Southgate targets an unbeaten run
Apr 27 2009 The Journal
GARETH Southgate has called on his Middlesbrough players to go unbeaten to the end of the season – and beat Manchester United – to guarantee survival.
The Riverside supremo watched his side humbled as a fluent Arsenal side dished out a footballing lesson at the Emirates Stadium.
The clinical dismantling took the dismal run to 10 successive away day reverses, the worst since 1910-11. But the boss now says his relegation-haunted side need an away win and to pull off a major shock at home to survive.
“We may need to go unbeaten to stay up,” said Southgate after a two-goal blast from Cesc Fabregas left his side still three points behind Hull. “We need two wins, and maybe two draws as well to be sure.” Boro face home games against table-topping United and Aston Villa and tricky away trips to fellow strugglers Newcastle and a final day reckoning with West Ham. “We will have to go away from home and win,” said Southgate.
“And we will need to pull off at least one big surprise at home, too. All we have to do is beat the world champions to survive.”
The Teessiders were undone by a brilliantly engineered Arsenal opener but looked to have clawed themselves back into the game until a goalkeeping error gifted Arsenal the second.
Boro’s back-line had to be at their best to stem the tide, with Robert Huth in particular making a string of timely blocking challenges. Yet incredibly Boro still could have salvaged something from the game early in the second half as Stewart Downing sent a sublime chip over the defence for Arsenal old boy Jeremie Aliadiere to burst clear into the box, but he hesitated and his shot was charged down.
Boro also had a strong shout for a first-half penalty as a Downing ball into the box was controlled by Samir Nasri’s arm before he scrambled it clear. And in a lively spell in the second half Marlon King and Adam Johnson both got into the box only to fire straight at keeper Manuel Almunia.
But for long spells Boro were left chasing shadows as Cesc Fabregas pulled the strings, and the pace and trickery of Theo Walcott and Andrey Arshavin carved through the defence. The Arsenal opener came on 27 minutes, and it was a superbly crafted goal. Nicklas Bendtner back-heeled for Fabregas to push it first time out to the left for Arshavin, then burst forward unmarked to the edge of the box to receive the return and hammer home a low drive, with the Boro defence appealing for offside.
But just as Boro seemed to be edging back into the game with a second-half fightback, they pressed the self-destruct button and gifted Arsenal a second goal on 67 minutes. Emmanuel Eboue played an incisive pass for Fabregas to burst past a flat-footed Boro defence to get to the edge of the box where Brad Jones had inexplicably charged out. The Gunners’ skipper skipped round the keeper and sidefooted a simple 15-yard effort into the open net.
Southgate questioned the opener – Bendtner had strayed offside and was obstructing Jones’ line of vision when Fabregas unleashed his shot – but admitted his side fell short. “There’s no question it was offside and interfering with play,” he said. “It hasn’t gone for us but we did what we could and we were OK – but OK is not enough. You have to be outstanding here.”
ARSENAL: Almunia, Eboue, Toure, Silvestre (Djourou 46), Gibbs, Walcott (Diaby 68), Denilson, Fabregas (Adebayor 68), Nasri, Arshavin, Bendtner. Subs (not used): Fabianski, Sagna, Vela, Song Billong.
Goals: Fabregas 26, 67.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Jones, McMahon (Digard 73), Wheater, Huth, Taylor, O’Neil, Bates, Tuncay, Downing, Aliadiere (Emnes 86), King (Adam Johnson 61). Subs (not used): Turnbull, Hoyte, Alves, Grounds.
Attendance: 60,089
Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside).
