Southgate lauds his entertainers

13 April 2012

It may have taken a bit of time but Gareth Southgate's Middlesbrough are emerging as a young, vibrant side who play with flair and freedom.

It is pity fewer than 23,000 people bothered to go and see them on Saturday, although the fans' vociferousness, especially in the second half, could not be doubted.

Scroll down to read more..

Wheater scores Boro's first goal

Southgate said: "My dream was to get the sort of response from the fans we had in the second half. It's a bit like a marriage. If you want to do things in life but you don't have anyone to share it with, it's not as fulfilling.

"If we can fill the stadium and play the way we want to play, winning games and exciting the fans, it will mean that much more. That's what I want to do here, to make a real difference to the area and bring them a team they want to come and watch.

"This is more my side because I've obviously brought in more players. The players have liked the vision I've painted for them. We've got different options and have strengthened in positions we needed. The competition for places is important because at times the team has picked itself. It drives people to perform better.

"It was the best performance under me here. All the aspects were there. When we were two-up we showed a desire to keep going forward. I loved watching some of it."

Nobody has benefited more from the change in philosophy than Stewart Downing.

Eight minutes before half-time, the England winger scored his second goal of the campaign, as many as in the whole of last season. He doubled a lead earned by giant defender David Wheater's early header.

Downing said: "It was a 5-0 game. At least we're creating the chances, but we should have won by a lot more.

"The only thing we can do as a team is to entertain and perform regularly. It's hard for people to afford to come but if we're winning and playing attractive football we'll get them back in."

Birmingham showed an alarming lack of resolve.

Stuart Parnaby, who left Middlesbrough in the summer, said: "The boss was upset. You can imagine what he was like, not best pleased.

"It's too early in the season to talk about a crisis. We've been competitive so far and that's what's disappointing about this."

MIDDLESBROUGH (4-4-2): Schwarzer 7; Young 8, Woodgate 8, Wheater 8, Taylor 9; Boateng 8, Rochemback 8 (Cattermole 82min), Arca 9, Downing 9; Aliadiere 9 (Tungay 84), Mido 8 (Dong Gook 88). Booked: Mido

BIRMINGHAM (4-4-2): Taylor 6; Kelly 6, Jaidi 5, Ridgewell 6, Parnaby 6; Larsson 5 (McSheffrey 56, 6), Muamba 5 (Nafti 56, 5), Djourou 6, Kapo 6; Jerome 7, Forssell 5 (O'Connor 56, 6).

Booked: Muamba, Nafti, Kapo

Man of the match: Julio Arca.

Referee: Rob Styles.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in