Ahmed Hossam 'Mido' is poised to start on the bench when Middlesbrough take on Sheffield United in the FA Cup fifth round replay on Wednesday, according to reports in England. Subsequent to Jeremie Aliadiere's four-match ban, it is believed that Gareth Southgate could start with record signing Afonso Alves and in-form Turkish Sanli Tuncay upfront. Mido had an injury-plagued bout since joining Boro last year, despite a bright start with the Yorkshire club. Furthermore, Egypt midfielder Mohamed Shawky is still nursing a hamstring injury and is set to miss the cup tie. Boro infuriated The English FA's rejection to Middlesbrough's appeal against Aliadiere's red card at Liverpool last weekend was met with fuming reaction from the Premiership side.
The French striker was sent off for slapping Javier Mascerano in the 3-2 defeat, but the FA deemed the appeal as 'frivolous' and even added an extra game to the initial three-match ban. However, the Liverpool midfielder appeared to start the incident, when he grabbed Aliadiere's face. "There is one rule for the big boys and another for the rest of us," Boro chief Keith Lamb. "It is a disgraceful comment to suggest our claim was frivolous. We agonized over it before deciding to submit a claim for wrongful dismissal. "The Oxford Dictionary definition of frivolous is, 'not serious, shallow, silly or trifling', while in fact we spent more than two days considering whether or not to appeal." In the same manner, Boro chairman Steve Gibson slammed the FA after the verdict. "We need professional people making decisions, not these silly little men, It is ridiculous to call our appeal frivolous and I'm absolutely furious," he told the Daily Mirror.
