Thursday, February 23, 2006
Boro 0 Stuttgart 1 (2-2 ag - Boro win on away goals)
Well, we didn't manage to do it in style but we did manage to do it! Thank God for away goals - next up Roma: a European tie of real quality... just what the fans wanted! But for a nervy 75 minutes it looked far from certain that we would go through at all. My last comment after the away victory was that as long as we didn't play negative and sit off them then it would be fairly straightforward. So what did we do? we sat off them and played as negative as we could! I knew there was danger from the team selection, again opting for a lone striker in the mould of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - it worked once, why not again? But this time they knew they needed at least two goals and came out all guns blazing, under poor conditions at the Riverside, as rain lashed down throughout, making the pitch very slippery and pretty cut up.On 13 minutes some of the trademark shoddy defending I thought we had begun to put behind us came back to haunt the Boro and let them in for a much needed opener. McClaren was furious and so were the fans. Fortunately for us they seemed to ease down a gear after that, choosing oddly not to press their obvious advantage on the night. We rode the storm (in more ways than one) till half time, however, and came out looking much more aggressive and determined to close down. Jimmy had one good chance to equalise and make it tough for them, but it was not to be, leading to the Yak coming on for the final ten minutes as we steeled ourselves for their final assault. But the steam had all but gone from their attacks, Mark Schwarzer rarely troubled, and I think if Yakubu had been on ten minutes earlier we'd have easily sown it up sooner.
By the final whistle we were deserved winners over the two legs, even if tactically we played it very close to the bone... Why in difficult circumstances do we continue to be overly defensive when experience has proved we are better going forward and playing free? We have some quality strikers at the club and at times we seem afraid to use them to their full potential... Anyway, we are through, and back to the "bread and butter" of the league on Sunday, as we face West Brom in a big big game for the club. I expect The Yak to start with Viduka and Jimmy on the bench. Do we play Pogatetz back from suspension or Queudrue back from injury, or both! That will be one of the key questions.
My MOTM: Gareth Southgate for shepherding a result in difficult circumstances.
