Cup exit displays Boro’s decline

IN 2005, Middlesbrough drew with Manchester City to claim seventh position in the Premier League and a place in the UEFA Cup.

In 2008, the Teessiders beat City 8-1 in the biggest Premier League win recorded by any side in more than nine years.

Great memories, great days.

Fast forward to the opening weekend of 2010, however, and times have changed out of all recognition for both clubs.

Manchester City are pushing for the Champions League, and this month, thanks to their status as the richest club in the world, they will embark on a spending spree that could see the likes of Ivan Cordoba, Giorgio Chiellini and Gennaro Gattuso move to the City of Manchester Stadium.

On Saturday, as they cruised into the third round of the FA Cup, their list of second- half substitutes featured Gareth Barry, an established England international, and Carlos Tevez, a striker who cost around £30m when he joined from Manchester United last summer.

Middlesbrough, on the other hand, are floundering in 11th position in the Championship, and the extent of their ambition this season is likely to be a tilt at the play-offs.

This month, if they are lucky, they will prise a couple of players out of Celtic and fend off offers for Adam Johnson, their one saleable asset.

On Saturday, as they crashed out of the FA Cup at the third-round stage for the first time in seven seasons, their sole second-half substitute was Luke Williams, a 16- year-old who was playing Academy football as recently as October.

A week can be a long time in football, but in the case of Saturday’s opponents, the last year-and-a-half has witnessed change on an unprecedented scale. Suffice to say that Boro have not benefited from the shifting landscape.

“I don’t imagine that, four years ago, Middlesbrough supporters would have imagined we would have a 16-year-old (Williams), a 19-year-old making his home debut (Jonathan Franks) and a player who is helping us out on loan (Marcus Bent) up front in a game like that,” said Boro boss Gordon Strachan.

“But that’s what’s happened in the last wee while here. We’ve had to resort to that because of the injuries at the club and other things that have happened, but it’s really unfair when you think that was our front three at the end.”

Unfair maybe, for the foreseeable future, Strachan will have to get used to it. True, Boro will not be playing Manchester City every week, even if Roberto Mancini opted to alleviate some of the pain by making wholesale changes ahead of Wednesday’s Carling Cup semi-final with Manchester United.

But Middlesbrough’s financial position is unlikely to change markedly over the next few seasons, particularly if crowds remain as low as the 9,000 home supporters who were tempted to file through the gates at the weekend, and as a result, the current situation is likely to become the norm rather than a temporary aberration.

That means Boro fans had better get used to their second- class status, a position that was all too evident against City.

There have been plenty of dispiriting afternoons this season, but Saturday felt as uncomfortable as any as Boro failed to ask any questions of a Manchester City side that appeared to be there for the taking.

All the classic ingredients for an FA Cup upset were present, from the snow that swirled around the Riverside for large periods of the game to the second-string City lineup that featured an 18-yearold debutant in centre-half Dedryck Boyata and an untried winger in Slovakian Vladimir Weiss.

But rather than being inspired to punch above themselves, the Teessiders surrendered without a fight. Their first effort on target came in second-half stoppage-time, with David Wheater heading weakly at Shay Given, and their inability to ruffle their opponents was apparent from the very first minute.

They played as if they knew they were City’s inferiors, and from the moment Benjani strolled on to Martin Petrov’s through ball to score the only goal of the game in the 45th minute, their fate was effectively sealed.

“I thought we played some good stuff, even though we didn’t make their keeper work hard enough,” countered goalkeeper Danny Coyne.

“But we seem to win one then lose one at the minute, so we need to try and get that consistency back and kick on again.”

Actually, winning one and losing one would represent a marked improvement for a Boro side who have lost seven out of 11 since Strachan replaced Gareth Southgate in October.

Their latest defeat highlighted a number of key areas of concern, with the complete lack of a cutting edge glaringly apparent throughout.

Things will get worse when Bent returns to Birmingham in a fortnight’s time, and while Jeremie Aliadiere could be available for this weekend’s home game with Swansea, a proven goalscorer will be at the top of Strachan’s wanted list during this month’s transfer window.

A creative midfielder would also help, with Boro lacking any kind of incision from the moment Johnson suffered a recurrence of his long-standing hamstring injury midway through the first half.

Julio Arca struggled to keep up with the pace of the game, while perhaps understandably, Franks failed to make much of an impression as he made only his second senior start.

As a result, City were able to coast through the second half, and their victory would have been much more emphatic had Tevez converted either of the decent second-half opportunities that came his way.

As it was, one goal was enough, and in time-honoured fashion, Boro can now concentrate on the league.

Whether that is a blessing or a curse, however, remains to be seen.

Match facts

Goal:

0-1: Benjani (45, slotted home precise finish after through ball from Petrov)

Bookings: O’Neil (47, simulation), Garrido (69, foul), Barry (90, deliberate handball)

Referee: Stuart Attwell (Nuneaton) - Decided early on that the game would go ahead, and his verdict was proved correct 6

Attendance: 12,474

Entertainment: ✰

MIDDLESBROUGH (4-5-1):

6 Coyne: Had no chance with the goal, and looks much more stable than team-mate Jones;

7 McMAHON: Always solid in defence and provided a threat with his attacking runs

6 Wheater: Already looks a better defender now that St Ledger has gone back to Preston

6 Riggott: Has slotted back in effectively and kept Benjani quiet for large periods

5 Hoyte: Doesn’t look comfortable at left-back, but didn’t do too much wrong;

5 Franks: Struggled to make much of an impact on his first start at the Riverside

5 O’Neil: Worked away diligently enough but couldn’t produce a telling through ball

6 Williams: Provided plenty of energy and wasn’t overawed when Barry came on after the break

5 Arca: Flickered into life sporadically, but struggled to match the pace of City’s midfielders;

6 Johnson: Made a number of dangerous bursts before another hamstring problem forced him off

5 Bent: A willing enough runner but never looked like outfoxing the City back four

Subs:

Emnes (for Johnson, 32): Made no impact at all before he was forced off through injury 4

Yeates (for Emnes, 57): Slightly more influential than Emnes, although that was hardly saying a lot 5

L Williams (for Arca, 71) (not used): Steele (gk), Bennett, Grounds, Shawky

MANCHESTER CITY (4-4-2):

Given 6; Zabaleta 7, Richards 6 (Barry 46mins, 6), Boyata 7, Garrido 6; Weiss 5 (Bellamy 73mins), Kompany 7, De Jong 6 (Tevez 46mins, 6), Sylvinho 6; Benjani 7, PETROV 8. Subs (not used): Taylor (gk), Trippier, Tutte, Vidal.

MAN OF THE MATCH

MARTIN Petrov – supplied an excellent through ball for Benjani’s winner and was at the heart of all of City’s best attacking.