Source: SKY_Sports
Jinking to the top
Danyel Gilgan is on top of the world after Adam Johnson helped Middlesbrough jink their way to the summit of the Championship...
It's been a fantastic week for Gareth Southgate, Steve Gibson and everyone connected to Middlesbrough Football Club.
Three straight wins, seven goals scored, no goals conceded. The manager needed to silence his critics, (me included), and he has done that in emphatic style. We are top of the league!
The doom and gloom of last season is now a fading memory and confidence has returned to the team. Players and fans alike needed to rediscover the winning feeling and Boro' fans now have reason to believe we can sustain a real challenge for promotion.
Teesside is smiling again.
We cannot sellIt's early days and there is a long hard season ahead so holding onto key players could make a big difference.
The transfer window has yet to close and the prospect of losing some big name players is still hanging over the club. I'm amazed that no Premier League club has come in for Tuncay Sanli. Robert Huth has many admirers and the club would love to recoup some of the big bucks they paid for Alfonso Alves.
If some of the big name players do depart this week, added responsibility will fall on the shoulders of our young stars.
David Wheater, Rhys Williams, Mark Yeats and Marvin Emnes have all started the season brightly.
However, it is the form of Adam Johnson that has got Boro fans excited. He looks unstoppable at this level; scoring goals and dominating matches. He has been waiting a long time for his chance in the first team, always behind Stewart Downing in the pecking order. Now Downing has gone Johnson is really starting to prove himself.
My worry is that the club could be tempted to cash in on a player who is in the last year of his contract. That would surely be a false economy though as 'Jinky Johnson' could well be the player to inspire us to promotion and back to the riches of the Premier League.
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