Unlucky Boro robbed at the death by Gerrard
By Shaun • Aug 23rd, 2008 • Category: Featured ArticlesMiddlesbrough travel home from Liverpool feeling robbed as they went from leading the game 1-0 with 5 minutes remaining to losing the game 2-1 after 95 minutes.
I decided to take a little time to calm down before writing this report as the feeling of injustice and unfairness threatened to take the match report in a direction I didn’t want it go. Now that the dust has settled a bit i’ll look at the positives we can take from this game after coming so close to making it 6 points out of 6. Oh and if anyone wants to send Mike Riley a christmas present this year, a functioning watch might be a good idea…… 
Middlesbrough had to make a change to the lineup prior to the game even kicking off as Brad Jones dislocated his finger in the warm up. Rafa Benitez generously allowed Boro to make a change without using up one of their alloted substitions and Ross Turnbull was given his chance.
The first half was a very open ended affair and, though no goals came, both sides created good chances. Dirk Kuyt tested the alertness of Ross Turnbull early on and the youngster was equal to the task.
Left back Andrew Taylor had Boro’s best early chance as his half volley brought a great save from Reina. Stewart Downing worked himself into a great position cutting in from the left but his right foot shot was sliced horribly wide.
Dangerman Fernando Torres had a couple of good chances for the home team, the first well snuffed out by David Wheater and the second brilliantly deflected wide by Pogatetz when great work from Robbie Keane gave him a goalscoring opportunity.
Going in at half time level seemed a fair result. Boro had defended well and hit Liverpool on the break, the pace of the Boro attack causing problems for the Liverpool back four.
Liverpool started the second half with the lions share of the possesion and a brave diving header from Robert Huth prevented Torres from getting a volley on goal. Middlesbrough appeared to get a better hold on the game when Afonso Alves was replaced by Mido, he was straight into the action putting a cross into Tuncay. Tuncay, with a brilliant piece of individual skill, deceived Jamie Carragher giving himself a perfect opportunity to give Boro lead. However his finish was not to the same level as his approach play and his shot was saved by Reina.
Boro made the breakthough in the 70th minute as Mido took a pass from Aliadiere and unleashed a 25 yard shot which fizzed past Reina into the bottom corner. A fantastic strike reminiscent of Torres’s goal aganst Sunderland a week earlier. With talk during the week of Mido interesting Wigan and Mido saying he needed regualr football, it was nice to see the Egyptian letting his football do the talking and he must surely now be pressing Southgate to start him against Stoke.
Shortly after Justin Hoyte was given his Boro debut as he came on at left back to replace Andrew Taylor who looked to be struggling with a knock. Liverpool drew level when a Jamie Carragher shot took a cruel deflection off Pogatetz taking it past Ross Turnbull.
In the third minute of injury time Ross Turnbull looked to have saved a point for Boro as he made a stunning save from a Steven Gerrard free kick. There was nothing he could do however as in the fifth minute (of 3 minutes added on) the ball broke to Gerrard on the edge of the Boro box and the Liverpool talisman smashed the ball home to break Boro hearts.
Credit to Liverpool for pushing right to the end but Boro deserved at least a point from this display. Disappointing that Mike Riley decided to give them 5 minutes of added on time instead of the 3 signalled minutes (I appreciate O’Neil went down with a knock but that did not add 2 minutes on). A lot of positives to take out of this game though and Southgate will need to get the boys heads up ahead of the Yeovil game midweek and an important home game against Stoke, which will be more of a measure of Southgate’s progress this season.
Player Ratings
Ross Turnbull - 8 - Thrown in at the deep end following the injury to Jones in the warm up Turnbull played very well. Was commanding in the area and made a couple of really good saves. Disappointing for Jones but Turnbull has took his chance with both hands and surely now the number one spot is his to lose.
David Wheater - 7 - Another very solid display at right back for Wheater. Would much rather see him in the heart of the defence though.
Robert Huth - 7 - Huth was superb at the back, at his commanding best.
Emanuel Pogatetz - 7 - Performed very well alongside Huth and was terrinly unluck with the deflected goal.
Andrew Taylor - 7 - Played for 75 minutes before leaving the field for Justin Hoyte. Was solid in his defensive work and got forward to support Downing. Was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet when a great save from Reina kept his half volley out.
Jeremie Aliadiere - 7 - Worked very hard and worried the Liverpool back line with his pace. Created a couple of chances but with a bit more composure could’ve done better with a couple of opportunities. Will be a key player in Southgate’s pacey, counter attacking team.
Gary O’Neil - 7 - O’Neil worked very hard in the centre of midfield and stifled the Liverpool midfield well. Again I thought his use of the ball at times was poor and his pass selection could’ve been better but overall a good display.
Mohamed Shawky - 7 - Shawky stuck to his task well and played the destructive role fairly well. Tried to get forward to help out a number of times but his attacking play wasn’t great.
Stewart Downing - 7 - A good first half display in which he had a couple of chances to shoot on goal. Faded in the second half as Boro tried to defend their lead.
Tuncay Sanli - 9 - Again I thought Tuncay was a different class. His work ethic alone was superb as he chased and harried everything but the Turkish International oozes class and his piece of magic to carve out an opportunity for himself was brilliant. The only criticism is that he didn’t finish it off.
Afonso Alves - 6 - Alves looked out of sorts and didn’t relish the lone striker role he was employed in. Tuncay had more of a free role leaving Alves to lead the line but the Brazilian struggled to get into the game.
Subs
Mido - 8 - Fabulous goal and lead the line well, deserves the right to start against Stoke.
Justin Hoyte - 6 - Tough game for him to enter and at left back. Did nothing wrong and Boro fans will look forward to seeing more of him probably midweek against Yeovil Town.
Didier Digard - 6 - Only on the field a few minutes.
Shaun is A Boro fan and owner of BoroMania.com. Born and brought up in the North East. Favourite players are Juninho, Slaven and David Wheater.
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Absolutely gutted! It’s a good sign that we are gutted to be coming away from Anfield without a win but it doesn’t make it any easier.
Liverpool fan here and what I saw today was the best Boro team I have seen at Anfield. Your team were absolutley top class and the work ethic throughout the team was second to none.
Your lot deserved a win today as opposed to what you got. Full marks to Southgate and Gibson for standing by him during a rough early period.
Best of luck for the new season and am sure you will easily be Top 10 this year and potentially top 6 if you get a bit of luck.
Thanks Sean. Gutted at the minute but i guess you lot can be happy with 6 points from scrappy displays and hope the performances pick up.
I’ve been really impressed with how Southgate’s got us playing, the acid test is gonna be Stoke at home though.
Good luck for the season.
I agree Mike Riley is useless but don’t say he wasn’t more than fair to Borough and as for the extra time it would not have been added if your player hadn’t been rolling around on the ground trying to waste time, at least the 4th official was awake to the con tricks.
Top balanced report.
Credit to your club. Best boro team to come to Liverpool in years. You deserved more but I was impressed how we kept going. Some people have said this is a game we’d have drawn last year. I disagree. We’d of lost it.
Good luck for rest of season. At least you know you’ll win the North East league !!
He wasn’t rolling around for 2 minutes though, he was barely down for 30 seconds.
Fair play to Liverpool, they kept going and got the winner. It’s a sickener for Boro fans though as i felt we deserved a draw at the very least. Encouraging start for us though all in all.
Just venting on the Riley thing really Bill. We still should have defended right to the final whistle. I’m sure you can understand the frustration
Thanks Chris
30 Seconds????? Get real, he was the ground for at least a minute and a half, maybe even two. I find it quite fitting that karma found it right to punish you for your time wasting theatrics. Riley also had plenty of ridiculous decisions that went against LFC (including the interruption of the advantage he played, as Kuyt approached the goal)…good game though, you have a strong enough team to finish midtable…
Unlucky Boro. I’m a Liverpool fan who was at the game and you deserved at least a point, just like you did at Anfield six months ago.
To be fair I thought that there should have been more than 3 minutes injury time in the first place, but while O’Neil was down for a while, two wrongs don’t necessarily make a right, so you were unfortunate there, as we were abysmal for the majority of the game.
Best of luck for the rest of the season, based on what I’ve seen you should easily be top half, and I’ll see you for the return in February.
I think it’s fair to say Mike Riley didn’t have his best of days today but his decision to add an extra minute to the 3 already added was one of his better ones (the ball hit the net at 93:54 so it was in the fourth added minute, not fifth). One of your players decided to roll around for about 90 seconds in a time wasting effort at the end of the game and Riley just decided to compensate for it. Boro only have themselves to blame for not defending until the end.
That being said, boro really would have deserved at least a point from the game and i fully understand your frustration at losing this game with it’s last kick. Had it been the other way around i’d be fuming right now. If your first two games are anything to go by you’ll crack top10 easily and even have a decent shot at europe this year.
If only Tuncay had finished that chance off after the magnificent turn
Oh well, put it behind us and move on
Come On Boro!
I don’t think that there was any injustice or unfairness - maybe metaphorically.
Riley really didn’t do you any great injustice; if anything, he let a couple of handballs go. Didn’t think that there was an over-addition of time added on. O’Neil did (seemingly as a spoiling/time-wasting tactic) go down for a while.
I can totally understand why you feel the way you do, though and I thought that your team were impressive.
i think if we had lost, we had only us to blame for! but if you think about it (two wrongs dont make one right), he stopped play when Kuyt went past two defender for an earlier foul gerrard, ignored couple of handballs (actually 3 counting the last one) with one of them in the pen area! and for sure O’neil was on ground almost over a minute (i was looking at watch)!
But credit to you guys, just like last season you deserved a point! good luck and i think, like Josh, you guys can have a shot at europe this year!
oh, hope u guys keep winning the rest of your matches with big four (except one with us :))