Charlie Nicholas was impressed as Middlesbrough smashed and grabbed their way to success at Portsmouth.
Portsmouth 0-1 Middlesbrough
Soccer Saturday reaction
Charlie Nicholas watched Middlesbrough smash and grab their way to success at Portsmouth.
Tuncay's solitary strike was enough to leave Gareth Southgate smiling and condemn Harry Redknapp's side to another miserable afternoon on their home patch.
And although he has been far from complimentary about Boro this season, Nicholas was left impressed by their counter-attacking style which in the end proved too cute for Pompey.
"Middlesbrough played pretty well," he told
Soccer Saturday. "I say that because usually when I watch them they disappoint me, but today they played with two up top which was a bit more positive.
"Tuncay played well and what he did more of was come off and link up play cleverly. Arca's got a nice pass on him and he was the one who was threading it in and that was where they started to build from.
"Gary O'Neil, going back to Portsmouth, did well and Stewart Downing did well and on the counter attack they were pretty good.
"It was a simple tap-in for the goal. Downing and O'Neil had swapped and Downing swung over from the right to the back post, O'Neil was very clever to get into the box and was probably trying to score with the volley.
"But all he could do was hit it into the ground, David James could only spill it and the only person to react was Tuncay, who knocked it in."
But it was not all thumbs-up from the
Soccer Saturday man.
After the win Southgate said it was the best display striker Dong-Gook Lee had produced in a Boro shirt, but after watching him squander two chances to double the advantage, Nicholas remained unconvinced.
"I don't know about Dong-Gook Lee, he gets worse every time I see him!" he said. "He had a couple of chances to wrap it up for Middlesbrough but he just doesn't look like a finisher at all."
The goals have also dried up for Portsmouth, who have now failed to score in six successive home games.
Their best chance saw Kanu clip a post, but despite Redknapp's best efforts to freshen things up, Nicholas was left wondering when they are going to score next.
"I always thought Portsmouth were going to step it up but they never got going," he said.
"Harry changed it at half time and then threw on another two subs very quickly but there's nothing doing from them at the moment. It's just not happening at all."
