same old story

And that showed yesterday, if not for the first half, then certainly for the second.

We broke them down several times during the game. We had three or four 100% chances (all by Stevie), and was a question of margins whether or not we would score. Unfortunately, we didn't.

We were very, very close.

We were very, very close. I remember us playing these kinds of games before, and A) we wouldn't create any chances and B) we'd let in a soft goal at some point.

We had more or less full control defensively yesterday. There are a number of things to work on, but I certainly feel Rafa is taking us in the right direction. We now also have a larger number of players that can do precise crosses from one half of the pitch to another, and, even more importantly, we seem to have collected players in midfield that know how to *receive* the ball - and even quite hardhitted pbuttes.

Well, me too. I thought Sissoko had a pretty bad, or at least very mediocre, game. His leg work reminded me a bit of Traore; he's all over the place, but so are his legs. Not much in terms of control, and a bit of a hothead, even - judging from the Parlour-incident.

That is certainly true. Either you play Cisse (or Pongolle, even) up front on his own, or you play both Morientes and Cisse. Or even Crouch and Cisse.

He was quite poor yesterday, and I only remember him beating his defender once. Maybe twice.

I thought he did more good during his 15-20 minutes yesterday on the right, than Garcia did for the entire match. Of course, Boro were one man down for most of those 15-20 minutes, but still - he's got the pace, and he's got the ability to challenge his opponents. He needs to work on this crosses, though.

I wouldn't mind that.

But, it seemed Benitez dismissed the Owen-link again after the match yesterday, so who knows what might happen.