Thoughts on Boro's Scrappy Home Defeat to Everton

Questions are now starting to be asked at the Riverside following a frustrating home defeat to Everton, which sees Middlesbrough continue to have the worst current form in the Premier League. Fans are understandably becoming increasingly concerned as the team slide further towards the relegation zone.

If you look at yesterdays game there are numerous flaws in the team that can be examined that are perhaps indicative of our current miserable run of form. If you start with the defence yesterday, there were many moments of weakness against a team that were playing with no experienced striker. Riggott and Pogatetz were given the nod in the centre ahead of Wheater and Huth which initially surprised some fans. This did not appear to work as for about 2/3rds of the game we struggled to win any headers on our backline and looked ragged. While McMahon looked competent at right-back, Taylor looked notably out of his depth and has done in recent performances. He struggled to cope in a one-on-one situation for the ball and was out of pace tracking back.

We seemed to be missing the presence of Digard in the midfield, which brings to question the depth and bite of our midfield. O'Neil and Arca found themselves beat in the midfield battle for most of the game and Everton had no troubles breaking a ball towards our 18 yard box. Downing, who has failed to score all season, did not look in the game much and when he was in possesion of the ball found himself susceptible to losing it half the time and playing misplaced passes. While Tuncay had an off day which is understandable once in a while, in fairness Aliadiere put in a decent performance when little was on. Mido struggled to establish himself in the game when in honesty there was little coming his way.

As for the substitutes Alves showed touches of class, but in fairness for a player struggling with the burden of his 12 million pound price tag, this did not seem like the right game to test him. Adam Johnson looked full of pace and class and was perhaps a tad unlucky not to win a penalty, Emnes was not really given enough time to show his talents when Everton maintained possession towards the end of the game. It is worrying that while Everton did not look particularly exciting on the day they were still able to grind out a 1-0 victory away from home, and they are not the first to have done this. With a trip to Manchester United away from home coming up, and given the combatitive nature of the league this season it looks a possibility that we could slip into the relegation zone by Monday, and come January it is unclear who will want to stay at the Riverside we will have to hope the team is able to show some signs of battle to climb their way back up the table.