Warnock Weekly 4-10-07 || Middlesbrough F.C. news, reviews and comment

WARNOCK WEEKLY - FROM PROMISE TO DEMISE 4-10-07
Tom Warnock

It's only October and already the early season promise is fading rapidly before our eyes. Believe it or not, when we play Manchester City, it will have been five weeks since our last league win, and before that you have to go back to August 18th to find another, a miserable statistic indeed.

We bowed out of the Carling Cup with little more than a whimper and put in a performance at Everton where our finishing and defending once again left much to be desired. It left us in limbo and heading for another season of nothingness.

We might be forgiven for being in such a position had we played the top four sides amongst our opening fixtures. Not so; just ask West Ham, Blackburn, Everton, Wigan, Sunderland and Spurs how well they think the Boro will do this season?

While you're at it you can ask Aliadiere, Tuncay & Dong Gook Lee when they plan to start scoring goals, because if you can't bag any against the mediocre defences of the aforementioned opposition, then you can forget about scoring against Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United.

I would be amazed if Gareth's on-camera calmness is replicated in the dressing room, because at this rate there's no doubt we will be in the bottom three after the next three fixtures. The executives trying to jostle Jol out of White Hart Lane would tell you that Spurs only lie two points below us and will soon to close this gap.

While Gareth dismisses our problems by vowing to get it right, Jonathan Woodgate is the only one around the club talking sense. He's totally right in what he says; we do need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and blaming missed chances.

How ironic is it that we are so heavily involved in the Premier League's Creating Chances scheme. We can only hope that the kids don't mimic their idols on the pitch and that they actually do take some of their chances.

If we are to get anything from our next few games, we must firstly tighten up all over the pitch. We are away to Manchester City, a team with a 100% record at home this season. We need to stop the rot and aim for a clean sheet above all.

Gareth needs to decide what he wants to do away from home - its all good and well attacking at home, but away he seems to be caught in two tactical minds, end we end up neither scoring or keeping out the opposition.

I would have no qualms about putting eight men behind the ball and coming away with a point. City can hurt teams this season and could and should have scored a lot more goals than they have.

Its even more frustrating because of the quality of service we've had recently from Downing and O'Neil. Stewie is having to cut inside and make up for the short-comings of the strikers by creating his own chances.

Even more indicative of our predicament is the use of Wheater as a makeshift frontman. The fact that he is replacing Lee up front will either serve as a wake up call or a slap in the face for the Korean.

It will take total concentration to come away with anything this weekend. If we can't get this 'missing chances' complex out of our system, we will always be nervy at both ends of the pitch, and the strikers will begin to rush opportunities.

If it isn't sorted soon, we're in for a rough season. However if our fixture on November 3rd with Spurs becomes a battle to stay out of the relegation places, I won't say I told you so.

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