Jeremie Aliadiere’s injury nightmare on Teesside is set to continue after the midfielder/striker was ruled out for six weeks yesterday with a broken toe. The 26-year-old had just returned from the treatment table having been out of action for several weeks but now it seems that the Frenchman may face being sidelined for the rest of the season.
Aliadiere has his critics on Teesside which is no fault of his own because Southgate and Strachan were both short on answering the question: where is his best position? Boro’s number 10 has been used as a striker and also as a winger in his 75 appearances for Middlesbrough and us fans are still not sure where his best position is.
With the effects of relegation to the Coca-Cola Championship Aliadiere, and other players, have had to adapt to the brutal and punishing style of football in this league so it’s no wonder that Ali’s technical ability has not been recognised as much as it would in the Premier League.
Another factor is that Middlesbrough have sold most of their best players which has made our play less entertaining to watch this season. We don’t have the quality of Downing, Tuncay or even Robert Huth any more who would keep the ball and pick out a pass to a team-mate. Aliadiere wasn’t a tremendous player and probably never will be but he was good enough for us in the Premier League for a few seasons and now it seems that the level we are at we can’t have luxury players any more.
The first season he played for Boro was a good season for the former Arsenal player. He played his part in securing our Premier League status with some important winning goals against Wigan Athletic and Fulham and also a strike at his former club to earn a 1-1 draw.
Last season was less impressive with only one goal, again against Arsenal, but he was used for his pace down the wings and as a second striker for most of the season in 29 league appearances.
Boro will wait until the end of the season to see if they want to renew his contract but at the moment that looks very unlikely as I’m sure he is one of the highest earners at the Riverside so a reduction in wages would be appealing to Lamb and Gibson.
We may have seen the last of Aliadiere in a Middlesbrough shirt if he can’t get match fit before the end of the season, but if we do somehow manage to make the Play-Offs we might well see him play a couple more times for Boro.
Follow The Boro Brick Road…
1 comment so far ↓
Ali’s too unpredictable… you never know when he’ll deliver and when he does it’s once in a blue moon. He needs more flair players to get the best out of him – which we haven’t got.
As an aside, I believe he scored twice last season – the other goal came against Wigan. (He scored another goal as well, against Yeovil in the Carling Cup.)
Report This Comment
Leave a Comment