Smoggies 0 – 0 Toon

Two clean sheets in two consecutive games could have you believe that we played well at Boro, but the fact is our midfield and forward line look bereft of any kind of creativity. As the smogside mist descended, so too did our chances of getting anything out of this game.

A bemusing decision by Joe Kinnear to bring off Obafemi Martins instead of Michael Owen (who looked two or three steps behind the pace) severely limited our goalscoring opportunities. Martins hit the bar, got behind the Boro defense on a number of occasions – Michael Owen did.. not a whole lot of anything.

Boro threatened in the second half with Alves becoming a thorn in the sides of Coloccini and Bassong and we rode our luck at times, but the constant marauding by the Boro wide men down our flanks is something that needs to be addressed. Downing seemed to have all day to pick out passes into our box, and on the other side, let’s just say we need a more stable left-back.

Credit to Joe Kinnear for choosing to remain with the Coloccini and Bassong partnership and putting Steven Taylor on the bench. His faith in Bassong saw the central defender put in another assured display at the heart of our defence.