The squad is looking thin in key areas Allardyce said

The squad is looking thin in key areas," Allardyce said.CHARLTON ATHLETICThe Charlton Under-18 side lost 2-0 to Chelsea at Sparrows Lane on Saturday. They hardly managed a shot all game as Chelsea's youngsters looked as domineering as their senior team. However, the Addicks looked dangerous when striker Donovan Simmonds got the ball. Unfortunately, and it probably summed up Charlton's day, the striker limped off three minutes before half-time Dean Furman and Anthony Grant scored for Chelsea.. Gareth Southgate, the Middlesbrough captain, admitted his side are a long way from breaking into the Premiership's top six after being humbled by Sunderland on Sunday. The Teessiders embarked upon the new campaign with high hopes of bettering the seventh position last term which capped arguably the most successful period in the club's history. A first-ever trophy - the 2004 Carling Cup - and a creditable European debut which took Steve McClaren's side to the last 16 of the Uefa Cup have raised expectations at the Riverside Stadium.However, Southgate delivered a blunt assessment of Middlesbrough's current standing after a miserable derby display."What do we want to be? Where do we want to be? I keep hearing the top six mentioned - we are a million miles off that at the moment," the 35-year-old said "Everybody has to go away and look at themselves. It's a collective thing, it's no use us blaming one thing or the other."We didn't defend well enough, we had a couple of chances that on another day we might have scored, but Sunderland deserved it on the day.

I keep hearing what a good side we are, but until we start putting some consistent results together we have got to stop believing our own publicity a bit."Southgate continued: "In pre-season we were not particularly impressive and I think sometimes expectations are higher than reality We need to start putting some consistent results together. Had we won on Sunday things would have looked very different, but we didn't and it is very hard to take."Middlesbrough's previous home game in the Premiership resulted in a famous 2-1 victory over Arsenal, but the inconsistency which has blighted their season was in evidence once again as they turned in a below-par performance to assist Sunderland in finally ending their 26-game wait for a top-flight win.Mick McCarthy's side were well organised, committed and when their chances came along they took them, but the Teessiders produced little of the flowing football which has characterised their best displays in recent times.They were on the back foot almost from the first whistle when, within 90 seconds of the kick-off, the Black Cats' midfielder Tommy Miller fired his side in front. I would have a dinner with him, if the car wasn't handling well on the Friday, and would explain to him what it was doing at different parts of the track He would go back to the garage, and call the mechanics And by Saturday morning the car would be fantastic Only Colin Chapman could do that. This victory elevated every one of these guys so the next time out in the Ryder Cup they will believe in what they can do."l George Archer, the 1969 Masters champion, died on Sunday after a year-long battle with cancer The 6ft 5in San Franciscan was 65..

"Colin Chapman was a genius He was a human computer, set up for a car. We didn't have computers on the cars back then, but we had Colin's brains! "He was the computer. The 18-time major winner suspects he presided over the death of American nerve at the infamous Ryder Cup defeat to Europe on home soil in Ohio in 1987, but believes he has just been at its rebirth in Virginia."The 18th in '87 cost us the match," he said "The 18th here won us the match You've got to be able to play the last hole and finish Believe in yourself Believe you can do it again That's why I'm so happy. My caddie told me, 'This is the moment you've been waiting for your whole life, so go ahead and do it' So I did We needed this cup.

We really did."Indeed, it was mighty difficult to back up Ballesteros's claims that this "looks like a match between a bunch of friends" after witnessing not only the fierce competition that included Tiger Woods being beaten 2 and 1 by Retief Goosen as the Internationals launched a spirited comeback, but also the tumultuous scenes when Jack Nicklaus lifted America's first international match trophy since 2000.In fact, Nicklaus could not disagree with his former rival more, adamant that this intense "friendly" is vital to the United States' burgeoning ability to withstand the heat in the rarefied atmosphere of team matchplay. We cared bad," said DiMarco, all but naming the Spaniard who, at the Seve Trophy in Tees Valley on Saturday, took a moment off declaring how unimpressed he was by the modern golfers to label the Presidents Cup "a friendly" and the reason why America cannot handle the Ryder Cup "because they don't like the pressure"."I can promise you that's not true," said DiMarco after beating Stuart Appleby in the singles to inch out Gary Player's International side "There was a lot of pressure here, I can assure you That last putt I thought I might whiff, I was that nervous. After fist-pumpingly ramming home the 25-footer that clinched the Presidents Cup for the United States in Washington DC on Sunday night, Chris DiMarco was even keener to ram the words of those critics such as Ballesteros straight back down their sceptical throats. "People were getting down on us, saying we don't care But we're the only ones that knew how much we cared We cared. If Severiano Ballesteros fears he has upset all but a few of his closest allies on the European Tour with his moronically timed comments at his own event last week, that seems nothing to the depth of ill-feeling that now exists in America. I've got a new house and my children are happy at school."Beckham has played a key role in Real Madrid's recovery from a poor start to this season, with set-piece assists for Robinho and Raul to score in the 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao last Thursday and a scoring pass for Ronaldo in the 3-0 win at Alaves on Sunday.He has also showed a marked improvement in his command of Spanish, when fielding questions from the local media.. "I've had two men outside my house every day for the last two years, which is frightening at times, but unfortunately that's part of my life I'm very happy here, though, as the people are great. My first priority is the family, of course, but I'm with them every day."Although content with his playing form and way of life in Madrid, the 30-year-old midfielder still faced unwelcome intrusions."The football side of things is better now, but I'm always going to have the problems with the paparazzi," he said.