The Away End - John Powls - Craven Cottage || Middlesbrough F.C. news, reviews and comment

THE AWAY END - CRAVEN COTTAGE 20-8-07
John Powls

I have to say that I was apprehensive before the Wigan game. Despite all the brave words of change I had similar feelings to those I had before Blackburn - our dismal home record against them and our equally dismal opening game record led to only one conclusion - and yet you hoped it would change.

But it didn't.

So I was hoping for better against Wigan but apprehensive of the same old, same old...

Even half prepared for the worst, what I saw still shocked me. You could see in Gate's interview with Sky immediately after the game that he was shocked too.

What I found most profoundly shocking was how frail and slight we are as individuals and as a team. And I mean not only physically but in our attitude and motivation.

We went on to the field a beaten side - hardly a surprise that that's how the result turned out - and against a side that we could be vying with in the bottom four or five all season unless things change with MFC, Boro and at Hurworth.

It was clear that The Yak was already somewhere else in head and heart and so it wasn't a surprise to see him excluded from the squad for Fulham. Just as well - the sooner he's gone the better now.

Despite being in the Directors' box for the Wigan game, Mido signed - and it seems that that we're all going to have to learn to whistle 'Walk Like An Egyptian' (will it replace Pigbag?) if he's joined by Moatab (didn't he have my washpot?) and Shawky.

Or is it also Alfonso Alves from Heerenveen - now that would be a 'spectacular'! Just so long as we don't get stuck with Andy Vin de Pays from The Toffees in part-ex for The Yak!

Against all of that, the very poor news about Huth, coupled with no news about Woody being available, the delay to us seeing Luke Young and Pogo already out until Xmas.

Maybe a clue to the curse of Hurworth is revealed in that our head physio is also injured!

So far - so very much business as usual for your average Boro fan!

Apprehensive would be the word again, then, as my lad and I walked through Bishop's Park from Putney Bridge tube to Craven Cottage for our first 'AWAY END' of the season in person.

The weather was warm but overcast - something like our mood - but yet there was a niggling optimism that I couldn't quite shake that we might get something. Little did I realise we'd also witness what could be the birth of a Boro fans favourite - Mido - and one of the most bizarre and awful set of officials ever to 'grace' a Prem game.

Our matchday rituals have to be followed - a gristleburger with cheese and onions usually from a shabby, steaming trailer but at Fulham it's better fare from the BBQ at Jackie's Cottage Café in the Park.

The Away End at Fulham looks and feels like what it is - a sort of meccano extension done in a hurry after the move back from Loftus Road - but, hell, it's not Fratton which is now a trash can with a lid on since the roof is built. It's side on to The Thames and can have a vicious wind whipping through it sometimes as well as views of the rowers and pleasure boats on The Thames.

Mido warms up with the squad and looks a big lad so it looks like we going to see him play. Noticed that the ref is doing an unusual number of stretching exercises - is he carrying an injury, we laugh.

The Boro fans are out in force as is usual in London and the huge volume of noise and chanting starts when the teams emerge and carries on right through the game drowning out feeble Fulham fans. Amongst us is a contingent of Turkish lads from Peterborough, Fenerbahce fans there to see Tuncay play.

After an interminable close season it's good to be amongst the Boro boys 'in town' and the banter again. Before the kick-off the team get together for a team huddle - new to me anyway.

Sadly, as we start, it looks like that's going to be the last sign of togetherness. We're not quite as abject as against Wigan but it's not far off. Fulham are what you'd expect of a Sanchez team. Big, fit and strong, long ball, organised and competitive. They're first to everything and are overpowering us and we constantly give the ball away.

It seems we're starting 4-4-1-1 with Tuncay behind Mido but it looks like we're very unsure individually and collectively and the same old flaws are there. Despite all Gate's protestations about getting us fit we look far from it.

There are flurries from Mido which look promising - he knows where the goal is and is single minded about getting there. He has JFH's intolerance for lack of performance and support from team-mates which can only be a good thing and soon his name is ringing out from the Boro fans.

We get the first indication that the lino at our end of the ground is partially sighted or daft or has a hidden neck brace that prevents him looking up the line as well as across the pitch - or all three. I don't think he got a decision right all day for either side. Little do we know how important this is to be!

Then the ref goes down in a heap and after what seems hours of confusion he is replaced by the fourth official - the previously relegated Mr. D'Urso. As if being crocked isn't enough the poor old ref has to run the gauntlet of the Boro fans as he exits the pitch. We strike up with 'You're not fit to referee' - he has the good sense to laugh and acknowledge us with a wave and the chant turns to sympathetic applause as he limps away.

Back on the pitch our midfield has disappeared (this is inaccurate as it may give the impression that it had ever appeared) and the centre of the defence is increasingly 'headless chicken'. It's not a surprise when Arca gives the ball away again and then fails to chase back as their midfield go past him.

McBride finds himself with U.S. style prairies of space eight yards out and has the time to side foot in at his leisure. What is a surprise is that he manages to severely crock himself in the process.

The game continues in the same vein - we're not in it except for a Mido shot and plenty of effort from him and Tuncay in bursts. Tuncay made some interesting bending runs inside the full back but was rarely spotted and never hit with a pass.

Stewie's rangefinder on the crosses is out today and, as usual, they are double teaming him. He does latch onto a poorly placed pass from Arca (so, what's new) and skew his shot wide with his right foot. Very occasionally we do string more than one pass together and look better.

Then we contrive to let Fulham repeat the dose that they had scored from earlier. This time they found Schwarz' face and not the back of the net. Bizarrely Bouazza is also crocked in a nothing challenge with Dava and has to go off. We end up with six minutes of first half time added.

All in all, not much to cheer us in the first half. My lad and I clutch at the straws that we're not as bad as against Wigan - though not by much, that Mido has shown promise and despite them bossing the game they haven't got the second. The mood in the Boro fans is still quite positive and I still have this little voice saying 'it's going to get better'.

The positive mood amongst the fans is a little dampened when Tuncay is replaced by Aliadiere at the start of the second half. There is some booing and the beginnings of 'You don't know what you're doing', directed at Gate but the Frenchman is applauded on.

We begin the second half as we finished the first but then, out of nowhere, Mido cements the first stage of his Boro deification. Picks up a ball at the left corner of the box and drives low and hard but straight at the keeper. It's very much on the 'you can't win the lottery unless you buy a ticket' basis but then Warner knows how to turn Mido's ticket into a winner and for the second time in a week he gifts a goal.

The Away End goes berserk in a delayed reaction - partly because it's so unexpected and we can't work out what happened.

We get a surge of confidence and theirs is knocked. Our midfield is still absent but so is theirs now. We exploit it by going straight through or over to Mido and Aliadiere. We force a couple of corners and Riggs goes wide with a header he should have buried and Wheats acrobatic overhead kick is foiled by a late plunge by Warner.

Aliadiere's pace begins to tell. He goes clear in the middle, rounds the keeper but pushes the ball too far wide. He gets to it again and nets but has fouled Knight in getting there. It takes thirty seconds for the wild celebrations in the Boro fans to die down as we realise it's no goal.

Mido falls awkwardly through tiredness and cramp/twisted knee or ankle - difficult to tell. It's clear he can't go on much longer without risking more damage. He plays on for a few minutes but on seventy he's replaced by Lee. His walk to the touchline is greeted as the departure of a demi-god and he rightly milks it - but his contribution isn't over.

We're all thinking that that's us finished as an attacking force but they don't seem to want to take us on and Aliadiere is still making runs and belies his frail frame by trying to chop Warner in two chasing a through ball which was 50/50 for which he gets booked. They miss an absolute sitter, have one disallowed for a foul on Dava and I'm beginning to know that my little voice is to be trusted. And we're actually scrapping for a win!!

By now Mido is spending more time in the technical area than Gate or Coops, urging the lads on, remonstrating with the ref and lino and abusing their bench. We discover that this is all helped by the fact that there is no fourth official - despite tannoy announcements all second half to see if there was a qualified official in the ground.

Aliadiere picks up a ball in the inside right position and goes on a dribble leaving three in his wake - it takes him out wide right but takes his markers with him. He spots Super-Lee-Cattermole (who hadn't done a thing for the rest of the game), for the first time in the game a midfielder up with the attack and he produces the coolest finish. Cue utter delirium in the Away End and with Mido and the bench.

By now the ninety is almost up but a string of injuries means that there are five of time added. They now wake up, realise they've been mugged and mount a cavalry charge. Every corner has Warner up and Riggs, Dava and Wheats - especially Wheats - are throwing themselves at everything.

We are trying to make a substitution to waste time but there's now an acting fourth official who can't get the board right and a near fight ensues with the Boro bench. This confusion wastes more time that an actual substitution. Mido is now nearly manic and frothing on the touchline.

But then a scramble in the goalmouth. Schwarz scoops the ball away from Healy's toe-poke from two yards but the whole of the Away End can see that it's a yard over the line. Just as the collective groan is about to break out we look at the hard of seeing, thinking and head movement lino who is where he should be - on the flag looking along the goal line.

Slowly, the realisation dawns that he has told Mr. D'Urso that it hasn't crossed the line. Mr. D'Urso sets aside his own judgement and that of 25,000 others in the ground and rules 'no goal'. Delirium again. My lad and I remember being on the receiving end of a 'wrong 'un' at West Ham a couple of seasons ago. Maybe these things do even themselves out?

Schwarz - looking like a six foot Aussie budgie in his new violent yellow kit - decides he needs to tie his shoelaces and picks up a booking for his troubles. But they're broken in spirit now and we hoof it for the far end and the corners until the whistle goes.

Absolute pandemonium in the Away End. All the team - even those less deserving - are cheered to the rafters. A special chant is reserved for Mido who makes himself even more of a god by responding with the sort of pumping clenched fist that Gate used to use on these occasions. As we leave the stand the screens at the back tell us the Mackems have been stuffed - more cheers.

We don't notice the increasing rain as we walk back through Bishop's Park to the tube - which seems full of Boro (and Fenerbahce) shirts. We've got out of jail and we know it. We played poorly and won. We're relieved, exhilarated and exhausted. We've got a new hero.

The Turkish lads promise we'll see them again in the Away End and say well see the best - which is very good - of Tuncay if Gate plays him wide right.

We catch the last few minutes of the Barcodes game on the car radio - they're 3-0 down in a game where it's clear they were lucky to get nil!

MOTD confirms what we knew about Fulham's denied equaliser and they show the West Ham 'goal' - but at least we got on nearer the start than usual. A perfect end to a perfect Away End day.

But before we get carried away and without stinting on the enjoyment of yesterday what does more sober reflection on a Sunday morning bring?

Rod Liddle in The Sunday Times is a native of Teesside and although he now supports Millwall (it suits his temperament) he follows Boro as his home town team and his only chance of having a connection with the Prem anytime soon. This morning his article is about Chairmen who want to show their macho credentials by sacking managers early.

He says that Gibbo has shown himself in the past to be the sort who doesn't do this but that that's all that is keeping Gate in a job and that we're sinking fast - I won't repeat the tasteless similes he uses but they're accurate and we know it. He also says that Gate is the nicest man in the Prem but that that's not enough. So where are we?

In goal Schwarz will do but Jones isn't a replacement for the longer term so we have to sort out the contract or move for a replacement sooner rather than later.

In defence I'd single out young Taylor yesterday. He had another immaculate game and didn't give a thing away. He was my man of the match apart from Mido. But we have no cover for him except Arca who has shown he can't play there in the Prem. Dava is committed to the cause, never lets us down but is limited. We have Luke Young to come and Tony Mc - if he's ever fit.

In central defence we badly need Woody back. In the absence of Pogo and Huth (should we now be thinking about the insurance for the German?) both Riggs and Wheats have shown they are capable and committed individuals but neither can organise themselves or their colleagues and have a tendency to go AWOL at vital times. So Woody and either Riggs or Wheats will get us through until Pogo is fit.

Aside from Stewie our midfield is a disaster. We've known it since last season but we haven't done anything about it. The Boat does OK but can't pass to save his life. Arca can pick a pass if he's given half an hour to do it but more often than not he slows our continuity and ends up with a sideways or back pass or like yesterday gives the ball away and won't chase back. Word has it that The Mackems want him back. Anyone got Keano's number?

Rocky's about the same except right footed and should be allowed to have his wish to go back to Portugal. Lee Cattermole was awful yesterday - apart from the goal and certainly isn't a right winger which is where he was played. But played in the centre he has the potential and the desire. And, of course, we've sold our only wide right player. If the Fenerbahce lads are to be believed the Tuncay needs to be persisted with wide on the right. His physical slightness will be less of an issue there too.

The result of all of this is that our midfield neither protects our back four nor supplies our strikers. Anyone attacking straight through the centre has a clear route through to Schwarz. We give the ball away far too often and we have little continuity passing, ball retention or periods of possession to work from. Our central midfield never gets past our strikers and rarely keeps up with them. The irony is that when we do pass it is when we look our best.

If Shawky is as good a defensive midfielder as they say he is we need him badly. From the money we get for The Yak a box-to-box, passing, right-sided midfielder is a priority after Alves. Nolan seems to be questioning his future at Bolton, Appiah wants away from Fenerbahce as does Riquleme from Villareal - both may be available on loan - and Fletcher is a bit part player at ManUre. Any would fit the bill as doubtless would others - but we need someone now.

I don't think The Boat can stay as Captain. If Gate is to be taken at his word about what effect he wanted from Mido in the dressing room as well as on the field then The Boat isn't doing it. As soon as Woody is fit he should take over.

Up front we're now looking at the post Yak/Vids era. Mido looks like a good start. Alves would look to have potential but Lee is a write off, I'm afraid. He simply doesn't have the physique or the terrier-like nastiness of some other smaller front men to compete and lacks trickery or pace.

Aliadiere is not a goal getter. We know that from his time at Arsenal or he'd have been in the side and from his other loan spells. He has never scored a Prem goal. But he is fast, can dribble and provide as he showed yesterday. If Alves and Mido are our front two then Aliadiere could be a useful sub, occasional foil for those two and an impact player as he was yesterday. If Moatab can be got too then we may not be too far away from the four we need.

So we need Messrs Lamb and Gibbo to be even more busy in the next two weeks. More acquisitions up front and in midfield are essential if we want this season to be more than the desperate struggle most are predicting. With this amount of change some bedding in will be needed but that's preferable to doing without.

Our confidence is still fragile but without being complacent we should still be able to draw some from yesterday and from our desire to scrap. We need a lot more work on the training field. I'm still not sure what Gate and the coaches are trying to achieve and neither are the players - it's not evident from his selections or what we see on the field. We're not attacking or defending as a unit and get stretched far too easily.

I remain far from sure that our current coaching staff have what it takes in either expertise or motivation and discipline of the squad, team and individuals. If that's true we should clear some space and bring someone in to help Gate who does.

And, whatever Gate says about our preparation and hard work, we are still far from the levels of fitness and strength I see in our competitors. That may also mean changes in those responsible for our fitness regimes, injury prone-ness and oft delayed recovery times.

So, all in all, a lot to do. Will we do it and put ourselves in with a better chance or are we in for a season of struggle in the bottom third?

The Away End will be back after our next game on the road - at West Ham on 15 September - and let's hope there's more good news to report then. But I will be posting another column at the close of the transfer window to assess what we have to work with at that point.

Until then - two winnable home games and a chance to stuff the Barcodes.

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John Powls is a published poet with five books of his work in print. He is a regular performer of his work at major literary festivals and exhibitions in the UK and America, often working with musicians, painters with photographer Carol Ballenger.

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