Udayan's Corner - Time For Changes || Middlesbrough F.C. news, reviews and comment

TIME FOR CHANGES 28-3-08
Udayan Mukherjee

I'm not sure I've ever really felt this bored with an end of season run in before.

Despite playing well away from home, we have still failed to score more than twice in a game this season.

In the game where it was entirely possible to do just that - against a Derby side that are the footballing equivalent in the Premiership of a monkey in a MENSA conference - we again failed.

Now, it is possible to forgive the lads for not being brilliant in the final stages of the game - with the advent of a snow blizzard - but the lack of cutting edge has really cost us.

I like Gareth Southgate. His way of talking is honest and engaging and the way he embraces the media seems to have brought a little bit of favour towards the club.

Apart from Afonso Alves and the now departed Jonathan Woodgate, Southgate has not signed any big superstars. Instead he has been quietly building a team full of hard workers and honest professionals like Julio Arca, Luke Young, Jeremie Aliadiere and Gary O'Neil.

On paper, although our team looks quite capable, we have massively underachieved again and have found ourselves as a team that is on the cusp of being a candidate for relegation.

Perhaps this is our natural position but I can't help but think with the money that gets injected into the squad year in year out that we should be in with an outside shot of Europe every season.

I feel that so far under Southgate's tenure we have had very few players that have consistently been on top of their game.

David Wheater is an example. Stewart Downing has been excellent this season. Julio Arca played much better in a central midfield role than many of us could have imagined.

Aside from these players however, how often do we get players who seem to play out of their skin? Put more succinctly, how often do we get players playing better at our club than they have for previous ones? How often do we get a young player and make him into a superstar?

Southgate has gone on record as saying that everyone behind the scenes at Boro is now a Boro fan. In a way, this is nice but I am astonished that after two seasons, we have still not added any experience to the back room staff.

For a team like us, it is easy to get sucked into Premiership mediocrity. This is something we must strive against but this can only come if there is motivation within the ranks themselves.

Middlesbrough fans are passionate and many are loyal and care deeply about the club. However, the fare on show is not quite enough to keep us interested.

Simply put, unless there is a big game at the Riverside, it is often just an awful experience. It is quite possibly the coldest place in the Universe to watch our players lump the ball around.

"Mr Huth, would you like to launch that ball towards that striker who is quite clearly under four foot tall and has the muscular fortitude of a seedless grape?"

"Why, I don't mind if I do Sir!"

The only way to get crowds back and for them to become vocal again is to have those players playing out of their skin. The dynamic between crowd and team is simple - give us something to shout about and we invariably will.

Play well, and we'll be bloody loud 'n all.

We have all seen the miraculous ability to suddenly become a wonderful fluid attacking unit against the big sides but have yet again completely failed to win enough low key games to do ourselves justice.

I believe that the impetus to win and perform must come from within the club. It must come from the coaches and from within the players themselves.

Unfortunately, the current crop of players seems to lack a leader on the pitch and off the pitch is much the same story.

With such an inexperienced manager, it was inevitable that we would have to take a backward step before taking a forward one but I firmly believe that we need to bring in a few coaches to impart a few new ideas to Southgate, someone who brings knowledge and experience.

In terms of personnel, we are not far away from being a good side but our attitude and will to win must improve.

Fabio Rochemback, one of this seasons best performers, is out of contract in the summer, as is goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer. Depending on whether or not their contracts are renewed, we could see massive changes in the Middlesbrough squad next season.

George Boateng, another whose career looks set to finish at the end of the season, seemed to indicate that he didn't believe that there was a future for him at the club because he believed that there were going to be a great number of changes at Middlesbrough Football Club. Here's hoping.

We still have business to complete though. We seem to have completely discounted the possibility of a relegation battle but we are still in need of a few points to ensure safety with some tough games coming up.

Maybe, after making our position in this league certain for another year, we can begin to play more freely and try out some different tactics and players.

That's all folks

Udayan Mukherjee

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