English FA Premiership Middlesborough 3-3 Tottenham: Dourly discreet in public, Steve McClaren apparently cuts a very different private persona and his team seem to be developing a similarly split personality.
Despite waltzing through their Uefa Cup qualifying group without conceding a goal, Boro have not kept a clean sheet in the Premiership since August, with their lack of central-defensive pace and slapdash set-piece organisation again undoing them here.
The latter vulnerability saw Mido permitted to head Spurs' third goal and second equaliser after easily out-jumping a packed defence. "We'd prepared for that," explained Martin Jol. "We knew Middlesbrough are conceding a lot of goals from set-pieces at the moment and we hoped to make the most of Mido's ability in the air.
"It's a big disappointment for us to have conceded three goals ourselves," added the Spurs manager, who nevertheless had the consistently excellent Paul Robinson to thank for a series of stellar saves.
So often ultra-cagey practitioners of the cautious counter-attack, Boro's chameleon streak saw them succumb to a helter-skelter mood from the off. When McClaren was asked if he could make any sense of the 90 minutes, he simply shook his head.
Punctuated by five bookings and a litany of mistakes, this was a game big on individual fallibility. "We did some terrifically good things and, for a long period, dominated a strong Spurs midfield but I'm very angry about the errors leading to Tottenham's goals," admitted Boro's manager. "We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot."
First to succumb was Mark Schwarzer. The goalkeeper misjudged his advance off his line to collect Lee Young-pyo's deep left-wing cross and watched the ball drop to Robbie Keane, who stroked it into the empty net.
A cross from the left also precipitated Boro's equaliser. Franck Queudrue's centre was headed on by Gareth Southgate to Yakubu Aiyegbeni lurking unmarked at the far post, from where his angled half-volley eluded Robinson's reach.
Yet if that finish made Aiyegbeni look every inch the top-class predator, his second - which James Morrison also has claim on - was more prosaic, deflecting in off his chest after Morrison unleashed a wickedly swerving shot following an incursion from the right that swept him past Lee and Michael Dawson.
Unfortunately Dawson lost Aiyegbeni during an early second-half moment when the Nigerian's late run into the box concluded with a flying header that Robinson did extremely well to tip over his bar. That fright provoked Jol into a swift tactical change, the Spurs manager withdrawing Andy Reid and sending on Jermain Defoe as he switched his formation from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3.
Spurs soon equalised, Jermaine Jenas bending a free-kick in off the far post from around 22 yards. That set-piece was awarded after Edgar Davids had been tripped while attempting to take another such only seconds earlier, the Dutchman's collapse typifying a frustrating central-midfield display where the supposed pit bull suffered the indignity of being sporadically dispossessed.
Perhaps his customary style had simply been cramped by an early yellow card but Davids's game could have done with a bit more edge. He found life tough against his compatriot George Boateng, yet he invariably got the better of Fabio Rochemback.
Indeed the midfield industry of Boateng and Doriva - who might have scored with a long-range drive that Robinson diverted round a post - helped keep McClaren's side in the game. They duly regained the lead when Queudrue met Rochemback's corner - incidentally just about the afternoon's first decent such dispatch and the Brazilian's most notable contribution - with a long-range looping header that dropped just inside the line. Briefly incandescent, Robinson evidently thought otherwise but his protests merely earned a booking for dissent.
Outwardly unruffled, Jol - who refused to be drawn on rumours that he is poised to sign Southampton's Theo Walcott - introduced a fourth striker in Grzegorz Rasiak and, perhaps taking the hint, his side promptly equalised courtesy of Mido's header.
As if everyone had not been treated to sufficient drama, the script turned medical when Morrison was carried off unconscious after an accidental collision with Keane, the Irishman's out-stretched boot swiping his opponent's face. "James has concussion and a nasty black eye," explained McClaren. "But he's come round with a smile on his face. He's quite happy."
Guardian Service
