Middlesbrough vs Cardiff 13/12/2009

Boro 0 - Cardiff 1

With Boro striding out to 'Steel River' I was confident that we might just get something out of this game, especially after the recent run of home results, but unfortunately I was to be disappointed.

An all time league low attendance suffered in the cold as Boro yet again were sunk by an average team by lacklustre defending, more so on the part of Brad Jones. In addition to this earlier on in the game Marcus Bent had an amazing opportunity to fire us into the lead, but upon receiving the ball looked like a scared rabbit in the headlights of a car and froze, then lazily passed.

Apart from this there is little to report back, just another poor performance at home.

Player Ratings

Jones - 5
Pogatetz – 7
Wheater – 6
StLedger – 6
McMahon – 5
Williams – 6
Yeates – 7
Osbourne – 6
Johnson – 6
Kitson – 6
Bent – 5

Subs
Lita – 5
Emnes – 5

Boro Man of the Match - Mark Yeates
Attendance - 17,242
Game Highlight - None

Thanks for reading, and as always comments (good or bad) are always appreciated. Keep a look out on Twitter (@MFCFacebook) and check the links section of this blog for the Facebook MFC Fanpage.

Middlesbrough vs Blackpool 8/12/2009

Blackpool 3 - Boro 0

By Tim Ketteringham

Before the game there was a renewed atmosphere around the Riverside stadium, Boro were back after the 5-1 mauling of fellow promotion hopefuls QPR the previous Saturday. If we could win this game we would be back in the playoff mix and then looking to reign in the top two over the festive period. Blackpool, with only 1 win away all season (back in early September against a disjointed Nott’s Forest), would provide the opposition.

The game started with Boro lining up 4-4-2, with Johnson returning at the expense of Yeates after a family illness prevented him from travelling to London to face QPR. Blackpool, like most teams who visit the Riverside set up 4-5-1, with the well travelled Gary Taylor Fletcher leading the line.

The early exchanges were in Boro’s favour, but Blackpool’s tight shape prevented Boro breaking through. On a rare attack Johnson got free on the right hand side, fed the ball back to Williams who swung a cross in, which Kitson headed downward only to be saved by the keeper’s legs and spin away to safety.

Blackpool worked hard to keep pace with Boro in the first 20 minutes and it paid dividends when a long ball caught Boro cold. A diagonal ball was played out to the diminutive Branan on the wing and he slipped in side Williams before sliding in Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Boro still had chance to deal with the threat when Sean St Ledger had chance to clear his lines but his weak tackle meant Taylor-Fletcher looked up with the ball at his feet and his simple finish easily beat the on rushing Jones.

The Boro crowd groaned with discontent, but we could get back in this, we had to get back in this. Only the crowd believed this though as the players began to press the self destruct button, Blackpool running riot for the 5 minutes after the goal with Ormerod and the excellent Branan pushing on to support the very mobile Taylor-Fletcher. The crowd were incensed, as was Brad Jones in the Boro goal, Williams bearing the brunt of his, and the crowds, frustration.

Just when it seemed we were getting a foot on the ball again we switched off. Taylor-Fletcher stood arm aloft between the two centre backs and Branan, simply lofted the ball into him. Again Boro had time to clear, but again we tried to nip it of his toes, and once again it was left at his feet for him to slide it home.

The away fans were ecstatic, the home fans enraged. They players stood looking at each other, both Wheater and StLedger looking sheepish as they knew they had cost us the two first half goals.

We simply never recovered from this in the first half and the half petered out with not a single shot on goal since Kitson’s early header.

Half time: Boo’s and MFC 0 – 2 Blackpool

The second half began with McMahon coming on for Williams. Williams it seemed had paid the price for the poor first half display but in reality it could have been anyone of Wheater/StLedger or him. The crowd still sensed we might be able to get back into it with an early goal, and as the first 20 min of the second half passed Boro became more and more confident, without creating that elusive chance. Kitson went close when a sharp cross from Lita was steered just wide and then when Arca was shaping to shoot the ball was nipped of his toes. Surely the goal was coming…..

…it was. Blackpool continued to be a threat on the break moving both with and without the ball and the captain Charlie Adam broke free from his midfield position and beat a couple of weak challenges before excellently steering his shot inside Jones’ left hand post. Game over.

Mass exodus followed with thousands heading for the exists with disgruntled mumblings under their breath. Blackpool celebrated and how they deserved it.

Boro made 2 more substitutions when Gary O’Neil had to be stretchered off in what looked like a bad fall and the Yeates replacing the disappointing Arca. Yeates showed a great work ethic in his time on the pitch and created a couple of decent balls but the game was lost and again Blackpool sat back and soaked up what little attacking threat boro caused.

The final whistle came with a small boo, only because most people had left some 15 minutes before the end!

In summary, individual mistakes cost us goals but until we learn to break teams down at home we will struggle. We need to force teams back, take a gamble. It was all to defensive.

Only a couple of Boro players came out of the game with any credit, Mark Yeates for his enthusiasm and direct approach and Emmanuel Pogatetz for his excellent defending and commitment.

Man of the match: Branan (Blackpool) – caused Boro problems all night long with close control and slick passing.

Player Ratings

Jones - 5
Pogatetz – 6
Wheater – 4
StLedger – 3
Williams – 3
Arca – 4
O’Neil – 5
Osbourne – 5
Johnson – 5
Kitson – 5
Lita – 5

Subs
McMahon – 6
Yeates – 6
Digard – 6

Boro Man of the Match - None! Blackpool MoM was Branan
Attendance - 18,089
Game Highlight - The final whistle

Thanks for reading, and as always comments (good or bad) are always appreciated. Keep a look out on Twitter (@MFCFacebook) and check the links section of this blog for the Facebook MFC Fanpage.

Southgate's Signings

Now we are about a third of the way through the season, I thought that it might be a good time to look back at some of the new additions to the squad, as Gareth Southgate prepared his team to conquer The Championship. We'll look at what impact the players have made and how their futures may pan out at Middlesbrough Football Club. I think its too soon to look at Gordon Strachan's additions, but I will be writing about Gordon in the coming weeks, and will include his signings in that post. So, on to the players...

Danny Coyne - Goalkeeper

Danny was a welcome signing to a proportion of the crowd, who realised that we were very short of cover in this department. He made an excellent start to the season, aided by Wheater and Huth, and was the only Championship keeper to keep clean sheets for his first four league games. It looked that we had found out number one, but then it all rapidly went down hill at home against West Brom, letting in 5, and gifting them their second by clearing the ball to an opposing player whilst someway off his line. Coyne then got a knock, was replaced by Brad Jones, and despite not always looking the best keeper has kept his starting place. I think that if Jones has a nightmare he might have a chance to re-establish himself under Strachan, but it does look like he is now our permanent number two.

Mark Yeates - Midfield

Gareth's second signing of the pre-season came from Colchester, and was keen to impress. He made a bright start to his Boro career against Sheff Utd, looking like one of the best players on the park, and creating Boro's best chance of the game but his shot went narrowly wide.
Since then his appearances have been sporadic, making a few starts and sub appearances. At times we see glimpses of what a player he could be, but I feel like he hasn't yet been given a chance to show his full worth to the side. Since Gordon Strachan took over we have only seen a few minutes from Yeates, as Strachan doesn't seem to fancy the Irishman. As he has not really featured recently could be a favourite to be moved on come January, but the attitude of Mark suggests to me that he'll stay and fight to get back into the team.

Leroy Lita - Striker

Leroy was what Boro needed - an experienced Championship striker - with an fairly impressive strike rate in the Championship. He debuted against Sheff United, but waited until the fourth game of the season to make his mark for Boro by scoring a difficult chance against Doncaster, in a 2-0 home win. He went on then to score at Reading, his former club, and more recently against Notts Forest. Leroy has partnered Emnes, Aliadiaire, Folan, Bent and Kiston, but I am sure he is looking to forge a regular partnership, and to start converting a higher percentage of his chances. Lita has been known as a trouble causer in the past, but I'm positive with the right partner up front, and a regular run in the side he is more than capable of getting at least 15 goals this season.

Caleb Folan - Striker (On Loan From Hull City)

Somewhat of a panic signing from Gareth (or so it seemed, especially with his goal scoring record), Caleb joined us from Hull after falling out of favour with Phil 'The Perma-Tan Man' Brown. Debuting in the 5-0 home defeat to West Brom his Boro career didn't get off to the best start, then a subsequent injury has kept his off the pitch for the best part six weeks. He seems to be a hot favourite to get shipped back to Hull now Strachan has arrived, but only time will tell. The Leeds born striker was keen to impress and earn a contract when he arrived, so with any luck once fit he'll be trying his hardest to get back into the team.

I think whilst Gareth was trying to address the major areas of concern within the squad, the players that he brought in, Lita aside, are just not of the quality to be challenging for automatic promotion. Is this because Gareth was given little backing by Steve Gibson and so he had to buy this quality of player, or was Steve holding the money back because he was getting sick of it been wasted on flops. Either way, funds are now available for Gordon Strachan, and prior to January I'll post a similar piece regarding his signings, and maybe give some predictions for the January transfer window.

Thanks for reading, and as always comments (good or bad) are always appreciated. Keep a look out on Twitter (@MFCFacebook) and check the links section of this blog for the Facebook MFC Fanpage.