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WARNOCK WEEKLY - FIVE STEPS TO SUCCESS - 8-5-08
Tom Warnock
On the day when the new Boro shirt was revealed - bringing back the white band which adorned the shirts of our UEFA Cup campaigns - a Gareth Southgate press conference was printed in full in the Evening Gazette.
It was a blend of his regrets and perceptions of the season gone and his hopes and aims for the season ahead.
Now that safety has been assured (two months later than scheduled), we can begin to look to next season. We can banish the woes of the last nine months and long for a return to the comparative success of the last three seasons in our much loved white banded jerseys.
Let’s face it, this season was a stinker. Forget a lap of honour after the Man City game. The players should hand-write every fan a cheque for their season ticket and possibly a small note of condolence within a thoughtful card. We can then read these whilst we sit on Whitby beach this summer whilst the ‘lads’ are settling down to a cocktail and the sunset of the Bahamas.
Anyway I digress. Here are my five steps to a better Boro next season.
Step One
First and foremost, we need a captain.
We’re not asking for a Roy Keane or a Bobby Moore, just one bloke in a red shirt who wears the same armband week in and week out and who is first on the team sheet.
We need a leader on the pitch, somebody with passion, somebody who won’t shy away when the pressure is on, someone with ability and someone who deserves the honour.
My nomination is Stewart Downing. Downing has the passion, the drive and the determination to push the team forward.
He is almost guaranteed a starting role in every game. He is familiar with the team and the fans and out of our starting eleven, only Mark Schwarzer has been at the club longer.
I don’t agree with the perception that a captain must be a defender. Gareth did tend to lean towards a defender when picking his captains for obvious reasons.
Examining the top teams shows that this is not always the best option. Chelsea have Lampard, Liverpool have Gerrard, United had Keane and Arsenal had Vieira. All had or have major impacts on games.
Out of all our players, Downing has been the most effective and has the commitment needed to complete the package. He showed a tremendous strength of character in rejecting the advances of bigger clubs to sign on again at Boro. His character also showed when he bounced back from England criticism to continue producing the goods for his club.
Step Two
Decide on a central midfield pairing and stick with it.
We have leaked goals badly this season and it’s as much down to the midfield as it is the defence, who have arguably been pretty decent this term.
I agree with picking a team on form but continuity and familiarity breed success.
Using the template of all the great sides again, we could all name their starting eleven, especially the central two. That is until Benitez messed with the status quo. But you get the picture.
Sadly for Gareth, not one central midfielder has really stood out this term. Mohammed Shawky has been exceptional in the little action he has seen and he also has a fierce shot on him. This is something that Boateng and Rochemback can only dream of.
I would be tempted to begin the season with him and Arca, who has as much technical ability as anyone in our team.
Ideally we need to strengthen in this position, although it all depends on who becomes available.
Step Three
We must sort out our shooting.
It really shows that Gareth was a defender as a player because his team can’t score for toffee. Or millions of pounds.
Mido can leave the club as it is better to accept a waste of money while you can than hang on to a no-hoper. He tried but he failed. Even though he did us all proud in his taunts of the Geordies, there’s no room for sentiment now.
There are three main candidates for shooting practice - Aliadiere, Tuncay and O’Neil. The number of guilt-edged chances they missed must have cost us fifteen points this season and those chances should be routine for professionals.
Gareth talked about signing a striker over the summer. It’s difficult to see how we could keep such a number of strikers happy but it's almost certain that Dong Gook Lee and Mido will be out the door.
Wagner Love and Fred’s names have been banded about for a while and either would be a decent buy for the right money. However, neither are proven in England.
Step Four
We need a new goalkeeper.
I'm sorry to say it but Schwarzer’s days as a top flight goalkeeper are numbered. He’s given us ten plus years of service and he seems a man of such pride and passion but sometimes he just doesn’t look like he’s at the peak of his game.
The top flight requires every single squad member to be at the top of their game. If an ample replacement came along, we shouldn’t hesitate to go for him.
Paul Robinson or Steve Harper would be decent replacements. Robinson has had his critics but you don’t play that many games for England and be a bad player.
Getting a new keeper is serious business. You can’t afford to get it wrong because it’s the one position in which errors will cost you points.
If we are to move for a shot-stopper we need to act quickly, so he can form an understanding with the back four over pre-season.
Step Five
The final step is the biggest of all and it is down to pyschology. Consistency is the key. For consistent results, every other factor must also remain a constant.
The players all need to be clear on what the targets are and be under no illusion that not meeting those targets means dire consequences and not just a minor inconvenience.
The line-up must remain the same whenever possible. The time to work on it is in pre-season, in warm-up games and in training. Get the first choice side on paper from mid-July and keep it that way.
Most importantly, consistency must come in the form of results. Performances come second, results come first. Our attempt at flair football was quite frankly laughable so let’s get back to basics.
The quality of the Premier League this season was awful and this was partly due to our presence. But it doesn’t take much to beat every team in the bottom half at least once and a few in the top half too. Add a few draws to that and you get European football with around sixty points.
We have to beat the poor teams. Forget about the Man Uniteds and Chelseas - too often we use up tonnes of energy and maybe scrape a draw in these games.
Instead, we need to exert our authority on lowly sides and pick up points at a canter.
In an ironic way, it makes more sense to rest the best players against the big teams to increase our chances against the poorer ones. Although theoretically this is all straightforward, there will be nineteen other teams saying the same thing.
We’ve been in the Premier League long enough now to know what it’s all about. It’s about time we stopped just making up the numbers and showed everyone what we can really do.
Getting the crowds and the feel-good factor back doesn’t take an awful lot. A few consecutive wins in the first month and the crowds will pour into the Riverside.
Teessiders used to be in love with their football.
Let the renaissance begin.
Up the Boro.
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