Middlesbrough have enjoyed a solid return to the Premier League this season for a newly promoted team. The north east side currently sit 16th in the table and five points above the drop zone.
Aitor Karanka’s team’s main strength in their promotion campaign was their ability to keep opposition teams from scoring. The north east side had the best defensive record in the Championship, which is not surprising considering Karanka was a centre-back in his playing days.
This season Boro’s main strength has also been defending. However, their attack has looked slightly toothless at times. They bought in the likes of Alvaro Negredo and Adama Traore in the summer to strengthen their attacking options, but in truth, they are struggling to score goals in the top-flight.
Boro are the lowest scorers in the top-flight, having scored just 17 times. However, Karanka’s team have conceded fewer goals than third-place Liverpool and fifth-place Manchester City in the top-flight.
Boro’s recent games display their attacking problems perfectly, as they failed to score in seven of their last nine games, finding the net just twice in that run of games. Karanka has talked about his team needing to offer more of attacking threat.
The Spaniard has moved to solve his team’s goalscoring problem by bringing in striker Rudy Gestede from Aston Villa. The striker failed to be prolific for the Villans in the top-flight last season, as the side from the Midlands were relegated.
However, at Blackburn, he proved that he could score goals if given the chances. The problem is there seems to be a scarcity of chances being created by the north east side. If there were chances being created then Negredo would have more than his league tally of five this season.
Middlesbrough may be hard to beat, but at some point, the north east side will need to start scoring goals or they could return to the Championship.