Middlesbrough Humbled on Home Soil

Article by e-Middlesbrough correspondent Stephen Davison

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Boro were back at the Riverside after 2 away games ready to take on an unbeaten Sheffield Wednesday. The visitors have made an encouraging start to the new campaign having beaten Brighton away and holding promotion favourites Derby at home. Karanka went with his preferred 4231 formation with Mejias keeping his position in goal. Abella retained his position at right back along with Friend at left back. Kenneth Omeruo lined up alongside a reinstated Ayala in the centre of defence. Dean Whitehead was alongside Captain Grant Leadbitter in the centre of midfield. Reach was put back in on the left having impressed against Bolton as a sub. Adomah kept his position on the right with Lee Tomlin lining up in the No10 position behind Olay Kike. Just fewer than 18000 supporters were in attendance with a large following for the away team. There was a cracking atmosphere prior to kick off as the teams surfaced ready to do battle in front of an expectant Riverside.

Back on home soil, Boro should have been keen to pick up where they had left off on Tuesday night but couldn't get into a routine early. It took just 6 minutes for Wednesday to get a corner when Mejias failed to stop the ball going out after a deflected shot. The corner was delivered to the back post where a free header was headed back into the danger area. Mejias flapped at the ball in an attempt to punch it and yet again made a basic error handing the Owls an early lead. 1-0 down with the game having just begun, and yet again the goal coming from a Mejias error, as at Leeds and so nearly Bolton. The big Spaniard has not endeared himself to the Boro support as he is already becoming a concern to all Boro supporters.

1-0 down at home you would have thought that the Boro would go straight on the front foot and pressed to redress the balance, this never happened. The game drifted and Westwood was hardly tested in the Owls goal. Adam Reach did have a shot saved but it did not on target anyway. Leadbitter hit the bar with a free kick near the left corner flag but in fairness, it was very much a cross/shot that would never have gone in had it been lower.

Wednesday went close with a move down their left where Abella and Ayala were getting torn apart, this time a shot was saved by Mejias who turned it onto the post and the ball was cleared, but this was merely a speed bump in Wednesday’s progress.

Minutes later Leadbitter kicked out at a Wednesday midfielder who had robbed him of the ball, this resulted in a free kick and a yellow card for the skipper. The free kick was a very run of the mill ball just pumped up to the edge of the box, but Ayala got caught napping for not the first time and the ball was knocked on to Stevie May who lifted the ball over Mejias to make it 2-0.

Again there was no reaction, Boro looked in shock and could not work out how to break down a very well drilled Wednesday team that worked extremely hard for each other. They were first to every ball and to every second ball. They wanted it more than Boro and were happy to put in the extra yards to get their goal and to support each other. Stuart Gray's team worked tirelessly and had an extra man in midfield which was a clever tactic by the Owls boss, Karanka either could not see or was to stubborn to change but a change had to happen and soon.

At half time Karanka took off the disappointing Abella and brought on Adam Clayton. The Boro went 3 at the back with an extra man in midfield to try and get back into the game. As the 2nd half started, Tomlin played in Kike who shot near post but it was turned away for a corner. From the resulting set play, Friend headed wide. The Boro had created more in the first 30 seconds of the 2nd half than they had in the entire first half.

Unfortunately it did not last. Wednesday continued to dominate and make the home team make errors and again worked extremely hard in closing down. It only took until the 57 minute before they made it 3-0 and stunned the Riverside to near silence bar the away support. Another basic cross from a free kick on the left found a Wednesday forward completely unmarked from 6 yards to head beyond Mejias. Had he not scored then there were another 2 players equally unmarked players that could have scored. Boro had simply crumbled and even the most basic of things like marking from a set piece had gone. They were a beaten team with still over a 1/3 of the game to go.

No one was having a good game. The main culprits for performing poor though were the replaced Abella, Mejias again, Ayala, Adomah and Tomlin; the latter having his worst game in a Boro shirt since his arrival.

Again there was no reaction from the home team. Clayton struggled to get into the game since his introduction. Tomlin was replaced by Luke Williams after yet another misplaced pass and the manager obviously thought enough is enough.

Out of nowhere, KIke broke into the box and was upended for a certain spot kick. Leadbitter sent Westwood the wrong way from 12 yards and the deficit had been cut to 3-1. Again though, there was no head of steam, no pressure and no build up to try and get back into the game. Wednesday simply took this in their stride and continued working hard.

Adam Reach done his best to pick the game up and showed much more promise in the 2nd half. He tried continuously to run at the Owls defence and got some good crosses into the box without making a goal.

As the game drew to a close, the Boro started a good move down the left, Reach went to the outside and beat 2 men and cut the ball back to Leadbitter who struck goal wards from the edge of the box. The Wednesday defender Lees intentionally handled the ball and another penalty was awarded to the Boro on 90 minutes. Again Leadbitter took up the spot kick duty and smashed the ball into the opposite corner to make the score 3-2.....could there yet be a sting in the tail for the Owls and could the Boro grab a most unlikely point?

With just 2 minutes of injury time remaining, Whitehead slid Adomah in and it looked like the speedy winger could run straight to goal. He checked his run for some reason and cut the ball back across the 6 yard box to an onrushing Leadbitter and Williams. Neither of them could quite get there and the ball went agonisingly across the goal to safety. In truth, it would have been daylight robbery had the Boro grabbed a point.

The game finished 3-2 to Wednesday and the unbeaten home record lasted just 1 game. Aitor Karanka was furious in his post match interview saying that he needs 7 new players if they perform like that every week. He said it was the worst performance since he arrived as the manager and was at a loss to explain why they had been so poor. He further stated that some of the players think they are untouchable. I think the players will be hearing his voice all weekend as he appeared as mad as I have seen him since his arrival. The one thing he was quick to address and support however was the keeper Mejias. He said that he is good enough for the Championship and good enough for Middlesbrough. It doesn't appear that he is ready to hand the keeper duties to one of the other keepers just yet. One thing is for sure, Boro have no chance of promotion in any form if the keeper keeps making basic errors week in week out, you can not throw points away in this league and expect success.

Richie Smallwood and Christian Burgess have made their loan moves permanent to Rotherham and Peterborough respectively. If bids are made for other fringe players such as Kamara and Steele it is likely they will be sold prior to the closure of the transfer window. Charlie Wyke has been sent to Hartlepool on loan to further enhance the young striker’s education.

Patrick Bamford has still to accept a year long loan at the Boro and he has now been given a deadline to decide if he would like to join. If he declines the offer, Karanka has already stated that he has other targets and will move quickly to make them happen. George Saville and Lewis Baker are still being heavily linked with moves to the Riverside on loan from Chelsea. It is an interesting situation with Bamford, as prior to this season, it is feasible that a player of his calibre would not want to come to the Boro as we were not a team in with a chance of promotion. The interesting thing for me is that looking at Karanka's style of play and formation, Bamford knows that he will need to shift Kike from his position in order for him to play. Bamford may see himself being on the bench a lot behind the impressive Kike as it is unlikely given the Spaniards initial form, that he will not be picked. It shows how far we have come as a club since Karanka was installed. All of a sudden there is genuine competition for places in most areas.

The Boro boss has stated that he wants at least one more forward, another midfielder and another right back to challenge the newly recruited Abella for that position, given today’s performance that seems a good shout. It could however go down to the wire with the transfer window looming ever closer to shutting.

Next up is Preston at home in the cup on Tuesday night, it is likely that Karanka will utilise his squad for this game but hopefully we can progress and draw a big name in the 3rd round. It’s Reading at home next Saturday in the league for the final game before an international break.

This is a good time for the players to take a breather after a pretty hectic start and for the management team to assess and analyse what we have done well and more importantly what we haven't.

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