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DEADLINE DAY APPROACHES 30-8-07
Karl Watson
So after a fascinating Tees-Tyne derby on Sunday my immediate attention has turned to matters off the pitch, including the controlling of certain players and the possible acquisition of others. In this week's column I will focus on the transfer deadline on Friday and look at the current crop of players we have who I believe should be playing regularly in the first team.
The first thing that annoyed me when I saw the team sheet on Sunday was George Boateng being played on the right hand side of midfield. We have already seen that George is incapable of playing successfully in this position and it highlights negativity at home games - something that will not see attendances reach over 28,000 this season.
Positivity and attacking football was what we were promised, though the team that begins games is far too negative and defensive, perhaps highlighting that out of the first four games we have played in, we have conceded the first goal in three of them, and only fortuitously won one of them.
We would have beaten Newcastle if we had scored at 1-1 but trailing twice in a game just isn't on. There is no way we can give teams this sort of head start in games and we have proved in the past that we are more than capable of protecting a lead, but not gaining one.
If we are to start taking leads in games then we must begin to use our wingers more, who have an attacking frame of mind. Boateng and Arca are more than capable of doing a good job in the centre of midfield but we need pace and skill on both flanks. Downing is a must to start, despite the fact he has no confidence in taking on full backs and going past them. However, that right hand remains the thorn in our side.
Luke Young doesn't appear to be a full back that gets past the half way line much and we need someone that is capable of beating a few players before delivering a good ball into box. Whatever happened to our pursuit of Zoltan Gera? Middlesbrough were never out priced when it came to the Hungarian, but I felt he would've been a decent acquisition to our squad.
Apart from Gera, there doesn't appear to be many right sided players available in the British market, hence of quest for international talent. However I don't like the idea of it. We need to start taking some more chances with our academy, and I just do not understand why Adam Johnson is not played. I just hope he takes any future chances with open arms and shows Southgate why he should be included.
From what I have read, Southgate is probably not going to look at any right sided players before the deadline shuts, which really disappoints me. Arsene Wenger took Thierry Henry from a decent winger into a world class centre forward. It appears that every Middlesbrough is hell bent on trying to repeat the actions of Wenger by turning a centre forward into a right sided midfielder. Almost every Boro striker in the last couple of seasons has been tried in this position, so why has no one opened their eyes and smelt the coffee?
The only striker I feel who is capable of playing there is Aliadiere, because of his pace, but his ability to cross in unknown. As for Tuncay, he didn't score goals for Turkey and for Fenerbache from right midfield, and that's why he should be playing up front with Mido.
One player that hasn't been played full stop, never mind on the right hand side is Lee Dong Gook. Let's face it, why has he even signed? He is not getting minutes and this will be doing his confidence no good. Maybe he should be tried out there, simply just for the sake of it and to see what he can do.
Dong Gook faces a very tough season, with Mido, Tuncay and Aliadiere ahead of him in the pecking order and Southgate seemingly ready to waste some more money on another striker; his future on Teesside seems bleak even at this early stage.
What worries me is the players Southgate is looking at, in particularly Georgio Samaras. It seems like a crazy crazy move. He lacks a lot of confidence so maybe we can get it out of him but I feel we should be looking to break the bank. It appears we are not going to look at Adriano, Alves, or any other striker that can play off Mido's flick on's. However it hardly makes Aliadiere or Tuncay's confidence hit the roof when Southgate is looking to sign another forward that's not even better than them.
To have four points at this stage is probably what a lot of people expected, though we have some fixtures coming up that we need to capitalise on whilst playing attackingly and getting some more points on the board.
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