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WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? 30-10-07
Toby Higgins
I spent my Monday afternoon in a lecture, listening with little interest to a fat ginger bloke telling a half empty theatre how, and how not to, write a good Linguistic essay.
If a sentence is more than two lines, it's too long; you're allowed to refer to yourself as "I" but that your opinions are worthless, so don't tell us them; explicitness is essential as nothing is too obvious to be said.
But the main overriding reason why people score badly in Linguistic essays is failure to answer the question. The ten minutes he spent advertising this point was just enough time for me to switch off and let my mind wander, as it so often does on Monday afternoons, back towards the weekend's football.
At the Boro, questions are starting to be asked of both staff and players. Although we're only a few goals worse off than we were this time last week, fans appear to be panicking even more than ever that this could be the season we drop back down into the gutters of the Championship after all these years swaning around in the Premiership Palace.
It appears that two very apparent and very distinct sets of supporters have emerged. Those who feel relegation is upon us and are resigned to this fact, and those who feel that we've still got plenty in the tank and will finish safe with a few games to spare. Oh, I suppose there's a third group - Ali Brownlie - who is probably just one home win away from asking Bernie, "So, can Boro qualify for Europe this year?"
Those who can feel relegation's cold hand creeping quietly on to their shoulders do so with good cause. Two wins in eleven, with one of them in fortuitous circumstances at Craven Cottage, and recent form of one point from the last eighteen available means that being perched dangerously over the edge of the relegation zone is probably the best we could hope for.
The problem areas are visible enough. Jeremie Aliadiere's first Premiership goal for five seasons (Christ.) came as scant consolation at Old Trafford in terms of points. Having drawn blanks in front of goal against West Ham, Everton and Wigan, our away form is certainly not aiding the situation.
Having said that though, when has it ever? If we take last season's away form on the road with us for the next few years we might just struggle to win ten games away from home in one hundred.
Defensively too, we look vulnerable. The increasing pressure on Jonathan Woodgate to start turning in a few performances is coming from many quarters.
The Rockcliffe Files also believes this but finding a suitable partner for the England defender is proving just as difficult as keeping a clean sheet. One out of eleven is a figure that represents not only our clean sheet record, but also the selection headache facing Gareth Southgate when it comes to selecting Woodgate's partner in central defence.
I suggested last week that maybe Southgate needed to drop a few stars - with Stewart Downing, Mark Schwarzer and Woodgate the names I mentioned. Given that Woodgate and Schwarzer have conceded another hatful of goals with no thanks to Downing, who did himself and us no favours by trying to prove that he is good enough to play for England by dribbling his way out of his own penalty area, then maybe all three should be ditched.
Radical? Yes. But what else can Southgate do? He'd soon see who wanted to fight for the club, and who was simply picking up their wage, safe in the knowledge that next season they'll be playing in the Premiership, with or without Boro. Adam Johnson is doing the business on loan at Watford, so why not drop Downing and give Johnson a chance?
Woodgate and Manu Pogatetz's partnership was impressive in the second half of last season so Mad Dog's return, rumoured to be this weekend, probably couldn't come at a better time for Woodgate. He needs to find his form quickly because, while I'm not an England international defender, even I could tell where Rooney was going to back heel that ball for United's third goal. It might have been irrelevant in terms of the result but every goal conceded is another blow to the confidence of the defence.
The other half of supporters suggest we have the quality to stay up and that we will, eventually, steer ourselves away from relegation's crumbling edge. The squad certainly posses enough quality and with Mido, Aliadieeeere and Tuncay all close to full fitness again, the threat in front of goal may soon return.
With every game that passes, we are a game closer to the return of Julio Arca. With Pogatetz back in contention and Gary O'Neill looking impressive, the shape and balance of the team will soon be back. And with it should come consistency.
I won't comment on the importance of the next three games, Spurs, Bolton and Villa, because it would be almost insulting to do so, despite being told on Monday afternoon that explicitness is king.
If you were given an essay with the title "Can Boro stay up and if so, how?" then it would probably be a tough one to call at this moment. It is not us, the supporters, who have to answer however. It's Southgate and his players.
Let's just hope that in giving their answer, they actually answer the question correctly because otherwise it could be a very depressing summer.
Oh, and while it's not normal Linguistic essay etiquette to give an opinion as the writer, this is a football essay and so here's my opinion.
I'm with Ali. Europe here we come.
Same time next week
UpTheBoro
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