Duncan Barkes

Long gone are the days when, if the ball was down the other end, the centre-half could put his hands on his hips and wonder what he's got for tea.

Absolutely not.

Concentration levels should be 100% from the moment the first whistle sounds until, well, half-time.

Then you have an opportunity to think, take on board new information.

But then the second half starts, and once again, it's the whole hurly-burly.

You know, you're running down the wing and you've got an opponent facing you down and you're thinking about whether you're going to go round him, go wide or pull it back and play square or play it back to your fullback or whatever.

You just are not thinking about league tables.

or responsibilities uh to shut up shop shut up shop it's a slightly old-fashioned notion uh playing five at the back i suppose is is shutting up shop uh and that's something that you do from time to time without necessarily changing your game plan so i think that no matter what

The importance is, of this upcoming game against Middlesbrough, when the ball is in play, then everybody is thinking about their responsibility to the game.

and to their teammates, and their responsibility to do the dirty, by which I mean to legitimately tackle and out-jump the opponents, and not at all about league positions and things.

It shouldn't make any difference.

The score can.

If it's 2-0 to them and there's 20 minutes to go, then there's chance.

And so that might make you lob a bit further forward in the game, on the pitch.

But as for, as I said, thinking about statistics and, you know, sequences of without a win, Middlesbrough, it's five.

I think we're eight, aren't we?

Two sides who can't win at the moment.

But that doesn't enter into your thinking when you're out there on the pitch, in your shirt, playing with your mates.

You're just trying to do your best second by second.

It's a couple of days after that game, the Oxford game, but we still have to find out what Steve Bone thought about the red card.