By Betting Zone
September 18 2006

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate believes revitalised Jonathan Woodgate will soon be back in the England fold and putting pressure on John Terry and Rio Ferdinand.


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The Real Madrid defender is on a season-long loan at his home-town club after making just 14 appearances for the Spanish giants during two injury-ravaged campaigns.

He has quickly found his feet back in the Barclays Premiership and his outstanding performance at Bolton represented another significant step forward in his rehabilitation.

Having made his debut during last week's 1-1 draw at Arsenal - when he reduced Thierry Henry to a peripheral role - Woodgate condemned Bolton's £8million record signing, Nicolas Anelka, to a similar fate.

Woodgate was handed the captain's armband at the Reebok Stadium in the absence of the suspended George Boateng and after such a commanding performance, Southgate may feel inclined to allow the 26-year-old to keep it.

Boro fans chanted 'Woody for England' for the second week running and if the former Leeds and Newcastle defender maintains his rich form, he will almost certainly come into contention for next month's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Macedonia and Croatia.

"We know the class that he's got and there's no question that, given a bit more football, he will be knocking on the door for England," said Southgate.

"I think it's important for him that we look after him, training-wise, and in terms of the number of matches that we play him in, in the early stages of the season.

"He will have gained a lot of confidence in himself from coming through two tough Premier League games and he's an awesome player."

Woodgate has joined Boro on loan to show new Real boss Fabio Capello that his injury problems are behind him, and that he can play a major role at the Bernabeu Stadium.

At the same time, Southgate will hope to persuade Woodgate his future lies at the Riverside Stadium rather than the Primera Liga as Boro look to exercise their option to buy the player outright next summer.

Boro right-back Andrew Davies believes Woodgate will seek to return to Spain.

The 21-year-old, one of five homegrown youngsters in Boro's starting line-up at Bolton, said: "I don't know what Woody will do because I've not spoken to him about it, but I imagine that he will want to go back (to Madrid) and try and prove people wrong.

"He's a brilliant player and you can see his quality. Coming to Boro will do him the world of good and it's great for me to learn from a player like that."

Woodgate's arrival has instilled a new-found solidity into Boro following their humiliating 4-0 home loss to Portsmouth.

Woodgate was imperious against Bolton and his calmness also seemed to bring out the best in his defensive partner, Emanuel Pogatetz.

"The back-four were superb and the two centre-backs in particular," added Southgate. "Bolton are always going to have a strong aerial threat but the both of them stood up to that and they both read the game very well.

"When one of them wasn't there, the other was in his place to tidy up and they looked a good pair."

Despite Bolton dominating for long periods, Boro were always a threat in attack and should have pilfered the points with 10 minutes remaining when Aiyegbeni Yakubu fired wastefully wide after Jason Euell sent him clear with only Jussi Jaaskelainen to beat.

Southgate said: "We spoke before the game about the character that we would need at a place like Bolton, particularly with a very young side.

"We showed it last week against Arsenal to hang on with 10 men and we showed it again to stand up to the threat that Bolton posed.

"When I look at Bolton there is a lot more senior players in the side but the spirit that we showed really pleased me."

The stalemate left Bolton manager Sam Allardyce frustrated as Anelka drew another blank.

"There were reasons for that. Nic has only just joined us and Middlesbrough's tactics in terms of playing on the break," said Allardyce, who revealed the wrong turf has been laid on the Reebok Stadium pitch.

"We're obviously going to have to change our pitch because we've laid the wrong surface unfortunately.

"The turf technician will be in here to put it right because our pitch is unacceptable."

REF'S REPORT: Steve Bennett booked one player, with Adam Johnson picking up a yellow card in the first half.

FUSSY FACTOR: Turned down a Bolton penalty in the second half, but there were no complaints from the hosts. He had little else to do.

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By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.