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DEEP IN MY HEART
Middlesbrough vs. Manchester City, 11th May 2008, Riverside Stadium, Premier League
James Keen
Safety feels nice, comfy, warm and snugly. Sadly, it took us until week thirty-seven of the season to finally have that feeling.
We haven’t yet reached the magical forty point mark but this year the magical mark is thirty-seven or even thirty-six. Surely we could have reached that by February if we had really tried?
It’s been a season of mixed emotion. Not a lot of wins, a few good results against good sides, no derby wins and a succession of really poor home performances. And let’s not even talk about the Cups.
Mediocre.
I think this is the type of season that sides like Coventry, Southampton and Aston Villa got used to for a number of years.
I just hope that the next turn in our fortunes is more the way of Villa than the others.
It’s difficult to tell whether we’ve advanced or not.
We’ve not had the same potency up top as we had last season. That much is obvious. This throws up an interesting question: Where would we have finished last season with this season's forward line?
I reckon we could have been relegation fodder.
This suggests to me that our squad as a whole is better and the team, barring the forward line, is better than it was.
Perhaps a few new additions in the summer will turn us into the force we need to be, as long as the new faces don’t simply act to replace the players leaving.
We’ve lost Rochemback, Schwarzer is likely to go and there are doubts about O’Neil. We need to hold on to O’Neil at all costs and then quickly replace the other two with top quality signings.
In a week when the Boro welcomed back the white band on our sparkling new shirt - and when Steve Gibson reiterated his desire to bring the best talents back to the Riverside - it is a time to start looking forward.
The first step is by ending the season on a high and picking up the three points in Sven’s final game as Manchester City manager.
City have had a decent season with a great start, an average middle and a poor end. If it was the other way around, Sven would still have a job.
And besides, they will get into Europe with a clean performance at the Riverside through the Fair Play League.
The game has no real bearing on our season. We can gain one position or fall one. As long as the Mackems do the expected we won’t finish any lower than where they are now and we certainly can’t overtake the Geordies.
I expect City to play with a little freedom but without much tenacity. Meanwhile, I expect Boro to play in a similar way. It could be a last game spectacular.
I hope so, for us, the suffering fans.
Tuncay drew level with Downing for top scorer last week so we should all expect him to be going for goals. Alves will be keen to end the season with another goal under his belt too so it should be an attacking game with plenty of flair.
As this is the final game of the season, this will be my final pre-match report of the season. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers and the other writers for some special articles.
I’d also like to highlight some of my moments of the season:
Sods Law: Having followed his progress for the entire season, through lows and highs, I’ve found nothing more amusing than finding out that the Turkish Sports channels decided to ditch their coverage of the 1-1 draw at Reading at the last minute, only to miss Tuncay coming off the bench to head his first goal in English football. Magic!
Mong Stomp: David Wheater breaking from our half to score against Bristol City in the FA Cup was wonderful. His finish may have been a little scuffed but could you ever imagine Mr Woodgate trying to run at an opponent? Yer jokin aren’t ya?!
My Nanna Would’ve Scored That: The Gook, having scored a wonderful three yard scuff against Mansfield, set the good/evil balance back to zero by heading an Aliadiere cross forty-five yards wide whilst only five yards out in front of an open goal. Why are we letting him leave again?
Goal Fest: BBC Goal of the Month? Boro? Twice in a season? Yer having a laugh… But no, it happened. Luke Young for his goal against Spurs and Tuncay for his wonder strike against Derby. You’d think the samba days were back.
Kung Fu Hu: Robert Huth’s kung-fu tackle on Michael Boulding in the FA Cup was genius. Dangerous. Wrong. But genius.
It has been a poor season but I’m sure if you all cast your minds back, you’ll be able to find something to make you smile.
Now let's all sit back and look forward to the summer of speculation and intrigue.
C’mon Boro!
The Outcome: My head tells me that it’ll be a 3-2 Boro win whilst my heart says a 7-4 win for the boys in Red (I might as well dream once!?)
Last Season: Middlesbrough 0-2 Manchester City, Distin 61, M’Penza 74 (7/3/07)
Boro Form (most recent result first): WLLDDL
Manchester City Form: LLWWLL
Probable Teams:
Boro: Schwarzer, Young, Taylor, TPFKAMD, Wheater, Tuncay, Arca, Boateng, Downing, Aliadiere, Alves
Manchester City: Hart, Corluka, Garrido, Dunne, Onuoha, Johnson, Elano, Petrov, Ireland, Benjani, Vassell
Man to Watch: Elano
RETURN TO DEEP IN MY HEART INDEX HERE
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