Where did it go wrong for Middlesbrough – and who is to blame?

The Teessiders won just one of their last six matches as their promotion hopes disappeared, with Michael Carrick recording the lowest finishing position of his three seasons on Teesside. What went wrong – and who is to blame?

LACK OF A CUTTING EDGE

Middlesbrough’s failings in front of goal have been evident all season, but they became particularly acute in the second half of the campaign.

The Teessiders scored just three goals in their final six matches, with their failure to find the net against either Norwich or Coventry, when their promotion hopes were on the line, especially damning.

The January departure of leading goalscorer Emmanuel Latte Lath was damaging, and while Tommy Conway has done reasonably well since joining from Bristol City in the summer, finishing the season with 13 league goals to his name, the lack of a reliable goal threat from midfield was anther major factor in Boro’s goalscoring woes.

Tommy Conway can’t force his way through the Middlesbrough defence (Image: Tom Banks) Finn Azaz was the only other Boro player to make it into double figures, with Morgan Whittaker (0 goals), Delano Burgzorg (5), Hayden Hackney (5) and Aidan Morris (0) all contributing very little to the goals column. Next season, adding goals from midfield must be a priority.

DEFENSIVE FRAILTIES

With the goals drying up at one end of the pitch, Boro continued to give away cheap concessions at the other. Defending has been a problem all season, with Boro’s soft centre a major issue. On numerous occasions, the Teessiders were unable to turn the tide when their opponents got on top, regularly conceding a flurry of goals in a short period.

Jack Rudoni heads home Coventry’s opening goal (Image: Bradley Collyer) The January arrival of Mark Travers solved the goalkeeping issue that saw Seny Dieng, Tom Glover and Sol Brynn all fail to really establish themselves in the first half of the season, but the back four became a moveable feast, with Carrick constantly chopping and changing as he tried to come up with an effective unit.

Injuries didn’t help, often forcing Carrick’s hand, but Rav van den Berg, Dael Fry and George Edmundson have all been found wanting at various stages of the season. It says much that Jonny Howson – a 36-year-old midfielder – finished the campaign as Boro’s best centre-half.

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The decisive goal in last month’s defeat at Sheffield Wednesday was a defensive horror-show, but it perfectly encapsulated Boro’s weaknesses.

CARRICK’S MANAGEMENT

Is Carrick responsible for Boro’s failure to finish in the top six? He is hardly the only person that has been at fault, but as head coach, he has to shoulder a lot of the blame.

His tactical inflexibility has been a big factor in Boro’s struggles, with opposition managers regularly stating that they “knew how Middlesbrough were going to play”. Sticking to your principles is one thing, but Carrick’s Boro have become both pedestrian and predictable, passing the ball around aimlessly without threatening to hurt their opponents.

Michael Carrick with Coventry boss Frank Lampard (Image: Bradley Collyer) Carrick’s use of substitutions have become a major bone of contention, with the Boro boss seemingly unable to change the course of a game once it had begun to go against his side. In last month’s defeat at Millwall, Alex Neil made a series of changes to both tactics and personnel that transformed the match. Carrick watched on as the game drifted away from his team.

Was last summer’s departure of Aaron Danks, formerly Carrick’s assistant, a key moment? The decision to replace Danks with Carrick’s brother, Graeme, who had been working in the academy at Newcastle United prior to moving to Teesside, felt like a strange move. In hindsight, perhaps Carrick needed a more experienced and challenging voice alongside him on the training ground.

JANUARY RECRUITMENT

Recruitment has been a big success since Kieran Scott took over as head of football, with the lucrative sales of Morgan Rogers and Latte Lath underlining just how effectively Boro have identified and signed unproven talent.

Last summer’s transfer activity was reasonably successful, with Morris having performed effectively in central midfield, Conway having justified his £4.5m fee and the loan signing of Ben Doak having proved a masterstroke. Losing Doak to injury in January was undoubtedly a major factor in Boro’s downturn in the second half of the campaign.

Ben Doak’s loan move from Liverpool was a big success (Image: Tom Banks) But if the summer business was largely positive, January’s transfer work was much less successful. Selling Latte Lath made financial sense, but the Ivorian was not adequately replaced, with the loan signing of Kelechi Iheanacho – a move championed by Carrick – a disaster. Appearing both unmotivated and unfit, Iheanacho scored just one goal in a Boro shirt.

Ryan Giles’ loan return from Hull was arguably an even worse move – again, Carrick pushed hard to re-sign the full-back – and Whittaker has struggled since joining from Plymouth.

Boro’s recruitment team will attempt to repair the damage when the transfer window reopens this summer. Hopefully, some of the clarity that characterised their pre-January business will return.