Source: SKY_Sports
Boost for Boro belief
Middlesbrough 2-0 Liverpool
Middlesbrough will be assured Premier League football next season if they can repeat their display against Liverpool week-in, week-out, according to Matt Le Tissier.
Gareth Southgate's side secured a precious league victory thanks to Xabi Alonso's own goal and a Tuncay Sanli strike, putting a massive dent in Liverpool's fading title aspirations in the process.
To make matters worse Steven Gerrard limped off late on - albeit possibly with cramp - leaving Le Tissier to reflect: "Pretty much everything went wrong for Liverpool to be honest, although they started the game pretty well in all fairness.
"They had two or three good chances early on; Brad Jones made a couple of decent saves but as soon as they went a goal down there just didn't seem to be the belief that they could get back into it.
"There was a big turning point for me just after half-time; Nabil El Zhar had a fantastic chance. Gerrard inevitably created it by pulling the ball back and El Zhar's only 10 yards out on his left foot and he's managed to scoop it over the crossbar.
"From that point on Middlesbrough seemed to grow in belief. They got the second goal. Tuncay took it well after Jeremie Aliadiere did really good work down the right-hand side.
"At 2-0 Gerrard got injured, Kuyt had one decent chance where the ball was squared across by Gerrard again that he should have scored but that was it. As soon as Gerrard went off there was not an ounce of creativity in the side and they looked bereft of any ideas going forward."
Le Tissier felt that Liverpool - so impressive in Wednesday's 1-0 Champions League victory over Real Madrid when Yossi Benayoun scored the winner - were hampered by "a couple of strange decisions".
"Martin Skrtel does not look like a right-back to me in any way, shape or form," he said. "I'm not quite sure what he was doing playing there.
"He looked out of his depth and Stewart Downing down the left-hand side gave him a torrid time. It was one of the best games I've seen Downing have for a long time. And the guy who scored the winning goal in Madrid gets left on the substitutes' bench."
But the day belonged to Boro and, although they are hovering precariously above the relegation zone, Le Tissier does not fear for their long-term future providing their standards don't slip.
"If they do that every week, they will survive," he said. "Ok, they had a little bit of luck to get going with the own goal; if Gareth had been working on that in training fair play to him!
"But once they got their noses in front they did defend like the proverbial beavers."
