Source: Northern_Echo
Middlesbrough 0 West Bromwich Albion 5
Horrendous day, admits Southgate
Middlesbrough 0 West Bromwich Albion 5
FOR the second time in less than a year Middlesbrough were crushed 5-0 at the Riverside Stadium.
The drubbing by Premier League title hopefuls Chelsea was almost bearable, but a battering at the hands of Championship opposition defied belief.
When another of Boro’s successful Academy graduates put West Brom two goals up with a little over half an hour played, there was still an element of hope that Gareth Southgate could inspire a revival.
After all, this was a contest between first and second place – a game between two clubs competing to claim automatic promotion places back to the Premier League this season.
The teams should have been just about equal.
But against all expectations, Middlesbrough capitulated, despite losing just once previously in the league since relegation.
West Brom just kept on scoring.
Clever former Paris St Germain midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu neatly headed a delightful centre from Graham Dorrans beyond Danny Coyne three minutes before halftime.
To wrap things up striker Roman Bednar and tricky winger Jerome Thomas completed the rout with two goals in the final eight minutes. It is safe to assume Southgate has had better days in management, even if most of them have been this season.
“It was a horrendous day at the office. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong,”
said Southgate. “But I have to keep a sense of perspective because we have had a good start to the season, but we got what we deserved because we didn’t perform.
“To a degree there were one or two who stood up and kept going and I thought there were a few that buckled a bit.
But you have to be put into that situation to learn those things. We would rather not have gone through it.
“It is always a difficult experience losing at home in front of your own fans but that was annihilation. So they are not going to be too chuffed. We have to make sure we are strong as a group and that we remain as a tight-knit unit.”
Most of the 21,000 or so home fans – slightly up on the record low, for a league fixture at the Riverside, which witnessed the comprehensive victory over Ipswich a week earlier – had left by the time the full-time whistle had blown.
Those that remained made it clear exactly how they felt by directing boos towards the players and management, having been subjected to an absolute battering.
And to think it could have been different. Middlesbrough had started brightly enough in the first ten minutes but had failed to force Scott Carson into a save.
Then the out-of-sorts Rhys Williams dawdled in possession in his own half, then lost control after being tackled by Bednar by lunging late at Thomas on the edge of the Middlesbrough box.
Brunt, sold to Sheffield Wednesday by Steve McClaren in 2004, struck a free-kick that deflected off Julio Arca to give West Brom the lead. It was a lead they never looked like relinquishing.
“Goals change the emotion of the team and stadium,” said Southgate. “I’m not looking for excuses but the first should have been a free-kick to us (when Williams was brought down).
“That had a huge impact on the game. We didn’t have the energy levels to get back into it. The key for us now is how we respond to it.”
If there was fortune about Brunt’s first, there was a touch of brilliance about his second. When Coyne raced out to clear Carson’s long ball the Welsh keeper only managed to direct his punt into the path of Brunt.
The Northern Ireland international, with the whole goal to aim for, then struck an instinctive first time half volley back over Coyne from 50 yards and into the empty net just after the half hour.
The defensive solidity and unified confidence that Middlesbrough have had in abundance this season evaporated and it was game over when ex- Partick midfielder Dorrans – exceptional throughout – created the third for Mulumbu three minutes before the break.
Southgate, who often stood motionless on the touchline with his arms crossed, said: “The third knocked the wind out of our sails. I learned a lot about people out there and it’s better to know now rather than later in the season.”
What he meant by that only time will tell, but if altering his personnel is in his thoughts then his hands are tied after bringing in Caleb Folan and Sean St Ledger last week.
Both players made unconvincing home debuts, even if Carson denied St Ledger a close range header for a consolation, as West Brom turned in a display that was the stuff of Championship champions.
Given Roberto Di Matteo’s previous links with Chelsea – most notably scoring against Boro in the 1997 FA Cup final and the League Cup final the following year – he was asked whether he had something against the Teesside outfit.
“No, no, no, absolutely not,”
he said, smiling after overseeing West Brom’s biggest away win since May 1977. “Obviously, I was a player at that time and now I’m a manager and I’m just pleased for my group of players, for my team. But that was a great performance.
We showed against Middlesbrough how good we are and how strong we are and thirdly we sent a message out to the rest of the league.
“I don’t think I should get too excited yet. We’ve only played eight games and there’s another 38 to go. That’s 114 points to play for. We want to be there at the end of the season.
I got excited when I won trophies and that’s what football is about. It’s about success and winning and we haven’t achieved anything yet, have we?”
The Italian is right, but he can be extremely satisfied with his players’ display – unlike Southgate.
Having witnessed a degree of progress in the opening seven matches of life in the Football League, he looked on in disbelief as Bednar was given the freedom to bring down a clearance, take a touch before firing the fourth goal low into Coyne’s bottom left.
When Thomas was afforded even more time to run from the halfway line, turn Tony McMahon inside out and drill low underneath the Middlesbrough keeper in the final minute, Southgate must have felt like running into the dressing room to hide.
“You’ll be getting sacked in the morning,” cried the travelling hoards. It has not quite got to that stage, but Southgate knows an urgent response will be required at Coventry this week or early season promise could disappear into the autumnal air.
Match facts
Goals:
0-1: Brunt (17, his free-kick took a wicked deflection off Arca to wrong foot Coyne)
0-2: Brunt (31, embarrassed Coyne by returning his clearance into an empty net);
0-3: Mulumbu (42, flicked Dorrans’ centre high beyond Coyne with perfect header)
0-4: Bednar (82, worked his way beyond three Boro players before slotting into the far corner)
0-5: Thomas (89, turned McMahon inside out before firing low beyond Coyne)
Bookings: Williams (16, foul); Thomas (28, simulation); Arca (30, foul); Olsson (53, foul); Mattock (63, foul); Dorrans (67, foul); Martis (85, foul)
Referee: Trevor Kettle (Whissendine) – infuriated fans with some decisions but made the correct calls in build-up to first goal 5
Attendance: 22,725
Entertainment: ✰✰✰
MIDDLESBROUGH (4-4-2): 4 Coyne: Could only be faulted for the second goal, but it was a great strike by Brunt.
4 McMahon: Turned inside out by Thomas on more than one occasion
4 St Ledger: Can’t have expected a home debut like this.
4 Wheater: Found Bednar and Co difficult opponents
3 Grounds: The young fullback found things tough
3 Yeates: Failed to make the impact on his return he would have hoped for
5 ARCA: Boro’s best player but there were few rivals on Saturday
3 Williams: His worst performance of an impressive season to date
5 Johnson: A few bright moments but nowhere near the standards he has set
5 Emnes: The only threat from the Boro attack
4 Aliadiere: Once again injury ended his match and his recent run of decent form
Subs:
Folan (for Aliadiere 32): Never made the impact fans would expect from a target man 4
Digard (for Arca 58): Back to fitness, but not back to his best 5
Lita (for Emnes 67): Largely anonymous after introduction 5
Subs: Jones (gk), Hoyte, Hines, Bennett.
WEST BROM (4-4-2):
Carson 6; Zuiverloon 7, Olsson 7, Martis 7, Mattock 6 (Barnett 74); Brunt 7 (Wood 82), DORRANS 9, Mulumbu 7, Thomas 9; Moore 5 (Koren 64, 5), Bednar 8. Subs: Kiely (gk), Reid, Teixeira, Cox.
MAN OF THE MATCH:
GRAHAM Dorrans The ex-Partick Thistle midfielder may not have got on the scoresheet but he ran the show.
