By Nathan Rayner
Last Saturday marked the return of Championship football, after the halting of the season due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Middlesbrough fans were hopeful of a quick start from their team after a 0-1 away win at relegation rivals, Charlton Athletic, in the game before the stoppage pulled them outside of the drop-zone. A tough task was at hand with the opposition, Swansea City, sitting just outside of the play-off places at the start of the play, though the performance left a lot to be desired.
From the get-go, Jonathan Woodgate’s team selection was questioned with various players playing out-of-position, so-called better players missing out and the system played being different to that which gave Boro success last time out. Defensive frailties and failure to create many clear-cut chances made Middlesbrough the masters of their own downfall, as they fell 0-3 behind to the Swans after only 34 minutes. Changes were made at half-time and improvement came with star-man Patrick Roberts being the stand-out player on the pitch in the second half, again emphasising Woodgate’s poor starting selection. Roberts’ impact was not enough though as the Teessiders slumped to another defeat and ended the day outside of the relegation zone on goal difference.
With eight games left of the current season, Steve Gibson had seen enough and decided that the situation was too dire to continue any longer. Jonathan Woodgate was relieved of his duties as Head Coach on Tuesday morning and immediately replaced by the experienced Neil Warnock. The announcement has left fans feeling confident that Boro may be able to change their fortunes around in the coming weeks. It is easy to see why as well, with the 71-year-old having many successes throughout his career, so much so that he is the manager with the highest number of promotions out of the Championship and into the Premier League.
The appointment of Warnock and the reaction that has been generated as a result has almost left fans wanting to forget Woodgate’s stint at the helm but is it fair to just pin the blame on him for Boro’s failings this season?
On the 14th of June 2019, Jonathan Woodgate and his coaching staff, featuring Robbie Keane, Leo Percovich and Danny Coyne, were appointed as the team to take Middlesbrough Football Club into the 2019/20 Championship season. A coaching set-up with little experience was to lead the Club in developing ‘a new identity’, something which failed to suffice. They were always going to struggle with the Championship being such an unforgiving division where if naivety is present, then punishment will follow.
Boro started the season well on the opening night, away at Luton Town with a 3-3 draw. Passages of play featuring slick passing and good movement, when in possession, and pressing the man in possession and his passing options when out of it were a main theme on that Friday night in August, and things looked promising. However, since then Boro have failed time and time again to recreate a performance of the same level and have been picked apart by numerous teams throughout the season.
The standout negative performances across the season are the 1-4 defeat at home to Garry Monk’s Sheffield Wednesday, in which Boro fell three goals behind inside the first half an hour, a 4-0 defeat away at Leeds United and, most recently, Woodgate’s final game in charge, the 0-3 defeat to Swansea City. These performances cannot be defended from the manager’s standpoint. The ways in which the team was set up in these fixtures highlighted his inexperience, and overall, that he was out of his depth at Championship level.
The players must take some of the responsibility for these performances. Things that should usually be relatively simple for players at Championship level have looked difficult at times, with more than a handful of sitters missed across the season and some defending that wouldn’t look out of place on a Sunday League pitch. Attitude and effort can’t be questioned across the board but for players who thrive off confidence, the team have certainly been struggling for it throughout the season. Whether that is down to results or unhappiness with their relationships with the coaching staff, we are unlikely to find out.
But despite Woodgate's failure to establish a successful way of playing, one thing that should be looked at is the fact that he was appointed in the first place. In the last decade, two Teessiders have taken the top job at Middlesbrough Football Club and both have similarly been handed very tough tasks.
Tony Mowbray held the managerial position at Middlesbrough from 2010 to 2013, and was handed the job of cutting costs and running a team on a low budget after a period of over-spending under Gordon Strachan. ‘Mogga’ was handed this remit in an attempt to steady the ship at Boro and work with what he had, rather than having the freedom to build a team with a reasonable budget. Any players with any value at the club at the time, such as, Adam Johnson, were sold on in order to bring in valuable funds that would stabilise the club again. Mowbray succeeded with this over his tenure, until results began to turn at the beginning of the 2013/14 season.
Similarly, Jonathan Woodgate was handed the manager’s post after a period at the club in which costs would need to be cut, after large transfer fees were spent on numerous players during the first season back in the Championship, in an attempt to bounce back up. In total, ‘Woody’ signed 10 players, with minimal funds being spent on transfer fees and the majority being brought in on loan deals.
The only real difference between the Teessiders’ tenures at the club has been that Mowbray possessed experience at the top level with his jobs at West Bromwich Albion and Celtic, in particular, in comparison to the lack of that Woodgate and his coaching staff had. The value of experience has shown no doubt in this comparison, with Mowbray stabilising the club on and off the pitch, whereas Woodgate’s team has struggled to pick up points this term.
From the outside, it seems that Boro hired Jonathan Woodgate as Head Coach in order to be able to cut costs and buy time for rebuilding, with the likely hope that fans would give the manager and his style of play a chance, more so because of their affinity with one of their own rather than anything else. As seen last season, when Boro aimed to cut costs under Tony Pulis, an unfamiliar face around the club, the fans were keen to shout him out of the club as soon as possible. Whereas, this season, Woodgate, a familiar face among fans as he’s from the town, was likely to have been given more leeway by fans because of who he is. Had Boro even performed unremarkably in mid-table, supporters would have been patient, recognising that Woodgate's first season as a manager was unlikely to be too spectacular and that the new club-wide 'golden thread' would take time to implement. However, the lack of experience amongst the coaching team has cost the club dearly over the course of the season and Boro find themselves on the verge of the drop-zone.
A tactic that was once proven to be a relative success with costs being cut under Mowbray, and mediocre success on the pitch, could bite Boro where it hurts if they fail to turn things round in the last eight games of the season. Let’s get behind Warnock and the boys and hope they can change our fortunes.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Sunday, February 23, 2020
By Tim Sigsworth
After a calamitous performance in which his side had a grand
total of zero shots on target against a team who started the day second from
bottom and hadn’t kept a home clean sheet since the opening day, you’d have
expected Jonathan Woodgate to reel off the standard clichés in his post-match
press conference.
He could have blamed the tactical set-up, his players’ willingness
to win, missed opportunities or bad luck. In truth, he mentioned the second and
the fourth of those.
But what he also dwelled on, much to the ire of many a Middlesbrough
supporter, was the club’s young players.
This came after a distinctly Cloughian
response to a question on why he made changes from the team which lost 1-0 to
Luton the previous Saturday: “I thought that
team would win the game.” You have to wonder whether Woodgate realises that
he doesn’t have the wiliness or track record to justify such arrogance,
arrogance which he will no doubt think is witty, unique, funny, clever, smart.
His thoughts,
as reported by The Evening Gazette, read as follows.
“Listen, Djed’s been doing okay
but he needs to do more, he needs to do more.
“These are young lads and we are in a
relegation battle so sometimes you need people who have been there and done it
and really fought.
“You need experienced players at times. We are
in this situation and I have been playing young players and we are three points
off the relegation zone – even though I have been playing younger players.
“Djed [Spence]
played at the weekend, Hayden [Coulson] played at the weekend and we got beat
by Luton 1-0. You do need characters and sometimes playing younger players
isn’t always the right thing to do, you need to protect them at times, that’s
the key to it. I’ve got good experienced players in there.”
First, what on earth can Djed
Spence “do more”?
The lad has never played
professional football before this season yet has emerged as our best right-back
since Emilio Nsue. He drives the team forward and shows confidence when doing so
yet gets dropped from the matchday eighteen. Fearless and adventurous with
everything to prove, he is the exact type of player Boro need to get out of this
relegation scrap.
Second, how on earth can Woodgate
attribute the loss to Luton to him and Coulson?
They were pivotal to our only
good run of form this season, for heaven’s sake! Boro’s losses to Luton and
Barnsley, not to mention the tepid performance at Wigan, were down to a chronic
lack of creativity and willingness, and several shocking substitutions. Boro’s
spell over Christmas and the New Year were down to creative dynamism and a spirit
of belief which coursed through the entire team. I wonder what the common
denominators are? Hint: they play at left-back and right-back.
I’ve said all that without
mentioning Marcus Tavernier's absence once.
Third, why on earth can he think
that those “experienced” players who played in their places were A) “characters”
and B) deserving of their places?
The likes of Ryan Shotton,
Marvin Johnson and George Saville, for all their possession of the magical “experience” elixir, have done little more than flatter to deceive during
their time on Teesside. George Friend hasn’t stood out on the pitch since
2016/17 and appears woefully naïve about the prospect of relegation. Lewis Wing is still
living off his start to last season and his goal at Luton on the opening day.
The lack of criticism he gets surprises me. Britt Assombalonga is not a £15m
striker. Rudy Gestede is Rudy Gestede, nothing more needs to be said.
And although I don’t think it
would be fair to criticise Ravel Morrison given his lack of game time in a Boro
shirt, his signing should say all you need to know about Woodgate’s nous for
assessing characters.
Indeed, based on this season’s
performances, the “characters” Woodgate speaks of seem more worried about overpriced
luxury clothes, the alloys on their cars and having a haircut three times a
week. I don’t recall any of them ever having “really fought” with a red lion
rampant emblazoned on their chest, except for those who were here under
Karanka.
Is it Woodgate’s fault that they
are here? Not really. Is it his fault if he continues to depend on them? I don’t
have to answer that question. Does he need to take some responsibility instead
of blaming everyone and everything apart from the Boro’s finest thug-turned-manager?
The answer is on a postcard.
Boro reek of complacency. Their
displays are as devoid of effort and tactical sense as much as they are of the
attack- and youth-oriented stall that was set out at the start of the season.
Anyway, onto Leeds. What could
possibly go wrong?
Monday, December 30, 2019
By Tim Sigsworth
Just as he deserved the criticism which came his way whilst
Boro lingered around the bottom three, Jonathan Woodgate deserves plaudits for
Boro’s recent upturn in form.
Boro’s start to the season was typified by tactical
inconsistency, missed chances, a thin squad and frustration, but never by persistently
hopeless performances.
There were certainly matches were Woodgate and his players
were thoroughly outthought, outfought, outplayed and deserving of criticism. Cardiff
City away, Sheffield Wednesday at home, Derby County away and Leeds United away
all spring to mind.
However, perhaps crucially, such performances never became a
week-in, week-out occurrence. In most games, aspects of Boro’s play were positive
and periods of dominance present. Tactical tweaking was ongoing, Woodgate and
his staff were learning everyday.
And it those foundations on which recent results have been built;
Boro’s four wins, one draw and one loss from the last six games puts them first
in the Championship form table and has lifted them from 20th to 16th.
Professional performances against Charlton Athletic and
Huddersfield Town could and probably should have been won by more than one-goal
margins, whilst the spirit shown to come back from 1-0 down against Stoke City
to win 2-1 bodes well, regardless of the Potters’ lowly league position.
However, the highlight of Boro’s recent run of form was undoubtedly
yesterday’s 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion. Not only did Boro end the
Baggies’ unbeaten home league record and fourteen-game unbeaten streak with
their first away win of the season, but they did so with a superb performance.
Woodgate’s tactics were spot on, with a switch to a 4-2-3-1
allowing his side to press high with unrelenting fervour throughout and the
threat of attacking midfielder Matheus Pereira to be nullified by holding midfielders
Adam Clayton and George Saville.
There were several noteworthy individual performances, too. Daniel
Ayala was imperious in the centre of defence and, as it turns out, not too bad
in front of goal, either.
Lewis Wing, so often underwhelming this season, was pivotal
in Boro’s press, regularly threatened Sam Johnstone from long-range and
assisted Ayala’s opener.
And Ashley Fletcher, once a forgotten man, capped off a
stellar end to 2019 with a worldy of a goal to wrap up the three points in injury
time.
Fittingly, this was Boro’s best away performance since the 3-2
away victory against West Brom in February. Can we play you every week?
But we should not get carried away. It may be tempting, now
that Boro are as close in terms of points to the play-offs as they are to the
bottom three, to look upwards. It may be tempting, given yesterday’s
performance, to do so with a decent degree of expectation. After all, we’ve pretty
much reached the January transfer window as well.
Boro’s next six league games include away trips to high-flying
Preston North End, Fulham and Brentford, not to mention the FA Cup tie against Tottenham
Hotspur. Furthermore, that Boro were able to beat West Brom in such style stands
as testament to the fact that there is no such thing as guaranteed, or even
likely, points in this league.
Now I’m not saying that this fantastic run of form is
guaranteed to fall apart, I’m saying that it is not guaranteed to continue. It
should not be taken for granted, and hopefully Jonathan Woodgate recognises that.
Until recently, plenty of frustration-driven criticism, much
of it excessive and dealing in absolutes, was levelled at Woodgate, his staff
and the boardroom. It is important that such hyperbole, as well as the expectation
which lies behind it, does not come to infect the praise and plaudits which Boro
are currently deserving of.
Friday, October 11, 2019
By Nathan Rayner
As Daniel Ayala swept home Middlesbrough’s only real chance
at St. Andrew’s last Saturday, it looked as though they had snatched a late
point, and what would have been their third on the road this term.
However, once again, lacklustre defending from crosses,
quite the regular feature in Boro’s games this season, meant that Boro fell to
a third defeat in four games. Failure to ‘game-manage’ and hold onto what
would’ve been a vital point away from home cost the Teessiders and left them
lying in 20th place in the Championship table.
The performances on show in recent games are far and away
from the standard that was set on the first game of the season, away at Luton
Town. Boro were a relatively unknown quantity that day, with not many knowing
whether we would have to wait to see the full implementation of the
high-energy, front-foot football that was said to be the new ideal, and what
would be ‘a style of play recognised as Middlesbrough Football Club’.
A fantastic display was on show at Kenilworth Road with Boro
scoring three away from home, two of which had all of the aspects that fans
love to see their side play. Boro’s second came from their opposition trying to
play out from the back, and midfield man, Adam Clayton, vacating his position
to press the receiver and force a mistake. He did so with massive
effectiveness, allowing Ashley Fletcher to slip in Britt Assombalonga to fire
home. A glimpse of what we all hoped Boro would be all about this season and
for years to come.
The third of the night was absolutely brilliant football
topped off with an astounding finish from Lewis Wing. Fourteen passes in the
build-up, with slick passing and clever movement, opened up the opportunity for
Wingy to unleash a strike with his traction engine of a right foot into the top
corner of the net. There was a good feeling about this team and the new regime
at the Club, despite a late equaliser for the home side.
However, this attacking, high-pressing style that Woodgate
and the board had hoped to implement at Middlesbrough Football Club has been
relatively non-existent since that night, with many fans being left confused as
to what Boro are now trying to do.
Woody stated in his first press conference as the manager of
the Club that ‘scoring goals’ in this division was the way to success. The side
lack effectiveness going forward with the usual frontline of Fletcher,
Assombalonga and Johnson failing to fire on all cylinders this term, with six
goals coming between them. Boro have created enough chances to put away teams
in games but, once again, failure to punish the opposition has resulted in such
an average points tally for the Teessiders at this stage of the season.
Obviously, Boro haven’t had luck on their side in a lot of
games this season with many refereeing decisions not going for them. Ashley
Fletcher’s brace being ruled out versus Brentford and multiple blatant penalty
calls versus Millwall have wrongfully allowed for Boro to feel hard-done-by
when looking at how many points they should’ve registered but there’s no point
in complaining. The bottom line is that Jonathan Woodgate’s squad have failed
to excite so far.
As well as the forward line failing to fire in the first few
months of the season, two of the usual midfield trio have also been performing
relatively under par from what fans are used to seeing.
Despite scoring a wonder strike on the opening night of the
EFL season, Lewis Wing has been a shadow of what the Boro faithful saw of him
in the early months of last season. When he first properly broke into the first
team under former-manager Tony Pulis, Wing looked to be exactly what Boro were
looking for. Someone who had an eye to pick a pass and someone who had the raw
talent to drive with the ball from midfield was what had been missing for years
but it seems as though his magic touch has been lessened in the last year with
him being coached to be more like a player that sits in the centre of the park
and conducts play.
This has made the Newton Aycliffe man much less effective
than he once was, with him now dropping very deep to collect the ball and,
essentially, ‘playing where it is easy’. The same can be said for defensive
midfielder Adam Clayton. In Boro’s promotion season, Clayts was Boro’s
‘destroyer’ in the midfield as he consistently top performed in games. Now
without partner, Grant Leadbitter by his side, Clayton looks to be consistently
average and is now by-passed by runners from the opposition.
The re-introduction of make-shift right-wingback, Jonny
Howson, into the centre of midfield may finally shore up the middle of the park
and give Boro some much needed balance as the Leeds youth product is still by far
and away one of the best midfielders in the Championship.
The shining light of Boro’s midfield, and season so far, has
been the utilisation of Paddy McNair. Despite signing as a box-to-box
midfielder for a hefty fee from Sunderland in 2018, the Northern Irishman’s
numbers on the pitch were limited last year with former-manager Tony Pulis
looking over him in his central midfield selection.
McNair looked average last season being played out of
position at right-wingback and centre-back, but now, back in his chosen
position, he is proving last season’s critics wrong with some fantastic
displays. Jonathan Woodgate’s encouragement for McNair to make direct runs
carrying the ball through the centre have resulted in the Manchester United
academy graduate taking his total to three goals in a Boro shirt this season.
A previous issue identified in my previous articles was that
of the lack of attacking full-backs at the Club and the successes that can
follow if they are used effectively. Summer signings Anfernee Dijksteel and
Marc Bola look to be beginning to fit into their roles and it could only be a
matter of time before we see the strengths in having players of their
capabilities within the team. It’s normal for players to be rather cautious and
afraid of making mistakes when they sign for a new club, and especially when
they are entering an environment that is rather negative. When things turn
around and results do eventually start to fall our way, these players could
prove to be bargains in the Club’s new recruitment regime.
What does need to be looked at though is the team’s failure
and seeming inability to defend from set pieces and crosses. In only eleven
games in the league so far this season, Boro have conceded twelve goals from
set plays and crosses into the box, which is an unacceptable record for any
side.
The most pressing example of this being exploited comes from
former-manager Garry Monk’s Sheffield Wednesday’s first half performance at the
Riverside. The Owls ran rampant inside the first thirty-five minutes on Boro’s
soil firing four past a helpless Darren Randolph. Three of the four goals came
from aerial balls into the box and Boro’s shambolic defending. Monk, along with
many other Championship managers, had identified Boro’s main flaw and exploited
and capitalised on it to perfection.
All of these errors were compounded upon by leaving wide
spaces open for wingers to put balls into key areas but, also, the dismal
marking on show from Boro centre-backs. Since coming back into the fold from
injury, Dael Fry received the captaincy of the team in the absence of club
stalwart George Friend. For a player that seems so uncomfortable on the pitch
when not partnered with Dani Ayala, and on the surface not really your typical leader,
the decision to give him such a role seems strange.
Thankfully though, the return of the Spanish shithouse comes
at a time when Boro needed him most. An experienced man at this level, Ayala
offers the leadership required to organise the back four and shore up Boro’s
defensive mistakes, as shown with a MOTM display against Preston North End.
Only two wins in eleven games in the league and elimination
from the League Cup at the hands of League Two side Crewe Alexandra have sent
alarm bells ringing among the fan base. With none of the so-called
‘big-hitters’ of the Championship faced so far and only ten points on the board,
supporters have the right to feel slightly nervous with the prospect of a lot
of teams in and around the play-off picture opposing Boro in weeks to come. Top
of the Championship West Bromwich Albion travel to the North-East after the
international break to take on Jonathan Woodgate’s Middlesbrough in what
promises to be a very enthralling game.
Nevertheless, you have to hope things will start falling
into place. Luck will play a massive part as it always does, and we will get
our rub of the green soon enough. Stick with it Boro fans. We Shall Overcome.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
By Tim Sigsworth
Here we are then. After what has seemed like less time
than the forty-five minutes Kike Sola played in a Boro shirt, the first
international break of the season is here.
On the face of it, Boro’s one win and six points from
their opening six games (seven if you include the ignominious defeat to Crewe
in the League Cup) suggests things have been far from rosy under Jonathan
Woodgate.
However, Woody’s lads have improved as the season has
gone on; late summer signings Marc Bola, Marcus Browne and Anfernee Dijksteel
are gelling into the ranks and our attack - so often muted under Tony Pulis -
is thriving despite Ashley Fletcher and Marvin Johnson playing in unfamiliar
roles.
Moreover, an initially shaky and overly keen defence,
along with holding midfielder Adam Clayton, appears more assured, balanced and
organised than at the start of the campaign, even with Dael Fry still to get
back up to full speed after injury.
As such, Boro’s start to the season has been a mixed one.
Although it would have been daft to expect anything else, the players who have
impressed and those who have underwhelmed nevertheless deserve analysis.
Paddy McNair
Who could have guessed that Paddy McNair would be a
half-decent midfielder? Pretty much everyone bar TP, of course.
Whilst Lewis Wing has been underwhelming (more on that
later), our Paddy has been a revelation since being transitioning from a right
wing-back who didn’t want to play there to a centre midfielder with license to
get forward.
In six successive starts, the Northern Irishman has made
220 passes at an accuracy of 81.8%, six key passes (passes or shots which
directly lead to their recipient shooting) and six successful dribbles as well
as scoring one goal (vs. Millwall, 24/08) and assisting another (Taylor Moore
OG vs. Bristol City, 31/08).
Though his defensive responsibilities, at least in the
traditional sense, have been lessened by his advanced role, McNair is required
to play a major part in Boro’s smoggenpress - Woodgate’s counter-press
which seeks to win the ball back as soon and as high up the pitch as possible
in order to achieve numerical and positional superiority in the final third. To
that end, he has made seven successful tackles (out of thirteen attempted) and
six interceptions.
As the below graphic shows, his importance up and down
the right-hand side of the pitch shouldn’t be underestimated, especially as his
positional interchanging with the right-back (usually Jonny Howson or Anfernee
Dijksteel) and right winger (typically Marvin Johnson) is central to opening up
space on the right.
Here’s to hoping he can keep up, or even improve upon,
his early-season importance as the campaign goes on.
Darren Randolph
Less surprising but perhaps all the more impressive than
McNair’s form is the continued brilliance of Darren Randolph.
The Irish international was one of the very few positives
from last season’s torrid campaign, one which would have been infinitely worse
without by his gravity-defying leaps and breezeblock shot-stopping.
Randolph has picked up where he left off in terms of his
point-gaining importance to Boro’s defence, marshalling the defence with barked
instructions, leading by example and making eleven saves, one of which − a
left-sided leap to tip over a top-corner-bound effort from Millwall’s Ben
Thompson −
was truly astonishing.
Without his assuredness between the sticks, Boro’s shaky
and somewhat makeshift ever-pressing back four would have undoubtedly been unable
to solidify as much as it has done as the season has gone on. To that end, he
is an irreplaceable figure.
Marvin Johnson
Marvin Johnson is probably one of Boro’s best examples of
hindsight bias in recent seasons. Signed for £2m in 2017, he started brightly in
red and white, impressing against Bolton Wanderers on his debut and at home to Queens
Park Rangers a week later.
However, he soon found himself out of the first-team
picture and hardly had a look in once Tony Pulis was appointed as Garry Monk’s successor
in December 2017. Loaned to Sheffield United for the 2018/19 season, he was
soon categorised as one of Monk’s worst signings and any sort of future at the
club was widely presumed to be long gone.
His start to this season, therefore, has been almost
entirely unexpected. As part of Woodgate’s unconventional forward line, Johnson
has played as an orthodox winger on what is to him an unfamiliar right flank,
with Britt Assombalonga through the middle and Ashley Fletcher as a false
winger on the left.
But despite this apparent attacking mishmash, and
although he only has one direct goal contribution to his name (assist for Ashley
Fletcher’s header vs. Luton Town), the 28-year-old winger has thrived on the
right-hand side of the pitch where Boro have looked so dangerous.
His positional interplay with right-sided centre
midfielder McNair and right-backs Howson and Dijksteel has been central to
opening up space and creating crossing opportunities for Assombalonga and
late-runner Fletcher, whilst his status as the only out-and-out winger in the
starting eleven has afforded him considerable importance as a direct and
dynamic carrier of the ball.
Such unexpected performances have seen popular opinion of
Johnson turn on its head; once a largely irrelevant footnote in the saga of how
it went wrong under a certain Mr. G. Monk, he is now well aligned with Boro’s full-flow-football
philosophy on the pitch and low-cost lower league recruitment policy off it.
When finally given a proper run in a stable team, he has
taken his chance and established himself as one of Boro’s most influential
creative players. For that, he deserves credit.
Lewis Wing
In contrast to the above, Lewis Wing’s start to the
season has been unexpectedly underwhelming.
So often Boro’s only shining light in his debut season at
Championship level last term, Wing was widely expected to get even better in the
new attack-oriented, creative freedom-giving system.
And even though he scored an absolute howitzer against Luton
and his, according to borostats.com, attacking threat score of 5.2 (how many
times per game he creates a goalscoring opportunity, wins attacking ground
duels or makes a pass into a dangerous position) is the second-highest in the
squad (behind Fletcher’s 7.0), Wing has undeniably underwhelmed so far this
campaign.
Alongside his minimal goalscoring contributions, he often
appears to burn out towards the end of a game and is a less effective presser
than midfield partner McNair, something probably down to a mixture of his
inexperience in a role with such defensive responsibility, his deeper position
in the midfield pivot and his aforementioned stamina issues.
However, he has been by no means awful and has evidently −
as the stats show − been important to the team’s attacking efforts so far
this season. It’s just that he could, and perhaps should, have contributed a
lot more given what he managed to do last season in a far more restricted
system.
Marcus Tavernier
Unlike Wing, Marcus Tavernier has hardly had the chance
to make an impact for Boro this season in the 29 minutes he has played in the
league. Perhaps, therefore, it is slightly unfair to include him in this list
when his opportunities to make an on-pitch impact have been so few and far
between.
Nevertheless, the fact that he hasn’t managed to get a
look-in warrants his inclusion in my opinion.
Although Johnson, Fletcher and Assombalonga have all been
in excellent form, Boro’s attacking options are limited. Marcus Browne has
hardly hit the ground running, Ste Walker is young and recovering from injury
and Rudy Gestede can’t be arsed.
Tav has the potential to feature on both wings and as one
of the two advanced centre midfielders, but that versatility has not been
utilised thus far. He doesn’t suit Fletcher’s false-winger role but there’s no
reason why Fletcher couldn’t move to the right and Tavernier, or Johnson for
that matter, could play as an orthodox winger on the left. His offensive
attributes suit centre midfield too, but there could be some concerns about his
ability to fulfil the defensive requirements of the role.
As such, his lack of involvement can probably be put down
to other attackers performing well in roles − and the team system as a
whole, too −
where there would be some uncertainty over his ability to make an immediate and
significant enough impact to warrant Fletcher, Johnson, McNair or Wing being
dropped.
Tavernier, and Wing for that matter, should be by no
means written off at such an early stage of the season when there will be so
many more opportunities for involvement and improvement. The underwhelming
thing is that he fits Woodgate’s pro-youth mantra yet has found himself out of
the first-team picture.
Rudy Gestede
As touched on above, Rudy Gestede is a player who can’t
wait to get away from Teesside. But only after squeezing every last penny out
of his contract whilst playing as little as possible, of course.
In a squad which has shifted towards a mix of
minutes-hungry youngsters and experienced grafters, Gestede is the sole
mercenary outlier, a hangover from our single season of desperate Premier League gluttony in
2016/17.
His tame running, languid positioning and poor finishing
have reduced his role in the squad to a mere ninetieth minute battering ram
emblematic of hopeless desperation and of ‘we’ve got nowt better to do,
gaffer’.
Undoubtedly one of our highest earners, his absolute lack
of desire and on-pitch impact, along with his reluctance to leave for a vastly
reduced salary, have left Boro burdened with a player they are unable to sell.
Because no one expects anything else from him at this
point, I was half-tempted to leave Gestede off this list. But that would be
doing him a service − being able to run down his contract and leave quietly
through the back door is exactly what he wants.
Agree with these choices? Let us know on Twitter
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
By Tim Sigsworth
Four games in: one draw, three losses. It hasn’t exactly been the start Jonathan Woodgate would have been hoping for.
Arguably, Boro should have at least six points on the board, however. Had Britt Assombalonga not blazed his penalty over the bar at 3-2 up against Luton and had Ashley Fletcher’s brace against Brentford not been wrongly ruled out, there would be little to none of the hyperbole that has swirled on social media in recent days.
Write-offs of Woodgate as a manager and ridiculous assertions that a relegation scrap is unavoidable are far wide of the mark. But what else should really be expected from portions of the fanbase which have grown bloated in their peculiar sense of entitlement to success in recent years.
As equally ridiculous as the above is that it is necessary to write a piece in response to such doom-saying pessimism.
First of all, Woodgate is a long-term appointment for a club which is aspiring to become long-term thinkers. Over the last thirty years, long-termism has been pivotal whenever Boro have achieved success - only when the club, its fans and the wider area have become fixated on the short-term, whether that be as a result of unrealistic expectations or (as we have seen in recent seasons) potential financial windfalls, has desire for success proven detrimental.
Similar trends can be plotted in recent Football League and Premier League seasons, too. The most successful teams haven’t been the ones who, like Huddersfield Town, Fulham, Sunderland, Stoke City and ourselves, have spent the most money in an attempt to spend their way to promotion or safety from relegation with a non-existent or wavering regard for a sustainable and enduring philosophy, but those who, like AFC Bournemouth, Brighton, Burnley, Sheffield United and Watford, have stuck by a long-term club-wide or managerial philosophy.
Woody and his coaching team, which comprises a group of individuals who have never previously worked together for an extended period, are attempting to implement a style of play which is radically different to Pulisball and demands constant physical and mental commitment onto a thin squad whose only additions have come via a reconfigured recruitment model of similar immaturity to the management team and from the academy.
It will take time for the new signings, all of which apart from Tomas Mejias spent pre-season away from the club and are native to or were recruited from London, and the youngsters to gel with the squad and to get up to speed with what Woodgate’s smoggenpress demands of them.
Hayden Coulson has done well playing as a full-back with the attacking responsibilities, due to Ashley Fletcher’s role as a false left-winger who vacates the space a traditional winger would operate in when Boro are in attack, of a wing-back whilst Marc Bola has shown promise in the same role and Marcus Browne has displayed glimpses of the tricky, technically-gifted attacking midfielder Boro have been crying out for since Gaston Ramirez. Nathan Wood and Aynsley Pears also deserve mentions.
Additionally, Dael Fry, Boro’s best ball-playing centre-half, is yet to play this season following a deliberately slow rehabilitation period. His and George Friend’s comfort on the ball and their ability to carry the ball out from the back will aid Boro’s build-up play and help minimise the shakiness that has been emblematic of Boro’s backline when pressed this season
Seeing them two feature more often at the back, as well as reducing the gung-ho pressing from the back four that left huge gaps at the back against Brentford and Crewe in particular, would no doubt prove beneficial to overall game management.
In midfield, Woodgate’s 4-3-3 has often seemed unbalanced. With Paddy McNair and Lewis Wing both operating high up the pitch as roaming playmakers, defensive midfielder Adam Clayton has been persistently isolated and bypassed so far this season due to the numerical superiority of opposition attackers in the centre of the pitch when Boro are countered.
Against Blackburn, Boro played a 4-2-3-1 with McNair and Wing as an advanced, box-to-box pivot and Howson almost as an extra man in front of them with the freedom to press and attack right across the final third. Although, as in every game so far this season, Boro set up to boss the game and subsequently enjoyed a lot of the ball in the opposition half, they only created one major chance and struggled to contain Rovers’ rapid attacking play.
To improve play in the centre of the park and minimise the speed and effectiveness of opposition counters, playing Howson as a box-to-box midfielder alongside Wing in his usual role and ahead of Clayton in defensive midfield may well do the trick.
However, despite these negatives, Boro’s pressing game has been good in the final third, with the central midfielders joining the usual front three of Fletcher, Assombalonga and Johnson in closing down opposition defenders and midfielders and forcing errors, whilst our full-backs have been pivotal in bringing the ball out of defence, spreading the play, creating numerical superiorities on the wings.
Although Boro have struggled to break down Brentford, Crewe and Blackburn when they adopted deep blocks and a generally more conservative approach, there are positives about the way we are playing. Weaknesses will be worked out as management makes tweaks here and there and the team gets sharper in terms of match fitness, too.
Boro are a work in progress, but nevertheless a work in progress which has created a significant number of chances, has shown attacking promise and is deserving of more points than we currently have despite an unbalanced, relatively thin squad with players missing and a still-bonding coaching team which is attempting to introduce drastically different style of play.
In terms of implementing a playing style, integrating youth prospects, fine-tuning a more cost-effective recruitment system and establishing a club-wide culture on and off the pitch, this season is all about the next.
Trust the process, it’s early days still.
Friday, August 2, 2019
By Michael Richardson
Middlesbrough kick off their new campaign away at Luton tonight, beginning the 2019/20 season, after a summer break which seems to have gone quicker than Tony Pulis running to his phone after hearing a 6-foot 7 striker is for sale.
New ‘Boro boss Jonathan Woodgate has already begun to implement a new playing style at the club, with pace and directness being at the forefront. But you’ve heard that already, the new, exciting play we’ve all been promised.
The shrewd acquisitions of Marcus Browne and Marc Bola in the last week will certainly help to introduce this new playing philosophy throughout the season, but many fans, myself included, have struggled to form a good idea of how we will line up to kick off the season, with the squad still fairly bare and more signings to be made. So, in the words of MC Hammer, let’s break it down.
In Net
Now unless you’ve been living under The Infinity Bridge for the last year, or you’re a Sheffield United fan, you will accept that Darren Randolph was, by far and away, the best goalkeeper in the league last season, possibly ever. Ok, maybe that’s a slight over-exaggeration: we do have to be fair to Brad Guzan of course, but our Irish shot-stopper is the obvious choice to start in net against newly promoted Luton, and despite fan favourite Tomás Mejías returning to the club this summer, there is really no debate that if fit, super Darren should start the game.
Last season’s Middlesbrough Player of The Year and Players’ Player of the Year had the highest save percentage of any other ‘keeper in the league last year, conceding the joint lowest goals per 90 minutes. He is arguably the best signing the club made during Garry Monk’s tenure, and I think every Middlesbrough fan will simultaneously drown themselves in garlic sauce from the local takeaway if he’s still here come 5pm on Thursday, amid interest from Aston Villa.
The Back Four
It seems weird to finally refer to our defence as a back four after watching what felt like a back eight at times last season, but it looks as though Woodgate’s new defensive system may allow Boro to score more goals this season, mainly stemming from the fullbacks attacking down the flanks. The right-back position is one of great interest for Friday’s match, with Jonny Howson, Djed Spence and Ryan Shotton all viable options for the starting berth.
The position was heavily occupied by the latter last season, with Jonny Howson occasionally operating as a right-wing back, and performing arguably better there than in centre midfield. For this reason, alongside the fact that Djed Spence is inexperienced in the first team thus far and the need for Ryan Shotton to slot in at centre-back to cover for the injured Dael Fry, Howson is likely to start the season at right back.
Alongside Ryan Shotton at centre-back, and likely to captain the side as he did against Saint-Étienne, is Daniel Ayala. One of the top Championship defenders of the last decade, Ayala will be looking to build on last season’s subpar performances and cement his status once again as one of the league’s finest, in what will be his sixth season at the club. Not only has he been a vital component of the ‘Aitor La Bamba’ song in seasons gone by, but he has also been a significant figure both on and off the pitch for ‘Boro in his time here.
George Friend has been ‘Boro’s starting left back for seven years now, playing for the club throughout the peak of his career and making over 250 league appearances, and having been named captain for the season, he’s the obvious choice to start against Luton. However, he has regularly played in the centre of defence during friendlies, and I expect to see him take up a role as centre-back cover on the bench with Hayden Coulson starting the match on the left side of defence, having greatly impressed during pre-season.
New signing Marc Bola may eventually become a regular in the starting team, but he hasn’t had the six weeks of build-up and preparation on the training pitch, putting Coulson, a product of the club’s academy, at an advantage, thus making it likely he will start the match. He possesses more pace and trickery than Friend, who, despite being a fantastic servant to the club, may be set for a more sporadic role this season.
The Holy Trinity
Midfield is an area that has been a source of long-term trouble for the club, and in losing John Obi Mikel at the end of the season, we not only lost a fantastic song but a great player who really knew what it meant to play the defensive midfield role. However, that is no attempt to knock Adam Clayton, who will be one of the first names on the team sheet.
‘Boro fans often forget just how good Clayton can be on his day, and if Woodgate’s side do successfully pull off a high pressing game, his role as the anchor of the midfield becomes pivotal, as well as his often-overlooked range of passing to ‘Boro’s frontmen. It was just over three years ago that Clayton was regarded as one of the league’s best midfielders, and under a coach who trusts him in Jonathan Woodgate, he could once again recreate the form that earned him that title. We’re going to need that big, beautiful beard back first though Adam.
With Lewis Wing being an obvious choice in the line-up due to being the greatest player of all time, the final midfield spot can be selected from three – Paddy McNair, George Saville and Marcus Tavernier. I believe the latter will start the match, as he possesses more pace and quicker thinking than the two aforementioned. Tavernier will surely have a big role to play in Woodgate’s new system, as he meets the criteria in terms of pace and ability to score goals, holding the best scoring frequency for ‘Boro in the current squad, averaging a goal every 167 minutes. Wing and Tavernier offer enough attacking prowess whilst still being defensively capable, whilst Adam Clayton can cover and allow them to attack the box.
The Goal Getters
The place in which Woodgate’s new system will really succeed or fail is the front three. Now we can all agree that Britt Assombalonga should start upfront, ahead of Ashley Fletcher and Rudy Gestede, who could both be leaving the club before the deadline. The intellectuals amongst you may have realised that by having Marcus Tavernier in midfield and Hayden Coulson at left back, that only leaves two options for the wings – Marcus Browne and Marvin Johnson.
Whilst Johnson receives a lot of stick from fans, he is a proven player – he has performed very well for Oxford in the past and has shown glimpses of his quality at the club. In addition to this, despite playing just eleven games, he was part of a promotion-winning squad at Sheffield United last season. He does possess dribbling and crossing ability, and despite it being likely he will be replaced in the starting XI before the deadline, he could still be an asset in the squad, and seeing him against former ‘Boro man Martin Cranie could make for an interesting encounter on Friday.
New signing Marcus Browne heavily impressed in the first half of the match against Saint-Étienne, and with big boots to fill as the new #MB10 after Martin Braithwaite’s departure (no, I’m not serious), he has a chance to make a great first impression under the Sky cameras on Friday night.
Do you agree that a 4-3-3 is Boro’s most likely system for today’s game? Which players would you pick for ‘Boro’s first league match? Let us know on Twitter @boropolis
