Middlesbrough endured a demoralising 4-0 defeat to Bournemouth and fans of the Riverside club are far from happy.
Middlesbrough find themselves drowning deep in the Premier League relegation zone after yet another defeat that leaves the club without a victory in 16 top flight matches.
Boro’s latest loss, a 4-0 humbling against Bournemouth, sees Steve Agnew’s side nine points from safety with five matches remaining; with the added possibility that the club could be relegated as early as next Sunday.
Middlesbrough’s Vitality Stadium disappointment materialised following a catastrophic opening twenty minutes, in which the Cherries took a two-goal lead courtesy of strikes from Joshua King and Benik Afobe, before midfielder Gaston Ramirez was needlessly sent off following two cautions.
Ramirez was initially booked for an unnecessary dive when trying to win a penalty and then collected his dismissal following an avoidable foul on Marc Pugh shortly after.
This left Boro playing with ten men for at least the remaining 70 minutes; a spell that saw Pugh score a third Bournemouth goal and Charlie Daniels convert the fourth.
To emphasise the significance of their concerning predicament, Middlesbrough’s Stewart Downing seemingly presented an admission of failure from the players’ point of view, with a post-game apology to the fans who made the long trip to the south coast to witness Boro’s heavy defeat.
As reported by the BBC, Downing said, ‘Sorry to the fans, they’ve travelled a long way. They have been first class all season’, adding, ‘We can only blame ourselves and nobody else. It’s hard to take.’
Downing’s apology appears to have secured little damage control among supporters of the Riverside club, with several disaffected fans taking to Twitter to express their disapproval of a plethora of issues at Middlesbrough, ranging from the managerial position, to Ramirez’s antics, to the looming relegation back to the Championship.
Middlesbrough welcome Sunderland and Manchester City to the Riverside, before their final home game of the season against Southampton, with the Saints fixture sandwiched between two daunting away trips to Chelsea and then Liverpool on the final day of the campaign.
However, following the Bournemouth debacle Boro’s fate may already be determined well before Agnew’s side visit Stamford Bridge.
Here is a taste of some of the Middlesbrough fan reaction in the aftermath of their team’s 4-0 loss to Bournemouth:
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