 |
TRANSFER TALK: Who do you think should be Sunderland's first choice targets in the
summer? Which positions do you feel the club need to strengthen?
• Share your views here |
Boro’s spirited show can’t claim top billing
Liverpool 3 Middlesbrough 2
GARETH Southgate acknowledged
prior to the club's trip to
Liverpool that if Middlesbrough
featured first on Match of the
Day then it would have indicated
his side had upset the status quo
and won.
Unfortunately the Teessiders
failed to defy the odds on this occasion
and, as a consequence,
they could only manage fourth
spot in Saturday night's line-up.
Southgate would have been
content with that slot on any
other occasion, maintaining his
desire for the club to keep a low
profile, but the Boro boss may
feel his side perhaps deserved to
share the spotlight this week
after a spirited show at Anfield.
After all, there was enough incident,
controversy and talking
points during the fixture to merit
an opening slot on the long-running
TV programme. And there
may have been no significant
upset on their trip to the north
west - but there could have been.
Had the usually reliable Julio
Arca cleared his lines, instead of
heading a back pass to his goalkeeper
from more than 30 yards,
and Mark Schwarzer and David
Wheater dealt with a routine
long ball forward more competently,
then Middlesbrough could
have recorded a first victory at
Anfield since 1976 when John
Hickton and Terry Cooper netted
in a famous 2-0 triumph.
Regrettably for Boro, Fernando
Torres was not in a charitable
mood and punished the visitors
with three outstanding examples
of clinical finishing. The
Spaniard levelled the contest in
the 28th minute when he read
Arca's headed back pass, and ran
on to round Schwarzer before
sliding into an empty net.
Torres increased the Reds' lead
a minute later. Fabio Aurelio
and Ryan Babel swapped
passes on the left to set up the
striker and, he thundered
the ball past the Boro goalkeeper
from 20 yards.
The Spain international's
hat-trick goal was perhaps
the easiest of the
three. He pounced on
Wheater's hesitancy and
Schwarzer's rush of blood
to pass the ball into an unoccupied
goal on the hour
mark.
The Middlesbrough manager
would have rather discussed the
merits of his own players than
Liverpool's but even he couldn't
resist hailing Liverpool's £26m
record signing from Atletico
Madrid.
Southgate once faced Torres in
a pre-season friendly as a Boro
player in 2005, and the striker
scored in a 2-1 victory at the
Riverside. He knows from personal
experience what quality
the 23-year-old striker possesses.
"He's an outstanding player,"
said Southgate, who saw his
eight match unbeaten run come
to an end.
"What's disappointing is that
when you come to a place like
this if you've been beaten you
want their quality to be the reason
you've lost and that wasn't
necessarily the case
"I thought David Wheater did
a good job against him but obviously
the two goals we've gifted
them, the other one was an outstanding
finish. He's scored four
against us in the two games
we've had.
"I suppose when you pay £26m
for a player you're entitled to expect
that kind of performance."
Prior to Liverpool leveling the
contest Middlesbrough bossed
the game and led courtesy of
the returning Tuncay Sanli,
who peeled off his marker to
head past Pepe Reina from
Downing's ninth minute
free-kick.
The Turkey international,
employed just behind
Jeremie Aliadiere,
tormented the hosts
throughout the match and
wrongly claimed a second goal
ten minutes before the break. He
escaped his marker to finish
Downing's cross but it was rightly
ruled out for handball and he
was rightly booked.
Despite going 3-1 down, Boro
refused to be intimidated or bullied
by last season's Champions
League finalists and showed the
character to drag themselves
back into the game.
Aliadiere had blasted an earlier
chance over the bar after 75
minutes before Arca split the
Reds defence with an exquisite
pass to find Downing, who
skipped past his marker to score
from an acute angle inside the
box seven minutes from time.
But any hopes the visitors had
of rescuing a point were dashed
by Aliadiere's show of petulance
when he was sent off two minutes
later.
Aliadiere reacted when Javier
Mascherano grabbed his face and
the Frenchman slapped him. The
letter of the law states you can't
raise your hands to an opponent.
But if this is the case then the
Teessiders could justifiably feel
hard done to, because Mascherano
should have followed the former
Arsenal striker off the field
for his part in the incident.
The Middlesbrough manager,
however, had no complaints with
the referee's decision.
"It's a harsh lesson for Jeremie
but he knows that and no-one
needs to tell him," said Southgate,
who admitted his side lost
a little momentum after the dismissal.
"These things happen in football.
We might have got back into
the game at that spell or we
might not, but it certainly took a
bit of sting out of us for the last
ten minutes."
9:10am Monday 25th February 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Dave, Darlington on 10:58pm Mon 25 Feb 08
Boro fans are getting carried away with themselves. They'll win nowt this season, all they talk about is Newcastle United - they're obsessed with the mags. They're not really interested in the Boro, that's why they fail to turn up for home matches, they just want to go on and on and on about Newcastle.
They'll never be as big or successful as Newcastle - just get used to it. And before anyone comes on to tell me, yes, I am aware that the toon are below boro in the table at present but we've had a really terrible season and you lot are only one point above us and you'd think you'd won the Premiership.
Boro fans are getting carried away with themselves. They'll win nowt this season, all they talk about is Newcastle United - they're obsessed with the mags. They're not really interested in the Boro, that's why they fail to turn up for home matches, they just want to go on and on and on about Newcastle.
They'll never be as big or successful as Newcastle - just get used to it. And before anyone comes on to tell me, yes, I am aware that the toon are below boro in the table at present but we've had a really terrible season and you lot are only one point above us and you'd think you'd won the Premiership.
Posted by: Stuart, Netherlands on 8:01am Tue 26 Feb 08
What a surprise a mag talking crap. Nobody from Boro that I know has said Boro are as big a club as Newcastle. We simply aren't. Newcastle is a far bigger city so stop going on about it. Nobody in Boro cares that Newcastle is a bigger club. However that must make it hurt all the more than we are simply better and in recent times, when it counts, we are more successful. You've won nothing whilst I've been alive and probably never never will the way you chop and change managers. At least we have won a cup in the last decade. Your massive club as spend god knows how much and has won.....nothing.
So, stick with the mighty Newcastle, the biggest club in the north east but definitely not the best or most successful.
What a surprise a mag talking crap. Nobody from Boro that I know has said Boro are as big a club as Newcastle. We simply aren't. Newcastle is a far bigger city so stop going on about it. Nobody in Boro cares that Newcastle is a bigger club. However that must make it hurt all the more than we are simply better and in recent times, when it counts, we are more successful. You've won nothing whilst I've been alive and probably never never will the way you chop and change managers. At least we have won a cup in the last decade. Your massive club as spend god knows how much and has won.....nothing.
So, stick with the mighty Newcastle, the biggest club in the north east but definitely not the best or most successful.
Posted by: Dave, Darlington on 10:48pm Wed 27 Feb 08
Clearly I touched a nerve! What I was trying to get across was the fact that most of the Boro supporters I come across spend more time talking about Newcastle than they do their own club. They don't even bother to turn up to watch them.
Why the obsession with your bigger neighbours?
Clearly I touched a nerve! What I was trying to get across was the fact that most of the Boro supporters I come across spend more time talking about Newcastle than they do their own club. They don't even bother to turn up to watch them.
Why the obsession with your bigger neighbours?
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!
