Boro boss seeks cup boost

Southgate out to remedy current problems in front of goal

Last updated: 25th February 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Boro boss seeks cup boost

Southgate: Trying to tackle problems

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Gareth Southgate wants Middlesbrough to play 'with a smile on their faces' as he looks to keep the club in the Premier League.

Boro are stuck in the relegation zone after a run of no wins in 14 games, while they have also scored just once in their last nine league outings.

The FA Cup has offered some respite, with Boro entertaining West Ham in a fifth-round replay on Wednesday and Southgate wants his squad to rediscover the winning feeling.

"We have got to make sure we remember what it is like to score goals and win matches and celebrate and enjoy ourselves and play with a smile on our faces," said Southgate.

"That's our job as a group of staff, to try to help the players solve the problems they face at any stage of the season.

"Those problems change. At the moment, it's creating enough and scoring enough; at other times, it has been conceding late goals and things like that.

"There's always some issue to resolve, and that's what is fascinating about the job."

Courageous

He added: "It is just being courageous enough to keep being brave, keep shooting, keep getting into the right areas and things will turn.

"We are very confident that will happen. Everybody else outside wants to tell us 'It can't happen, it won't happen, why it won't happen, walk away, give up, quit, don't get out of bed', whatever it is.

"But that's not how we live our lives. We want to achieve, we want to do things in our lives and we will not let other people's negativity stop us."

Southgate also insists that the tie with West Ham carries just as much importance as Saturday's Premier League clash with Liverpool.

"You want to win every game you play, so I don't think there is a priority as such this week," he said.

"We want to get through in the cup and we want to stay in the league. The cup game is the one that comes first, and we want to give that our best shot."