Comment by Denis Smith

RICARDO Fuller and Matthew Etherington are living proof that no-one knows his players better than the manager.

Last week I advocated both of them starting at Everton, but both ended up starting on the bench after Tony Pulis opted to keep them up his sleeve.

And watching from the stands, it was soon clear to me just why he did that.

Etherington was clearly short of top fitness when he came on, while Fuller was still feeling his shoulder after that dislocation.

Tony will be faced with a similar dilemma again tomorrow, therefore, because Etherington didn’t get enough time in the reserves this week and Fuller is still a potential liability from the start.

What a pity. We all know what Etherington can deliver at his best and Fuller’s partnership with James Beattie seems to be the best available because Beattie likes playing the target man and Fuller likes charging around the back.

I’ve heard some grumblings about Salif Diao in centre midfield and I must admit he hasn’t been at his best in Stoke’s last couple of games, but Tony places great faith in him and the guy does have a touch of class.

You don’t lose quality overnight and so Tony will be counting on his man being back to his best, while I understand Salif is also a good leader on and off the pitch.

Leadership, together with experience, is definitely something Middlesbrough seem to lack these days and might explain why they are second bottom.

In goal they haven’t quite resolved things long-term after the departure of Mark Schwarzer last summer, while at centre-half Robert Huth has been injured too often to establish any consistency and David Wheater is still learning his trade, like Ryan Shawcross.

It’s not until you get to Emanuel Pogatetz at left-back that you have any great experience – and he could be injured after coming off last week.

Funnily enough, young Anthony Bates is a bit of a leader, someone who can get people going around him, but he’s suspended after last week’s red card.

You look at their wide midfielders and strikers and it further reinforces the belief that Middlesbrough are a team that relies far more on flashes of brilliance than grinding out results.

Afonso Alves is evidence that goals have been a particular problem for Boro and they must be cursing that late miss of his last Saturday.

I’d be sorry to see Boro go down because they are a smallish club, they are run the right way, they develop local kids and assistant manager Malcolm Crosby is an old friend.

But if it was ever a choice between them and Stoke... well there is no choice.