Boro Are Looking Stronger Than Ever... But A Little More Magic Wouldn't Go Amiss

As the final whistle blew at Hillsborough nearly a fortnight ago, ending a hoodoo stretching back six years, my attention turned to the man-of-the-match performance of Aitor Karanka's Mr. Reliable, Daniel Ayala.

Towards the end of last season he brought a tear to the eye for both good and bad reasons – against the same opponents. Directly after a Carrow Road victory that would do more harm than good in the long run, it was impossible not to admire Ayala's progress under Karanka.

Once upon a time, he had been erratic, inconsistent and temperamental. Now he was a tower of strength, an indisputable force. (So too, incidentally, was Fernando Amorebieta in his brief substitute appearance, which is why Karanka's re-signing of him pleases me. Although I don't know what that means for Dael Fry. Maybe AK still wants him under the radar?)

That was just one of a series of consistently excellent performances from Ayala in 2014-15. Unfortunately, one tends not to be remembered for the quantity disappointing showings, no shows or mistakes, but the quality. When Ayala slipped up, it just happened to be in the play-off final at Wembley, and the one time he was beaten in the air at Derby this season, it led to an equaliser from the home side.

It's possible that AK couldn't turn on his protege, so he turned on Albert Adomah: one of many things that led to Albertgate. Although hopefully that's all water under the bridge now Adomah's back in training this week. We'll have to wait and see.

But any fears that Albertgate might wear the team down against Sheffield Wednesday were unfounded. UTB, aka Up The Boro, became UBK, aka United Behind Karanka, as Boro pulled together and produced the away performance of the season so far.

Naturally, there were pre-match grumblings. Why Adam Reach? Why is Muzzy Carayol being sent out on loan again? Why can't AK and Albert just work out their differences? Why is Christian Stuani playing on the right wing (even though he has played there for Uruguay)? Why Emilio Nsue, not Tomas Kalas? And so on.

But those issues shouldn't have mattered, and ultimately didn't. What mattered was that the players Karanka put out on the pitch had a job to do, and they went out there and did it well. Kike, Reach, Stuani, Diego Fabbrini, Stewart Downing, David Nugent and every other red shirted player on the pitch all stood up to be counted, exhibiting a strength in depth that was amplified with another cracking cameo from Adam Forshaw.

Ah yes. Adam Forshaw. I'm sure many will be hoping that Karanka “comes to his senses” and starts him in place of either Grant Leadbitter or Adam Clayton in the next game. And I personally admit that it would be good to see him given a start against MK Dons. But I'm also aware that many were clamouring for Reach to be given more games under Tony Mowbray when virtually all we knew him for were those Reachy Rockets. We may want to see more of the Frys and Forshaws at the expense of more established players, but AK will be all too aware of the danger of getting ahead of ourselves.

He'll also be aware that we have hardly had the most consistent opening to this campaign, despite a record that pretty much mirrors that of 1997-98's first five league matches: two wins, two draws, one defeat and seven goals, with the defeat at home to an unheralded side (for Bristol City today, read Stoke City back then).

Then again, it is arguable that consistency can be over-rated in some ways.

As Len Masterman has said on Untypical Boro, fear of failure, or making mistakes, is damaging to creativity. Over-emphasis on control and the right result at all costs runs the risk of nullifying spontaneity, mystery and imagination.

Take the record-breaking Wayne Rooney. He may have been scoring goals regularly for years, and may continue to score them regularly. But what happened to those eye-popping runs, jaw dropping finishes and game-changing moments that briefly had numerous punters and pundits believing they'd seen the English Pele?

We will always welcome consistency (there's that word again) and teamwork, yet it is football's unpredictabilities, even its frustrating imperfections, that make the sport, those who play it and the clubs we follow what they are. It's what separates the Adam Claytons of this world from the Diego Fabbrinis and Lee Tomlins: we will always admire the former, but with the latter, there will always be the chance that you'll see something you won't quite believe.

This is why I wholeheartedly applaud the arrival of Carlos De Pena.

He looks like a genuine "wild card", the relatively unknown joker in the pack who might just turn a game or amaze us all with a pass, turn, shot, dummy or cross. Or maybe all five.

He's given us another reason to look forward to Saturday: the possibility that there might be a little more magic on the pitch.

And for that, I am exceptionally grateful.

Up The Boro! Read more...

Brilliant Boro Can Leave Derby In A Daze

On Saturday afternoon, thousands of football fans marched into the Riverside Stadium with a relatively newly-titled match day programme in their hands.

For this year we have said goodbye to Red Square and hello to #UTB, and there was certainly no square fare by the banks of the Tees as brilliant Boro battered bemused Bolton in a manner that already suggests that it will be a case of Up The Boro in 2015-16 – to the Premiership, that is.

The terrified Trotters were no match for the stylish craft of an absolutely Fab Fabbrini, as Deadly Diego enhanced his already blossoming reputation as a Boro cult hero with a genuinely curtain-raising long range strike before laying two further goals on a plate for the unfairly-maligned Enrique Garcia Martinez, aka Kike.

Three goals, three points, a clean sheet and home debuts for both Christian Stuani and David Nugent. It really doesn't get more promising or tantalising than this. What a pity that Channel 5's Football League Tonight, aka The Football League Show with adverts and a more showbizzy spin (yes, I'm already not fond of it) could only spare around thirty seconds for our heroes.

Some will understandably point out that the win was against a very poor Bolton side, but you can only beat who you are playing against. And the importance of passing your first big test in front of your own fans can never, ever be underestimated. Gordon Strachan will tell you that: remember when his “title hopefuls” limply collapsed to Ipswich on the opening day of 2010-11? Within weeks Boro were hovering outside the drop zone, he was out of a job, and it took time before Tony Mowbray's rescue operation restored everyone's confidence.

Opening league wins can be misleading, but they can also set the pattern for what to expect for the season. The latter is far more likely, with the Boro squad looking stronger than it ever previously has under Aitor Karanka.

The challenge now is, of course, to maintain the positivity both on the pitch and off it. With that I turn to the much harder test of Derby County away from home.

Paul Clement's side will know all about promotion heartbreak. An undeserved loss to QPR in the 2014 play-off final was followed by a season in which Steve McClaren's men all too often looked like they couldn't not go up. Similar to Boro then, although at least we had a play-off place and final to show for our efforts in 2015, while they ended up with nothing.

Hence they will be even hungrier to put things right this time, despite a rather dodgy start to the season. And the question now is: what starting eleven will AK pick to combat Clement's?

Up front seems to provide the biggest dilemma, with Kike providing the most recent goals (form), Christian Stuani arguably the greatest physicality (fitness) and David Nugent the largest price tag (reputation and talent). It's a real head scratcher, but logic suggests that strikers thrive best on form, meaning that AK should start with Kike again and keep his other two front men in reserve.

With Albert Adomah, Fabbrini and Stewart Downing all having exceptional games against Bolton, the attacking midfield trio should pick itself, and I believe the dual defensive shield, regardless of how much it may stifle our own creativity, should remain in place to contain Derby's attacking threat. It worked well last season, after all; we had two wins and two clean sheets against the Rams to show for it.

What might not work so well is the presence of Emilio Nsue at right back instead of Tomas Kalas, regardless of how well he and Adomah linked up at the weekend. I'm aware that the absence of Dael Fry from the starting line-up at Nsue's expense raised more than a handful of eyebrows on Saturday – including mine – as Nsue is not renowned for his physicality. The fear is that the best sides in the Championship, and Derby are certainly one of him, will have him for breakfast on their home turf.

Fry, on the other hand, looks like a truly remarkable defensive talent. When watching him at Preston I saw elements of a teenage Daniel Ayala – a good header of the ball with strong positional sense who is sharp in the tackle and reads the game well, even though his ball-playing skills have yet to fully develop. He seems a defensive rarity, the sort who complements a similarly inclined partner rather than imbalances him.

He also looks extremely keen to prove he is ready. We must be equally keen to remind him that it's early days. AK will also be aware of the attention the young man has been receiving from Manchester United scouts and will surely be keen to keep him under the radar.

What to do, then? Play Fry again and use Kalas to keep the right flank tight? Or move Kalas to the centre again, giving Ayala the extra physical presence that a fit Ben Gibson would provide, while having faith in Nsue to come good away from home?

So many questions, so little time. Here's to AK and the players finding the right answers, and getting the right result, tonight.

Up The Boro!

(Originally published online at GazetteLive on August 17, 2015.) Read more...

The Centre Of The Park And The Team's Ability To Adapt Under Pressure Will Decide Boro's Season

The opening week of 2015-16 has seen a series of Tales Of The Unexpected on Planet Boro.

Unexpected results, for those of us who expected a walk in the park at Deepdale.

Unexpected depth, as a virtual second string side, despite a few scrapes here and there, strolled to a commanding victory at Oldham Athletic in the League Cup.

And, most pleasingly of all, unexpected heroes, with the Italian Diego ( Maradona? Yes, we'd like to believe you, Albert, but you're overdoing it ) Fabbrini and the Uruguayan Christian Stuani emerging as new stars, along with the increasingly confident Dael Fry and the understatedly classy Jack Stephens.

It's all about circumstance.

Had injuries, a long, drawn out saga with Venky's and typical cup rotation not intervened, we may well have been appreciating the defensive versatility of Alex Baptiste, the continuing maturity of Ben Gibson, and the old-new attacking duo of Stewart Downing and Jordan Rhodes.

The Prodigal Son - newly reinvented as a playmaker - and Blackburn's star striker were billed as the answer to Boro's troubling lack of a cutting edge, which many believed short circuited last year's promotion charge.

All the talk was about Downing and much of it was about Rhodes, or at least another striker – the latest being new signing David Nugent – before the campaign officially began.

Now, the question we, and Aitor Karanka, find ourselves asking is: where will they fit in?

Necessity, as it has been wont to do with many a classic film on a tight budget, can bring out creativity.

Of course, one can't look too deeply into a cup win at Oldham, but the bravery, composure, spontaneity and drive of Fabbrini, Fry, Stuani, Adam Forshaw and Yanic Wildschut cannot help but fill one with belief.

Men who don't feel hung over from Wembley. Men not burdened by hype and hysteria. Men with points to prove.

And so far, they are proving them. The Oldham win was one of those instances where the manner of the victory can exceed the importance of the victory itself.

It also provides vindication, in a way, for Karanka's experimental rotation policy, and makes a case for choosing players on fitness and form rather than pedigree and talent.

But is it experimentation, or adaptation?

With that in mind, I rewind the clock even further, to the very start of Karanka's reign as Boro manager.

In his very early days, AK turned to Tony Mowbray's wingers and “magic men” for inspiration once he had put the solid foundations that would become KarankaBoro's trademark in place.

It's often forgotten that the now out-of-favour Muzzy Carayol scored five times in AK's first six away league games, while the flickering presence that was Emmanuel Ledesma enjoyed a brief spell as Boro's totem.

Opposition sides caught on and kept the flanks tight while Ledesma faded, forcing AK to adapt for the first time.

The painful Boro Nil period disheartened fans but developed the squad, with the manager encouraging the wide men to enhance their all around footballing abilities while building attacks through the middle, with Nathaniel Chalobah, Jacob Butterfield, Lee Tomlin and Danny Graham the new central point of the team's attack.

The eventual result was six wins in the final eight league games, setting Boro up nicely for the much better season that would follow.

Of course, not everyone has fully appreciated Karanka's ways.

While it's inarguable that Adam Clayton, Downing, Kike and Stuani are upgrades on Butterfield, Tomlin and Graham, AK's “safety first” methodology has seen fans looking enviously at Bournemouth's fearless attacking strategy, even going as far to wish we played like Eddie Howe's cheery Cherries.

And were we to look back at the closing days of Mogga's ultimately failed reign, we would see a Boro side that came from behind to beat Yeovil convincingly, that nearly clawed back a 3-0 deficit against Barnsley, and would have turned around a 0-2 scoreline to beat Bournemouth had it not been for a late own goal.

Never mind that the wounds in all three matches were obviously self-inflicted, and both Barnsley and Yeovil would be relegated by season's end.

The fantasy – that Mogga's “magic formula” only needed a little bit of tinkering – seems easy to go with in hindsight.

The reality is more complicated.

Like Southgate's Arsenal-lite plan, no amount of positive thinking, hard work, dominant spells of play and magic moments could mask the fact that Boro largely looked vulnerable under both managers.

I enjoyed watching the free-scoring Albert, Tomlinho's turns and Jacob's crackers as much as anyone, but there was never enough evidence to suggest that all three players would thrive on the big stage when it mattered most.

Those who wanted us to be more like bubbling Bournemouth in 2014-15 missed the point entirely. It wasn't so much the amount of goals and match-winning moments that saw Boro fall short last season as when and where they happened, or didn't happen.

For example, when Tomlin really showed the full range of his talents, it was under no pressure, in a game Boro had been expected to lose beforehand. At Bournemouth, Watford and Wembley, games which could have made all the difference, he was nowhere to be seen.

It is why I fully encourage the arrival of the hard-working Fabbrini and the return of Downing and the re-introduction of Wildschut in place of Tomlin and possibly Adam Reach. A combination of commitment, craft and pace combined in place of relatively periodic creativity.

Completing the midfield package is the development of Adomah under Karanka, which reached fruition with the award of the captain's armband in midweek. His pass from deep to set Wildschut away for the opening goal against Oldham was a joy to watch.

This, for me, is how Boro's fate this season will be decided – not up front, but in midfield. If there's one lesson that can definitely be learned from Eddie Howe, it's that however potent your strike force is, or isn't, midfield is a great source of goals and the prime source of invention. Especially in the Championship.

How we perform against Bolton will depend on how expressive the midfield chosen by Karanka is, or is allowed to be. Whether or not they can adapt accordingly at the right time, and whether or not they can deal with the pressure of being overwhelming favourites in the first home game of the season.

I believe they can. And I'm looking forward to seeing how they rise to the challenge – as I'm sure you are.

(The original version of this piece was published online at GazetteLive on August 14, 2015.) Read more...

The SAM Index - Structure, Adaptation, Mentality - Is Key To Boro's Jolly January

We reflect on key issues and memories from that rarest of Januaries for Boro – a generally happy one

It's been uttered ad infinitum, or worse, ad nauseam, that “Boro come down with the decorations”.

That any Boro squad who fill us with hope and glory in the closing months of one year will almost certainly let us down at the very beginning of the next, if not for longer.

The three straight league defeats that threw MoggaBoro's promotion push right off course in January 2012 come to mind. It was even worse the following year with the run of FIVE straight league defeats that began at Pride Park at the very beginning of 2013, a year of very few thrills for Boro.

Going back much, much further, who remembers when the “wise old heads” who won at Old Trafford before Christmas 1998 alarmingly metamorphosed, as one newspaper put it, into “horribly one-paced, goal shy pensioners” when they played at Elland Road in January? Even in the successful promotion campaign of 1997-98, we didn't escape January unscathed, a 3-0 hammering at Charlton being a lowlight. (Good job we only played twice in the league that month.)

Aitor Karanka's Boro and their delightful bucking of said trend has been more than a breath of fresh air – it's been, despite the odd hiccup, a pleasure. Five wins out of six in league and cup with a solitary goal conceded have hugely lifted spirits amongst Riversiders and the travelling Parmo Army. Especially the travelling Parmo Army who were there at the Etihad.

What's our secret? What have AK, Steve Agnew, Leo Percovich, the rest of the coaching staff and the players – for it really is a collaborative effort – done to create a side that, all being well, looks like it could be the most robust, solid and durable of the Riverside years?

There's no easy answer, but I put it down to what I call the SAM Index – Structure, Adaptation, Mentality. All three of which were fully in effect against Manchester City.

We will talk of Lee Tomlin's chipped pass to Albert Adomah, of Dean Whitehead keeping Sergio Aguero in his pocket, of Tomas Mejias finally winning over the doubters, of Patrick Bamford's dogged persistence, of Kike ending a goal-scoring drought and a “Tomlinho” turn that left Vincent Kompany for dead and deserved a goal it didn't get.

But there was no one hero from the display (although, if I had to pick one, it would be Daniel Ayala) – it was truly a team effort, build on rock solid foundations, flashes of maverick-like skill (from Tomlin) and the correct mental and organisational approach to the circumstances at hand.

In the centre of the park, Boro work best in pairs. That much is clear. And with our first-choice centre back pairing of Daniel Ayala & Ben Gibson available, and the engine room of Grant Leadbitter and Adam Clayton on song, the patient, probing passing game of Manchester City – which reminded me very much of our own passing game – was eventually drained of its effectiveness and induced with a panicky streak.

Boro, billed as the underdogs, thrived in the guise of such a tag; the reality was that one good team was taking on another, with the pompous and entitled bubble of the Premier League Champions set to be punctured.

You sensed that AK suspected that City were there for the taking, and told the players so at half time. And so it was that as City tired, Boro grew in confidence and countered their passing movements with penetrating, direct breaks through the centre of the park – two of which led to goals. Boro had adapted while a strong defensive structure and positive mental attitude had been maintained.

A degree of praise should be offered, too, to the previous managerial regime that helped lay the foundations for this success – Whitehead, Ayala, Gibson, George Friend, Leadbitter, Adam Reach and Albert Adomah, half of the fourteen who featured on the pitch, were all initially signed by or came through under Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus. It's enough to make any Boro fan feel immensely warm hearted.

Alas, there are downsides to all of this.

We talk about “strength in depth”, but those three words can so easily be exposed as myth when the right players are missing. It's not about quantity, but quality, and City have always lacked that extra zip in the absence of totem Yaya Toure. Nor should it be forgotten that once Manuel Pellegrini brought on a genuine midfield match winner in Frank Lampard, he almost got City out of jail.

The arrival of Adam Forshaw, who looks right at home in Boro's engine room, has given us much needed back-up in the centre of the park, but even so, are we anywhere near as effective without the pivotal Grant Leadbitter? Leads has been referred to as “Boro's Xavi” and while that is rather hyperbolic, his presence elevates the entire team performance.

And it was needed against Brentford last Saturday. Boro may have passed the Promotion Test of “winning while playing badly”, but virtually every note about that performance rang false. Mentally, it only differed from the Portman Road defeat in that Boro didn't get punished for not being at the races, particularly during one moment in the second half where all the defenders seemed to converge at the near post for a corner. So much for organisational skills.

Boro suffered the curse of a raised media profile, which leads to every opposition manager starting to pay more attention to your team. Lee Tomlin's three goals in two games and barnstorming match in Manchester hadn't gone unnoticed; every Brentford player seemed to have their eye on him. Mark Warburton's side worked hard to deny us room to break through the middle, forcing Boro to resort to almost aimless long balls, except the one that led to the converted penalty.

For a team that has, in my opinion, the three most technically gifted front men in the league and has shown endless attacking alternatives this season, it was surprising how short of ideas we seemed. Hopefully this will only be an aberration.

There were, of course, positives: our usual solid defending (once we'd woken up), Leads leading the way as only he could, Forshaw's commendable cameo and Ryan Fredericks working his way back to fitness. He will offer us an extra attacking outlay from the flank that we've been lacking recently.

But what of Albert Adomah? What, indeed? While Mogga-era players like Friend, Reach and Gibson have successfully adapted to and even improved under the AK regime, the flying winger we signed from Bristol City a year and a half ago doesn't look entirely comfortable.

His lack of confidence in front of goal is all too clear. It's quite probable that he would have converted that chip against City and that missed chance against Brentford last year. Such misses seem consequential of a change in footballing identity from individual match-winner to consistent team player. One who is more defensive and disciplined than daring and, arguably, directly visionary.

Clearly, AK believes in Adomah, but not in the way Adomah wants AK to believe in him: you sense Albert thrives on being the centre of attention in attack. I think if AA re-invents himself fully and gets back on the goalscoring trail, like Andy Cole did after a similar painful period at Manchester United years ago, it may well be one of the stories of the season.

And on that note, it's time to look forward to February - starting with Charlton.

Up The Boro!

(Originally published online at GazetteLive on February 6, 2015.) Read more...

A Continental, Chelsified Charge: Boro's Season At A Crossroads

New faces have arrived, fans' expectations have risen, but can Aitor Karanka survive the previously unforeseen cracks in his steely facade to deliver the goods?

I've been there. So, surely, have you fellow football writers.

As the days, even weeks, go by, we compile one great thought or one tantalising insight after another on our beloved Boro, only to realise, after a period of time, that the article we originally intended to write now represents a crazy collage of random thoughts rather than a complete, concise, clear article.

It's like signing a collection of potentially exciting players to solve a problem before being faced with the bigger problem of building a team: the very issues that Aitor Karanka faces at his latest Boro crossroads. He has survived the opening jitters. He has survived the painful Boro Nil period. But can he survive his latest challenges?

Recently, the patient, passing probing of AK's delightfully untypical New Boro felt jettisoned in a painful regression to Typical Old Boro. Two home games, two damaging defeats, the first against a team who until last season had never secured even a point at the Riverside Stadium in six attempts. It was a bitter reminder that no matter who's in charge, when Boro expect, the opposition tend to deliver.

It goes beyond that for Karanka. Regardless of the quality of new arrivals Jamal Blackman, Yanic Wildschutt, Ryan Fredericks, Patrick Bamford and even Jelle Vossen, not everyone has bought into the Continental Chelsification that has enveloped the club since Peter Kenyon, Jorge Mendes and Karanka became associated with Boro. AK's OK in my book: he has brought degrees of experience, class and balance to Boro. Chelseaesque or not, these are undeniably commendable qualities.

But where does that leave the famed academy of Dave Parnaby? For every Ben Gibson and, to a point, Adam Reach (I think we are now realising, resignedly, that Reach isn't quite cut out to dazzle for the full ninety minutes on a regular basis), there's a Jason Steele.

Some understand that for all Steele's shot stopping prowess, AK felt he couldn't depend on him. Others have been all too willing to dub him an unfortunate, hapless castaway of a dastardly regime seeking to do away with Boro's youth.

This creates a peculiar kind of player-fan power, the sort that demonizes a Tomas Mejias and lionizes a Jason Steele. Criticism of a player is valuable if it encourages him to improve his game, but not if it irreparably diminishes his confidence.

Additionally, the longer the player he "usurped" remains absent, the stronger the myth surrounding the absent player becomes. The Mejias's of this world are labelled scapegoats while the Steeles become martyrs. It is an atmosphere that is equally harmful for a Steele as it creates expectations surrounding him that are impossible to match. Maybe some fans prefer to view Steele as a what if, a mythological one that got away rather than a human who makes mistakes.

How easy it is to forget that Steele's early months under Tony Mowbray were error ridden, yet we offered him the sort of patience that we aren't offering to Mejias. I know, I know. Mejias isn't an academy product. But did we initially bat as much of an eyelid when Chris Brunt, James Morrison and Lee Cattermole all moved on?

This isn't a serious attack on anyone. Rather, it is a call to get behind the manager. He has enough on his plate without having to worry about what the fans may think of Steele's exit.

Like, the starting line up against Huddersfield tomorrow. It's not so simple as 4-2-3-1 anymore. The new arrivals, particularly in attack, have seen to that. So what should AK do?

First, defence. Not many amendments are required here. With Ben Gibson's return, the back four of Damia Abella, Ken Omeruo, Gibson and George Friend speaks for itself. However, Mejias's confidence is clearly shot. He needs a break. And, with Blackman not yet ready to start, the return of Dimi should provide it.

Further on up the pitch, AK could go for a Brendan Rodgers-esque 4-1-3-2. Grant Leadbitter can play the holding role with Adam Clayton, Lee Tomlin and Albert Adomah the men of action behind Patrick Bamford and Kike. As "game changers" he has Wildschutt or Reach and Vossen. Alternatively there's always good old 4-4-2 with Adomah and Wildschutt as wingers either side of Leadbitter and Clayton. Tomlin, then, can be an impact substitute.

With Muzzy Carayol still to return, and the prospect of Emilio Nsue as an attacking wing back, this squad appears laden with options and excitement. And yet, there's still the fear that AK is over-complicating things. As Werdermouth (what a name) has rightly pointed out on Anthony Vickers' blog, it's the Championship, not the Champions League. Maybe it'd be best to pick the best players for a 4-4-2 and leave it at that, even as we doubt that's going to happen?

Whatever happens, I'm optimistic again. Here's to tomorrow and beyond.

(Originally published at GazetteLive on Friday September 12 2014.) Read more...

Will It Be Pain Or Gain For Boro In 2014-15?

Oh facts, oh figures, how deceptive can you be!

The tale of Boro's haphazard 2013-14 is extremely interesting when you look at it from a strictly statistical perspective. Under Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus, Boro scored an incredible 25 goals in 15 games; under highly regarded Spanish boss Aitor Karanka, they scored 37 in 31. That's sixteen more games required to score a mere 12 extra goals. Boro also failed to score just twice under Mogga and Venus, as opposed to the eleven blanks under Karanka.

Were you to paint a picture of last season based on that information alone, you would wonder why Boro even appointed Karanka in the first place! But all it takes to put things in the proper perspective is... no, not Mogga's results over the course of 2013, though they do a perfect job in their own right... is the exclusion of the dreaded seven game Boro Nil period. Boro actually only blanked four times in Karanka's other 24 league games. Hardly a damning statistic.

Within weeks of his arrival, Karanka had brought stability, consistency and results to what was, despite what thrashings of Yeovil and Doncaster may have indicated, a sinking Boro ship. Yet even as the fleetingly fiery form of Emmanuel Ledesma briefly ignited play-off hopes, not everyone was convinced; AK's teams could certainly be criticised for letting fear of failure overtake inventive creativity, fears painfully, piercingly prominent when “Boro Nil” began.

Thankfully, the rot stopped when play-off pressure was lifted, Lee Tomlin had fully settled in and our first-choice striker, then Danny Graham, found his feet. At least to a point. Six wins in the last eight games, four goals each for Graham and Tomlin. And pre-season featured seven wins and just two defeats in nine games, with nineteen goals to enjoy.

You'd think that would leave us with something to look forward to for sure. But doubts still remain. Before AK had even taken charge, I likened him to his fellow Basque football man, Javier Clemente, and I retain that stance today. Until near the end of his reign as national team manager, Clemente's teams were renowned for their lack of class goalscorers; indeed, at times he played with no recognised centre forwards at all. Fast-forward to present day Boro. Barring new arrival Kike, an unknown quantity at Championship level, what centre forward can we truly believe in?

Clemente's Spanish sides, too, were notably assertive on their day, were deadly at punishing opposition errors, and were extremely difficult to beat. All attributes worthy of Aitor Karanka's Boro. But after that, you've got to ask, “Now what?” Consistency and quality do not always go hand in hand. If Boro are to have any chance of success this season, it will depend on how expressive AK allows our most creative players to be; and whether or not said players are capable of being as expressive as we want and need them to be.

PREDICTED STARTING XI AGAINST BIRMINGHAM:

Dimi Konstantopoulos; Emilio Nsue, Ben Gibson, Daniel Ayala, George Friend; Grant Leadbitter, Richie Smallwood; Albert Adomah, Lee Tomlin, Adam Reach; Kike.

Barring the right-back slot, there ought to be few questions about goalkeeping and defence. I agree with Anthony Vickers in that Dimi Konstantopoulos's experience should guarantee him a starting place ahead of Tomas Mejias. Vickers is also right regarding Kenneth Omeruo: he's not quite up to speed yet following his post-World Cup break. Therefore, it's not yet time for the much loved “Ken & Ben” partnership to rebloom; Daniel Ayala should start alongside Ben Gibson.

George Friend has made the left flank his own, but what about the right flank? As neither Damia Abella nor Emilio Nsue has received international clearance yet, Boro should be prepared to play David Atkinson there, just in case. Atkinson may well follow in the footsteps of David Wheater in 2007, cementing his place in defence due to unavailability of others. However, Nsue is likely to be cleared in time, and should certainly start on the right side of the back four if he is available. Along with Friend, he gives us a valuable additional attacking option should things go wrong.

Midfield is a little more complicated. The departure of Nate Chalobah leaves Boro without a clearly defined regista, someone who can set the tone of the game from deep with incisive passes. It will be left for Grant Leadbitter to play that role as best as he can alongside, ideally, Richie Smallwood, who I have always preferred to the more rigid Dean Whitehead. Perhaps last season's lone spell at Rotherham was merely AK's way of sending Smallwood out to gain experience while the likes of Chalobah helped build our confidence. Here's hoping.

That leaves the will-he-or-won't-he-stay Jacob Butterfield as our last viable midfield option. Butterfield, like the forgotten Kei Kamara, is extremely frustrating. You may enjoy watching him on his best days, but can you really count on him? Yes, he's offered fleeting moments of quality, sporadically flickering into life like the match-winning heroes we still dream of, but... but... I am still not convinced he knows where he really wants to play. His best hope, if he is to remain with Boro, is to re-invent himself as an alternative No. 10, something that Adam Clayton, were he to arrive, could not be. That gives us another option if injury, suspension or loss of form were to befall Lee Tomlin.

Either side of Tomlin, the selection of Albert Adomah and Adam Reach should be a no-brainer; especially Reach, thanks to a good pre-season. And Kike is certain to start up front. Although, with Marvin Emnes, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Curtis Main jettisoned, Boro have no obvious alternative No. 9s. Kamara, as I have already mentioned, cannot be depended upon; Luke Williams, like the crocked Emmanuel Ledesma, flickers rather than glows; and Bradley Fewster is unproven. On the plus side, it is believed Karanka is trying to resign Danny Graham, but how would will he take being second choice to Kike? And does his recent record of 6 goals in 18 Boro games really inspire confidence?

So many doubts, so many unanswered questions. But all we know for now is that the big kick-off is getting nearer... and I'm really looking forward to it.

Up The Boro!

(Originally published online at GazetteLive on August 8, 2014.) Read more...

Boro Must Make Their Play To Make Teams Pay

As a writer, I once made a rather embarrassing blunder.

I declared our new assistant boss, Craig Hignett – who we should all welcome with open arms, for the record – to be the “Scouse Scholes”. Mainly because he made goals, scored goals, and wasn’t renowned for his tackling skills.

But there was one crucial element missing from his game. Many saw him as a playmaker in the mould of Paul Scholes, yet, for all his match-winning passes and goals, Hignett just could not influence a team’s attacking movements in the same manner as a Scholes. In short, Higgy wasn’t really a playmaker. But he prospered with the right kind of playmaker alongside him: those who watched him play in the same team as Nick Barmby, Juninho, Paul Merson and even Emerson will testify to that.

In my view, the ideal central midfield – which can consist of two, maybe three, players – should contain three types of player. The anchorman, whose job it is to shield the back four, break up opposition attacks and win the ball for his team. The action man, who can drive box-to-box, regularly assist or score (sometimes spectacular) goals and/or is aggressive in the tackle. But, most importantly, the playmaker, who receives the ball on a regular basis and sets the tempo of a game, his short, incisive passes and probable goal-scoring and goal-making skills influencing and inspiring everyone around him.

It goes further in Italian football, where there are two kinds of playmakers: the trequartista (the attack-minded playmaker) and the regista (the defensively minded playmaker). Their importance to a team cannot be underestimated because no playmakers, or a lack of them, points to an equal lack of subtlety in team play and a demand to fill the team’s attack with exciting, inconsistent “action men” as a means of immediate problem-solving. I return to our famous 4-0 win over Doncaster and the wisdom of writer Jared Browne when underlining the flaws of this hit-and-miss approach – although entertaining, power, speed and exciting goals do not provide “a durable platform for success at the highest level.” Matches like the Donny game do more harm than good to Boro, for we keep depending on such a flawed method to come good consistently.

With this in mind: who fulfils the playmaking roles at Boro? Who can successfully control the flow of our play and stop us running into dead ends in attack?

Let’s start with central midfielders. Jacob Butterfield is a good player, capable of conjuring match-winning feats or long range howitzers out of thin air. But a playmaker? No. He lacks influence and can easily be nullified by effective defending: he is more of an inconsistent action man. Dean Whitehead is an anchorman and rather limited action man, someone who can stifle opposition attacks, but offers little creatively. Even Grant Leadbitter, effective box-to-box midfield general and attacking inspiration though he is, cannot really make Boro tick on his own. He is no playmaker.

Easy though it would be to castigate Aitor Karanka for sending Richie Smallwood away on loan, the decision to effectively replace Smallwood and Marvin Emnes with Nathaniel Chalobah and Lee Tomlin seem like the correct ones. I watched Chalobah against Leeds and was impressed with how he set the pattern for the team; he was a real influence, quietly dictating play in the centre of the park. Earlier matches have shown that he has incisive through-balls in his locker too. He is, in Italian terms, the regista, a deep lying playmaker who can inspire.

That’s all very well. But where’s the trequartista? Playing Muzzy Carayol and Albert Adomah doesn’t solve the problem of Boro’s attack on its own, even though it would be a step in the right direction. Emnes could have filled the role – and certainly did, from time to time – but he switched off during games so many times that our patience, and AK’s, wore thin. Perhaps, not coincidentally, Boro’s Wondrous Winter Wins featured Emmanuel Ledesma thriving in the role of the trequartista, but once he was found out, his form dipped, fans began thinking of him as a waste of space and Boro haven’t scored since.

Bernie Slaven is right. Karanka needs to take the shackles off; Carayol and Adomah ought to start again no matter what, Danny Graham should not be so isolated up front, and if Kei Kamara is to be played, he must be played as a centre forward. But our front men still need a player who can inspire them, who can set the tone for attacks.

And who better than Tomlin? It is said that he thrives behind the front man, and while he might not meet the requirements of your typical trequartista – he has more of an “action man” look about him, and we don’t know if he’s got it in him to play *any* kind of visionary pass – he also has a presence and bullishness that really can inspire, especially at Championship level. Players pick up on the attitude of players who feel like they “own” a position, and Tomlin is more than capable of making that hole behind the centre forward his very own.

It’s time for AK to cull his stubbornness, utilise our attacking resources, and bring the goals back.

(Originally published online at the Evening Gazette on March 7, 2014.) Read more...

The Big Boro Questions: January 2014

With Boro on the verge of returning to league action, and the transfer window wide open, we pose a few questions about the current set up and what must be done if Boro are to progress.

What should we look for from our goalkeeper?

Any team truly welcomes a goalkeeper who is not only a good shot stopper, but calm under pressure, dominant in the box and an inspirational presence. Shay Given has every single one of those qualities. We may not be able to afford to keep him, but Jason Steele should learn from Given while he can. While Steele's shot stopping prowess has never really been in doubt, every other aspect of his game – especially his fluctuating confidence – can still be improved, and now is as good a time to benefit from a much more experienced custodian if any.

Will Aitor Karanka's collective defensive strategy continue to work?

Our more collective backline, which Kenneth Omeruo should fit into without any trouble, has already proven to be a crucial building block for success – three straight wins, six goals and three clean sheets in a row at the end of 2013 – and a calming, sturdy presence behind our impressive wing men, Emmanuel Ledesma, Muzzy Carayol and of course Albert Adomah. But this increased solidity has come at the cost of additional penetration down the flanks.

While I wouldn't suggest an outright reversion to the attacking full backs strategy, which remains fraught with risk, I would encourage AK to remain open to it, as a back-up plan. Boro have had no shortage of "full backs" who like to get forward over the years, such as Neil Cox, Curtis Fleming, Dean Gordon, Vladimir Kinder, Christian Ziege, Geremi, Franck Queudrue, Luke Young, Andy Taylor, Justin Hoyte, Tony McMahon, Joe Bennett, and currently George Friend. Perhaps an additional exciting presence on the right flank would be very valuable as an emergency alternative to the "solidity" of a Frazer Richardson or Jozsef Varga?

Were we to sell Grant Leadbitter, would we be losing our best midfield player?

No, but we would be losing our most pivotal one. Richie Smallwood might have extra exuberance, Dean Whitehead more determination and Jacob Butterfield more creativity, but none can inspire, break up play and "set off a move" in the same manner as Leadbitter. He is Barry Robson meets Nicky Bailey – he can be devastating going forward, but when required to stay back and anchor midfield, he is disciplined enough to do so. He is also the closest thing we have to a leader in the centre of the park; it is now merely a matter of whether he fits AK's long-term plans.

Is Bernie Slaven right about our forwards' goals (or lack of them)?

I initially disagreed with Bernie Slaven when he complained that the strikers at the club weren't scoring enough goals.

Contemplation has led me to believe, however, that he has a point. I argued that with attacking players needing to complement one another more and more with time, the specialist goal scorer is becoming more redundant – and, if he is misfiring, he becomes a luxury (see: Afonso Alves). The clubs who achieve most prefer to sign forwards who are jacks-of-all-trades than masters-of-none. However, even those jacks-of-all-trades are not merely workaholics who hold the ball up and create chances for others; they score lots of goals too. Logic dictates that AK has realised Lukas Jutkiewicz is just not up to it as a consistent goal scorer, and has therefore deployed him in more of an Emile Heskey role than anything else.

But forwards who don't score consistently diminish a team's chances of killing off a game. So, Bernie, I stand corrected. It is indeed worrying that of our forwards, only Kei Kamara – and he’s been on the treatment table for a while – has proven to be remotely prolific. At least we can take comfort that Curtis Main has shown he will chase up chances that present themselves (see his goal against Bolton).

Is AK's intention to reduce the squad a worrying one?

With today's game more and more about excessive rotation, it initially feels like it. But as they say, it's not about the quantity, it's the quality. If the players continue to gel and perform, I'll be happy! Read more...

Kip In The Cup: Boro Snooze Off New Year Hangover

Boro's interest in the FA Cup ended as early as it has tended to in recent years, with the "concentrate on the league" mantra masking a wretched, spineless and slightly worrying display against the future City Of Culture's “Tigers". Naturally this writer, a citizen of the 2013 City Of Culture, was more than a little miffed.

Playing in an overly defensive formation, our players seemed too in awe of a Hull City side that frankly won at a canter.

Of course, it's not the end of the world. This is a much improved Hull City from the team we turned over 2-0 at the Riverside last season, and a cup exit does not, or at least should not, directly affect our ability to continue our recently improved league form.

Unfortunately, the emphasis ought to be on "should not" – the 2-0 defeat here carries on the loss of momentum after the first twenty minutes at Reebok Stadium to date.

More than that, it felt like the last week of 2013 had never happened, with disinterested players phoning in their work as if they thought the day was a holiday.

To state "with Boro's No-Longer-Rolls-More-Like-Reliant-Robin-Rhys reinstated the clean sheet record and winning run ended" might sound simplistic, and go against the "no scapegoats" theory I promoted heavily in my last column. But his mentality and lack of confidence appear to be spreading themselves to the rest of the team in the same manner that Nigel Pearson's absence in 1996-97 and Robert Huth's departure in 2009-10 severely damaged the all around strength of our back lines then. And in Karanka's Boro, where the success has been founded on collective solidity, this is a major problem.

Anyone's worst fears about Rhys Williams should have been confirmed yesterday – he is too moody, too cavalier and too in love with his own ability. He is the Nicklas Bendtner of Championship utility men – you sense that if he were half the player he thinks he is, he’d be twice the player he actually is.

But Rhys was only one problem on a day when tactics and team selection unexpectedly, and worryingly, backfired.

Rare starts were given to Dimitrios Konstantopoulos and Luke Williams in what was, perhaps understandably, a more cautious containment system from AK. The boss played a 4-2-3-1, featuring Grant Leadbitter and Dean Whitehead as holding midfielders in front of a back four with Reliant Robin Rhys in the centre. This gave Emmanuel Ledesma and Luke Williams freedom to roam either side of Marvin Emnes, behind Curtis Main.

The idea undoubtedly seemed that, as has been Boro’s wont recently, Main would hold the ball up and create chances for our attacking midfield trio, if he wasn’t lucky enough to receive goal-scoring service himself.

It didn't pay off. Leadbitter's deeper role curtailed his licence to attack. AK's policy of restricting the full-backs' runs reduced already limited penetrative width. And with Ledesma playing slightly more centrally in front of the engine room, his mistakes were less likely to be covered up; as it proved when his unnecessary dwelling on the ball led to the first Hull goal.

Disappointing though both "Dimi" and Luke Williams were, I won't blame them – both were thrust into the spotlight and expected to perform. More worthy of negativity were the team's attitude and general performance level in the second half.

Following the half-time break, AK attempted to rectify things by immediately bringing on Albert Adomah for Ledesma, and Lukas Jutkiewicz for Luke Williams. Rather, however, than push Emnes out to the wing, advance our central midfield pairing and play Main and Jutkiewicz in tandem, as expected, AK appeared to stick with his more cautious formation and move Main to the left. By the time Jacob Butterfield came on for Emnes, no one appeared to care, the stuffing having long been knocked out of Boro by another Hull goal.

Cup game or not, such a snooze worthy, apathetic display should not be cast aside as a mere footnote. Were David N'Gog's late goal and AK's public criticism more damaging to team morale than we thought they would be? Was it more a question of the right system, but the wrong players?

Amidst this hopefully temporary gloom, there is some good news.

Nigerian international Kenneth Omeruo is set to join Boro on loan from Chelsea as a more than likely replacement for Daniel Ayala (at this moment in time, we have heard no guarantee of Ayala's loan being extended).

While we should of course mistrust all YouTube highlights – we have been there before with Afonso Alves, and they can be very selective indeed – I like what I see in Omeruo. He appears to read the game well, he looks strong, and, on the whole, comes across as the kind of ball playing centre half that might fit AK's high tempo pressing game better than Rhys.

At least there's some light at the end of the Boro tunnel leading up to the Blackpool game. Read more...

Can Boro Let The Dance Begin...? Perhaps...

Si's Insights analyses Aitor Karanka's first win as Boro boss and looks forward to tonight's match against Derby

"The Tinnies"

Not far from where I live, near Shay Given's birthplace, Lifford, lies a work of art entitled "Let The Dance Begin".

Affectionately known as "The Tinnies", these five steel structures stand tall on the border separating the north and south of Ireland, artistically unifying communities on both sides of what was once a metaphorical hurdle.

And Shay Given's arrival at Boro on loan allowed Teesside's own Men Of Steel, and their Spanish manager, to cross a "hurdle" of their own, bringing Boro their first victory under the "new" Karanka regime.

As poetic as I'm making it sound, of course it wasn't pretty; the first half was cagey, with both Karanka's Boro and Freedman's Bolton cancelling each other out in a war of tactical attrition. And the second half was permeated by at least three let-offs, all involving Jermaine Beckford; a missed chance, a missed penalty and a penalty claim that looked legitimate.

Most will tell you this is par for the course with a player who was once hyped up to be the next big thing just because he is English but never lived up to the hype, but here you could genuinely argue luck was on Boro's side.

But maybe Karanka earned it. It's always said you learn more from defeats, or setbacks, and AK clearly learned much from his coaching debut at Leeds. He realised that, in Ayala's case, it takes more than a couple of well taken goals to cover up defensive deficiencies.

Shay Given at Boro. Photo: Evening Gazette

Therefore, he chose the more dependable Ben Gibson to partner Woodgate. Recalling Jacob Butterfield and keeping both Emnes and Main on the bench gave the team extra attacking options, and also a Plan B if either Carayol or Adomah weren't at the races (and the former definitely wasn't) or if, tactically, we were too pragmatic to break down an equally cautious Bolton side.

Yes, Plan B was a little risky - substituting two midfielders for the sake of a victory charge sets you up for 89th minute heartbreak if everything goes wrong. But luckily, just about everything went right; Emnes won the penalty, Leadbitter converted it, and we can look forward to facing Steve McClaren's Derby tomorrow night with confidence.

Naturally, there are still some major team issues. As inspired a signing as Given was - and I'm not just saying that because I'm from the Emerald Isle myself, as he inspired our whole backline and possibly a watching Steele - what does this mean for Jayson Leutwiler? It's probable that neither Leutwiler nor Konstantopoulos may be part of Karanka's Boro Plan, but give Leutwiler credit; he performed ably against Leeds.

Then there's Williams. It is funny how you can misread things. No one in the Twitterverse has seemed at all impressed by his performances of late, even going as far as to call him a "liability".

Yet going by the "Redcar Red" view of the match (see Anthony Vickers' blog), Williams, while not quite the "Rolls Rhys" we once built him up to be, gave a performance worthy of the Man Of The Match award, working hard to nullify Baptiste and Lee in addition to playing a crucial part in winning Boro a penalty... at least until the last five minutes.

It's all too easy to focus on the "big moments" - like the penalty Williams gave away and the penalty Williams should have given away - instead of the bigger picture. Whereas Leadbitter and Carayol's Roy Of The Rovers-style heroics (never mind that Leadbitter made several mistakes and Carayol had an awful match) ensure they get off far more lightly.

Perhaps, on the above evidence, Williams should be encouraged.

And when you remember how effective he was in midfield during the Southgate and Mowbray years, and that Leadbitter will be suspended tonight, it might not be such a bad idea to deploy Williams in the centre of the park once again, against Derby.

Unless, that is, the disappointing Dean Whitehead finally proves his worth.

(Originally published online at Middlesbrough's Evening Gazette on Tuesday December 3.) Read more...

Aitor Karanka, His Influences And The Men Behind The Men

Si's Insights welcomes Boro's first "continental" head coach - and speculates on what fans can, and should, expect from him

Photo: Evening Gazette

When I first heard that Aitor Karanka, Jose Mourinho's No. 2 at Real Madrid – let's repeat that, The Special One's No. 2 at Real Madrid – was to become Boro's new Head Coach, I was both excited and optimistic at the same time.

Many Boro fans and writers, notably John Powls, found very little to get excited about before Karanka's appointment, and you can't really blame them.

No matter which coach sits in the Riverside hot seat, we are the flatterers to deceive to rule them all, always the next big thing, never the actual big thing.

A little like the Spanish national team before Luis Aragones' team lost in Belfast, then dropped Raul, started to build the team around Xavi and became the "tiki-takites", the World Champions and double Euro Champs we know and mostly love today.

Am I indicating a hopeful parallel here? Perhaps. But we'll return to that when we analyse Karanka and his influences.

Our last game against Watford, and indeed, the games leading up to it, were the epitome of the glass half full-glass half empty mentality that is emerging in relation to our performances this season.

Were your glass half full, you would focus on our dominant attacking play versus the Hornets, the fact that we've only failed to score in two games this season, that we've scored the third highest amount of goals in the league, that we've only lost one third of our matches, that our team is full of attacking potential, and that Reading won the Championship in 2012 despite having a similar record after their first fifteen matches.

Were your glass half empty, you would focus on our horrific defending, our number of clean sheets (two!), the fact that we've only won one fifth of our games, that potential and actually doing the job are very different things, and the lack of a consistent, dependable spine; which, in turn, will always result in more draws or defeats than victories.

Mark Venus' short managerial tenure is hardly the worst – an unbeaten home record, only three goals conceded in three games, the biggest win of the season (and year) and the biggest home crowd.

But of course that does not tell the full story. The very lack of presence in this decent man, this able tactician, illustrates that despite all his qualities, he cannot envisage a promotion challenge for this team even if it is still possible. And we know it is; recall when, at the spur of an early goal, the players lost all inhibitions, expressed themselves superbly and humiliated Doncaster.

What I, as a fan and writer, expect from Karanka, is for him to prove that he is more than The Man Behind The Man; the tactician behind the motivator, or vice versa, one of whom normally cannot exist without the other.

Mourinho's managerial achievements at the Bernabeu hint that Karanka's tactical ability is not in question, but is he a strong enough motivator? Is he enough of a visionary? And will he choose to build on the positives already inherent in the Boro system, or reshape the whole system in his own image?

Mauricio Pochettino's success at Southampton – under Nigel Adkins, the Saints were combative and engaging, but under Pochettino they are a joy – gives us every reason to believe this gamble might just pay off. But there is another side to this coin, one that may not be so appealing after all.

Lest we become over excited by Karanka's resume and the exciting parallels with Aragones and Pochettino, it is worth remembering that he played his international football under Javier Clemente, a manager who was renowned more for "faith" and "hard work" (qualities from the Basque Country, where he selected many of his players from) than a truly expansive style. Under Clemente, Spain were successful, at one stage going 31 matches unbeaten, but throughout his reign it became clear that he could only take the national team so far. This is the kind of manager that former Real coach Jorge Valdano has little time for, the sort whose lack of success as players led them to "channel all their vanity into coaching" – and he includes Mourinho in that category.

Coaches like these are what I'd call "systematic". They earn praise for trophies, good results, tactics and studying the opposition, which is all well and good, even great. But it is perfectly possible for a manager to achieve much by telling his players less about the opposition and allowing them to be more expressive on the pitch, in the same way a manager can tell his team a lot about how to play and who they will be playing, yet not achieve as much. In the same way success does not always equate with greatness, receiving information does not always equate with expressiveness. Systematic coaches may achieve great things to a point, but they are more likely to be found out eventually. The best coaches, and we have to hope Karanka falls into this bracket, can improvise and adapt when the situation calls for it in addition to being systematic.

Some will argue that Mourinho has learned to improvise more with time, with his new, seemingly more exciting Chelsea team proof of this. But it can also be argued that he is still overly dependent on the Cech-Terry-Lampard spine and that players left over from the previous regime such as Hazard, Oscar and Ramires have forced him to improvise. I can never forget how, during his first spell at Chelsea, he relied extremely heavily on the "soak 'em up and hit 'em when they least expect it" tactic; that is, until we memorably humbled him and the team on that glorious (-ly unexpected) February afternoon in 2006. He also struggled when the hierarchy began to meddle with the team; under Mourinho, it was less a question of the player's quality and more a question of whether or not he would fit into the manager’s system.

Returning to Karanka, all my analysis indicates that far more questions than answers surround our new Head Coach, but we have every reason to be optimistic. Here's hoping our optimism is not unfounded.

(This piece originally appeared online at the Evening Gazette website on November 19, 2013.) Read more...

Patience May Have To Overrule Desire

"For (Sir Alex) Ferguson, the result has always been more important than the game... You can detect (his) influence on football by witnessing the foul-mouthed win-at-all-costs yobbery of players and spectators alike at a local common near you."

-- Len Masterman, following Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement

Watching Boro's steady if unspectacular progress since the embarrassing elimination from the League Cup by Accrington Stanley, and analysing the fans' reactions to it all - including my own - over the last number of weeks, I've come to the conclusion that a certain legendary Glaswegian might have had an extremely harmful influence on us all.

More so than we suspect.

But reflection has also convinced me that Mogga is almost certainly going about things the right way.

Not that I thought this post-Sheffield Wednesday.

When I burst into an unrighteous rage at the end of the match after discovering that we had "only" drawn 1-1, I failed to realise just how unreasonably I was behaving at the time.

It was not unreasonable for me to expect more from the team that day. What was unreasonable, perhaps, was how I had reacted. We'd had several chances to win the match and had only drawn it.

Something worth being annoyed about, but certainly nothing to lose sleep over at such an early stage in the season. Rather, the sort of thing to positively reflect upon before moving on. It is "spilt milk", when you can do nothing else but look back on the game and point to the positives.

Did I have a right to be annoyed at our inability to mark set-pieces? Of course I did. Did I have the right to be furious at our wastefulness in front of goal? Of course I did. Did I have a right to feel let down after Boro threw away victory at Wigan? Of course I did.

But are such over-the-top reactions fair when there's still a lot of time to put things right? I'm not so sure.

And was I really upset because of bad defending and wasteful attacking, or was it because I believed that six wins out of six against Sheffield Wednesday at the Riverside gave us a divine right to beat them?

The Sir Alex Ferguson mentality, if you believe Len Masterman (personally, I prefer to focus on the way Fergie’s teams played and his masterful building and rebuilding of squads) has, in a way, been very bad for modern football. To paraphrase Masterman slightly, for today's breed of fan, mostly enveloping but not limited to the "Twitterati", the result appears to have become much more important than the intricacies of the game itself. The evidence is there for all to see in the angry, knee-jerk rants on 606, football phone-ins, and social networking news feeds.

If Mogga really is starting from scratch again with a Lawrie Sanchez/Jack Charlton mentality, except with good football, it might well be because it has been forced upon him. Fans wailed against the numerous defeats brought upon by "Teesside Tiki-Taka", so Mogga recognized the need to stop the rot and get the team organised once more about all else. Hence, despite misgivings, the more defensive line-ups of recent times.

What surely must frustrate so many is that Mogga's teams have remained attractive and capable of better results than they are currently achieving. Varga, Leadbitter and Whitehead have formed an admittedly impressive central trio, but more for their solidity than their creativity.

It is believed that Jacob Butterfield, who has a point to prove, will add both vitality and creative nous in the central at the park, but this may come at the expense of breaking up a strong holding formula. As with the signing of Kei Kamara, who himself could either be like a good Emnes (a second tier Juninho-lite) or bad Emnes (see: Aliadiere), it is a gamble... but in my opinion, it is a gamble worth taking.

And it is also to Mogga's credit that he has taken a stance against another ruinous approach – overreliance on "Roy Race" figures, otherwise known as mercurial talismen. Scott Murray's "Roy Of The Rovers Ruined The English Game" elaborates on the dangers of this mentality when discussing the character of Roy Race:

"He was super-talented... able to belt in goals from all angles, usually thundering home one of his trademark Racey's Rockets in the last minute to save the day. But while his insistence on sportsmanship offered a valuable life lesson for impressionable young readers, his talent for timely goalscoring and pulling irons from fires warped their minds in far more harmful ways... thanks to Roy Race, English children spent their formative years… being taught a very strange lesson: it doesn't really matter what you do for 89 minutes because a superhero will turn up eventually, welt the ball into the net, and you can all go home with your cups and medals."

Think of last season's home wins against Burnley, Blackpool and Leeds, where the Adam Reach's, Luke Williams's and Curtis Main's turned up at the right time to become heroes in the eyes of Boro fans everywhere, and you'll see where Murray is coming from. Reach's three late goals have, like Main and his crucial interventions, turned him into a "magic man", a stick to beat Mogga with should things go wrong. A more rational football fan, however, would conclude that on the evidence of the Accrington Stanley defeat, Mogga learnt that Reach and Main were not quite the answer that we all thought they were, and has rightly sent them out on loan to gain valuable first team football.

Yes, I said "rightly". Neither Reach nor Main has really proven himself over ninety minutes at Championship level. Cracking cameos are one thing, consistent capability is another. Even seventeen-year-old Lee Cattermole, prodigious though he was, couldn't do it all on his own – he needed Southgate and Boateng alongside him to start prospering. And at this moment in time, Boro do not really have a leader that is capable of tirelessly indulging the errors that our young "stars" are prone to making. Rhys Williams is regaining his composure as captain, sure, but it won't happen overnight.

There's something oddly Shakespearean about the "Boro Problem" too.

Fans of the Bard, particularly "The Merchant Of Venice", will know that he wrote about the dangers of pursuing what many desire and as much as we "deserve", and suggested that we must "give and hazard all we hath" in order to be rewarded. It's easy to believe that he was hinting that success comes from patience, turning base metal into gold, rather than demanding instant and easy satisfaction.

And we've been there before. Remember when Bryan Robson fulfilled our desires – strike that, exceeded them – by bringing Juninho, Ravanelli, Ziege, Karembeu and Boksic to the Riverside. What did we get in the end? Two relegation struggles, two desperate freefalls and lots of controversy.

Worse still would be convincing ourselves that being in the Premiership for as long as we have gives us a divine right to return. It is fair for any fan of any club to expect greater things if they personally feel that one is underachieving, but one should never think that success is owed to them.

If Rhys, and Mogga, are erring along the way to re-establishing Boro as some sort of force in this division, then they are erring in trying to do the right thing. I am more convinced, after our recent signings and reflection on the Sheffield Wednesday game that results will come... the more worrying thing is, will fans have the patience for this? Read more...

Season 2013-14 Preview: Panic Ye Not...

Despite a couple of gaps in the squad, there's no need to worry just yet. Si's Insights illustrates how Boro can still be a force this season

It is the nature of the Boro Beast that we cannot be sure whether or not we will strike it lucky, or unlucky, at the top, middle or bottom of the Championship table in 2013-14. And I am sure that the more rational Boro fans among us would laugh at the absurdity of any kind of promotion challenge following the awful freefall of 2012-13 that left a once untouchable Tony Mowbray in pieces.

Yet, in general, we, as football fans, let our rationality go out the window. I had more modest expectations once upon a time. But years of following this not always beautiful game of ours has firmly established the truism, in my mind anyway, that "it ain't over 'til it's over". I am not saying that we will be anywhere near the top of the table by even Christmas, let alone the end of the season. All I am saying is that we might be... and we can be. Judging by the way we finished last season, it is highly unlikely. But it is not impossible.

It's very much, as it almost always is, an England Expects scenario; that is to say, more about hope than expectation, and more likely to end in tears than with a party. A look at our current squad and our attendances, not to mention Mogga's managerial record at the top, suggests that Boro would be a laughing stock were they to reach today's Premier League. Then again, if Mogga’s key men – who he has been fortunate enough to keep mostly intact this summer – can rise to the challenge, who knows?

The Gaffer

Tony Mowbray's halo slipped a long time ago; the broken man who appeared in front of the  press after an embarrassingly weak showing at Hillsborough was as far away as you could possibly imagine from the towering 2011, where it seemed he could do no wrong. For the first time, our local hero – and I once said that if I had the choice, I would not want anyone else managing our club – has had countless holes picked in his regime by fans weaned on a decade of loadsamoney Premier League football, the sort that we once took for granted. Things have gotten so bad that some have begged for foreign investment to "help" us back up – even if it were to rob the club of its soul. Still, it is possible that the lack of expectations and belief in the club may work in his favour. They will need to. He's on borrowed time in far too many people's eyes.

Team Talk

One of Boro's greatest managers, Jack Charlton, was, for all the accusations of old school long-ball football aimed at him, a bit of a pioneer. He emphasised the importance of not only pressurising the opposition, but utilising the full-backs' attacking ability. Were we to merge this philosophy with the Teesside Tiki Taka we enjoyed playing at our best last season, then anything is possible. To play the fast-paced attacking game of an Arsenal or the German national team would be too dangerous; once said teams are prevented from getting into their groove, they can be easily turned over. Furthermore, we do not have the players to risk such a game.

What we do have are attacking full-backs, at least three of them, that can complement a midfield that does not always need to play a running game. And here is a potential Boro strength. Assuming the goalkeeper and back four speak for themselves; Jason Steele, with Justin Hoyte, Jonathan Woodgate, Rhys Williams and George Friend in front of them, you have at least two or three "starting formations" to choose from.

In the pre-season friendly win against Bordeaux, Mogga chose a traditional 4-4-2 with Jozsef Varga – a defensive midfielder – playing on the right-side of midfield. That was understandable, as our right-sided options beyond the full-back area are extremely limited, but there are other ways of utilising Varga besides the right flank.

Mogga could consider, perhaps, using Varga to shield the back four with former Sunderland teammates Grant Leadbitter and Dean Whitehead both anchoring and playmaking in front of him. This leaves room for two "wing-forwards", say, Marvin Emnes on the right and Mustapha Carayol on the left, to potentially thrive either side of Lukas Jutkiewicz while we can capitalise on the deliveries of Hoyte, Friend or Andy Halliday. I've always seen Jutkiewicz as Boro's Peter Crouch – a tall, skilful and surprisingly mobile forward who seems to work best as a solitary striker. With Scott McDonald out of the way, he couldn't possibly have a better chance to prove himself, if he ever needed it.

Lest this line-up appear too narrow or defensive, there are more penetrative options in reserve. We have pace, youth and width in Adam Reach and Cameron Park, but as Martin Jol once said, there is no need to use such players from the start. If Mogga finds it more prudent to start with the Bordeaux formation against Leicester – Varga, Leadbitter, Whitehead and Carayol behind Emnes and Jutkiewicz – Luke Williams can enter the fray if Emnes is having an off day. The pace, positional sense and magical right foot of the other Williams could prove a vital weapon. Another alternative would be to move Leadbitter out wide and bring on Faris Haroun, Emmanuel Ledesma or Richie Smallwood for Varga, to add more drive, vitality and creativity in the centre. They're certainly no worse than the ultimately disappointing Josh McEachran was last season. And if "Juke" is misfiring, Boro's Chicharito, Curtis Main, can enter the fray with both physical presence and powerful shooting.

It's also possible, of course, to play a "diamond formation" in the centre, with Varga the holding midfielder and Ledesma the attacking midfielder behind Emnes and Jutkiewicz, but that may be gambling unduly. A more pressing worry, perhaps, is that the "attacking full-backs" ploy is dependent on Hoyte's staying fit, as I do not believe Stuart Parnaby has the legs to pull the role off. Furthermore, the fitness of Woodgate and Rhys Williams is always cause for concern, and with Seb Hines on the treatment table until September, is Ben Gibson really ready to step up to the plate, no matter how good his pre-season has been?

It may yet make more sense to stick to the 4-4-2 that served us so well against Bordeaux and see what happens.

Keys To Boro's Success

Steele, Leadbitter and Carayol maintaining their good form, Jutkiewicz's shooting boots, good service from the flanks, and a solid defensive partnership.

Must Do Better

Haroun & Ledesma (far too enigmatic), Emnes (vanishes for long spells), Rhys Williams (when he returned from injury last season, he was unrecognisable), Friend (Fundamental to Boro's pre-Christmas promotion charge of 2012-13 before horribly losing his way).

If They Don't Break Through By Now...

Luke Williams, Park, Reach, Main and Smallwood. All in their twenties now, it is time to stop saying that they are “about” to come good.

BORO SQUAD FOR 2013-14

Goalkeepers: 1  Jason Steele, 31 Connor Ripley, 32 Jayson Leutwiler

Defenders: 2 Justin Hoyte, 3 George Friend, 4 Rhys Williams (captain), 15 Seb Hines, 16 Andy Halliday, 21 Stuart Parnaby, 22 Ben Gibson, 39 Jonathan Woodgate

Midfielders: 7 Grant Leadbitter, 8 Jozsef Varga, 11 Emmanuel Ledesma, 17 Cameron Park, 18 Dean Whitehead, 19 Mustapha Carayol, 20 Adam Reach, 33 Richie Smallwood, 38 Faris Haroun

Forwards: 9 Lukas Jutkiewicz, 10 Marvin Emnes, 14 Luke Williams, 23 Curtis Main Read more...

Penetration's What We Need

As Si's Insights celebrates its NewsNow approval (yes, you can check us out there now too), another barren January, with very few moments of light relief, concludes. Another transfer window closes. And despite what you have to admit has become a typical run of form at this time of year, we find ourselves in the last sixteen of the FA Cup and with the chance to close the gap on second-placed Leicester City to three points.

But the question of what to do about Boro, which I posed when I sat down for a while to gather my thoughts after the Watford defeat, remains no different.

For almost the entire first half of our last home league game, it was like watching... how do I put it? "Borocelona". The foundation of our success this season was there for all to see; a steady, patient, probing passing game that has been, for the most part, extremely effective, and at times a joy to watch.

Problem is, the "patience" in said style of play makes it extremely difficult for us to get back into a game once we go behind. So our second-half self destruction, while painful to witness, wasn't entirely unexpected.

What that game did was expose the limitations of our "dream midfield quartet" of Leadbitter, Haroun, Ledesma and McEachran. Gifted, committed team players they may be, but can any of them genuinely be relied on to "beat their man" on a regular basis? How many players in this squad can genuinely stretch the opposition? How many can actually capitalise on the space down the flanks and provide the kind of service that our strikers have been sorely lacking all season? In other words, service that would raise our goal difference and firmly establish us as automatic promotion contenders, rather than automatic promotion hopefuls?

I never thought I'd be really sad to see Justin Hoyte on the treatment table for an extended period of time, but the very season he becomes the key to our problems, he falls victim to a long-term injury. Ditto Mustapha Carayol. Even George Friend, already a cult hero, is more central than his inferior predecessor Joe Bennett. And while the effectiveness of Adam Reach hasn't gone unnoticed, to pin all our hopes on a still rather raw talent is a little ridiculous. Not to mention a burden for the lad.

McDonald, Miller, Jutkiewicz and especially Emnes have received their fair share of stick this season, some of it more justified than others. But I think that the central cause for our January failure is that even when we were on top of our game, we carved out very few clear cut chances. And this is of no benefit to strikers like McDonald and possibly even Juke, who don't possess extreme pace or technique and depend on being given the right ball in the right place at the right time. It's the epitome of Mogga's playing style, which was also evident while he was at West Brom – feigned penetration without actual penetration, all huff and puff, no end product.

Timing isn't just the solution to the problem. Timing is the problem. The first Watford goal, as we all know, came right at the end of the first half, when Boro had no time to immediately respond. Rolls Rhys was demoralised, we were unexpectedly forced into contemplating a Plan B, and it's just gone from bad to worse since then, with the exception of our late lucky break against Aldershot.

Harsh though it seems to play so well for long periods and come away with nothing to show for it, Penetration > Possession every time. Complaints about the late goals and non-postponement of the Leicester game, justified though they may be, have disguised a multitude of sins that creep into Boro’s present style at the worst of times, such as poor finishing, laziness and bad defending.

But the problem isn't Mogga. He's merely found himself carrying on the symptoms of Boro managers past. In 1996/97, when the opposition realised Juninho was the centre of our attacks, they denied him the room to prosper and put our shaky defence under pressure. The facade was exposed. Even in 1997/98, we suffered a double slump at the turn of the New Year, picking up just one point from six in January and one away point from fifteen in March and April. Had Sunderland not choked against Ipswich, the season would have ended very differently. In 1998/99, once opposition sides cut off the Dean Gordon supply line, we entered an alarming slump in form and only bounced back when Hamilton Ricard found his touch in front of goal again. And so on, and so on.

In other words, every team has flaws, and when we see them, they're very revealing about the management of the side. You just don't notice it when everything works.

The problem isn't necessarily that we're not good enough, but that we're repeating the same mistakes over and over again, hoping that our methods will "work" long enough to conceal things. You can only "get away with it" for so long before things catch up with you. Being dedicated is one thing; being penetrative is another.

Maybe Kieron Dyer might be the man to provide the penetration we need? Against his old club, no less?

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As a postscript: I got some stick on Twitter last night for attempting to apply a fair and balanced view of Kevin Thomson's Boro career. I'm not denying that the money we are saving from no longer having to pay his wages is a good thing, but at the same time, I do regret that one of Strachan’s "marquee" signings, who could have become a key player under Mogga (he was, after all, Mogga's chosen captain at Hibs) never got the chance to truly establish himself in the manner Bailey, McDonald and to a lesser extent McManus did. It's impossible for me not to imagine what might have been but for all those injuries.

In short, feel a little regret that it didn't work out for him, but feel happy that both him and we can move on.

Goodbye and good luck, Thommo. Read more...

How Does It Feel To Not Be On Top Of The World?

To panic, or not to panic? That is indeed the question.

Our Capital One Cup win over Gillingham was not as comfortable as the scoreline suggests - well, in truth, none of our victories this season have been what you'd call comfortable - but after looking at the score and scorers, we could still congratulate the team on a job well done, and feel proud of Carayol and Park's first Boro goals, in addition to a man-of-the-match display from Carayol.

And then we looked closer.

Just as Carayol was (again) showing signs of becoming the creative force we hoped he would be, he limped off injured (again). Scott McDonald, despite being more than capable of doing a job for the team (not only did he have a good pre-season, but his strike rate - 27 goals in 82 starts (thank you for the stat, Anthony Vickers) - is better than that of any other striker at the club), remains in internal exile. But worst of all...

It was bad enough to lose one inspirational captain to a long-term injury, but now we've gone and lost another. With Rhys Williams at the peak of his confidence and power, he damaged ankle ligaments at Gillingham - a match he was very nearly rested for! - and is now facing months on the sidelines. To compound matters, Mogga reshuffled the pack for the Millwall match (No Reach? No holding midfielder until it was too late? Park and Main not even on the bench?), and, as is becoming the norm this season, lots of pretty passing amounted to nothing as clinical finishing saw the Lions triumph, in the end, without really breaking a sweat.

So far, the season's very much like the start of 2007/08, when a superb home display against Birmingham in early September lifted everyone's confidence. By the end of the month, three strikers and an inspirational midfielder (for Rolls Rhys today, read Arca back then) had hit the treatment table and we'd conceded a sickening late equaliser in a match we'd bossed from beginning to end.

It's tempting to quote Albert King here and moan that if it wasn't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all. But the best-organised sides make their own, and one has to admit that for all Mogga's positive talk, the season has been as stop start as our league results indicate.

What to do? I think that if a fan was in Mogga's shoes, he or she would be tempted to give the "kids" more time in the side. We've all seen what Main, Luke Williams, Reach and Park can do, and they are no doubt keen to show that they are ready for a regular run in the first team. But if one thinks with more head than heart, he or she should realise that Mogga is probably wary of rushing things with the younger lads. That it is far better to start with players who are more established at this level and slowly integrate the youngsters into the side.

So be it, then. But then there remains the problem of how to truly get the best out of Haroun, Zemmama, Ledesma and Miller, who've all shown that they *can* do it. But *will* they do it? How soon? And how often?

And, as Anthony Vickers so eloquently put it, the Scott McDonald conundrum must be resolved.

There will be a time when one will have to stop saying that Boro are "about" to come good.

* * * * *

As an aside: The decline and sale of Joe Bennett was unpredictable, even a little sad, but he was a defensive liability. And with the amount of left sided players we have at the club, it's undeniably good business. Did he miss Andy Taylor? Did he catch second season syndrome? Who knows? Either way, good luck to the lad.

Another aside: This article on Mogga by Martin Hardy of the Independent is well worth a read.

And as a final aside: Let's give a big Boro welcome to Andre Bikey! Read more...