28th April 2005
By
Gaz Pearson
 Shay
Given
Not a lot to do but when called into action the Republic of
Ireland man did his job. A notable save in the second half from
Jimmy Flloyd Hasselbaink but was rarely troubled. Should be
happy with the clean sheet. |
6 |
 Peter
Ramage
Second successive game at right-back and he did relatively well
against Bolo Zenden. Full of confidence following his debut
on Sunday and his overall game will improve in time. A few wayward
passes in the first half but much more steady in the second. |
6 |
 Jean-Alain
Boumsong
Not his usual commanding self. Looked very edgy in the second
half and was poor in the air, making several poor headed or
attempted headed clearances. Let's hope he regains his form
for the Palace game. |
6 |
 Andy
O'Brien
Played really well. Look very solid and commanding at the back.
Good in the air and no-nonsense on the ground. His distribution
was a lot better tonight than on Sunday. Good display. |
7 |
 Robbie
Elliott
Steady no-nonsense performance. Perhaps could have done better
with his distribution and the left hand side was exposed a lot
for large periods of the game but luckily Boro had an old cockney
geezer in Parlour down the right. |
6 |
 James
Milner
The one bright spark in an otherwise dull game. Attacked on
both flanks, looked really pacey and really tried. One of his
best games for us. Tried to make things happen against a stubborn
Boro defence. I've criticised him for being in and out of matches
too often but against the Smoggies he took it by the scruff
of the neck. Well played lad and more of the same please. My
man of the match! |
8 |
Darren
Ambrose
Not as lively as against Man Utd but covered a lot of ground
in midfield. Occasionally showed glimpses of his creative, driving
style seen against the Old Trafford men but never really threatened
the Boro defence. |
6 |
 Stephen
Carr
Again did a decent job playing out of position in front of the
back four. Defended well and broke up a lot of potential Boro
attacks. Faye and Butt might want to take notes from his last
two performances. |
6 |
 Charles
N'Zogbia
Another decent game. Tried hard with little end product. A lot
of things never came off for him. Could have won it at the end
but blazed over from 6-yards. Getting more acclimatised to Premiership
football. |
6 |
 Kieron
Dyer
Before he succumbed to injury looked his usual threatening self
with his pace frightening the hell out of the Boro defence.
They would have been happy to see him go off. |
6 |
 Alan
Shearer
Again the evergreen 34 year-old led the line on his own and
battled his way through the game. Little supply and fed off
scraps all game. Left isolated on his own up front and Ameobi
gave him little support when he went up front. |
6 |
Substitutes:
 Shola
Ameobi
His control… what control? Bewildering at times. Must improve
a hell of a lot to ever cement or merit a starting place. |
5 |
The Boss Man:
 Graeme
Souness
For the home team, in a local derby, under pressure to win their
first match in three weeks was this good enough? No. Tonight's
match was the icing on the cake as we rarely mustered any goalscoring
chances. Tactically the Scot was outclassed by McClaren and
needs to change the style of play because it's just not good
enough. Improvement needed, let's hope he knows what needs doing... |
5 |
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