 |
TRANSFER TALK: Who do you think should be Middlesbrough's first choice targets in the
summer? Which positions do you feel the club need to strengthen?
• Share your views here |
Southgate planning a brighter Boro future
WITH Premier League status secured,
Gareth Southgate can now
set about the task of planning for
next season, which, the Middlesbrough
manager insists, begins
at home to Manchester City tomorrow.
As the Teessiders bring down
the curtain on what has been a
nervy campaign, Southgate last
night reflected on a turbulent
season, which has brought an agonising
FA Cup quarter-final defeat
and a successful relegation
battle.
Southgate, however, reluctantly
admits that his Middlesbrough
squad have fared well in the circumstances.
Without the presence of
Yakubu and Mark Viduka, who
between them last year scored 35
goals for Boro, it has been a long
season for Southgate's men.
A week after Roy Keane lambasted
his Sunderland players in
the wake of their 2-0 defeat at
Bolton Wanderers, Southgate
will not be letting his players sit
back, despite guaranteeing their
top-flight survival against
Portsmouth last weekend.
And to make sure of that the
Boro boss has told his players
that much still rests on tomorrow's
encounter with Sven Goran
Eriksson's City.
He said: "It's a season in which
we have come through great adversity
and managed to preserve
our Premiership status.
"That's no cause for celebration,
but it was an important season
for us as a club to survive and
to overcome the loss of 30-odd
goals from the team was a huge
challenge.
"If you look at the table we are
one of the lowest scorers in the
league, so when you look at the
position we're in, bearing that in
mind, it is a decent performance.
"It's not so much about this
season now, it's already about
what we do next season and how
we go about it.
"That process has already
started really and Sunday is the
first part of it."
With effectively nothing else to
play for after last week's win over
Pompey, Southgate believes his
players can go out and enjoy the
last game of the season, but the
Boro boss has warned every player
will remain under scrutiny.
"We've waited all year to play
without that pressure, let's see
how we respond to it," said
Southgate.
"You're learning about players
all the time and we'll see them in
a different situation this weekend
at home.
"The sun will be shining, hopefully,
so let us see what we can
produce."
Southgate was as relieved as
anybody after seeing his side finally
extinguish the threat of relegation,
avoiding what would
have been a nervous last day of
the season.
"You certainly wouldn't want
to be going into this weekend
needing points," said the former
Boro skipper.
"The last two years we've had
to go to the penultimate Saturday
to get ourselves safe.
"They've been edgy games so
a week further on I'm sure would
be particularly difficult for everybody.
"We're not in that situation
thankfully, but we still need to
finish well and set the tone for
next season.
"I will learn a lot about our
mentality by the performance we
give at the weekend."
While Southgate will not tolerate
his side easing off the gas tomorrow
afternoon, he admits it
will be a strange feeling not having
to deal with the amount of
stress he has been forced to endure
for much of the campaign.
"We've been playing under
enormous pressure for the majority
of the season," said Southgate.
"When you have the start we
had it puts you on the back foot
throughout.
"We've always been scrapping
for points and even games we've
won have tended to be by the odd
goal.
"Hopefully they can go out and
perform free of those inhibitions
at the weekend."
Given the current state of affairs
at Eastlands, the Teessiders
may not have a better chance of
ending the season on a winning
note.
Eriksson has admitted that
leaving City at the end of the season
is a "possibility" following reports
that owner Thaksin Shinawatra
had lined up Portugal
coach Luiz Felipe Scolari as his
replacement.
And Southgate is as shocked as
anybody at the current predicament
following what Eriksson
has achieved in his first season at
the club.
He said: "I think everybody in
football is surprised. From the
outside he appears to have done
an excellent job in his first season
there.
"Every club has a chairman
and an owner and they make the
decision on what goes on.
"I'm very fortunate here that
I've got the full backing of somebody
that is looking longer term.
Other people will have different
visions."
9:04am Saturday 10th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
Play video
