Comments on: Premiership Preview–14. Middlesbrough

By: mike

mike — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:03:36 +0000

I can see ‘Boro creeping towards the top 10. I’m really impressed with Southgate. I thought they would be relegated, but they showed last year that they are a team no one wants to play (beat Arsenal, drew Arsenal, Liverpool, ManU).

Of course there is a big difference between approaching the top 10 and cracking the top 10. That will take some effort.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:07:34 +0000

Alex, I invite criticism and debate, as long as it’s constructive. It comes it with the territory.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:50:27 +0000

It may be a harrowing endeavor but then why write an article on a subject you either don’t know that much about or have not done enough research into. You are just asking for criticism.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:42:38 +0000

steve,

Read my article again. I said Digard was a solid signing. Wheater stepped up admirably last season and put his name into England contention by doing so, and I said he was an anchor in the middle. I said Tuncay and Alves really linked up well towards the end of last season, and I said Hines has a future with the club.

I never slagged off Boro for buying Alves for the price they paid, and I did, in fact, criticize Bolton for spending $20 million on Elmander, who is just slightly above average.

Read the article again before you criticize me, because you obviously didn’t the first time around.

Phil, I’m with you on Boro as far as it being an accomplishment to stay in the Premier League for as long as they have now, but I think fans want a little bit more than that now, especially after those deep runs in the UEFA Cup I mentioned earlier. Also, the fact that they’re producing quality young players still hasn’t really translated to first team success, as I alluded to, and it seems like that needs to change and soon.

By: Phil McThomas

Phil McThomas — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:25:00 +0000

Fair enough Michael. It’s almost impossible to predict how Boro will do this season.

It could all click, leading to a top-8 finish, or it could unravel very quickly and we’ll be in relegation trouble all season.

It says something about how well Boro are doing at the moment when you can brand a decade of Premier League membership as medicre. Boro have always been a yo-yo club, and could easily have gone the route of Norwich, Luton, Wimbledon, West Brom, Ipswich, Birmingham, etc etc.

We have no greater right to be in the top league as any of those sides, yet it’s been accomplished with enough ease that the average Premier League viewer seems to think that we’re underperforming because we’re not consistenly making the top-half of the league.