Carrick disagrees, but a Middlesbrough rethink might be needed to help after poor start

Middlesbrough have conceded 14 goals in seven Championship games

The time has come for Middlesbrough to tighten up. If the team is to save the season it must stop conceding goals.

Nine games played in all competitions this season and not a single clean sheet. It’s simply not good enough. In fact, Boro’s hard-fought goalless draw in the first play-off semi-final against Coventry City is their only shutout in the last 18 games.

In the past Boro have been able to get away with conceding occasional goals because they were capable of scoring more at the other end of the pitch. This is no longer the case. Having failed to add at least one proven goalscorer during the summer, the balance of the side has been completely upset.

This was perfectly summed up at Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday where Boro did enough to get something from the games but were poor in front of goal. There was plenty of graft and effort throughout the team but the quality where it matters most was lacking, and perhaps we must all get used to this fact.

As a result, the emphasis falls on the defence. Boro must get better at the back and it is up to Michael Carrick and his coaches to bring it to fruition. Some thought was put into trying to improve the defensive options this summer with the signing of Seny Dieng, Tom Glover, Jamie Jones, Rav van der Berg, Alex Bangura and Lukas Engel.

Dieng was clearly brought in as the No.1 keeper. We hope that he will become a big favourite with the fans and hold on to the shirt for a few years. The other obvious change which Carrick needed to make was at left-back, where two contenders in Bangura and Engel were signed to challenge Hayden Coulson. Yet, overall, there is still no obvious difference in the team’s general defensive work which continues to fall short of the required level.

On the other hand, most fans would want to see Dael Fry and Darragh Lenihan continuing to operate as twin centre-backs. So the main work must be done on the training ground, where Carrick may need to slightly alter his playing system because defending needs to be done as a team.

It means that you can’t simply point the finger at the back four. They need support from the defensive midfield men and they need the wide players to track back when opponents attack down the flanks. It’s certainly not rocket science, but it means concentrating a little less on attacking and more on defending.

The team’s natural instincts under Carrick have been to push men forward at every opportunity. Maybe this policy should be tinkered with slightly. Of course, this does not mean that Boro should forget about attacking and concentrate on defending in numbers, while providing occasional quick breaks upfield.

In fact, we would all be happier if Carrick could solve the goalscoring problems overnight and Boro started hitting the back of the onion bag for fun again. The question still remains. Where will the goals come from?

I have stressed in the past that the men with the best scoring records are Marcus Forss and Matt Crooks and these two offer the best chance of hitting the back of the net. Carrick will know that he must also find goals from his new boys, especially the attacking midfielders.

No doubt work continues to this end on the training ground. Whatever solutions are put into place, Boro must be hotly competitive on Saturday when Southampton arrive at the Riverside.