What Boro Must Do To Get Promoted

With just a few days to go until the start of the new football league season the excitement and optimism has begun to set in for fans and clubs up and down the country.

After four frustrating years in the Championship Middlesbrough and manager Tony Mowbray will be hoping that this is finally the year they revisit England’s top flight, but as past seasons have shown it won’t be an easy task.

Here are the main areas I think Boro will have to improve if they want to break into the top six this year and put right the wrongs of the past campaigns.

1.                   Establish  a settled back four

Last season it became a bigger and bigger mystery each week who would start in Boro’s inconsistent defence, as fans lost count how many times the back four changed.  Injuries played their part as a clear lack of understanding between the players led to a leakage of sloppy goals contributing to a dismal second half of the season.

This year Boro have retained the services of home grown goalkeeper Jason Steele, the England under 21’s keeper continues to improve. Captain Rhys Williams missed the first half of the campaign last year due to an ankle ligament injury, while full backs George Friend and Justin Hoyte were also sidelined for lengthy periods of time. This season the trio will need to sustain their proven form throughout the season and build some stability at the back.

At 33 Jonathan Woodgate demonstrated that he has still retained Premier league quality, however the veteran defender was continuously in and out of the side last year can’t be relied on to play every week. So for me Mowbray still needs to sign another centre back before the transfer window shuts.

2.                   Continue playing after New Years day

For the past two seasons Mowbray’s side have looked like a team ready to return to the Premier League. Last year Boro were flying high on New Year’s Eve, third in the table on 47 points. However whenever it’s time to change the calendar things always seem to go drastically wrong.

Boro’s gradual slip down the table two seasons ago was a bitter disappointment, but that wasn’t half as demoralising as last season’s catastrophic end where Boro took just 8 points out of a possible 63 after the turn of the year. This could have been down to a number of reasons, the most obvious a loss of confidence and belief, nevertheless if the Teessider’s desire a place back in the Premier League they can’t afford any New Year woes this time around.

3.                   Bring in the Crowds  

There were times last season where the Riverside was bouncing, over 28,000 fans watched Boro briefly move top of the league table against Sheffield Wednesday, while a similar amount saw their glamorous FA cup tie with Chelsea in February.

Those occasions were small reminders of Boro’s distant Premier League days. Now the regular attendances linger around the 15,000 mark with the stadium half empty, a disheartening sight to see for both players and fans.

 Whether this means the club put on more special offers for fan’s to come and watch their team or just hope the performances on the pitch are enough to lure the crowds back, because the support and atmosphere is crucial to Boro’s promotion dream.

4.                   Find a top class striker

Ever since Boro were relegated to the Championship four seasons ago they have always lacked that prolific goal scorer who can score around 20 goals a season. Scott McDonald’s move to Millwall could release some funds for Mowbray to invest in a new forward to replace the Australian, who was earning a reported £30,000 a week.

Even so McDonald did provide Boro’s main supply of goals last season, as the former Celtic striker found the net thirteen times. If Boro are to sustain a strong promotion challenge they will have find a new source of goals, weather that be strikers who are already at the club like Lukas Jutkiewitz or Marvin Emnes or a new signing all together. But one thing is certain goals win games and Boro just don’t seem to score enough.

5.                   Get the first goal

When Boro conceded the first goal in a game last season the chances were they would go on to lose the game. This may seem obvious but it was a particular problem at the Riverside. Teams would come and clinch an early goal from a counter attack or set piece and then just sit back with eleven men behind the ball and defend their lead and victory.

If Boro want to be competing at the right end of the table this campaign they will have to score when they are dominating the game and find that extra bit of quality to break down the opposition before they are punished first.