When Middlesbrough are good, like their recent first half at Norwich, they're irresistible. When they're not, they're losing at home to the likes of Cov and Bristol City. @DanaMalt and @jamesyboz try to make sense of it for us.
What have you made of Boro’s start of the season?
DM: It’s been annoying, to be honest. We’re quite frequently on the cusp of something good, and then we do something incredibly daft and piss it up the wall. I’ve had way too many existential crises for three months into the season. I guess QPR fans could say, ‘well, hang on, at least you’re not second bottom’, and true, but this teasing of fans is ageing me considerably. There have been good performances, but we’re pretty inconsistent, and we are plagued by a lack of clinical edge up front, and a charitable trait at the other end.
JB: Incredibly frustrating so far. We are doing a lot of really good things, creating a tonne of chances and really dominating games. But we have really struggled putting teams to bed, and always look to have a mistake in us at the other end. Feels like I have watched the same game five or six times. When we are good we look very, very good. The first 45 away at Norwich was as good as I have seen under Carrick. Equally though, when we are bad we are very bad. The inevitable home defeat to Coventry summed us up that regard.
Boro in the league so far
Boro 1-0 Swansea Latte Lath pen 25
Derby 1-0 Boro Jackson 14
Boro 2-2 Pompey Clarke 11, Conway pen 90
Cardiff 0-2 Boro Clarke 55, Ramsey og 82
Boro 1-1 Preston Conway 16 – Frokjaer-Jensen 43
Sunderland 1-0 Boro Rigg 24
Boro 2-0 Stoke Doak 34, Hackney 73
West Brom 0-1 Boro Hackney 73
Watford 2-1 Boro Kayembe 75, Baah 87 – Edmundson 54
Boro 0-2 Bristol City Mehmeti 27, Hirakawa 45
Boro 1-0 Sheff Utd Latte-Lath 80
Norwich 3-3 Boro Sainz 9, 71, Dieng og 80- Conway 13, 40, Azaz 45
Boro 0-3 Coventry Thomas 42, Wright 76, Eccles 81
I was pretty confident of Boro’s chances in pre-season, 6-3-6 isn’t giving much away as a record, where are you now on promotion chances?
DM: I’d say either sixth or seventh. Whichever side of the play-off line we end up on depends on whether we can iron out prevalent problems and gain some consistency. I wouldn’t be surprised if we find our ‘click’ towards the back end of the season - much like the last campaign - and it ultimately turns out to be too little, too late.
JB: Really hard to tell to be honest. I don't think this is a great league this season, and obviously hopes were high for us this season. I still feel as though play-offs are very much on, but already feels like we have lost too many games to even think about top two.
What needs to improve to tilt it a positive way?
DM: We need to find a way to break down low blocks firstly I’d say. We fare better against potential promotion/play-off teams, because they don’t play in a way that accentuates our weaknesses. Against low blocks we are a bad shade of predictable, and we start to look like a Russell Martin side. Nobody wants to look like a Russell Martin side. Avoiding gifting opponents high quality chances and taking our own would also help.
JB: We need to score more goals. I'm not one for stats too much, but we are high up the list for XG and the like so we are creating the chances. Latte Lath has had a pretty poor start to the season and looks low on confidence so trying to get him firing again has to be a priority. And we need to cut out the daft mistakes playing out from the back - cost ourselves a number of goals this season losing it 25 yards from our own goal.
Michael Carrick?
DM: He’s come under a bit of pressure of late, which is probably the first time it’s really reared its head. I like him still, but the more you see the same on-field problems crop up time and time again, the more you start to consider whether it’s not actually on the players (as I’ve said a few times on our podcast) and it’s a coaching deficiency. He still seems to have credit in the bank for the play-off adventure two seasons ago, but it’s slowly running out.
JB: Feels like a big season for him. I think it is widely accepted he now has the best squad he has had here. But we seem to be quiet easy to play against at the moment, and we really struggle to break teams down. If Plan A doesn't work, we do seem slow to try and change things up. I still think he is the right man for the job, but there are more and more murmerings of unrest.
How do you assess your transfer window now with hindsight?
DM: Decent, but not spectacular. We’ve strengthened some areas, and there’s a lot of potential within the squad, but that potential doesn’t always get tapped into straight away. Aidan Morris has probably been my favourite signing of the summer. He’s a Duracell battery but with a bit of aggression and genuinely good in-possession play. He knits play together nicely but can also thread line breaking balls up to the likes of Finn Azaz and Riley McGree.
JB: I think it was still a good window. We went into it hoping to keep hold of our big hitters and we did that (even if some of them have not yet hit the heights of last season). Morris in the midfield has been excellent, and the signing of Doak is definitely exciting. Very direct and loves to take his man on, but end product still not quiet there yet (if it was, he wouldn't be playing for us). Not seen much of Burgzorg to suggest he was worth bringing in.
Ins >>> Tommy Conway, 22, CF, Bristol City, £5m >>> Micah Hamilton, 21, LW, man City, £4m >>> Aidan Morris, 22, CM, Colombus, £3m >>> Delano Burgzorg, 25, LW, Mainz, £2m >>> Neto Borges, 27, LB, Clermont, £1m >>> Luke Ayling, 32, RB, Leeds, Free >>> Ben Doak, 18, RW, Liverpool, Loan >>> George Edmundson, 27, CB, Ipswich, Loan
Outs >>> Paddy McNair, 29, CM, San Diego, Free >>> Liam Roberts, 29, GK, Millwall, Free >>> Jamie Jones, 35, GK, Salford, Free >>> Hayden Coulson, 26, LB, Blackpool, Undisclosed >>> Josh Coburn, 21, CF, Millwall, Loan >>> Sam Silvera, 23, LW, Pompey, Loan >>> Sonny Finch, 19, CF, MK Dons, Loan
Stand out players and weak links?
DM: The stand out player right now is Ben Doak. Him not being named in the squad for the game against Coventry was because of fatigue, and managing his minutes. It was a shame, because he was very good against Norwich the game before. He’s an old school winger; plenty of pace and not a lot of end product. However, he’s still a big threat, and a major outlet for Boro. Watch out for him, he’s hard not to take notice of.
The weak link would probably be our full-back areas, particularly Neto Borges. The jury is out on him still I feel, but with Riley McGree roaming into central areas from the left-wing, oftentimes Borges is left isolated, and much like Lukas Engel - whom he replaced in the XI - he could be targeted.
JB: As mentioned, Doak has been exciting to watch for us and Morris and Hackney (missing for this game) have generally been good in midfield. McGree is probably the best player at the club and really makes us tick, whilst Conway has looked promising. Both full back areas look a little weak though, Ayling has not hit the same level as last year and Borges on the left has been ok, nothing more. And there has been a few questions around Dieng over the last few weeks - he has not really done anything particularly wrong, but has not done much particularly right either. If this game was at the Riverside, would fancy the yearly QPR win. It feels away suits us a bit better at the moment.
Links >>> Middlesbrough Official Website >>> Teeside Gazette — Local Paper >>> FMTTM — Message Board >>> Boro Breakdown – Podcast >>> One Boro — Forum >>> Bonkers for Boro — Blog >>> Boropolis — Podcast
The Twitter @jamesyboz, @DanaMalt, @Boro_Breakdown, @loftforwords
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