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Southgate Seeks Simple Approach
By Betting Zone
October 6 2007
Score more goals, concede less' is Gareth Southgate's seemingly simple solution to Middlesbrough's poor start to the season. Sunday's clash with Manchester City at Eastland's will be Boro's ninth Premier League fixture of the season, meaning that by the time the final whistle blows the club will already be virtually a quarter of the way through their 2007-08 campaign.
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Middlesbrough boss Southgate knows his new-look side must start delivering the goods sooner rather than later.

Last Sunday's lacklustre 2-0 defeat at Everton left the Teessiders languishing just four places and three points above the drop zone.

A return of eight points from eight games is a worrying statistic, as is a total of just one clean sheet all season and a haul of only two away goals so far.

To add to Southgate's woes, he has lost three of his high-profile summer buys - Tuncay Sanli, Mido and Jeremie Aliadiere - to injury.

A lack of depth up front was cruelly exposed at Goodison Park last weekend, when Dong-Gook Lee and 20-year-old rookie Tom Craddock linked up following Mido's 62nd-minute withdrawal.

Lee, signed in a blaze of publicity in January, has yet to open his top-flight account for Boro and, in addition to missing a sitter, looked out of his depth for long spells at Everton.

Assessing the season, Southgate said: "I think we've done OK, we've had a lot to deal with, we've played some attractive football and we've played some good attacking football.

"If you look at the stats it's fairly obvious we need to shore up a bit defensively but we've had a lot of changes in that defence and we've lost a lot of experience.

"Lads have come in and performed very well and it will get better as the season goes on and as the players get used to playing with each other.

"I know that we are doing the majority of things right, we just have to tighten up on one or two things that are costing us results at the moment.

"I also know we've got a stronger squad in terms of quality so I believe we're progressing but progress in terms of results doesn't immediately show."

Southgate made a big statement of intent in the summer, insisting he wanted his side to play a refreshing brand of attacking football.

That has, by and large, been the case so far, with home performances against Birmingham, Newcastle and Sunderland all drawing widespread praise from fans frustrated by a diet of less-than-adventurous football over the past few seasons.

The former Boro and England skipper remains committed to this philosophy, saying: "We want to excite the fans and win matches and we've got to make sure we get both sides of the game right.

"We're showing terrific commitment, we're playing good football at times, we're creating chances and just need to find a ruthless streak now to turn those performances into wins.

"We can talk about positive things and we have to keep that in mind because you have to have performances. If you don't have consistently good performances then you won't get the results.

"But everybody has to step up to the plate and away from home you need certain characteristics and strength of character is one of them. We need all of those things as well as playing good football to get the win."

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By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.

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Southgate Seeks Simple Approach
Posted by: ComeOnBoro (IP Logged)
Date: 06/10/2007 09:15

Southgate Seeks Simple Approach

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Re: Southgate Seeks Simple Approach
Posted by: dixon9 (IP Logged)
Date: 19/10/2007 16:53

You lot like the betting on here don´t you!????







.

“It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it" P Kenyon.

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Re: Southgate Seeks Simple Approach
Posted by: Captain Scarlet (IP Logged)
Date: 21/10/2007 21:12

What "lot"?

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