WHEN Middlesbrough's Mr Cool became Mr Angry his team-mates knew that there must have been more than a ring of truth about his immediate suggestions that Cristiano Ronaldo had dived for a penalty.

Mark Schwarzer, so often the reassuring member of the Boro squad, was incensed from the moment referee Chris Foy pointed to the spot after Ronaldo took a tumble following over the Australian.

No card was issued to Schwarzer, hinting that even the official thought there must have been an element of controversy about the incident.

There was little the Boro keeper could do and the Middlesbrough players around him knew something was awry when they witnessed the expressions across his face.

"I haven't seen a replay but I know Mark Schwarzer is a very calm man and I can't remember seeing him as angry as that for a long time," said Emanuel Pogatetz, just yards from the incident when it happened.

"There must have been a reason for that anger. If he gets like that something bad must have happened. Normally he is such a calm guy. He must have been really annoyed to react like that."

Pogatetz has undergone his own character change in the last 12 months. When he arrived from Bayer Leverkusen he was a volatile person whose temperament got him into referees' notebooks all too often.

His calm approach to the game is something he has had to work hard on - added to attending anger management classes.

He only turns 24 in January and Pogatetz feels Ronaldo, just 21 himself, will learn by his experience and eventually he will not take the approach of trying to con the men in the middle.

"Ronaldo is still very young," said the Austrian, knowing the Portugal international also took a theatrical tumble over George Boateng's attempted tackle.

"In the future he can get player of the year but there are a few things all young players have to learn. I have had to learn myself. He has to learn his lessons as well.

"He is very skilful and had a hand in both goals. He played very well and he has scored a lot of goals, about the other thing I don't really want to say much else."

Regardless of the controversy surrounding Saha's penalty, Middlesbrough still responded positively after the restart when manager Gareth Southgate introduced James Morrison.

Morrison's introduction for the ill Jonathan Woodgate meant the five man defence had been scrapped and the more attacking 4-4-2 could be used.

It worked to the extent of Morrison delivering the equaliser with a fantastic right foot volley on 66 minutes but less than two minutes later United attacked and went ahead again with a Darren Fletcher header.

And Pogatetz admits there is a lesson to be learned ahead of tomorrow's trip to Tottenham.

"I'm disappointed because in the second half we showed we could take on a match with even the best teams," he said.

"But just like last week at Aston Villa we scored and then got too excited and lost our shape. A team like Man United are going to make the most of that and they did by scoring. It is true that a team is at its most vulnerable just after scoring.

"In the first half united played really well and outnumbered us all over the pitch. We deserved to pull level though. After they scored their second it was very hard to come back into the game.

"It is too early to say whether we have just been beaten by the champions, but in my opinion they are a much better team than they were last year. We beat them 4-1 then and they beat us here. That tells its own story. They have a good chance to win the title this year. Even if they don't win it they will be right up there."

Changes will have to be made at White Hart Lane tomorrow because midfielder Lee Cattermole picked up his fifth booking of the season against United and serves a one match ban.

It is also unclear whether Woodgate will have recovered in time to play after being sick prior to the defeat to United, in which he had to go off at the interval.