Edwards’ Luton Town side played with wing-backs, so the natural assumption when he was unveiled as Boro’s head coach was that he’d adopt a similar approach at the Riverside.
Indeed, Edwards’ Boro side lined up with a back three and wing-backs at Mansfield Town on Saturday in what was their first domestic friendly of the summer.
And it worked well. Boro raced into a three-goal first half lead at Field Mill, and impressed, before the League One side fought back in the second period after Edwards had made a raft of changes, which led to a shift to a back four.
With Boro still chasing a transfer breakthrough this summer, Edwards felt a back three and wing-backs best suited the options he had at his disposal on Saturday and the starting XI that he selected.
And for now it’s something he will continue to assess game by game as Boro run through their series of pre-season friendlies in the next fortnight.
Rather than be glued to one specific system, Edwards will remain open minded and judge what formation and approach best suits the squad and players he has available.
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“We’re still looking at it at the moment, looking at what might fit the group,” said Edwards, who revealed on Saturday that a couple of signings are “close”.
“I think it fitted the XI that we put out there in the first half. Obviously we then changed to a back four later on when we made some changes.
“I’m still fairly open. Depending on what we’re able to get in recruitment wise, it might be that we are able to flip between a few things.
“My main focus will be on principles and the way we go about things. I want us to be aggressive and I want us to press high. I want us to have control, and have that control as far away from our goal as possible. Try and attack quickly.
“Whether that’s with a three, a two or a four, it doesn’t matter too much.
“We’ll probably make slight tweaks tactically within every game anywhere because every opposition offers you something different to have to work out. I wouldn’t read too much into using a back three today. I just felt it suited the group that we had out there at the start.”
Edwards liked a lot of what he saw in the first half on Saturday, and is pleased with how the players have taken the coaching team’s messages on board, but there’s plenty he still wants to work on in the remaining friendlies and on the Rockliffe training pitches.
“I’d still like loads more,” he said.
“We’re two and a half weeks in, so it’s not going to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But we’re seeing a desire to win the ball back quickly.
“I think there were a lot of instances of that [at Mansfield], particularly in the first half. I saw some really good pressing which forced them to go long and meant we were able to take control.
“I saw some really good pressing and some really good regains as soon as we lost it. I want us to be a little bit quicker in some of our attacking and a little bit more dynamic in our forward runs in that final third.
“But that will come in time. I’m pleased with the progress, but we still want lots more.”