Boro left to rue lack of new recruits
Gareth Southgate has admitted that injury-hit Middlesbrough are paying the price for not increasing the depth of their squad last summer and during the January transfer window.
But the Boro skipper has still urged the remaining fit players “to have a serious think” about what they want to achieve in the final quarter of the season after an inept performance at Aston Villa.
Steve McClaren’s side are faltering in their bid for a top-six Premiership placing and now face Thursday’s UEFA Cup tie against Sporting Lisbon with a goalkeeping crisis after Carlo Nash’s groin injury at Villa Park.
Southgate said: “The club dealt well in the transfer market last summer. They spent money on Mark Viduka but everyone else has walked in on a free transfer so there is a slight misconception there.
“We brought players in but we also let players go in the summer so the size of the squad didn’t increase and that’s what has cost us because we’ve had eight extra matches this year with European football.
“But that’s where we want to go, and that’s where we want to be involved next year, so we’ve got to deal with it.
“We’ve also known that in an ideal world we could have done with a couple of extra bodies in January because we knew George Boateng was going to be missing long term while Gaizka Mendieta and Mark (Viduka) have been missing long term.
“But you’ve got to be able to get the right players to come in and we weren’t able to do that so you go with what we’ve got.
“It might cost us a little bit further down the line but it will be good experience for the youngsters who have been given a chance.”
Middlesbrough hardly managed a shot in anger against Southgate’s former club, who secured victory through goals from Martin Laursen and Luke Moore.
Southgate said: “We said after the game that we’ve got to go home and have a serious think about what we are doing and where we want to go.
“We keep talking about Europe, we keep talking about finishing in the top six, or the top four, but performances like that aren’t going to get us there.
“People ask about the difference from earlier in the season and in fairness we haven’t had the same team two weeks on the spin for a start. We have brought 17 players here and the 17-18 at Villa are all we’ve got left.
“There are mitigating circumstances. We’ve been missing several important first-choice players for a long time but I still think we’ve got enough to do better than we did at Villa. I think we should look at the performance and think it wasn’t acceptable.
“We’ve still got the games to play that can put us in the position we want to be in and I still think we are capable of getting there – but not with displays like that.”
Villa put behind them the memory of the inept display against Everton the previous week to close the gap between themselves and sixth-placed Boro to four points.
Keeper Thomas Sorensen said: “It was so important to get a good result. We talked in the week about it being the last chance if we want to stay in touch with the likes of Middlesbrough and the teams in front of us.
“We are now only four points behind Middlesbrough and there is everything to play for and that’s what we want all the way to the end of the season. Hopefully we will be in the mix for a European place but there is still a long way to go.
“It’s no secret that the consistency is what we need and it hasn’t been there this season. If we can get on a good run, it is not impossible to catch the teams ahead of us.”
Laursen has been sidelined for seven months since suffering knee ligament damage in August and it was a relief for him to play 90 minutes and score the opening goal after such a long absence.
He said: “There have been some very long months. It has been a frustrating time and to come back and win the match was the most important thing – and to score as well was just perfect.
“I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long time so I’m really delighted. To score was a nice moment for me and it was an important goal as well.
“I never doubted that I would play again this season. I actually thought that I would be back before now so that’s why it has been so frustrating.
“I’ve had some small injuries after the big injury with my knee. I had some troubles with ligaments in my left knee as well which put me down for a month. But I’m back at last.”
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