Views on Boro's 3-1 Defeat to Bolton Wanderers

The Boro's recent streak of good form came to a shuddering halt today at the Riverside in part to an abysmal performance today that saw us lose 3-1 at home to Bolton Wanderers. An early double brace from Steinsson and Taylor saw no reply until deep into the second half with Pogatetz capitalising on scrappy defending. This counted for nothing however with Elmander providing an instant response.

With Boro's recent consistent form in addition to excellent international performances from Tuncay and Downing, confidence was understandably high amongst Boro fans, and even the London-based press had started to say positive things about the team. Nevertheless as so often is the case with the Boro once people start to take notice and say the right things typical Boro re-emerge with a slip up at home. No disrespect to Bolton but we need to get a result out of home games from the teams around us if we are serious about pushing into the top half of the table as the team have insisted.

Worrying to some extent is that once again Tuncay and Alves looked lively up front but failed to produce the end product, and the resulting only Boro goal came courtesy of Pogatetz. While Boro have been sneaking games of late before today it seems as if we have a chronic inability to take a game by the scruff of the neck and run away with it whatever the scenario. Mido's forthcoming return may bring some hope, yet when Mido starts a match the Boro can often resort to a hopeless long ball game, the type seen in the disastrous 5-0 defeat to Chelsea that ultimately provides nothing if not for a stroke of luck. In truth, Boro may also have had troubles dealing with the phyiscality of this Bolton side  - yet there should be no excuses. Let's just hope we can find the attractive fruitful football we were playing before today, and at the very least find a result from the upcoming Newcastle game.