Southgate: Bench is key for Boro

Aug 3 2008 by Steve Brown, Sunday Sun

MIDDLESBROUGH now boast the players to make an impact in the new Premier League season — from the bench.

So says Gareth Southgate, but with the new campaign just under a fortnight away, the Boro boss maintains there is still much to improve on following his side’s 3-2 pre-season friendly win over Hibernian yesterday.

Trailing to a Steven Fletcher brace, the Teessiders stormed back in the last half-hour to secure victory thanks to goals from David Wheater and substitute Afonso Alves, who bagged a double of his own, and with helping hands from fellow replacements Adam Johnson and Rhys Williams.

With a small squad decimated by injuries throughout last season, Boro often struggled to affect significant change during games by use of their substitutes, but with seven now allowed on the bench, replacements will become evermore influential.

And Southgate is encouraged by the options now at his disposal. “It’s pleasing that we had Afonso (Alves) and Jonno (Adam Johnson) on the bench because in lots of games last year we didn’t have impact substitutions to alter games, now we have and that’s a great thing for us,” he said.

“Hibs gave us a really good test, it was a good workout for us. We’ve learned a lot from the game. We went into it not particularly sharp because we’ve pushed them this last week, that was their second game and we trained hard right through.

“So from a fitness angle I was pleased, some needed 90 minutes but we saw how much we still have to learn in terms of getting our shape right. We’ve come through it but there’s a tremendous amount to work at.

“The way they played caused us a few problems in the first half, we were a bit stretched but got better in the second half, and we didn’t stretch them enough in the first half, all our play was in front of them.

“I was a bit critical of them at half-time because I’m not sure our approach as a team was right but second half we got to grips with it, once Afonso and Jeremie (Aliadiere) started to stretch them and we took our goals well.”

Meanwhile, Southgate revealed that Julio Arca will await scans on the injury that forced him to be stretchered off during the first half, but that the player was able to walk out of Easter Road last night.