It’s no fun by the Riverside for Boro

It’s no fun by the Riverside for Boro DESPITE losing their last three home games, Middlesbrough can at least claim to be looking like a Premier League team.

The problem, however, is that the Premier League team in question is Middlesbrough from last season.

The division might be different, but the sense of despondency and disillusionment that accompanies a home game at the Riverside remains resolutely unchanged.

Saturday’s reverse followed hot on the heels of similarly dispiriting defeats to West Brom and Leicester, and raised further doubts about the Teessiders’ ability to mount a sustained promotion challenge this season.

It is all very well producing incisive counter-attacking football on your travels, as Boro have on a number of occasions already, but promotion will not be won or lost on the road.

The fate of Gareth Southgate’s side will be determined at the Riverside, and on the evidence of their last two home displays, Middlesbrough are incapable of beating average Championship sides, let alone some of the division’s leading lights.

Statistics dredged from last season’s miserable Premier League campaign can be misleading, but it is telling that the Teessiders have now won just five of their last 23 home league matches. Home discomforts are clearly hitting hard.

“How we perform at home between now and the end of the season will determine where we finish,” admitted Southgate. “It’s as simple as that and we have to get it right.

“Whether playing at home is an issue or it isn’t, we have to deal with it. We have to accept that we’ve not played well enough at home, and start putting it right.”

That is easier said than done, of course, and while tomorrow night’s visit of Derby provides an immediate opportunity to begin to make amends, Saturday’s defeat to Watford revealed some deeprooted problems that are turning the Riverside into a source of easy pickings.

Trailing to Tom Cleverley’s first-half opener – the Watford midfielder, on loan from Manchester United, played a neat one-two with former Boro striker Danny Graham before slotting a precise finish past Brad Jones – Southgate’s side still had more than an hour to get back on level terms.

But instead of patiently probing for an equaliser and pressing Watford upfield, they panicked and repeatedly played into their opponents’ hands.

Ambitious 50-yard passes went to no one, shots from outside the area flew wide and, in the name of effort and commitment, frenzied scampering replaced measured approach play as the mindset of Boro’s midfielders.

Desperation was the name of the game, but with Watford boss Malky Mackay pulling five men into midfield to defend his side’s lead, the hosts lacked the vision and incision required to fashion an opening.

The Teessiders look dangerous when they can play behind sides, with the pace of Adam Johnson and Jeremie Aliadiere always likely to unsettle Championship defences.

Ask them to play in front of a back four, though, and the whole thing falls apart. There is no one able to supply a killer through ball, and no striker either big enough or strong enough to hold the ball up to enable runners to spring off them towards goal.

Boro twice went close to an equaliser at the weekend – Sean St Ledger had a header from a Mark Yeates corner harshly ruled out for a push, and Tony McMahon rattled the woodwork with a vicious 30-yard strike that rebounded to safety off the underside of the crossbar – but both opportunities were bolts from the blue rather than the product of some intricate interplay.

“We were too slow to move the ball, we didn’t use the width enough and I don’t remember us turning them to get in behind them,” admitted Southgate.

“We ended up with a lot of play in front of them, and a lot of play across our back four that wasn’t penetrating them.

“If they’ve got five across the middle, which effectively they had, you have to either go in behind them or look to go around them.

“We didn’t do either of those things often enough, and when we did, we didn’t have good enough quality on our final delivery to cause the problems we were hoping to.”

And with every misplaced pass causing an increase in tension, the fear of defeat became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

By trying even harder, even more passes went astray.

By trying to get the crowd on side with an overt show of effort, the grumbles became even louder when things eventually went wrong.

“The plan was to get at Middlesbrough early and frustrate them to get the crowd on their backs,” revealed Graham, who made 21 appearances for the Teessiders before Southgate deemed him surplus to requirements in June 2007.

“We’d had them watched and had reports that the crowd turn on them easily, which we tried to put in our favour.

“Here at Watford, we’re revelling from not having too much pressure.

“A lot of teams in this league have a lot of pressure on them to do well. If they get in the play-offs, it’s not deemed good enough. We don’t have that and it’s nice to go into games without a worry in the world.”

How Southgate and his players must envy that position ahead of tomorrow’s Riverside re-examination.

Matchfacts

Goals:

0-1: Cleverley (26mins, slotted sidefooted finish past Jones after playing one-two with Graham)

Bookings: Doyley (38mins, foul), Arca (87, dissent)

Referee: Scott Mathieson (Stockport) – his leniency allowed the game to flow, but his decision to disallow St Ledger’s header was extremely harsh 4

Attendance: 18,957

Entertainment: ✰✰

MIDDLESBROUGH (4-4-2):

5 Jones: Powerless to prevent Cleverley’s goal, but his distribution was poor throughout

6 McMahon: Solid enough at the back and extremely unfortunate not to see his shot cross the line

5 Wheater: His 100th appearance in a Middlesbrough shirt was hardly one of his best

6 St Ledger: The decision to chalk off his header was tough, but gave the ball away in the build-up to Watford’s goal

5 Bennett: Didn’t do a lot wrong in defence, but failed to offer much of a threat on the overlap 5Johnson: A frustrating display in which he tried to take too much responsibility on his own shoulders

5 O’Neil: His commitment couldn’t be questioned, but his Premier League class was rarely apparent

7 DIGARD: Grew in stature as the game wore on and drove Boro forward throughout the second half

6 Yeates: Flickered into life every now and then, and his set-piece delivery threatened in the latter stages

5 Lita: A willing enough worker, but his heading radar was off throughout and he didn’t really look like scoring

4 Aliadiere: Never really got into the game and failed to link up with his midfielders

Subs:

Hoyte (for Bennett, 55mins): Provided some extra energy when he was introduced on the left flank 5 Arca (for Yeates, 74mins) (not used): Coyne (gk), Pogatetz, Grounds, Williams, Emnes.

WATFORD (4-4-1-1): Loach 7; Hodson 6, Mariappa 6, Cathcart 7, Doyley 6; Cleverley 6 (Ellington 64mins 5), Jenkins 6, LANSBURY 8, Harley 6; Cowie 6; Graham 7.

Subs (not used): Bond (gk), Severin, Bryan, Bennett, Hoskins, Henderson.

MAN OF THE MATCH

HENRI Lansbury - The Arsenal loanee was a picture of composure throughout.