Middlesbrough Football Club will still be playing Championship football this time next year. The good news for fellow Boro fans is that’s merely my opinion: the bad news is I’m probably right.
We were nothing better than average at Bramall Lane yesterday. Perhaps worse. Lots of endeavour and application but not a sniff of a goal threat.
What’s most frustrating, though, is that the opposition were no better than us in almost every area. But in the most crucial – making chances from which you might get a goal – they were.
Sheffield United: Ugly but effective
It would be a travesty if Sheff Utd were promoted this season. Not at our expense, of course; but at the expense of other play-off candidates. They’re such an ugly team to watch. I don’t know why they bother paying those lads to rake the pitch before each half because the ball barely touches it.
And when Boro did try to play a bit (which, admittedly, wasn’t a great deal) a Blades player was quick to blunt the move with a cynical foul. Twenty-two quid was the cheapest adult ticket for yesterday’s game - you can get something more attractive for that money down the Bongo International on a Saturday night.
While their approach might not be pretty, it is effective. The Blades grind out wins and are frustratingly difficult to beat.
The same can’t be said for Boro at the moment. We went one down and it was curtains. Again the team appeared to surrender. Sure, we might have had a penalty and Barry Robson spurned a half-chance from six yards, but that was our lot.
Boro have long been mentally brittle. We’ve taken only three points from losing positions this season – a 3-1 win under Southgate at Sheff Wed in September – and I don’t envisage that bouncebackability block easing soon.
Thing is, neither does Strachan. And I doubt he’ll be satisfied with his squad until it has been completely overhauled.
Mark Yeates has moved on after just six months on Teesside
Yeates is the latest of Southgate's flops to be shown in the exit door in a transitional period which is bound to have a negative impact on the squad. Only when this transfer window slams shut can we really begin to consider the virtues of Gordon's wisdom.
What’s curious, however, is how the Boro faithful have seemingly concluded that weak links like Arca, McMahon, Hoyte, Jones, Ali and Emnes are the most telling factor(s) in our downfall.
Yet these are the players who helped put us a point behind Newcastle on the night that Gareth Southgate was deemed surplus to requirements at the Riverside. (The Championship table didn't make for quite so dismal reading back on October 20, did it?)
Three months on and the chances of a top flight return for Boro have gone from uncertain to impossible.
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