Counsel for the Defence

Not so long ago, Middlesbrough went down to Highbury and escaped with a 7-0 drubbing, thanks to a goal disallowed for no good reason and an uncharacteristic miss by Thierry Henry. While declining to acknowledge fully Arsenal’s brilliance on the day, Steve McClaren nevertheless insisted that his young players will have learned valuable lessons from the experience.

A week on and it appears that they are still learning, in this case from a 3-2 defeat by Wigan Athletic at The Riverside Stadium. As Middlesbrough sink towards the relegation zone, few could deny that it is proving an extremely expensive education.

McClaren is quoted as saying: “We are in a battle now and we are going to have to fight our way out” and adding: “We have to defend better. We can’t continue to concede like this.”

How extraordinarily perceptive of him. Now we know what some of these top managers have to do to earn their money.

The really scary thing is that the manager of Middlesbrough is also an England coach. He is complaining that his players can’t defend. If Eriksson leaves for whatever reason, he could be considered for the top job.

Unless someone can come up with a suitable defence.