Southgate takes the blame
21 Sep 2006 - 09:45:24
Gareth Southgate accepted he had to take the blame for Middlesbrough's embarrassing Carling Cup defeat against League Two Notts County on Wednesday.
Boro's rookie boss made eight changes to his starting line-up and also dispensed with the 4-5-1 formation that had served his side so well in recent weeks.
His new-look team failed to gel quickly enough and a 26th-minute strike from Tcham N'Toya secured a shock 1-0 victory for the Magpies at The Riverside.
Southgate said: "There is no point being angry because that does not resolve anything. I am frustrated, but all the players are frustrated.
"You learn all the time. Lots of Premier League clubs use this competition to give players an opportunity - I felt that was the right route to go, and of course when you are beaten, I have to take the rap for it.
"But I still feel it was the right thing to do because we had enough quality out there to win the game."
He added: "You look at the opportunities we had, we created chances and I do not know how some of the things at the end stayed out.
"But they did and sometimes it is not to be your night. Tonight is one of those and I'll learn a lot from it, the players will learn a lot from it and we have to pick ourselves up very quickly for Saturday."