How the Middlesbrough players rated after their 2-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers

Seny Dieng – 7

Some erratic moments that didn’t prove costly but have to be addressed. Nothing he could do with the goals though and made a number of really important saves in an open second half to keep Boro in the game.

Rav van den Berg – 6

Most of Blackburn’s threat came from the other flank as he coped well with the lively Tyrhys Dolan in general. Offered little going forward though.

Dael Fry – 6

Generally quite strong in his one-on-one duels but was deceived too easily by the Sam Gallagher dummy for the first goal.

Darragh Lenihan – 6

Didn’t make any glaring errors, but had a really slow start to the game and struggled to get to grips with it from there, albeit with little protection from those ahead of him.

Alex Bangura – 5

Attacked with more intent than Engel, but struggled to make much of an impact in that regard on the day. At the other end, almost everything Blackburn did came from Boro’s left. Afternoon ended early through injury.

Jonny Howson – 5

Played a big role in Boro’s goal, but was part of a midfield that was far too passive and didn’t offer any kind of protection for Boro’s back four.

Hayden Hackney – 5

No shortage of effort or endeavour from an attacking point of view, but it was one of those days for him where far too much of what he tried to do just didn’t come off. Like his midfield partner, he offered little defensive protection.

Marcus Forss – 6

Assisted the goal with what looked like a shanked shot at goal. Worked hard and tried to make things happen for Boro in attack, but let down at times by poor decision-making in the moment.

Lewis O’Brien – 5

No shortage of effort on his first start, but falls victim to an experiment gone wrong from Michael Carrick. He couldn’t offer anything in attack from the left forward role and then had to go to left-back when Bangura went off.

Matt Crooks – 5

Scored a tap-in with suspicions of offside. But ultimately struggled to offer much as Boro didn’t retain possession well enough.

Emmanuel Latte Lath – 5

Lively when on the ball, but let down by poor finishing again.

Substitutions

Sammy Silvera (For Bangura, 69′) – 5 – Unable to offer any spark for Boro from the bench.

Riley McGree (For Crooks, 77′) – N/A

Morgan Rogers (For Howson, 88′) – N/A

Josh Coburn (For Forss, 88′) – N/A