Jeremie Aliadiere’s return to the first-team has given Gordon Strachan extra options in the final third of the pitch as he hopes to strengthen our resolve in the goal scoring department which has blighted our progression this season in the Championship.
Once again the Frenchman has been hit with injuries this season which have plagued his Boro career since joining us in 2007. Now that he is free of any injuries and has come through two recent appearances against Peterborough and Blackpool unscathed it looks like we could have a gem in the side to guide us to the Play-Off’s.
That’s just my view though and after reading a list of comments left on Gazette Live earlier it looks like a lot of fans do not share the same encouragement that I have for Aliadiere.
Since the departure of Adam Johnson I see Aliadiere as our most technically gifted player in the Middlesbrough squad and with a bunch of workhorses around him we could soon see a flourishing Aliadiere firing us up the league table.
Professional footballers are human after all and not robots, injuries are going to occur with the amount of physical endurance these guys put their bodies under. It’s not often that when our players do come out and say they are up for the challenge that we, as fans, support them. How about a change in mentality amongst the fans? Try and support your team rather than cut into them every time they miss a chance or misplace a pass.
I know it’s very easy for the Boro fans to get on players backs when they are not performing very well but to get on a players back when they have just returned from a serious injury is ridiculous. The lad has only played a couple of hours of football and is not even 100% match fit. Let’s judge him after a ten-match period rather than a substitute appearance and one start.
It’s laughable when fans talk about Aliadiere as one Southgate’s wasted purchases. He cost the club £2million, how is that a waste of money? £12million for Alves was a waste, £3million for Michael Ricketts in 2003 was a waste. Aliadiere has scored four goals in 11 games this season, a one in three goal ratio which Strachan will be hoping he can improve on but as second strikers go it’s not bad.
We can only support what Strachan puts out on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon’s. Slate players for effort levels after a run of games not just on what you see in a few hours of football. We don’t need it and it just shows that we don’t have very knowledgeable fans.
Rant over.
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5 comments ↓
but is it all not same old with Jezza ?
his goalscoring record 11 goals in 72 Apps!!!! we have seen time and again with this guy that he is simply not up to the job, He has no end product either as a right winger or a Striker
i think the risk for the website here is writers who simply put are not very knowledgeable about football ?!
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Cheers for the comment Rik. I agree with what you imply which is that he has a poor record with Middlesbrough. I’m talking about what he can do for us now and in this league.
Too many fans go on about how rubbish our players are and they are not up for the task and to be honest we are only as good as where we are in the league.
Our fans still think we are a Premier League team playing in the Championship. We are simply not good enough for the PL and that showed last season. This season something had to change and that was at the top, plus players had to go because of high wages leaving us with players that, to the fans, seem way off the mark. That’s the reality of battling it out in the second tier of football I’m afraid, but the last thing we need to do is hound players out of the team, we’ll leave that to the manager – I think he is qualified enough for that judgement.
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I’m not a fan of Aliadiere personally as he does not seem to give his all in games but I am certainly not one of these fans that sticks the knife in when times are tough. If the manager thinks he deserves to wear that red and white shirt then he must be good enough. WGS must hold Ali in high regard as he played him at Blackpool ahead of Lita who is currently our top scorer this season.
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He’s not a striker, Southgate bought him for his pace and because he was a talented Frenchman. There is no doubt that the lad has ability but injuries have ruined any chances of a decent run of form in a Boro shirt. i say good luck to him now until th end of the season. We need pace in this league and for me i thougt he did cause Blackpool some problems on Tuesday – just a sham he was not up to match fit because he would taken one of those chances. Up the Boro!!
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Judge him at the end of the season and that’s only if he plays more than 10 games now until the beginning of May. In fact we can judge who’s crap and who’s not in the summer regardless of whether we will get promoted or not. cob!
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