Good morning peeps and Boro fans

This post is a nice insight into the world of Middlesbrough FC from May 2009 onwards.

We're at the stage in the season where the track splits into two. Which way will we be heading in the last part of our journey on this roller-coaster ride of a season?

One way will lead us back to the dark days of the club's history. 1986 will be eerily revisited if we go down. The impact of getting relegated will not only be felt in the pockets of Mr. Middlesbrough, but also in the dressing room. The internationals that currently wear the Boro shirt will no longer have a love affair with Teesside. The better players especially the more experienced players will be seeking new clubs this summer.

The list is as long as the first-team meaning that the new manager, whoever is appointed in the summer, will be inheriting a former Premiership team full of boys.

Big names in the side will want to leave if we get relegated to the Championship. Will the likes of Tuncay, O'Neil, Pogatetz, Huth, Alves, Digard, Aliadiere and Downing want to play their football in the second tier of English football? I certainly don't think they will be Boro players next season if we go down.

To make matters worse, these players will be sold at cut-price to Premiership teams or European clubs. Our financial situation will get worse and worse throughout the season because of the low sell-on transfers - the worst being Afonso Alves. The Brazilian once cost £12million and since his arrival has been a complete flop. We will be lucky to get a quarter of that price-tag now.

If we do face the worst situation and we are relegated this season - what will we be left with? Well, the local lads will still be around fingers crossed. Players like David Wheater and Adam Johnson will have massive decisions to make. If they want a place in England's World Cup squad for 2010 I'm certain they will have to be playing Premiership football meaning Boro's once hailed 'stars of the future' will no longer be at the club that nurtured their talents.

A team of local boys is what we'll have left to compete in the Championship. This will make the task of bouncing straight back a very tough task.

Of course I'm hoping we won't be relegated, but this is what we might have to expect next season.

Follow the Boro Brick Road...

                  

Good Afternoon peeps and Boro fans,

I hope everyone is well and you haven't missed me too much?!

Looking back on the season we have seriously underachieved in front of goal. We have only scored 20 goals this season which to be blunt is embarrassing. 

Full blame should be on the shoulders of the clown that decided to take a punt on Afonso Alves. The Brazilian is noway near what we thought he was capable of. Waste of money and very hit and miss.

 Our Brazilian striker has been left out of the first team by Gareth Southgate in the last four games in the league and cup leaving us to believe that Fonso is no longer wanted by the Boro manager.

Southgate mixed up his options for the F.A. Cup replay against West Ham and paired Aliadiere up front with Tuncay Sanli. The two played very well together which left the Boro boss no option but to continue his new look forward line.

Alves has sat on the bench three out of the four games he has not started with the other one coming from him being ill with a stomach bug. Stomach bugs in modern professional footballer terms is code name for sulking.

I wonder if giving Alves a stint on the sidelines will improve his goals to games ratio?! If the Brazilian does find the net against Portsmouth on Saturday I will certainly be one of the first to congratulate Mr. Southgate for his stroke of genius.

It could go the other way though and he doesn't play again for us. The price we paid is becoming more and more of a joke as we see the results of goals to ratio getting worse and worse.

The striker owes us big time. We gave him the chance to play at the highest level in football and so far he has been a total flop. We need goals as a team and he needs goals to save his career. We all know he can score goals, but can he score goals to save us.

Can he repay us or will he be on his way when we get relegated?

Follow the Boro Brick Road

Afternoon Peeps and Boro fans,

Less than 24 hours until Boro kick off at the Riverside against Wigan Athletic. The game is being billed by many as the biggest game of the season so far for Middlesbrough. I would disagree though. All of our remaining games of the season are massive. In terms of our management options, maybe.

Early team news

We have no fresh injury news ahead of the game tomorrow, which is great news for us because Southgate can play almost hid strongest team tomorrow. I say almost because Aliadiere will not be included in the side tomorrow. He was meant to return from injury next week, but Southgate might include him the squad for tomorrow. We're all hoping he can bring a spark back into the team and give us much needed confidence.

Chris Riggott is back in the squad again after recovering from a knee injury which he picked up a couple of weeks ago against Manchester City.

I can't see Southgate changing the team much from the last performance at Upton Park. I'm not sure whether he will keep the same XI or add Tuncay to the team to give us more firepower up front.

Southgate's probable XI:

                                                                    Jones

                                   Hoyt          Wheater              Huth        Pogatetz

                                Johnson         O'Neil               Digard          Arca

                                                                        Downing

                                                                 Alves

Follow the Boro Brick Road XI:

                                                                     Jones

                                   Hoyt          Wheater              Huth        Pogatetz

                                   Johnson         O'Neil               Digard     Downing

                                                             Tuncay       Alves

The formation against West Ham was the right one, but the formation for tomorrows league game needs to be 4-4-2 with two strikers up top who can work off each other.

Don't get me wrong, I like to see Downing switching to a more central role from time to time, but that leaves us short up front when we only play Alves. If Downing is to move into the centre, then why not play him in the 4-4-2 formation? I think the second formation would cause Wigan all sorts of problems tomorrow.

Prediction: Middlesbrough 2 Wigan 1

A tough and fiery contest, but Boro are on the verge of hitting top form and I could see that happening tomorrow.

Enjoy the game!

Follow the Boro Brick Road..

Afternoon Peeps and Boro fans,

I'm very interested to see how Lee Cattermole reacts to the reception that will greet him at the Riverside this Saturday. The local Teesside boy, now playing at Wigan, will get a warm welcome from the Boro fans on Saturday, but that will be where the pleasantries stop because I expect Lee to get at his former team-mates from the off.

The boy who cried for his team

                                          

If Southgate chooses to play Downing in a more central role again this Saturday, then I think Cattermole will be the player to track Downing'd movements. It will be a very interesting encounter to see two former team-mate battle against each other in the middle of the park.

A lot of Boro fans raised their eyebrows in the summer when Cattermole was allowed to move away from the Riverside. Lee was a very likeable player especially after he shed tears during a match against Aston Villa one season. Southgate has made the slightest of alterations to the centre of midfield since Boateng and Cattermole left last summer. Didier Digard was the only viable replacement leaving us with just two experienced Premier League midfielders, O'Neil and Julio Arca - something that will be a talking point if we get relegated.

The boss will be looking to put one over on Wigan in many ways, not just because of the three vital points needed, but also to prove a point to onlookers that he was right to sell Cattermole and also prove a point that Ben Watson chose the wrong club in the transfer window.

Ben Watson chose to join Wigan after he was offered more money, which is fair enough, but Southgate will be slightly peeved that an up and coming England player chose to sign for a rival club other than Boro.

There will be scores to settle in Saturdays game between players on the field and also players off it. No matter what the outcome of the game is I'm sure a certain Egyptian will have his say. Mido is injured at the moment, which is a massive shock to the football world because he never sustained an injury at Middlesbrough. The 'Boro' striker is ineligible to play on Saturday anyway, which I am pleased with because he is the type of player that always scores against former clubs. Yes I said former club there. If Wigan beat us I expect Mido to go on a rant about how happy is at Wigan and that Boro are a team on the way down. By the way, did I mention that Mido will definitely leave the Riverside in the summer?

I'm looking forward to the game on Saturday. It should be a classic.

Follow the Boro Brick Road..

Hi Peeps and Boro fans,

I hope everyone is preparing themselves for a frantic weekend of football! Middlesbrough are playing Wigan Athletic at home on Saturday which is being tipped as potentially Southgate's last game in charge of Middlesbrough.

With a winless run as long as Pinocchio's nose, after he's been saying he's not made of wood, Southgate will be in deep trouble if we lose. To make matters worse, we could actually be propping up the table on Sunday evening if other results go against us.

We're looking brighter

I've noticed we are looking much more brighter in the last couple of games. We have seen the team go out and attack teams rather than sit back in previous outings. After the dreadful home draw against Blackburn a few weeks back I thought it couldn't get any worse. Luckily it didn't, since then we have been in much better form. Although we lost against Manchester City, we still showed more promise going forward and we were playing some decent football at times.

Some impressive displays from Digard and Johnson have given the team a massive lift in terms of confidence and energy.

The West Ham game last Saturday was much better from the boys. We went at the Hammers from the off and should have been in front by a larger margin at half time. Although we conceded late on to another set-piece it was encouraging to see a more settled and balanced side produce some free-flowing football.

5 days to save our season

We play Wigan on Saturday and then play West Ham the following Wednesday in the F.A. Cup fifth round replay at home. Southgate has 5 days to save our season from being a disaster.

I see it as the most important week of our season because if we lose on Saturday and, then lose on Wednesday night we will buckle and I fear we won't be able to recover.

The players will have to take the confidence from the West Ham game into Saturday and hope that they can produce as many chances and maybe convert a few of them.

The pressure is on. Can we do it?

Team news to follow in tomorrows post

Follow the Boro brick road..

Afternoon Peeps and Boro fans,

I'll do a short post today because I am slightly superstitious that something might happen whilst typing this pots. Not really, I just can't be bothered today.

West Ham v Middlesbrough

Southgate will take the kids on a road trip tomorrow to play the Hammers. I expect the gaffer to play a couple of fringe players tomorrow as he tries to get the confidence going within the team. A starting place for Marvin Emnes is on the cards after he grabbed the winner against Wolves in the previous round. Also, we could see Josh Walker given a chance in the middle with Digard although, O'Neil may get the nod to partner Didier.

                                     

Adam Johnson, fresh from his performance against Ecuador will be looking to impress once again down the wings. His displays over the last couple of weeks have been encouraging despite the teams downfall.

I'm pretty sure Southgate will not play his strongest team to face West Ham tomorrow. He likes to be different and I'm sure a few eyebrows will be raised once again by the travelling fans at Upton Park.

Middlesbrough starting XI:

                                                                  Jones

                                            Hoyte      Wheater   Huth     Pogatetz

                                           Johnson    Digard    Walker   Downing

                                                           Alves     Emnes

Prediction: West Ham 1 Middlesbrough 2

Alves and Emnes to score.

Follow the Boro Brick Road..

Good morning Peeps and Boro fans,

I thought I would give you the run down on what's going on at the club. Looking at some news feeds yesterday and this morning I have come across this very interesting point.

Following on from the news that Sky have a new deal in place with the Premier League. How will this affect us? Well, as we are trying our best to get relegated to the Championship it might be good to know that we will miss out on lots of money due to the new increase in money that has been given to the Premier League.

I was thinking that Gareth Southgate may be taking notes. Does he realise the mess the club are in? If we get relegated to the Championship we will lose our entire first team along with our coaching staff, the later being not so important. The players will be sold on for peanuts and the lack of experience will then show in our very young squad.

The Premier League will certainly up their annual T.V. rights money for clubs for next season meaning the gulf between the Championship and the Premier League will be even bigger than before. Gareth is not worried though because he has nothing to lose, other than his reputation. Actually hang on, what reputation?

It is Steve Gibson that I am more worried about. With his finances tight against the club it will be a disaster for him and his haulage company. An estimated loss of £60million is being predicted if we go down and Steve Gibson will have to foot the bill.

If Steve Gibson already knows this, then why has he not acted upon our dire situation? I am clueless to that question. Might it be that the bond between the chairman and the manager is stronger than we first thought. If so, then Gibson is a stupid man. The chairman needs to get someone else in to steer us away from danger. I'm amazed he hasn't sacked Southgate yet. It's in his best interests to do so.

Top flight football is so crazy sometimes. No wait, it is crazy most of the time. I mean take the Chelsea situation at present. They are chasing the Premier League title, they are in the knock-out stages of the Champions league and they are in the last 16 of the F.A. Cup yet the board have just sacked their manager for losing against Liverpool and drawing at home to Hull. How fickle is that?

On the other side of the crazy, top flight football, spectrum Middlesbrough, who are in deep trouble and can't score for all the toffee in the world, are persisting with their current manager. What a weird world we live in! Is this why we love football so much?

Follow the Boro Brick Road..

Afternoon Peeps and Boro fans,

It has been a few days since my last post. I have been lost in the wilderness for a while, but have now found home again.

Boro have been battling away in the relegation zone recently without making any progress. You can't call a point at home to Blackburn progress. Can we?

Where do we go from here? 

The Manchester City match on Saturday was much better in terms of end product, but the result was inevitable becaue of our confidence in front of goal.

When I say end product, I mean getting forward and into dangerous areas to cause the opposition trouble resulting in shots on goal.

Southgate managed 180 minutes of football without a goal threat prior to the City game, but within 20 minutes on Saturday, either side of half time, we went close on three separate occasions. Alves

had all three chances to score but was thwarted by Shay Given. That was always going to the biggest problem on Saturday against Manchester City, their new goalkeeper.

Boro have a habit of playing against opposition goalkeepers that are in the best form of their careers. Given made two world class saves to deny Afonso and received man of the match for his heroics.

I must say Brad Jones was also excellent in the opposite goal. He produced many good saves to deny City in the first half. I must admit, if we do go down, we will have two very good goalkeepers to help us back up.

It does look bleak in terms of results, but at least the performance was encouraging from Saturday. We actually looked like scoring. Shock!

My manager notes

Clueless again on Saturday. Bates in midfield and O'Neil on the bench. What is he playing at? Digard was back, but was taken off with half an hour to go with no sign of fatigue or injury. Has Southgate lost the plot?

Another moan must go to Southgate for leaving Tuncay on the bench and persisting with Marlon King up front. The gut has offered nothing since his switch from Wigan/Hull.

If Southgate keeps up the crazy decisions he will soon be following Tony Adams to the managerial scrapheap. 

A trip to West Ham on Saturday will ease the pressure on Southgate, but a heavy defeat to the hands of the Hammers will mean curtains for GS.

Follow the Boro Brick Road...

Afternoon Peeps and Boro fans,

How's it going!

This is a make or break weekend for Middlesbrough FC and, in particular, our oh so friendly manager, Gareth Southgate.

The team could be rock bottom of the Premier League table and without a manager on Monday morning. Tomorrow's game at the Riverside is massive, it is huge, it is big. 

The fans will be there in their numbers to support the team, but I can see them turning on the men in charge quickly if Blackburn get their noses in front.

Nothing less than a win will only do for our passionate fans. We do not care how we win tomorrow just as long as we win. Ugly the better I say.

We are boosted by the news that Southgate will not park the team bus on the edge of our own box tomorrow. He says we need to be more attacking.

"We must have more of an attacking threat and we need to show it against Blackburn. Obviously we have to combine that with a positive overall performance."

Marlon King will, almost certainly, start against Blackburn tomorrow. This leaves a slight confusion as to where Tuncay will play because King's partner will be Alves.

Will we finally see Tuncay in the middle of the park? I'm hoping so. Our Turkish international played there in the EUROS last summer and was excellent in that position. If I hear all three names in the starting line-up tomorrow I will be very pleased.

Bold selection for tomorrow's game:

Turnbull

Hoyte    Wheater   Huth    Pogatetz

   Shawky           

  Johnson         Tuncay       Downing  

  King      Alves 

 

Southgate's safe selection for tomorrow's game: 

 Turnbull

McMahon   Wheater   Riggott   Pogatetz

Tuncay    Arca   Shawky    Downing

King       Alves

 

I know which one I would like to see, but Southgate has a habit of bottling the team selection for important games.

Good luck to the lads tomorrow and let's see goals and, more importantly, three points.

Up The Boro!!

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Morning Peeps, Chelsea fans and Boro fans,

I hope everyone is well because this one could be a tear-jerker. Tissues on hand everybody because, as the title says, this post is about the death of 4-4-2. Not the magazine, you numpty, the formation.

I witnessed an awful game of football last night at Stamford Bridge. The game was billed to be an exciting encounter. Chelsea were chasing Liverpool and Manchester United whilst our lot were trying to break the dreadful run of form.

Gareth Southgate hinted he might play an attacking formation at the Bridge, playing two up front, but he went against his initial thoughts and played one up top with the bus parked behind Marlon King.

Apparently we defended well for 60 minutes in last nights game. Where has Southgate clutched that assumption from? Was he watching the same game as I was? Chelsea are a shadow of the team that played under the guidance of Jose Mourinho. They play a very narrow formation these days, which makes them very predictable.

The Blues have no clue how to play their 'other' best players. It seems the team is jostled around Frank Lampard. Don't get me wrong, Lampard is a terrific player, but the Chelsea line-up needs to play a formation that will allow them to get the ball into dangerous areas from out wide. Drogba was excellent when he came on and single-handedly tried his best to break past the big red bus. 

Even Big Phil needs to look at a 4-4-2 formation to boost his team.

Southgate should have noticed Chelsea's lack of ambition in the first half and changed the formation to 4-4-2. It was clear after about 15 minutes that Chelsea would play the ball around in midfield with no end result. The only time the Blues got the ball wide in the final third was when Anelka picked the ball up and if he had the ball there, who was in the box? You guessed it, nobody.

Last nights game will not be used as an advert for Premier League football. Lack of ambition, no passion and two managers that are clueless with tactics. 4-4-2 was officially dead last night.

Southgate will get a lot of stick from Boro fans after last nights defeat. Most, including me, expected to see a brave formation and a strong attacking line-up to face Chelsea. We were all disappointed Gareth.

What did we have to lose? Nothing. We were stuffed 5-0 at home against Chelsea so why did Southgate feel it was important to park the red bus at Stamford Bridge? He feared the worse of course. Something that will backfire on him in the not so distant future.

Boro had nothing to lose against a top four side and showed no adventure what so ever in the game. Johnson had a couple of jinking runs down the right, but barely troubled Cole. Downing was as quiet as a mouse all evening, hardly on the ball and never able to threaten.

The player I feel most sorry for was Marlon King. He was put up front on his own to deal with Alex and Terry. Welcome to Middlesbrough Marlon.

So as both sets of fans witnessed a dour football match it was left for the supporters to reflect on how their teams can improve.

Southgate needs to get his hand away from the worry button and be bold and brave for once otherwise he might be doing another Pizza advert very soon. If we do not play a 4-4-2 formation at home to Blackburn on Saturday, then we can all fear the worse. Sorry to say it, but we will be bottom of the league and out of the division at the end of the season.

Change the formation Southgate. Be bold. The players are good enough!

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