IT WAS all going so well until some unkind soul mentioned the bookings. Bryan Robson, leaning forward in his chair in the cramped Riverside press room, was waxing lyrical about his side's virtuoso performance. Another four goals, Fabrizio Ravenelli the Premiership's top scorer, Juninho's best game of the season.

And then came the bait - what about the yellow cards, Bryan?

"For some reason, you can't even tackle the ball these days without getting booked," bemoaned the Middlesbrough manager, before wisely taking counsel to hold his tongue.

It is a matter close to Robson's heart for it beggars belief that an old school midfield man of his variety could barely have survived in football's current climate. Merely five games in and his newly signed Brazilian play alike Emerson, at the heart of everything positive about Middlesbrough on Saturday, is hurtling towards suspension.

Emerson's fourth booking of the season, along with cautions for team mates Derek Whyte and Ravenelli, highlight the disciplinary problem Robson's team is certain to face - sooner rather than later.

Teesside may be the most thrilling place to watch football in the north-east - if not the country - at present but, as yet, Rohson's talented squad, moulded in his own hard tackling form, is still too small to cope with the rigours of regular interruption. It cost Middlesbrough dearly last spring when they briefly flirted with relegation and the warning signs are there again.

But Robson's aim of a top six finish looks a cakewalk compared to the uphill task faced by his fellow manager Ron Atkinson and Gordon Strachan - whose wrath for once fell in the privacy of the dressing room. It takes a lot to silence Coventry's bullish manager but a single point so far and the manner of his side's embarrassing capitulation after falling two goals down made Atkinson's speechlessness understandable.

"Ron will be disappointed, being bottom of the table and getting beaten by us. He has to turn his season around soon," Robson warned the embattled manager.

Hapless City had no answer to Emerson's physical presence or Juninho's speed of thought. The diminutive Brazilian international crafted Ravenelli's third moment opener - an unmarked header - with a devilish corner, before finishing off good work by the tireless Robbie Mustoe. There was a suspicion of offside about his second (and Middlesbrough's fourth), but by then the visitors were well beaten - Ravenelli's glorious left foot shot from the edge of the area crushing any resistance.