Middlesbrough: The sinking of Boro

At the start of the season, things where looking good for Middlesbrough. Signing the Yak for a big name signing, Mendieta was fully fit, Hasselbaink and Viduka were around. I think there only loss was Zenden who went to Liverpool.

But the last couple of weeks, they have been terrible! i think they are sitting 4th bottom which i think may make the manager get sacked if they dont improve soon

Arsenal gave them a tanking, either 6 or 7 nil. And yesterday they got tanked again And its big time defeats which is a total embaressment for them.

Just what has went wrong?

Considering Middlesbrough have only won 2 of their last 12, and one of those being Nuneaton in the FA Cup, I would imagine Steve McCiaren will very soon get a vote of confidence from the board. They are only 5 points ahead of Birmingham, who they play in about three weeks time. Before that Chelsea and WBA in the premiership and Stuttgart in the UEFA Cup. I think McClaren has until the result with Birmingham, lose and he may be gone, as you say they have the talent, but their progress is dismal.

Rubbish, thats all that you can say.

McClaren is utter shyte, and they have him on the list for the England job? Do me a favour, if he cant do it at club level then....

Its what i keep saying, too many foreign players. Its ok for Chelsea or Arsenal to do it as they have quality foreing players, but Boro have bought middle of the road ones.

The answer lies in English talent as alot of the foreign players are mercanaries, just in it for the money.

i remember Robson being in charge, he had a good team. Nice foriegn players mixed with some english guy, but all of a sudden, they went downhill.

And its happened here with McClaren, i think with the team they have they should be doing better.

I cant figure out how Villa can tank them 4 or 5 nil

I think Gibson was supposed to have said he is confident in McClaren turning it round earlier on today?

But lets be honest, Middlesbrough haven't done too much for the last 5 years with the exception of 2004-2005.

Table finishes:
2001-2002 12th
2002-2003 11th
2003-2004 11th
2004-2005 7th
2005-2006 17th so far.

Yakubu has made 26 starts, 7 as sub, Hasselbaink 17-9, and Viduka 22-7. The only one to play more games is Southgate.
they've played 42 games so far, all competitions + friendlies.
A 64% start rate for thier longest serving player?...Sounds like squad rotation is a tads too much

good stuff with the stats there,

sounds like he doesnt know his strongest squad. You would think after 5 years though he would

I thought it was an interesting point as I compared it to Chelsea players, the team that is meant to be taking squad rotation to the extreme. Now seeing Southgate has started in 65% of all Boro fixtures, more than any other, the Chelsea players look like this:

Terry 85%
Lampard 80%
Gallas 77%
Cech 73%
Makelele 65%
Essien 63%

I guess its a real subject of injuries.....but Boro can't be helping themselves.

Steve McClaren says the buck stops with him as Middlesbrough manager with the Riverside unrest continuing to envelop Teesside. One angry fan ran onto the pitch to hurl his season ticket at the Boro boss on Saturday and McClaren claims he can understand the supporters' frustrations.

Skysports

noticed his wise words where, get behind the team which translates too...... lets home chanting puts the opposition off cos i dont know how to improve the team.

Sounds like he aint got a plan, he didnt say he had faith in the players either lol

Newp, i think he may well be on his way....

Boeteng is stalling on signing a new deal, maybe he has had enough at Middlesborough aswell...





[Edited on 7/2/06 by TRD]

Well they can ill afford to lose good players and I'm not sure how big the Boro kitty is to replace them, anybody any idea?

i aint sure how much money they have for transfers, though i think its fair to say

In the summer brining in the Yak for big money, i think they lost Zenden on a bosman. I think they spent quite alot compared to other seasons

They have spent quite a bit over the last few years and i bet the wage bill is quite high with the likes of Hasslebaink, Franck Queudrue, Southgate, Viduka and the Yak on the books. I don't think they have alot to spend and looking at their squad there is plenty of deadwood to clear away.

and after all this they receive the Premiership champions on Saturday and give them their biggest thrashing for 3 years. Whats also interesting is that Chelsea had a total od 16 shots to Boro's 7, and Boro only had 39% possession. Schwarzer must have had a sparkling game.

i havent seen the game, but what i did notice was that Gallas got injured within the first 15 minutes and since he went of, they lost 2 goals.

He doe seem to be in the team all the time, wether its left back, right back or in the centre. And i dont think they had a defender on the bench so was it Maniche who came on to play defence?

But it just goes to show..... Football can be a funny old game

Unbelievable that they beat Chelsea after the way they have played in recent weeks, i didn't expect it and i don't think Mourinho did either. If you look at it though havn't Middlesborough beaten Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool and maybe Arsenal this season? Its a managers nightmare, beat all the top clubs and underachieve against the not so good ones.

They defintly gubbed Man Utd, think it was 3 nil

Not sure about Arsenal... they beat Boro about 6 or 7 nil lol

I think Liverpool beat them and drew the other match

But still.. 3 nil against Chelsea and 3 nil against Man Utd shows you that there is a team there, but i think PavingSlab got it pretty much right about the team selection is rather strange. Seems to change all the time