Afonso Alves showed the Middlesbrough faithful on Sunday what he can produce at the highest level in football. The Brazilian scored a double to derail Manchester United in their hunt for the League Title.
Many critics have slammed Middlesbrough’s purchase of Alves saying the step up from Dutch football to the Premiere League would be too great for the Brazilian. I would like to hear their thoughts after Alves struck two goals against arguably the best team in the world at the moment.
Boro fans witnessed a South American playing football in blizzard conditions and actually enjoying himself despite the wintry weather. Gloveless Afonso looked very sharp against Utd in only his second league start of his Boro career since joining from Heerenveen in January.
Southgate’s decision to start Alves against Manchester United payed dividends as the striker went on to score two stunning goals on Sunday. Both goals showed Middlesbrough fans why Gareth Southgate has shelled out so much money on one player. The way Alves took both goals is a sign that he is world class and he will only get better with more games. It will be very interesting to see how Afonso will perform next season when he has had a full pre-season with the Boro fitness team.
The lack of goals this season has been a big problem for Gareth Southgate but I think Afonso Alves will be the solution to turn things around. Boro have only scored 30 goals from 33 games this season, which is a massive concern considering the club let their leading goal scorers leave in the summer of 2007 and not replacing them.
Tuncay and Aliadiere have responded to Boro’s goal drought by scoring vital goals this season but neither have scored regularly enough for the team to push up the league. With the arrival of Alves it is clear to see that the other strikers have increased both their work rate and their levels of performance as the team has seen more success in recent weeks on the pitch.
Gareth Southgate will have a welcomed dilemma for the last remaining few games as he decides who to play up front. There maybe room to accommodate Tuncay, Aliadiere and Alves in the same starting line-up. We’ll have to wait and see but the next game against Spurs should be interesting.
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Alves is a definite starter for Tottenham. I would partner him with Aliadiere once again. Not sure whether to accomodate Tuncay on the right hand side of midfield, or let Adam Johnson have a couple of games. Gary O’Neil is suspended for two games now, so that gives Gareth some room to maneovre.