Source: Northern_Echo
ONeil sympathises with Boro boo-boys
GARY O’NEIL last night sympathised with the Middlesbrough boo-boys, admitting he would have turned on the players himself had he been a fan.
Sections of the Boro support directed their ire towards manager Gareth Southgate during and after the defeat to Leicester City on Tuesday night.
It was the second loss in three matches for Middlesbrough, and the third time they had been beaten in their last six Championship games.
But they remain firmly in the promotion mix in fourth place, just three points adrift of second spot ahead of Saturday’s trip to Reading.
However, if they fail to win at the Madejski Stadium, further pressure will be piled on Southgate.
The players were also on the receiving end at the Riverside on Tuesday and O’Neil conceded he would have joined in had he been among the fans as Middlesbrough lost 1-0 to Leicester.
“If I’d have been watching the first half, I’d have booed as well. We were just as disappointed at half-time as they were,” said O’Neil. “We’re no different to them, we want to win as well.
“In the second half a lot of it was emotion, we lost a game at home to Leicester – they were in League One last year, we were in the Premier League. A lot of people see that as a massive disappointment, which it is.
“If you take the second half on its own, we were the far better side, we were in control.
“It felt to me like a matter of when the goal was going to come, then we get hit by a little bit of sloppy defending and a deflection.
“It’s just one of those spells.
We need to stick together and make sure we grind through it. But the fans have been different class. They’ve gone through a lot of bad times recently and they still turn out in numbers.”
They may still be turning out in their thousands but chairman Steve Gibson will be concerned by the alarming drop in attendances.
A crowd of 18, 577 – the lowest for a home league match in the past 15 years at the club – witnessed the defeat, which was about 1,000 less than the previous Riverside record low figure that witnessed the 3-1 win over Ipswich earlier this month.
But while many of the club’s fans appear to have already turned their backs on the Southgate regime, O’Neil claims there is no reason to panic.
“There is a lot of expectation but rightly so,” said the midfielder. “With the squad we’ve got we should maybe be doing better than we are. We need to stand up and take a lot of the blame for that.
“We need to make sure it’s corrected quickly because we’ve been fortunate in the last couple of games that other teams have dropped points as well, that’s not going to keep happening for us.”
Given the nature of the increasingly mutinous atmosphere during matches at the Riverside, the players could be relieved to prepare for an away match to get back on track.
But O’Neil, in the team that relinquished a two-goal lead at Coventry last weekend, said: “Our away form has been good. Saturday is a chance for us to get three points because we’re set up fairly well to play away from home but I’d rather play at home.
“You’re always better on your home turf. The fans are rarely a problem, that’s something you’ve got to deal with if you want to play professional football.”
Southgate should have teenage full-back Joe Bennett available for the trip to Reading.
Bennett limped off on Tuesday but it was only with cramp and should be fine.
