System failure keeping Parra on Boro bench
TOWN loanee Rajiv van La Parra has not being playing for Middlesbrough due to tactical reasons, according to his manager Tony Pulis.
The Dutchman joined the Championship club in January in search of regular first team football but has failed to break in to Pulis’ side.
Two-and-a-half months into his loan spell at the Riverside Stadium he is yet to start a league game for the club and has now been left out of the last three matchday squads.
A recent, cryptic Instagram post by the player after he was not picked to face Brentford read: ‘Don’t try to understand everything. Sometimes its not meant to be understood’.
His manager, Tony Pulis, said his absence is purely for tactical rea- sons though. “It’s just the way it is,” he said.
“I think the way we’ve played with a five, it’s most probably not suited him – playing as a wing-back, playing that way.
“He’s worked hard he’s trained well, he’s done everything we’ve wanted him to but I just don’t think he’s fitted into the pattern and that’s nothing to do with him, that’s just the shape of the team. The team’s more important than any individual.”
Van La Parra wasn’t on the bench for Boro’s last three games.
The 27-year-old has managed just 69 competitive minutes in the Championship since joining Middlesbrough, spread over games against Millwall (45 minutes), West Brom (15) and Sheffield United (9).
He also came off the bench in the FA Cup loss at Newport and his soli- tary start came in the 5-0 home victory over Peterborough in the same competition.
Pulis had indicated that van La Parra may have been involved more if he’d deployed a 4-23-1 formation rather than the 5-3-2 system.
The former Stoke and West Brom manager has typically played 4-2-3-1 in recent seasons and like to use pacy and powerful wide midfielders. A lack of such players forced him into a major tactical shift with consequences for several members of the squad. On van La Parra’s lack of game-time, Pulis said: “It was more if we played the 4-2-3-1 and we haven’t. We’ve resorted back to playing a certain way and playing with almost two forwards, one coming in off the side, and then the other side we’ve played someone with power like Jonny (Howson), who’s done exceptionally well. So, yes, the system hasn’t suited Raj as much as Raj not suiting the system so it’s nothing to do with the kid.”
Pulis was asked if it’s tough for van La Parra to move to a new club and then not feature regularly. He answered: “I think there’s a lot of people out there who work nine-to-five who would love that toughness.”
The system hasn’t suited Raj as much as Raj not suiting
the system