Middlesbrough Reaction: Four-Three-Bottom Three

It may have been the club's 100th Premier League match, but the 1-0 defeat was far from what was needed as the club bids to survive once more in the top flight.

Steve Bruce: Bold attacking move backfired

New £4 million striker Marlon King made his debut in a three pronged attack with Marcus Bent and Emile Heskey. The attacking move did not pay off for Bruce as Aliadiere's goal was enough to seal victory for Southgate's side.

Here is the reaction of the two managers.

Steve Bruce

We were very fortunate to get away after the first half. Second half we were much, much better. The three chances in the second half were all ours really. I thought on our second half performance we did yes.

There was a 20-minute spell where Middlesbrough were excellent, their movement caused us all sorts of problems. Second half we were much, much better and we had the better chances: Koumas had suspicion of a penalty, and of course Emile's header where the big goalkeeper produced a world class save.

We certainly showed it in the second half [ability to survive]. I have to pay huge compliment to Middlesbrough, their front two caused us all sort sof trouble today. We got over it, we stuck at it, and became better defensively as a team - that's what we needed to do.

[We] started getting a grip on the game and showed [the most] fight and spirit since I've been here to show we've got an outstanding chance.

Gareth Southgate

I think the importance of the game took over in the minds of everybody. I thought we were fantastic in the first half; we were flowing, we played good football - I was pleased [with] the freedom we played with.

Because it was an important game for both teams, I thought there was tension in the ground because of that. We played some fantastic football, [we] opened Wigan up on several occasions.

[We] got the goal - which we deserved - [and] probably deserved another one before half time. I think the combination of not going further ahead and losing Tuncay [Sanli, to injury] who was causing them a lot of problems just unsettled us a little bit.

The second half was a complete contrast. We couldn't pass the ball -- we got very edgey - but we showed great battling qualities to dig in and get the clean sheet.

The Table

Latest match Tuesday, 29th January 2008		Pld		Home						Away						Overall						Pts	GD
				W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A
1	Arsenal	24		11	2	0	29	8		6	4	1	20	9		17	6	1	49	17		57	+32
2	Manchester United	23		11	1	0	29	3		6	2	3	17	8		17	3	3	46	11		54	+35
3	Chelsea	23		7	4	0	22	8		8	1	3	14	8		15	5	3	36	16		50	+20
4	Everton	23		7	1	3	23	11		6	2	4	17	12		13	3	7	40	23		42	+17
5	Aston Villa	24		7	2	4	20	16		4	6	1	23	15		11	8	5	43	31		41	+12
6	Liverpool	22		4	6	1	23	9		6	4	1	14	7		10	10	2	37	16		40	+21
7	Manchester City	23		9	3	0	20	8		2	4	5	10	16		11	7	5	30	24		40	+6
8	Blackburn Rovers	24		5	3	4	13	13		5	5	2	19	18		10	8	6	32	31		38	+1
9	Portsmouth	23		3	6	2	14	9		7	1	4	20	14		10	7	6	34	23		37	+11
10	West Ham United	22		4	4	3	14	12		5	2	4	14	9		9	6	7	28	21		33	+7
11	Tottenham Hotspur	23		6	1	4	32	21		1	5	6	12	19		7	6	10	44	40		27	+4
12	Newcastle United	24		5	4	3	16	17		2	2	8	11	25		7	6	11	27	42		27	-15
13	Middlesbrough	24		3	4	5	13	18		3	3	6	8	19		6	7	11	21	37		25	-16
14	Sunderland	24		6	3	3	15	13		0	2	10	9	29		6	5	13	24	42		23	-18
15	Bolton Wanderers	24		5	4	4	17	11		0	3	8	7	23		5	7	12	24	34		22	-10
16	Reading	23		6	1	5	14	17		0	3	8	16	32		6	4	13	30	49		22	-19
17	Birmingham City	24		3	3	5	12	13		2	2	9	11	23		5	5	14	23	36		20	-13
18	Wigan Athletic	24		4	2	5	14	14		1	3	9	9	26		5	5	14	23	40		20	-17
19	Fulham	24		2	5	5	16	21		0	5	7	7	21		2	10	12	23	42		16	-19
20	Derby County	23		1	2	8	7	20		0	2	10	4	30		1	4	18	11	50		7	-39