Let's Do A Denmark!

Well, well, well. Boro have done it again!

Just when it looked like any hopes we had for yet another frustrating season were about to die, up popped Curtis Main with an absolutely brilliant finish. For all our endeavour, it was his priceless goal that was the difference between leaving a team with no hope and injecting a team full of hope... which we must now hope is genuine, and not a false dawn.

It's a common fact that football is full of swings and roundabouts. Yet few teams seem to conform to this particular rule of the game to quite the same extent that the Boro do. And that's what makes following them so infuriating sometimes.

But hey, we're back in the play off hunt. And after Saturday's display, few can say that our chance, however slim it is - realistically, we still need to rely on Blackpool, Cardiff or possibly Birmingham slipping up while not dropping points ourselves - wasn't deserved.

So what can we do to carry our new found momentum (or false hope? Take your pick) into the last three games of the season, starting with Doncaster tonight? Simple, really...

We can do a Denmark.

It's one of the great football fairy tales. Eleven days before Euro 92 kicked off in Sweden, Denmark's footballers were on holiday, having failed to qualify. But civil war had ripped Yugoslavia to shreds, and UEFA decided they could not compete. Hence, the team that finished second to them in qualification - Denmark - was left to take their place.

It happened so close to the finals that you would have thought the management would have no time to prepare a team. But it worked in precisely the opposite manner. All the other teams involved in Euro 92 had been caught up in the hype and build-up around the tournament, but the Danes arrived under no pressure whatsoever. They knew that every point gained was a bonus - after all, they weren't meant to be there to begin with - and with that in mind, they gradually went from strength to strength, to the point where they were able to record a convincing win over then World Champions Germany in the final.

Now... let's look at our present situation. Our form - just five wins since the turn of the year - is hardly inspiring. Nobody - especially not the pundits - is giving us much of a chance of breaking into the top six at the moment. So why not channel such low expectations into a great finale to the season, just like we did with those four straight wins last year? Especially away to Cardiff, when we convincingly turned over a side cocky enough to have prepared their automatic promotion lap of honour in advance.

That way, whether we lose the play off battle or not, we can at least go out on a high.

It would also be a great way for Lukas Jutkiewicz to finally prove his critics wrong. His hard working performance against Derby, coupled with his absolutely rotten luck in front of goal, has led me to conclude that he's suffering from Peter Crouch syndrome. That is to say, he's trying far too hard to impress, just like Crouch did in his early months at Liverpool before he finally found his way. The price tag (high by today's standards) and expectations ("He's the answer to our goal scoring problem!", thought everyone) haven't helped him, sure, but if he lets the pressure affect him a little less, and the team helps to take such pressure off his shoulders, who knows what may happen for both him and us?

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As an aside, Si's Insights has learned that one of the best Boro blogs on the web - Mike Baker's Smog Blog - has reached the end of the line. This is sad news, especially considering how thorough, compelling and passionate Mike's writings have been over the years. In particular, his take down of Gordon Strachan's reign ("Goodbye Gordon. You were awful.") is a must read for anyone, as is his take on "The Year That Had It All", aka 1996/97.

I will also be grateful to Mike for publishing three of my own posts on his site, including the western-themed tribute to Mogga at the end of the gaffer's first year in charge.

So long, Mike. And thanks very much for your efforts!

You can read Mike's final blog post here.

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More Than A Game...

I found out that Dermot (Morgan) had died the day after we filmed this, a show we had already decided would be the last Father Ted. The shock was indescribable. I had to call Arthur (Mathews, "Father Ted"'s co-creator and writer) and tell him and a few days later we had to edit this episode, still reeling. Dermot was great in this episode, probably the best I've ever seen him, and I think on some unconscious level he was keeping himself going until the end of the series (in the same way that people often get sick at the end of a long location shoot). It's still unbelievable to Arthur and me that he's not here anymore.

-- Graham Linehan, 1999

When the news broke to me about Gary Speed's death (on Facebook, of all places!) it was very difficult - nay, impossible - for me not to think of the above quote. Because I'm struggling to recall being as shocked, or staggered, about the death of a famous person since Father Ted star Dermot Morgan collapsed and died the very day after the show finished filming for good. And, in many ways, the quote does relate to Gary Speed. For there he was, with Dan Walker on the BBC's Football Focus merely a day before, in "great form". Just like Dermot Morgan was the day before he lost his life.

Now is not the time to dwell on what could have possibly caused this sudden turn of events. But what I will say is that, to me, he was the Welsh Gareth Southgate - a natural leader, a good, honest pro and a role model to everybody. He was even capable of proving me wrong too, as he overcame a shaky start with our distant black and white neighbours to become a driving force in their midfield during the Bobby Robson years. What's even sadder is that he still had potential to fulfil - there were signs that he was going to do for Wales what Lawrie Sanchez did for Northern Ireland, if not better.

RIP Gary Speed. You will be missed.

(Click here to read a blog by the BBC's Dan Walker which says it better than I ever could.)

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What I've Learnt In The Past Few Weeks - And What Boro Haven't (And What I Fear They Never Will...)

So here I am, back to blog after quite an eventful couple of weeks. Eventful in that we've seen a certain Aussie break his long awaited goal drought, Ireland qualify for a major tournament for the first time in a decade (that's brought a smile to everyone's face in these parts, let me tell you, quality of the football be damned) and Boro failing to learn... much.

But first, it's been a bit of an enlightening experience for me too. After the poor response to the Watford Live Commentary, I realised that it didn't work as well as I thought it would - after all, the BBC can offer the exact same service, and Twitter, as my colleague Brandon Arcuicci has rightly pointed out, is more interactive and has access to more information. So I decided it made more sense to set up a Twitter account for Si's Insights and run a live Twitter feed on the right hand side in the blog. I have a feeling it will be especially lively on match days.

And today was one of those days. After the dourness of the Watford match, not to mention the desperately poor attendance at said game, you wouldn't have been surprised if the powers that be at Sky never wanted to cover another Boro match. Well, today's game was everything the Watford game wasn't - exciting, eventful and heart-stopping, with a higher attendance. Oh, and we didn't win.

It was easy to approach today's game with a little trepidation. Our recent record against Blackpool brings back painful memories. There was the massive fall down to earth three days after we thought Gordon Strachan had finally got it right, and then there was Scott McDonald missing a penalty as we collapsed to a spineless defeat at Bloomfield Road later that season. Turned out that for all their spine, Blackpool didn't have as much in the tank as they needed. Their football may have won them many fans, but neither their squad nor their game plan was equipped to last a season in the Premiership.

Just like I feel that neither our squad nor our game plan is good enough to consistently last the full season alongside the automatic promotion challengers. We may be a very different team since Blackpool last played us, and Scott McDonald may be a very different player, but it's not quite amounting to as much as we hoped it might.

I've read some fans saying that they would be more than happy with a play-off place, and that automatic promotion is a pipe dream anyway. But look at it like this - if both the league table and our style of play tantalised us with the promise of automatic promotion, as it has done this season, wouldn't you feel more than a little disappointed if we didn't get it? Wouldn't you be more than a little down if we didn't capitalise on numerous chances to win games that finish in either draws or narrow defeats? Which, let's face it, has happened far too often under both Mowbray and Southgate.

Like today. Despite the more than welcome return to form of Scott McDonald (that's three in two now for the Aussie after none in 12 - and I'll bet you he's lovin' it) the game should have been out of sight long before his second goal. Shades of the Coventry game, where Boro target Lucas Jutkiewicz made our wastefulness pay - and this time, it was Liverpool loanee Jonjo's turn to Shelve (okay, no more bad puns) our chances of victory. After that, we were kind of lucky not to surrender the game to them altogether.

At the same time, Southampton were capitalising mercilessly on a Brighton sending off to move even further away from the chasing pack, and Big Sam's substitutes were turning a defeat into a win for the Hammers at Coventry. They can bring on Cole and Piquonne while we can bring on Nimely and Ogbeche. Proven Premiership forwards against unproven goalscorers at any English level. That seems to be the difference, folks.

Yeah, I know I said a few weeks ago that running the Saints and West Ham close is probably the best we'll be able to do - but it's so frustrating when the team hint that they might, might just prove me wrong.

And, of course, every late goal we concede brings back memories of the previous one. In fact, me and Brandon Arcuicci have been delving into the list of players who have broken Boro hearts with late goals in recent years. The list is, frankly, endless. But I think I can come up with a Top Five, by, say, Monday? All suggestions are welcome...

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As a post script, I'll spare a thought for poor ex-Boro man Brad Jones, who lost his four-year-old son to leukaemia yesterday. My thoughts are with him and his family at this difficult time.

Here's a link to an emotional interview with Brad and partner Dani on the Liverpool website, that took place last month.

RIP Luca Jones. Read more...

It's Not The End Of The World As We Know It... And We'll Be Fine

As I get this blog up and running, it looks like we Boro fans can afford to smile again. We made a very welcome return to winning ways on Tuesday night.

But is this really a return to form after Saturday's reality check, or is this only a temporary respite? The way things are going at the minute, I'm thinking it could be the latter.

Nothing from last night's victory convinced me that (a) our momentum hadn't gone and (b) we might not be strong enough for automatic promotion after all. Painful as it is to admit, the 3-0 scoreline on Saturday flattered us. But for Steele it might have been double that, or worse. Matthew Bates was a shadow of the leader we know he can be. What exactly was he doing in the run up to that third goal? And our attacking "prowess" brought back memories of the worst of the Strachan days. Let's just say that at the moment, McDonald's to goal-scoring what his namesake is to fine food.

It's tempting to say that the Moggalution has merely brought us back full circle from the final days of Gareth's reign, if not worse. The stats are frighteningly similar: Five wins out of the first seven games, followed by 2 league wins in the next 8 (okay, it was 2 in the next 6 two years ago), low attendances, a thin squad, over-reliance on one player in attack (for Johnson, read Emnes), a sobering hammering from fellow "promotion challengers"... it gives you a bit of deja vu, doesn't it?

But that would be a disservice to all the good work Mogga has done in restoring our faith in the team. (I don't need to discuss that here - this says it all.) No, all the Saints game illustrated is exactly what the West Brom thrashing illustrated two years ago - we're a good side, we're just not quite as good as we think we are.

It's really a bit like Northern Ireland, isn't it? Inspired by David Healy's unexpectedly rich scoring streak, they ran the heavyweights Spain and Sweden right to the wire in qualification for Euro 2008. Now thanks to a similar streak from Emnes, we're doing the same to Southampton and West Ham regarding the automatic promotion places.

And alas, like Northern Ireland, running them close is probably all we'll be able to do. Can we boast a fluidity, or home record, to match Southampton's? And do we have the resources, or the fan base, to lure the Kevin Nolan's, John Carew's and Carlton Cole's of this world to play in the Championship? While it's true that West Ham's inconsistency gives us a bit of hope, there's surely too much quality in their side for them to miss out on the top two.

Of course, only time will tell if I'm right. Onwards and upwards.

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There's little I can say about Doncaster's Billy Sharp that hasn't already been said, both eloquently and poignantly, by the Evening Gazette's Anthony Vickers in his own blog.

But if I was to find words most appropriate for the tragedy, they would come from a Facebook status update, tipped off to me by Liam Marshall on the MFC Facebook page. I'll paraphrase slightly.

"Look at Carlos Tevez... £250,000 a week, refuses to play because he doesn't feel up to it. Now contrast him with Billy Sharp... £10,000 a week, yet played two days after the tragic loss of his two day old son. We need more footballers like the latter and less like the former."

It's at times like these you realise football is only a game.

RIP Louie Sharp.

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