Outclassed by Middlesbrough for long periods, City did not even begin to hustle and bustle until late in the second half.
By then, Massimo Maccarone's spectacularly-fluked effort and Szilard Nemeth's strike had already decided the game, though Paulo Wanchope at least maintained the contest with a wonderful goal.
This has been an awful season for Kevin Keegan, who began the campaign talking in terms of City challenging for a Champions League spot. Fourth from top? They will be lucky to avoid the ignominy of fourth from bottom.
City were wretched in the first half-hour, improved significantly for the remainder of the half but then, along with game, drifted into mediocrity for the rest of the match.
The early momentum proved decisive, and it belonged entirely to Middlesbrough who assumed immediate superiority in midfield.
Having said that, there was more than a shade of good fortune about Maccarone's opening goal in the eighth minute. Bolo Zenden sent him sprinting down the left flank and the Italian's trickery left Richard Dunne a sprawled heap on the ground before he tried to drive a cross towards Nemeth at the far post - only to slice it a pace into the net at David James' near post.
Maccarone was not complaining and neither were the Boro fans and he then used some real quality to open up City again, allowing Danny Mills to set up George Boateng for a low strike that this time James saved well.
Gaizka Mendieta was off target from 20 yards as Boro probed again then Joseph-Desire Job lifted an effort over the bar after Joey Barton had given away possession deep in his own territory.
City had only a half-chance for Sylvain Distin to their name before Nemeth made it 2-0. Danny Mills played a ball in from the right touchline, Job headed back across goal and the Slovakian stretched to poke home.
The match was threatening to become a walkover for Middlesbrough until Wanchope scored an excellent goal to earn City some respite in the 35th minute.
There was plenty for the Costa Rican to do when Paul Bosvelt passed to him on the edge of the box but Wanchope showed exquisite skill to get past Mills and then place his shot low inside the far post.
Barton did get the ball in the net again for City after Shaun Wright-Phillips' cross but referee Mike Riley penalised him - perhaps a bit harshly - for fouling Mark Schwarzer.
Boro had a great chance to restore the two-goal difference but first Maccarone's strike was kept out by James and then, from a scramble at a corner, Ugo Ehiogu could only find the side-netting.
City began the second half looking more positive than they had in the first and some carelessness by Middlesbrough nearly let them in for an equaliser.
Ehiogu dallied on the ball for far too long inside his own area, allowing Reyna to tackle and Barton's subsequent back-heel would have fallen perfectly for Anelka to score but a fortuitous bounce off Mills' shins came to Boro's deliverance.
Nemeth drove straight at James after a game of pinball in the City penalty box before Wanchope showed great skill to contrive a shot only for his final contact to be feeble.
City had looked troubled by Nemeth's pace all match and it proved so again with a break down the centre of the pitch but his shot did not match his speed, bouncing well wide.
Anelka, also having a quiet day, tried his luck on the turn but lofted the ball into the crowd and Keegan had seen enough, sending on Jon Macken in place of the Frenchman and Stephen Elliott for Wanchope.
There was certainly more purpose about City even if their efforts proved ultimately futile. Elliott should have scored with his first touch after Wright-Phillips' run but mishit his shot, then Macken was unfortunate to see his effort deflect wide.
Antoine Sibierski had the final chance to equalise but his close-range miss summed up the match - and City's season. Tweet
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start everton game with macken and elliot up front possibly macken and wanchope. Leave anelka out of squad is it really that bad if he leaves in the summer? Keep joey but put him back in centre of midfield.
Good for the Chop...
Crisis Meeting Agenda :-
1. Sell players who don't care about MCFC, including all "has-beens" and players on high wages who don't deserve half what they are paid.
2. Cash raised will be used to make sure beyond all doubt that Van Buyten is a City player next season
3. Make David James captain for next season. Disting played well until he was given the captain's armband
4. Give SWP & Barton major wage increases, funded using money saved from paying the likes of McManaman & Fowler (see item 1)
5. Identify what changes need to be made in the Backroom staff besides replacing Fazarkaley & Cox
6. Major review of incentives scheme at the Club for ALL staff not just players. There has been a prevalent attitude of mediocrity around the Club for far too long. KK's comments about the squad being good enough are not reflected in the team's results and that's what counts! Everybody at MCFC must be up for the challenge next season, otherwise we'll be following Leeds' example.
7. We have another good crop of youngsters coming through and we must not let these guys slip through our fingers! I'd rather see a team of non-"big name" players battle through a season and finish mid-table, than watch the current first team slide into obscurity like we almost did this season. At times City were an embarrassment to watch (and I only get to watch the games shown on Satellite TV although I read all the match reports). Our defence needs an overhaul, our midfield needs another Benarbia or Berkovich and our attack lacks confidence and decent service.
8. All talk of the new stadium being a "fortress" were a bad joke. City need to start inflicting some fear into opponents like we did v the rags and the atmosphere will soon improve. The fans have been brilliant again this season despite the dross served up at most occasions especially later in the season.
CTID
By the way, it seems KK forgot to tell the players that points make prizes! Somebody(ies) need a good kick up the backside at the end of this season!!!
Middlesborough weren't particularly interested today and were there for the taking by most sides, with the exception of this sorry bunch that have been wearing the sky blue shirts this season. How Keegan can state that most of these players will be at Eastlands next season is beyond me. The side is total rubbish, and if this is the best that Keegan and his backroom cronies can get out of the players then perhaps it is time they went. I am ashamed to be a City supporter at the moment. Has this team got no heart or passion?
sack kk now, we are beeing let down week in week out....
After City beat Bolton 6-2 in October,Sam Allardice apologised to the Bolton supporters and promised to sort the team out.He was true to his word and they are now in 7th position.City fans have been served up some dreadful performances--but we get no apology-worse still no improvement.If there is no money and we have to make do with the present staff then nothing is going to change because the management have difficulty getting a half decent performance out of these players--they are no nearer now solving the problems than they were 6months ago.The logic is,if we have to have the same players then there will have to be new management--common sense Mr.Wardle.
Why do you think that Liverpool did not want to keep Anelka ?,
And before that Arsenal ?,if he would,nt play for two French managers ?
What real chance did we have at CITY, an over rated player who gets lazy.
We won,t miss him if he goes this summer.
its a good job leeds are rubbish! three cheers for peter ridsdale. without him we could have been relegated. kk out.
Did you all see the way Maccarone went past Dunne for their first goal? not only did he nutmeg him but the donkey ended up on the floor in a heap,worse to come was how easily James was beaten at his near post!Maccarone has had a lean time of late at The Riverside but good old Dunne makes him look a top man.COME ON LETS HAVE IT RIGHT CITY ARE WHERE THEY ARE BECAUSE OF INFERIOR PLAYERS WITH NO PACE WHATSOEVER BEING SELECTED OVER PLAYERS SUCH AS WEIKENS AND BISHCOFF,THIS IS THE WORST CITY TEAM I HAVE SEEN!!!!
Why play JB on the left side of midfield Kev? I give up! A grey day, a grey town, a grey performance! I, like the players am dreaming of the beach because I've had enough of this sorry team..
Can anyone tell me what kevin kegan is going to do differently next season with no money for new players.He will play the same bad defence,Sun jai hi, good player going forward useless defender but for some reason K.K. can,t see this.For all the supporters who do not like Tarnet at least he,s a natural fullback and can defend like one.We need to bring in at least three defenders and lets hope they don,t cross Keegan or they,ll never get a game in the first team.If K.K. stays we,ll be in this same position next season because he does,nt seem to learn anything from failure.yours a dissalusioned fan.
Against Everton apart from James, Dunne, SWP, Barton, drop everyone else from the squad and play the reserves. Whats the worst that could happen, oh get beat, well there's nothing unusual about that then. least you might get some effort and commitment. Instead of the usual under achieving over paid set of guys going through the motions, who I wish would just go. If McManaman and tarnet want I'll meet them and drive them personally to Qatar via Munich and drop them both off.
CTID
It's time for us to stop asking "But who else could we get?" And admit we have to look elsewhere.Keegan was handed a golden oppertunity,-50 mill in a deflated market, sureley enough with the talent we already had to put us back in contention after a long,long winter. Instead he gave away or sold for very little, proven, solid MCFC players.He has dashed our hopes and squandered our future so cavaleirly with the ordinary players he has paid fortunes for.I beleive he was directley responsible for the resignation of our most fiscally savvy chairman in living memory.
Kevin Keegan was a great player,but he has proven time and time again that that does'nt necessarily translate to being a good Manager,-He and his lacklustre team of coaches are Nationwide at best, and sadly that has translated to a Nationwide team,albeit a very expensive one.SURELY even the most die hard Keegan fans can see this now, you only have to read his comments about McMannamen NEXT season to know we really have to look eleswhere.Do the right thing Kevin,I'm sure your a nice bloke,but once again you've shown that your not really up to it and your incompetence is killing my loveley club.CTID......
Haing been to the game I wouldn't say we were "outclassed for long periods", although it wasn't a great performance. For long periods of the second half we were the team that looked most likely to score as Wanchope, Elliott and Sibieski all missed good chances! Can't understand why KK played Joey Barton on the left with Reyna (who was awful!) in the middle as the minute Joey went into the Centre he started to dominate the game. Elliott looked the part and showed more effort than Anelka or Fowler have all season and although he needs to fill out a bit he looks promising for the future. Having been to Boro for the previous 2 games in the new stadium we can never question the atmosphere at the COMS as there's more atmosphere in Space than in the Riverside and as the song goes "It's just like being in Church!".
Surely this was the game to blood the youngsters? Having assured Premiership survival last week, why did KK go into the Boro game unchanged. This same team that won last week is the same clueless bunch of overpaid, over age journeymen that has failed to deliver all season. Again we fail to win 2 games in the Premiership on the trot (a record that cannot now be broken for this season). I'm sick of all this talk about the youngsters getting a run out when KK has persisted (for 3 seasons) to stick with the "tried and tested". It is the tried and tested "pros" that have put us 4th bottom of the Premiership. Had we won the final 3-games of the season we may have gone into next season on a slightly more optimistic note. Alternatively, having played youngsters and lost, we would have seen the potential and determined whether they can cut it in the Premiership. These "youngsters" are all 21+...they're either good enough or not, we can't keep talking about them not being "quite ready". Would they be any worse then some of Keegan's purchases (Fowler, Sommeil, Seaman, Bosvelt, Reyna or Sinclair) that have blocked their progression into the first team. This is even mentioning the "younger" of KK's buys that have sat in the reserves or sold (Loran, Bischoff, Colossimo, Negoia, Ellegard, Vuoso).I I see we're not giving contracts to Tarnat (good - too slow and gets caught out of position too often), Weikens (is he any worse than Sommeil or Distin - combined fees of B#6m) and Tiatto (In preference KK has assembled Macca, Bosvelt, Reyna and Sinclair combined fees $5.5M). It is time for a clear-out at the end of the season, but the players that need to be moved on are the very ones that KK brought to the club. With the exception of James (who gives his all) can you "identify" with any of KK's purchases this season. His purchases have added nought to the supposed "Div 1" players that KK was so quick to discard and are been pale imitations on their "reputations".
Just when you think KK's flashes of technical brilliance have dried up, up pops Joey Barton on the left wing. Stroll on next season. Let's hope Ranieri's out of a job and needs a challenge.
Another shabby performance from our team at Middlesborough doesn't exactly inspire optimism for next season or the years that follow.Players such as Sunjai,Dunne,Distin,Sibiereski and Reyna can play Premiership football but they struggle and are certainly not the ones to take us forward,players like Fowler, Mcnanaman,Bosvelt and Tarnat are well past their best and have no improvement in them,Anelka will move on,Tiatto and Weikens obviously have had a fall out with Keegan so you can count them out of the equation. This now leaves us with David James,SWP,Joey Barton,Paulo Wanchope,Johnathan Macken And whatever players come through from the Academy,already we know there is no money to spend on new players but my theory is we could have the best in Europe but our coaching and motivating levels would drag them down to our present level of mediocrity,Keegan now says he will have to seek players on the bosman ruling which tells me we'll only get players other clubs dont want in essence our immediate future isn't good.The irritating thing for me is that these players(EXCEPT SWP&JAMES) who have constantly let their fans down all season will have the cheek to do a lap of honour after the last game against Everton and drive away in their BMWs & MERCS looking forward to a holiday on the other side of the world somewhere leaving the long suffering fans to ponder on what looks likely to another dismal time again next season,after splashing out another B#350 I dont think it is acceptable but the sad part about it is theres little we can do about the situation because our management are too stubborn and take their fans for granted!
THats right, the CHop is showing the skills he's got, he just needed some time to get fit, after all the injuries he has gone through. Go ticos!!!
The Middlesbrough game was our Cup Final..... the first game of a new era. A chance for the team to cash in on their outrageous, heaven-sent luck in escaping relegation...... and give us a glimmer of hope for the next season. Instead they dished up the same old rubbish.... a shambles..... in the words of GMR. There are many good things to say about KK but the bottom line must (sadly) be, that Kevin Keegan and M.C.F.C. are just not compatable. One just cannot see where there is anything more to be squeezed out of this team of overpaid, and, let's be generous.....under-achievers.
Dire, not for the first time this season. We deserved to be relegated, and I feel sorry for the likes of Leeds, Leicester, wolves, who all managed to take four points off city this season. They had far more about them than this woeful squad. Same again next season I'm afraid, if changes aren't made to the management and playing staff. Get real city fans, one result against Newcastle doesn't make this a successful season, it's been utter tripe.
This season has been a farce. Captain Farce played adequately by KK hs made a royal pigs ear of everything from blowing a whole heap of money in wasters who it appears he will be happy to continue with next season to bizarre tactical decisions which invariably drive you blinkin barmy. Not good enough. Whole sle changes required in the back rooms with two robbin scousers shown the door.
That steal by Reyna to start off the sequence leading to
City's goal was exactly what Claudio does so well. I like his play and Keggy would serve the team and fans better by playing him more often.
Whatever we do we must not pick the kids cos there's B#500,000 per place at stake you know and we wouldn't want to blow that sort of money would we!
Best players seem to have been SWP Richard Dunne and Paulo with the rest nowhere.Yet again it's the pre-Keegan era players who have out-performed the rest.I'm a great fan of KK the man and he clearly cares about MCFC - but he just seems to have lost his main attribute which was his ability to motivate his players - without that what's left ?( certainly not tactics ). His summer 2003 buys have proved atrocious.I really hope KK gets it together next season because I like and respect him but the reality must be that if things are no better by say end of September then he must be in danger - we just can't afford to be relegated it's as simple as that.