Our English Football League expert Louis Antonius makes his full debut on thefirst90minutes.com with an analytical view on Afonso Alves’ stint so far in the Premiership.
In the 2006-07 season, Gareth Southgate’s first in charge, Middlesbrough achieved a respectable 12th place finish in the Premier League. The young manager was admired by many for his willingness to play promising youngsters from the club’s well renowned academy but annoyed many of the Boro faithful at the start of the 07-08 season with the sale of the club’s two prized assets Yakubu and Mark Viduka. Southgate had sold the deadly partnership that hit 35 of Boro’s 52 goals the previous season and replacing them with the less than prolific Mido. The anger grew as Boro struggled in the league and by Christmas they were lingering near the bottom lacking goals. In the January transfer window speculation grew about who was going to come in with Lyon’s Fred and Heerenveen’s Afonso Alves the two names most mentioned. Southgate decided Alves was going to be the man to resolve the goal scoring problem and splashed out £12 million on the Brazilian, who had been previously untested at the highest level…has the gamble paid off?
In 06-07 with Heerenveen, Alves finished top scorer of the Eredivisie with 34 goals in 31 appearances, but it was his 7 goals in their 9-0 win over Heracles at the start of the 07-08 season that caught the headlines and ultimately enticed Boro into smashing their transfer record for his signature on January deadline day. Alves left Heerenveen with an impressive 45 goals in 39 games but he would now face the likes of Ferdinand, Terry and Toure in the league with the meanest defences.
Seven other previous Dutch league top scorers have tried to be a success in the Premiership with only Van Nistelrooy, Bergkamp and arguably Kuyt becoming fans favourites:
MATEJA KEZMAN (£5.3 million- 4 goals in 25)
DENNIS BERGKAMP (£7.5 million – 87 in 317)
DIRK KUYT (£9 MILLION- 20 in 82)
RUUD VAN NISTELROOY (£19 MILLION - 95 IN 150)
JARI LITMANEN (5 IN 26 FOR LIVERPOOL, 0 in 0 FOR FULHAM)
LUC NILIS (1 IN 3 )
PIERRE VAN HOOIJDONK (7 IN 19 PREM GAMES)
The debut goal every new striker dreams of didn’t come for Alves. Neither did his first goal come in his 2nd 3rd or even 4th game. In fact Alves had to wait till April to open his account, but he did so in style giving Chelsea hope in the title race by impressively scoring both of Boro’s two goals in the draw with Manchester United, finishing with style on both occasions. The previous game against Chelsea, Alves had the chance to finish Chelsea’s title ambitions when he rounded keeper Cudicini easily before hitting the post dramatically. But on this day he caused United’s formidable defensive partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic trouble all match to the delight of everyone at Boro, who saw this as a sign of things to come.The next two games though Alves couldn’t find the net again the likes of Andy O’Brien at Bolton and Michael Dawson at Tottenham with the opposition defences keeping him at bay. He ended the season with 1 against Sunderland, 0 against Portsmouth then his finest moment yet on the final day with a hat trick against Manchester City. So after 9 games without a goal, Alves then hit a promising 6 goals in 6 games; was this a sign of things to come for the 08-09 season?
Alves now had to push on and justify his price tag in the new season. Boro needed him to fire if they were going to better mid-table finishes. The first game of the season wasn’t pleasing with Alves up to his old tricks again missing sitters against Spurs, luckily for him though a certain Bulgarian sulker overshadowed the game. Three games in though Alves hit a wonderful free kick against Stoke, similar to the ones he delighted Dutch football fans with. A sense of shock was felt around the Riverside, they hadn’t seen a goal like this since the days of their last cult hero Juninho graced their pitch. Since then though Alves has disappointed with only 2 goals in the last 15 games and another head in hands moment with an open goal miss against Villa, which will no doubt find its way onto the annual Christmas football bloopers DVD. Despite a demoralising run that has led to frustration from the fans Southgate has tried to keep faith with him playing him so he can end the goal scoring dry patch but on Saturday he found himself as an unused sub against Arsenal.
Dubbed “A Brazilian Massimo Maccarone” by the Boro faithful, sadly some fans already want to see him sold despite the loss they will make on him bemoaning the fact he’s lightweight, can’t head the ball and freezes in front of goal. There’s no doubt confidence is low, free-kicks are often blazed high and wide and too many heavy touches are evident. But many still feel the form he showed in the Dutch league can be seen in England. It’s hard trying to settle into a new team with a new system in a league with a quicker tempo along with a hefty price tag on your back. He has delivered moments of brilliance (5 of his goals against the Manchester clubs and the free kick against Stoke), which show he has talent but we need to see it on a consistent basis if he is to be a hit.
For me though as a neutral this inconsistency adds to the great drama of the English Premier League. Players like Alves and Obafemi Martins can do some brilliant things one week but then one week later miss open goals. You just never know what you’re going to get with them! Of course Boro fans would prefer just to see the moments of genius and wonder why he doesn’t do it week after week.
Like him or loathe him, the truth remains Boro need him to fire on all cylinders and he has the capabilities to do that. The banner that reads ALVES - GOAL MACHINE at the Riverside will shine bright on Teesside soon…keep believing Boro fans!
By Louis Antonius
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