Boro - Just a One Man Team

As I sat in the stadium yesterday I wondered 'has our recent decline really been due to Gordon Strachan, or is there another reason' and then it hit me. Adam Johnson.

I mentioned this to my mate sat next to me, and we both wondered how what the results have been when he has played well, and what they have been when he's not directly contributed, so I set about collating a few statistics to see what the answer was.

Now unfortunately I can't find a site with his player rating out of ten for each game (and this blog doesn't go back that far) so I had to go with the games he played, missed, scored and assisted in, and it makes shocking reading:

Includes two cup games where points have not been counted

When Johnson plays, and contributes with a goal or assist, we win 64% of our games, compared to 12% without a contribution. 23 points with a Adam Johnson contribution, and only 10 without.

Has Johnson's contribution flattered Southgate?

Now here is the interesting thing, Boro have now played 28 games in all competitions this season, and also each manager has managed for 14 games each, so its a good time to look at the 'Johnson Effect' for each manager. Now something you hear quite a bit is that we should never have got rid of Southgate as we were one point off top... but how much of this had to do with Southgate's managerial ability, or just that Adam Johnson was in a patch of good form?

In Gareth Southgate's 14 games in charge, Johnson contributed a goal or assist in 8 out of 14 games (57%), and in Strachan's first this figure is 3 out of 14 games (21%).

Now it could have been that Southgate got the best out of Adam Johnson, but there was signs there that his form was ebbing away - in the last six games Southgate had in charge Johnson only contributed in two games, leading to three losses in the same period, so I'm not convinced that it was this. We all know Johnson couldn't keep his Ronaldo like form up all season, and I believe that his drop in form had started prior Strachan taking over, not because he took over.

I'll leave you to make your own conclusions, you might still think that Southgate should never have got sacked, or that we should cash in on Johnson now, or even that Strachan is the answer, but whatever your opinion, the figures speak for themselves and go to show that Adam Johnson is the most influential player at Middlesbrough Football Club by far...

Barnsley v Middlesbrough 28/12/09

Boro 1 - Barnsley 2

Hoyte 23

No match report due to Christmas holidays

Player Ratings

Coyne - 6
Riggott – 8
Wheater – 7
Hoyte – 6
McMahon – 6
R Williams – 7
Johnson – 6
Arca – 5
O'Neil – 6
Franks – 4
Bent – 4

Subs
L Williams - 6


Boro Man of the Match - Chris Riggott
Attendance - 18,001 (4,446 Boro)
Game Highlight - Amazing away following again - well done!

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.

Peterborough vs Middlesbrough 28/11/09

Peterborough 2 - Boro 2

Kitson 28, 58


This report has to be brief, mainly because in the terraces I couldn't really see the game, I only really saw Kitson's second goal!

A few points that I would like to make though are as follows:

Adam Johnson

The lad again had a really off game, don't know what his problem is at the moment... Maybe all this talk of moving to a Premier League club on a big money deal might be distracting him.

Dave Kitson

Brilliant performance for two goals, shame he is off back to Stoke in 6 weeks!

The Fans

The support was amazing on Saturday, but there was an awful amount of booing at full time. Fair enough, it was a must win game, and we only drew, and Posh are a poor side, but I think that the fans went a little over the top. The most amazing shout I heard was "Strachan Out - Southgate In!" - you do wonder if some fans have any clue at all - Strachan has only had 4 games mate... come on!!

Anyway, thanks for reading, sorry not very detailed, but despite terracing providing a great athmosphere you can't see any of the game!

Boro Man of the Match - Dave Kitson
Attendance - 10,772
Game Highlight - The Terracing, what an athmosphere

Middlesbrough vs Notts Forest 21/11/09

Boro 1 - Forest 1

Lita 5

I went into this game thinking that we could win, and after the well taken goal for Boro, courtesy of Liroy Lita, went in I thought we had a chance. Unfortunately for Boro though we lacked any sort of creativity from Midfield, with Adam Johnson putting in possibly his worst performance of the season.

The first half was pretty solid from a Boro perspective however neither team threatened on goal, but the second half was a different story all together. From the off Boro were under pressure and no matter what they tried they could not keep possession. Kitson, making his Boro debut, was subbed off in favour of Bent, and I felt things from this point went from bad to worse. A couple more subs followed, but nothing that could change the game in any way.

During the second half David Wheater hand balled on the edge of the box, and Robert Earnshaw calmly slotted in the free kick. This was a worrying development in Wheater's game as from this moment his confidence seemed to desert him, and he struggled though for the rest of the game.

Overall, a poor performance from Boro with Brad Jones having to come to the rescue on more than one occasion, and another week passes by without a home win...

Player Ratings

Jones - 8
Williams - 7
Wheater - 6
St Ledger - 6
Pogatetz - 6
Arca - 6
O'Neil - 7
Osbourne - 7
Johnson - 5
Lita - 7
Kitson - 6

Digard - 6
Bent - 6
Franks - 6

Boro Man of the Match - Brad Jones
Attendance - 22,710
Game Highlight - The Top Gear presenters on the pitch at half time... that says it all really!