager’s taste and preference but as Mogga used to say it is what it is. There needs to be a little more imagination and creativity going on at Rockliffe very soon as the boos which serenaded the side at the end of tonight along with the sarcastic “Ole’s” when we managed to actually find a Red shirt and string a few sideways passes together will grow in parallel to the frustration levels.

Tonight was the game were the tangible improvements under TP spluttered and the new Manager’s grace period severely tested. Sometimes in life we have to be accepting of what we have versus what we would want or even like and make the best out of it. I don’t think that right now we are making the best out of our Strikers, as good or as bad as they may all be. The fact that Dani Ayala is TP’s top scorer tells a very monochrome story.

Pulis hoping for no last-minute
surprises on or off the pitch

Boro play host to Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday evening with Tony Pulis hoping to avoid any more last-minute surprises both on and off the pitch as the club look to close the gap on the play-off pack while holding on to their key players before the January window closes. The previous two home games for the Boro manager has seen his team pay a heavy price for not taking their chances in front of goal as first a 95th minute dubious penalty and then a 90th minute richocheted clearance gifted undeserved victory to the opposition. You could call it bad luck or simply failure to avoid luck being a decisive factor – Boro must make their ascendency in games count to avoid future disappointments.

Nevertheless, if the game remains goalless as the clock ticks down then Boro supporters may be forgiven for wanting to make their excuses and leave early from the Riverside – though perhaps not as early as many Presidents Club attendees may have claimed to have left when quizzed by the media. However, should Boro unwisely gift the Owls a late winner then it will no doubt be received by the Riverside faithful with as much jaw-dropping incredulity as an ‘unspiced-up’ wife of a City banker who was romantically presented with the plastic surgery auction prize on her husband’s return from the Dorchester ‘charity’ event.

The return fixture against Sheffield Wednesday comes barely a month after both teams met in what became the gold-standard of post-match managerial carnage that would rival anything a Nordic BBC Four subtitled thriller could offer. Two hitmen, two bullets and not so much as a ‘God rest you merry gentleman’ as the ruthless chairmen showed that they had what it takes to despatch their respective puppies, that in the end were not even for Christmas. However, in the ensuing confusion as the bag-men of Swansea rushed to clear up the crime scene they appeared to take the wrong body back to South Wales. In a rather unexpected plot twist, where Monk was being quoted as favourite to return to his old club, the managerial casualty of the night that ended up at the Liberty Stadium was instead former Owl’s boss Carlos Carvalhal. The Portuguese manager still hasn’t been able to remove the smile of disbelief from his face every time a camera is pointed in his direction – what’s more he’s actually only lost one of his seven games since taking charge. It just goes to show that landing on your feet is far easier if you haven’t spent most of the season shooting yourself in the foot.

Middlesbrough		Sheffield Wednesday
Tony Pulis		Jos Luhukay
P28 – W13 – D5 – L10 – F38 – A27		P28 – W7 – D11 – L10 – F30 – A34
Position Points Points per game Projected points	8th 44 1.6 72	Position Points Points per game Projected points	17th 32 1.1 52
Last 6 Games QPR (A) Fulham (H) Preston (A) Aston Villa (H) Bolton (H) Sheff Wed (A)	F-T (H-T) 3:0 (2:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L 3:2 (1:2) W 0:1 (0:0) L 2:0 (0:0) W 2:1 (0:1) W	Last 6 Games Cardiff (H) Sheff Utd (A) Burton (H) Brentford (A) Nottm Forest (A) Middlesbrough (H)	F-T (H-T) 0:0 (0:0) D 0:0 (0:0) D 0:3 (0:1) L 0:2 (0:1) L 3:0 (2:0) W 1:2 (1:0) L

The Owls new boss is Dutchman Jos Luhukay, who has seemingly been plucked out of obscurity and has spent most of his managerial career in Germany. He bears the resemblance of a sad-eyed daydreaming character from a Coen brothers’ black comedy who has spent his life in Minnesota hoping his life will become a little more exciting, then instantly regrets it when it does. Whether the two goalless draws in his last two Championship games have quickened his pulse sufficiently to qualify as excitement is uncertain, but hopefully he’ll find his first trip to the Riverside particularly suited to those less than happy-looking eyes.

Luhukay got his first big break in management at Borussia Mönchengladbach when he was promoted shortly after becoming assistant following the resignation of current Bayern Munich manager, Jupp Heynckes. A team name which spawned one of the more famous cult German football references in indie pop with ‘Supercalifragilistic-borussia-mönchengladbach’ by Half Man Half Biscuit – though not to be confused with their other footballing-themed musical classic: ‘All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit’, which in case you were wondering was like an Arsenal shirt but bright yellow with maroon sleeves that was guaranteed to make you stand out in the crowd. Indeed, some may even recall the band’s other 80s singles ‘The Trumpton Riots’ and ‘Dickie Davies Eyes’, which of course was named in homage to the Kim Carnes hit about Bette Davis’ peepers.

Sadly, just two months into the next season there were few crumbs of comfort as Borussia sacked Luhukay for bad results, which is often the way the cookie crumbles in football. Perhaps pushing the metaphor a little further, he then like a well known four-fingered chocolate biscuit, gave himself a break before snapping back into action as the manager of German second division Augsburg – who you may remember were Boro’s final pre-season opponents in the summer. Incidentally, this was the friendly that also heralded the beginning and the end of MFC’s attempt to stream matches online as the project crashed and froze after just a few minutes – more iFolorn than iFollow. Anyway, in the Dutchman’s first full season, Augsburg narrowly missed out on promotion when they finished third but went one place better the following year and gained entry to the Bundesliga.

Luhukay resigned at the end of his first season in the German top-flight with Augsburg and joined second-tier Hertha Berlin in 2012, winning promotion as champions at the first attempt with only two defeats. He remained at the Berlin club for a further 18 months until being sacked in early 2015, before being offered a place in the hottest of hot seats at Stuttgart for the 2016-17 season. However, he resigned after only 5 games due to ‘conflicts’ with the chairman, leaving the less than stable club looking to appoint their eighth manager in just three years. So after 15 months out of the game, Sheffield Wednesday have decided perhaps this 54-year old second-tier German league promotion specialist was the man to get them back into the Premier League – maybe a bit of a random choice but it seems most managers are these days.

The difference for Tony Pulis as Garry Monk’s replacement is that he is still under pressure and expectation to achieve the original goal of promotion. The job of Luhukay is to halt the slide and stabilise Wednesday’s Championship status, as all but the pathologically optimistic Owls supporters would entertain an outside shot at the play-offs. I’m sure many will gladly swap positions with the Boro manager, although there is still a difficult job ahead to unpick the imbalanced squad, whilst simultaneously banking the points required to fulfil the aspiration of a top-six finish. It’s been clear that in the few weeks since he arrived, Pulis has already restored a sense of purpose to the team on the pitch – the problem he can’t easily address is how to reconstruct a creative forward line from the seemingly disparate collection of expensive attacking players.

Most Boro observers have pretty much agreed that Downing and Traore have nailed a starting berth under the new manager, plus it’s become increasingly apparent that the prerequisite big-man Gestede is the gaffer’s preferred option up top. This essentially leaves the £40m combined hidden talents of Britt, Bamford, Braithwaite and Fletcher are most likely competing for just one place. As each week passes it appears that none of these players have put in performances that have whispered let alone shouted ‘pick me’. One of these four one-trick ponies of the apocalyptic level of spending need to be a revelation pretty soon if they are to convince Tony Pulis that they should satisfy his requirements come judgement day.

A player who seems to go from strength to strength under Tony Pulis is Adama Traore – he’s quickly becoming (and I mean quickly) the heir to ‘The Little Fella’ in the eyes of many supporters and this is demonstrated when he receives the ball by the rise of excited decibel levels from 0-60, which is almost as fast as the finely tuned motor of the player himself. It’s a timely reminder that in spite of all the talk of football methodologies, tactical formations and understanding, there is nothing better than seeing a player in full flow with a seemingly magically control of the ball playing with the joy and belief that the game is there to express yourself. The talk of possible offers being made by the usual lower to mid-table Premier League clubs is only a symptom of how far he’s come but as Ben Gibson so succinctly put it “Let’s not get carried away. Adama has scored one goal for us. When he has 30 people can talk about him moving.” – wise words indeed from an old head on young shoulders – or should that be the other way around after carrying the burden of our failed Premier League season?

In terms of team selection, the Boro manager will have to decide on who will try to replace Daniel Ayala after he limped off against Brighton – in theory Dael Fry is more than capable of stepping in if Pulis doesn’t want to disrupt his back-line too much. It will depend on whether Christie has convinced his manager that he can defend or if Fry is rated as highly as he was earlier in the season. Most will expect Leadbitter to return in the middle and I’m sure someone in Nottingham will be viewing who gets the nod with interest too. In terms of other departures, I don’t think Boro will budge much on their asking prices for those players that are being coveted – the reality is that financially Boro don’t need to sell, it’s just a preference to trim the squad that will leave them open to the right offer.

So will Boro put the game to bed nice and early to leave their supporters dreaming of a trip to the Play-off final in May? Or will the Owls put a screeching halt to the plans of Tony Pulis as they apply the brakes on his promotion progress? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will Tony Pulis be sporting his new lucky Dukla Prague away cap?

Middlesbrough		Brighton
		Murray	90′
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	47% 16  3  6  5	Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls	53% 11  4  5 16

Brighton rock blunt Boro

This was only the second time both sides had been drawn together in the cup, the prior meeting being in 1906 so I’m guessing that it’s probably safe to say there was nobody in attendance with a grudge from the previous cup encounter let alone remember it. Back then it took three games for Boro to eventually be victorious after two 1-1 draws.

Recent form indicated that this was not going to be a free scoring affair considering that Brighton had only scored six goals in their previous thirteen games, hitting blanks in nine of them. Boro on the other hand hadn’t drawn in eighteen games winning ten and losing eight of them so inevitability factored predictions were perhaps favouring that a draw was long overdue for Boro and like as not a tight low scoring one with Brighton eventually winning the replay. A draw in reality would be the last result either side wanted, there again TP was due a win at home so who knew what was about to unfold.

Team selections were rumoured to be a second string Brighton side to safeguard them for their Premiership survival being just a solitary point above the drop zone or conversely a full strength Brighton side to try and get back to winning ways. Tony Pulis takes the cup seriously and had hinted that he might make two allowances to take a look at a couple of players. When the sides were revealed TP had made three changes with Chris Hughton making seven changes. In came Fletcher, Clayton and Braithwaite for Boro but interestingly (and linking to our previous discussions on here about understanding) there were seven players in Brighton’s starting line-up that played in that infamous 1-1 Riverside draw.

The game started very cagey, something perhaps for chess aficionados to savour rather than an exciting swashbuckling cup tie. Previously during the warm up it was interesting to note a small sub plot being enacted near the East Stand with our backline taking turns to come out and challenge with the three remaining defenders drifting across covering. During the match our defence looked resolute and unruffled as Randolph had nothing of note to be concerned about in the opening 45. It is evident that there is now a very clear strategy and game plan at the back and we are almost getting back to AK levels of defending.

Brighton probed and we sat back absorbing their forays but without being under any great threat. Truth be told the game was a bit flat and resembled a pre-season warm up rather than a cup tie as both sets of players seemed to be sussing out the opposition. Fletcher was largely isolated but won his fair share of headers and seemed to have a bit of pace along with his first touch being more composed than Gestede. It wasn’t a defining moment for the player by any means but considering his isolation he done OK in a fairly thankless role.

Braithwaite is a bit of a conundrum for me, he pops up in the right places for nicking the odd goal but when in possession I am never convinced that he will hang onto it and worse that he is likely to give the ball away sloppily. Playing behind Fletcher in the No.10 role today he did nothing of note to dispel those fears. He was involved in a lot of the passages of play but never really influenced anything. Clayton started the game well but I suspect tired a little near the end but was busy buzzing around filling in for Grant. My guess is that TP sees him as a solid midfield terrier and will want to retain his services taking one for the team Grant style as Brighton broke out near the end of the first half.

Bamford was deployed wide left which in fairness I don’t think is his strongest position but he got back and defended well and also went looking for the ball when in possession. A few flicks and tricks didn’t come off but he seemed to be a little more settled and composed and playing himself back into confidence and much more of a team player to the detriment of his attacking instinct at times. Adama on the opposite flank was literally terrorising Suttner so Hughton instructed his charges to double up on him. It didn’t make much difference as whether it is two or four defenders Adama is happy to take them all on. His runs had the fans out of their seats and hopefully BBC and their MOTD programme tonight don’t highlight too much of Traore’s pace and skill alerting Premiership (and Continental) clubs.

Knockaert was Brighton’s main threat and Hemed was proving a bit useful early on but we never even remotely looked threatened or had cause for anxiety. It was all very controlled and disciplined from Boro and Brighton had nothing to unlock our two banks of defence especially with one nervous distracted eye on Traore. Therein lay the root cause of Boro’s striking malaise, we looked indifferent and lacking ideas apart from feeding Adama, wind him up and watch him go. As an indication of just how surreal the atmosphere was a round of applause for Grant and Stewy warming up was the loudest the South and North Stands mustered in the first half. I found pleasure in watching the defensive organisation in the Boro side but offensively Braithwaite produced little and Fletcher was feeding off scraps as he put in a willing, chasing and closing from the front type of performance.

The half time whistle went and a polite appreciative round of applause rippled around in a strangely subdued stadium which saw Boro look the better side but limited to a few threats on goal from an Ayala header from a corner which was straight at Krul and an Adama shot which forced the ex-Geordie stopper to dive to his left pushing the effort onto the post. Brighton started the second half by bringing on Propper replacing Dale Stephens (he of Gashed Shin fame) who didn’t finish his last Riverside sojourn either.

As seems to be typical of the new Boro Manager he made a double switch after ten minutes into the second half in an effort to make an impact in the game. It was at this point that although the Subs themselves made sense the methodology afterwards handed Brighton the initiative and Boro went from looking comfortable and composed to getting embroiled in a scrappy messy game. Downing came on for the ineffective Braithwaite and Britt for Fletcher who in fairness could consider himself unlucky as he had a fairly thankless task chasing his own knock downs. Downing was put on the right with Traore moved to his weaker (much) left with Paddy moved centrally. Personally I would have put Downing centrally and left Bamford where he was along with Traore who had teased the heart and soul out of Brighton’s left hand side.

There was some merit in the logic of the switch around with both Stewy and Adama cutting in on their favoured foot but Brighton seemed to be able to impose themselves after the double substitution in a game that up until that point they had looked decidedly Championship standard at best. Adama continued to trouble the Seagulls albeit less frequently encouraging Baldock into a hefty challenge which earned him a yellow for his troubles. At the other end Randolph who had been largely unemployed was now suddenly being questioned and a fumbled save saw the ROI Keeper collide with the up until then lively Skalak with both needing treatment and Dimi warming up. As it happens Randolph recovered but Brighton were forced into bringing on Izqueirdo for Skalak which in hindsight worked well in Brighton’s favour. A few moments later Ayala challenged for a header that went well wide of the Brighton goal in an effort to take the lead but he seemed to land awkwardly in a stretched sliding motion. Minutes after Dani was laid out apparently with what looked like a groin strain as the physios called time on his afternoon forcing TP into his final sub as young Dael Fry came on to cheers of “Tee, Tee, Teessider”

As the game ebbed and flowed Propper was booked this time for clattering Adama. Hughton decided to try and avoid a replay by throwing on the artful dodger himself (allegedly) Glenn Murray for Hemed who had all but disappeared at this stage of the game. The game was concluding in exactly what neither Manager had wanted a draw! Thoughts were focussing on the Amex and how schedules would permit a replay when Izqueirdo crossed, George cleared only to see it ricochet off the chest of the incoming Murray to fluke a Brighton winner in injury time.

For me a draw would have been a pain and I much preferred for the game to be settled as a contest today which ultimately it was. Disappointing definitely, unfortunate even but as Ayala’s injury highlighted it was a contest that like the winner itself deflected from the main Boro objective of making the Play Offs. Whilst I am sure the Brighton fans will have travelled south in far better spirits than their last visit here I am also sure that a few of them will also be questioning the distraction of a cup run when they are embroiled in a relegation dog fight. Hughton’s last throw of the dice had worked and fair play to him as they go into the draw for the next round.

MOM for Boro had to be Adama but Clayton looked solid and dependable and I thought that both Friend and Shotton had good games. Howson was again making things tick but our front line hasn’t clicked all season. I think TP now has to stick with one of his Strikers and the chosen three behind him of which Stewy and Traore have to be nailed on in an effort to build up the intuitive understanding that his back line have demonstrated of late. Another home defeat but it feels more like another step forwards strangely despite the obvious shortcomings in some areas of the pitch. Meanwhile we have to sweat on the extent of our recent and unexpected talismanic net finder, Dani Ayala.

Boro supporters dreaming of Wembley
– albeit in the Play-off final

Boro welcome Brighton to the Riverside as they look to overcome top-flight opposition in the FA Cup and enter the hat for the last sixteen. Should Tony Pulis guide his promotion hopefuls through the tie and see off Chris Hughton’s newly promoted team, we could then be potentially only two more wins from Wembley – even less if Boro are drawn away to Spurs. However, the fans of Tottenham must surely have by now grown tired of singing Chas n’ Dave’s 80s anthem ‘Spurs are on their way to Wembley’ as they head to every home game, perhaps just the odd attention-seeking 47-year old pet-food salesman that still lives alone with his parents in north London continues to enthusiastically chant it. Though the lack of media excitement on Teesside over the forthcoming fixture has probably meant the only trip to Wembley that Boro fans are actually dreaming of is the Play-off final.

In a way the FA Cup has come at the wrong time for Tony Pulis, as last week’s display at QPR saw his team put in probably their best team performance of the season. Instead, the manager is left to ponder on whether to make changes with one eye on Tuesday evening’s Championship fixture – although he previously picked a strong line-up for the last round against a poor Sunderland team, there was no midweek game to follow after that encounter. Perhaps he’ll still go with his favoured back-four and possibly give Clayton a start instead of Leadbitter. I’m sure the supporters will be looking forward to see whether Adama can add to his first Boro goal but maybe the manager won’t want to risk a headline-making performance against Premier League opposition while the transfer window is still open. Questions have yet to be answered once we get up front and personal, with most of Boro’s strikers still having something to prove under Pulis, though it’s not entirely clear which of them will have long-term futures beyond January.

Despite the draw of the Cup, Seagulls followers making the the long trawl up from the south coast in search of scraps of comfort are unlikely to be packed like sardines in the away end at the Riverside. Brighton have only won one of their last dozen games and that was the 1-0 victory against bottom of the form table Watford, who haven’t exactly been buzzing since Marco Silva was left chewing over the public approach by the Toffees that eventually stirred the Hornets hierarchy into action this week as he was dismissed. The Albion’s only other points in these games were from three goalless draws and a 2-2 against fellow strugglers Bournemouth – in fact the Seagulls have only scored in three of those last 12 games, all of them at home.

Apart from top scorer Glen Murray, their strikers appear to lack conviction – though perhaps the player who scored a late winner against Palace in the third round won’t be taxing the Boro defence and evading his marker on Saturday after he was arrested this week for an alleged £1.1m tax fraud following an investigation by HMRC. It’s possible that Chris Hughton’s new £14m signing from PSV, Jurgen Locadia, will get a chance to add to his 62 goals (albeit over six seasons) that he has accumulated in the Dutch league. Before Boro supporters start to get too concerned I should add the magic calming words ‘Afonso Alves’, who bagged as many league goals in Holland in his last two seasons as Locadia has managed in six – who after discovering the barn doors in England were trickier to hit subsequently hung up his banjo and headed for pastures new.

Middlesbrough		Brighton
Tony Pulis		Chris Hughton
Last 12 Games QPR (A) Fulham (H) Preston (A) Aston Villa (H) Bolton (H) Sheff Wed (A) Millwall (A) Ipswich (H) Bristol City (A) Derby (H) Birmingham (H) Leeds (A)	F-T (H-T) 3:0 (2:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L 3:2 (1:2) W 0:1 (0:0) L 2:0 (0:0) W 2:1 (0:1) W 1:2 (0:2) L 2:0 (1:0) W 1:2 (0:0) L 0:3 (0:1) L 2:0 (2:0) W 1:2 (0:1) L	Last 12 Games Chelsea (H) West Brom (A) Bournemouth (H) Newcastle (A) Chelsea (A) Watford (H) Burnley (H) Tottenham (A) Huddersfield (A) Liverpool (H) Crystal Palace (H) Man Utd (A)	F-T (H-T) 0:4 (0:2) L 0:2 (0:1) L 2:2 (1:1) D 0:0 (0:0) D 0:2 (0:0) L 1:0 (0:0) W 0:0 (0:0) D 0:2 (0:1) L 0:2 (0:2) L 1:5 (0:2) L 0:0 (0:0) D 0:1 (0:0) L

Tony Pulis appears to be deferring a decision with regard to any potential incoming players until he sorted out departures, which has left some supporters impatiently waiting for announcements. It’s possible that there may be valid reasons for the lack of news – for example, it was suggested this week that the delay in the long-awaited transfer of Alexis Sanchez to Old Trafford was seemingly caused by the Arsenal player needing to practice his rendition of ‘Glory Glory Man United’ on the piano – the expectation is that this new trend in unveiling videos may now catch on in the same way goal celebrations have. Many are already anticipating a Lewis Grabban’s version of “You are my Boro, my only Boro” as his piano is wheeled out of the player’s tunnel at the Riverside on deadline day. However our own particular budget restrictions may only see a Les Dawson style performance on the ivories with a wincing Neil Bausor sheepishly appearing from behind the piano lid before he attempts his trademark smile to seal he deal.

Indeed, Fletcher’s loan move to Sunderland has possibly been held up after his proposed rendition of ‘We are the Champions’ on the kazoo for his unveiling video has been vetoed by the Wearsider’s hierarchy on the grounds it came across as just way too sarcastic. Though it was initially unclear whether the cash-struck club could actually stretch to a kazoo and his offer to perform on the tissue and comb was also dismissed as appearing unnecessarily cheap. Both clubs are still hoping a compromise can be reached, plus as we speak, the Boro bench-warmer has almost perfected an acapella version of ‘Going down with the Brummies’ with Marvin Johnson accompanying him on the penny whistle in the hope that a double deal can be hammered out. Fingers crossed, though I suspect that they may have now gone too far in the other direction and it’s possible a back-up tune may be needed – perhaps ‘The only way is up now’ may strike the right note to the severely depressed at the Stadium of Light.

Another player facing overtures for his services is Adam Clayton and it has been rumoured that Leeds may be showing an interest in adding to their collection of Boro midfielders – Whether the under-employed fans favourite will be contemplating kissing another badge anytime soon might depend on whether he can envisage puckering up to the crest-fallen design that the Mighty Whites have unveiled for next season’s centenary shirt. For those not familiar with this particular work of art, it depicts a headless torso in a short-sleeve shirt with the muscular right arm forming a fist over the chest. Although the lack of tattoos on the arm of the man in the badge may not be a deal breaker for the Boro hipster, some reviewers have labelled it Soviet-style imagery or pseudo-fascist in appearance.

Whilst the view from the glass houses of stone-wielding Boro badge apologists is somewhat subjective, perhaps the death knell was rung on this West Yorkshire embodiment of burning passion when someone unkindly likened the new crest to the pose of the Gavascon man suffering from indigestion – which has now culminated in over 50,000 supporters signing a petition to block its introduction. All of this badgering by disgruntled Leeds supporters has resulted in the design process being revisited – overturning the view of apparently 10,000 random punters who previously approved the design in the initial consultation, some of whom may even have been still sober when they gave their affirmation at the seemingly out-of-focus group. In addition, the accompanying incongruent marketing strapline of ‘Celebrating fans at the heart of our community’ could easily be replaced with ‘A hundred years of punching your neighbour on the left’ and still make better sense.

Another player who may soon no longer be bringing home the bacon at Boro is the Danish international Martin Braithwaite, who cost the club £9m in the summer. Despite putting in less than sizzling displays of late, he’s generating interest in France with Bordeaux hoping that he’ll return to the vintage form that he showed last season in Toulouse – whether Boro will want to lose a player that has shown he can on occasion be a match winner is uncertain. Although Braithwaite has not so far been a player to catch the eye of Tony Pulis, it may provide an opportunity to generate cash and redistribute these significant resources elsewhere before the transfer window closes. The unknown factor is if the 26-year old will be willing to contemplate a fringe role at Boro as he hopes to win a place in Denmark’s World Cup squad.

On paper, I may be tempted to put Boro as slight favourites to beat Brighton on Saturday as the opposition have been struggling to score goals and may be missing their value added top scorer in Glen Murray. In addition, the Seagulls sit just one point outside the relegation zone and face third bottom Southampton in a crucial south-coast derby on Wednesday. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Chris Hughton rest some key players and we know that the depth of squads for newly promoted teams is not that of the bigger more established clubs. Much will depend on whether Tony Pulis believes in the importance of the game or if he too only has eyes for Wednesday – albeit Sheffield on Tuesday.

So will Boro be harbouring thoughts of Cup glory as Tony Pulis pushes the boat out against Brighton? Or will the Seagulls swoop down on the Riverside and give us a nasty tern as they steal our catch for the next round? As usual your predictions on score, scorers and team selection – plus will we hear an unidentifiable tune from a practicing mystery signing emanating from deep within the Riverside?

It would seem that ditching over-complications and focusing on what attacking players can do instead of what they can’t has genuinely given Boro a new lease of life, says Simon Fallaha

“Luck is the forgotten arbiter of football destinies.
We are tactics-mad because, as humans, we like to
believe we are in control.” – Jared Browne, 2012

What is ‘Eurocracy’, in football terms?

I’m not sure anyone can put a finger on just the right words to use. But if you asked me, I’d simply say: a continental philosophy that places command, control, tactics, teamwork and managerial image over free-spirited, individual technique.

It may sound rather modern, but it’s actually been around England for many years. The Liverpool Boot Room culture, Sir Alex Ferguson and Kenny Dalglish were able to adopt elements of the continental game to obtain success either at home, in Europe, or both.

Suffering on the side lines throughout the nineties were two very individualistic squads, Roy Evans’ Liverpool and Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle. Throw our own Bryan Robson’s class of 1995-97 into that group too, such were the qualities of his attacking players in contrast with most of the defence – with apologies to Phil Whelan, Derek Whyte et al.

By 1997 the Wengerlution was taking shape and clubs were catching on to Eurocracy as a means of a path to the top. Chelsea joined in, as did Liverpool with the arrival of Gerard Houllier and the shift to a more solid and commanding style. Even Robson was not beyond building his success from 1997-2000 on a strong backbone and team players.

Generation after generation of Eurocrats – Mourinho, Benitez, Guardiola, Rodgers, Klopp, Wagner, you name them – have arrived and prospered to varying degrees since, with equally varying responses to their styles. Be they attacking or defensive, the need to command and control remains paramount. See: Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool teams and how they didn’t feel so confident when they weren’t allowed to dictate.

Arguably, Boro’s biggest Eurocrats of recent times have been Steve McClaren and Aitor Karanka. One need only contemplate their coaching pedigree, the experience that success on the biggest stages of all gave them, and how they attempted to adopt said principles into something concrete and successful.

And neither was entirely popular at Boro.

Were they the problem, I often ask myself, or was it the culture that spawned them which created limitations under each tenure? At best, things were genuinely good, even great. There was genuine moments of strong unity, at least on the surface, along with progress that either you hadn’t seen for years or didn’t think you’d see again at all.

That, frankly, is not the sort of ride that you want a naysayer – even if he or she is ultimately right – to derail. And with Karanka alone, I discovered joy beyond magic “No 10s”. I took great pride in watching confident, ball playing centre backs, commanding midfield generals, multi-purpose wing men and all-purpose forwards.

How nice it would be to just applaud and build on the merits. To accept that every story has to end sometime and leave it at that. But it’s not that simple. Because it’s quite common for Eurocratic managers to dig their own grave very deeply, very quickly. Such is their desire for control.

It doesn’t matter if the coaching philosophy is cautious or cavalier – the Eurocrat is likely to reach a point where he cannot take the team any further, but is too proud to admit it. The squad then see the vultures gathering over his head, the team start to drop more points, the fans get on his back, and it’s goodbye to any form of confidence, let alone command. That’s how you end up with games like Stoke 2, Boro 0, and a once imperious manager looking as white as a sheet.

Perhaps Eurocrat rhymes with bureaucrat for a very good reason. All those complex dossiers, lots of passing patterns, ‘subtle and artistic’ link-up play, meticulous research into tactics, training and image. You look at all that, and everything written about it, and think that it must amount to something great. But sometimes, it’s left looking like a puddle that pretends to be deep but really isn’t.

And the Eurocrat becomes the Emperor’s Clothes, a laughing stock who many are keen to either forget or remember as a figure of comedy. Like, in my opinion, the greatest comic bureaucrat of all time, Yes (Prime) Minister’s Sir Humphrey Appleby. It’s hard to forget “The Key”, where he is locked out of No. 10 for attempting to exert a little too much power. An instance of a somewhat obstructive but useful individual becoming downright oppressive and insufferable, and there was joy in seeing him receive his comeuppance.

On reflection it is also sad that it can come to that for the Eurocrat, for I would never want to discard his merits and methods entirely. Any analysis must be fair and objective, and there are many, many positives that can and should be both lauded and carried forward.

Still, continuously favouring the solid over the surprising and the workmanlike for the spontaneous will eventually guide any team to a dead end, regardless of how successful a strategy may be for whatever length of time. What an analyst may deem “putting an overpaid ego in his place” and “showing him who’s boss” can equally be deemed condescending to the player, and harmful to team spirit. It’s not a case of too much coaching, or too little coaching – but the right coaching.

Players don’t always need to be “corrected”. They need to be appropriately utilised for the good of the individual and the team. It is here where the Eurocrat can put his pride aside and learn from the more experienced man managers, thinking about what a player can do rather than criticise him for what he can’t.

This is where the recent success of Adama Traore under Tony Pulis comes into play. Were a coach overly determined to “correct” his game, as Karanka surely was, he would note, as The Secret Footballer did about Kyle Walker, that Traore has so much pace that his control (there’s that word again) simply isn’t as good as it ought to be, and that he would rely on being fast enough to catch the ball in time for a cross from the wing even if he over hit his first touch.

But, as TSF says, the pitch is only so big, and Walker would knock the ball out for a goal kick countless times, all because he ran out of pitch. “It’s like watching Forrest Gump.” (Now where have we heard that one before?)

He adds, “It is symptomatic of fast players that their touch suffers as a result of their pace” and that there are areas of the pitch where “a fine touch” and “good control” are essential. So Karanka would be far from alone in being immensely frustrated by Traore’s lack of a final ball. Yet TSF also notes – and I am entirely in agreement here – that coaches and scouts are “suckers” for pace. And so are fans.

For too long, I feel that we at Boro have been taught simply to be grateful for the dependable without being able to fully appreciate the unpredictable, the maddening even, that can take a team’s football to another level. Traore has no defined role, as such. He’s not what you’d call consistent. But he is, for all his imperfections, a special player, one who keeps bringing you back to watch the team.

And if that’s not part of what makes us love football, I don’t know what is.

It’s early days, but it may well be that Pulis’ arrival at Boro represents the first stage of a new cycle for the club. Where the cult of managers and all-conquering tactics is ebbing away into forwards being forwards, attacking midfielders who attack, erratic but lively wingers, full backs that defend, and reliable goalkeepers. An attempt to counter all the over-complications in “the beautiful game”.

Or, to put it simply…

“Football is a simple game made complicated
by people who should know better.”

Thank you kindly, Bill Shankly.