SOMEWHERE in a Spanish villa, Aitor Karanka will have spent last night breaking into a cold sweat and saying, ‘I told you so’. This was the kind of expansive, devil-may-care performance that Middlesbrough fans have been crying out for all season, yet it is also the one that has surely sealed their fate and condemned them to a return to the Championship.

Playing with two centre-forwards, and having sacrificed one of the ‘screening’ midfielders that Karanka valued so highly, Boro created more opportunities in the space of 90 minutes than they had mustered in the best part of two months under their previous boss. They also scored two goals in a league game, through Alvaro Negredo and Marten de Roon, for only the fifth time this season.

At the other end, though, their performance was a horror show. Repeatedly cut to ribbons by the pace and fluidity of the Hull attack, they conceded three goals in the space of 20 first-half minutes, shipped another one after the interval for good measure, and consequently let in four goals in a game for the first time all campaign. So much for ‘giving it a go’.

Lazar Markovic, Oumar Niasse and Abel Hernandez all profited from Boro’s defensive fragility in the first half, and by the time Harry Maguire found himself completely unmarked as he headed home Hull’s fourth goal with 20 minutes left, Boro were a ragged shambles. Karanka’s faith in ‘his style’ might have been derided, but at least it guarded against capitulations like this.

Should that matter at this stage of the season? Possibly not. Boro have to find a way to win to have any chance of survival, but last night’s defensive disaster means they are now seven points adrift of safety with eight games remaining. Suffice to say, their prospects do not look good.

To a degree, Steve Agnew’s decision to switch to a 4-4-2 formation was forced on him, but even if the injured Gaston Ramirez had been available, Boro’s position in the relegation zone would have surely have tempted their head coach to partner Rudy Gestede with Negredo anyway. Something had to change, and over the course of the next 90 minutes, it certainly did.

Would playing with two strikers enhance Boro’s attacking threat? The answer arrived after just five minutes. Would it also leave them wide open and make them vulnerable in defence? That answer came in a chaotic 20-minute spell shortly after that saw Hull score three.

First, the early positive, which came courtesy of Negredo’s opener. The Spaniard started the move that led to his side’s first away goal of the calendar year with a sweeping cross-field pass that released Adama Traore down the right-hand side.

In previous games, had Traore crossed towards the six-yard box, Negredo would have been the only player Hull’s defenders had to worry about. Instead, with Gestede also breaking into the box, their gaze was distracted, and Negredo found sufficient space at the back post to slide home a first-time finish. It was the Spaniard’s first goal since late January, and only Boro’s second in the league in the intervening two months.

The goal justified Agnew’s tactical switch, but it did not take long for the deficiencies of the move to also become apparent. Hull had put the ball in the net before Boro scored, and while Niasse’s effort was rightly disallowed for offside, it was quickly apparent that the hosts were enjoying much more space in midfield than Boro normally afford their opponents.

With Hull also lining up in a straight-forward 4-4-2, the game was wide open from the outset, and after Kamil Grosicki, who finished as a deserved Man of the Match, found space to fire over from inside the area, it was hardly a surprise when Hull levelled.

Niasse glanced Andy Robertson’s cross towards goal, and while Ben Gibson intervened close to the goalline, the ball became tangled between the centre-half’s legs. Hernandez was unable to force it home, but after it ran loose in the 18-yard box, Liverpool loanee Markovic drilled a low finish past Victor Valdes.

Boro’s defensive vulnerability was a theme that recurred all night, with Gibson appearing especially uncomfortable. The Teessider has been his club’s most consistent performer this season, but when he erred again midway through the second half, Hull claimed a lead they were not surrender.

Gibson looked set to make a routine clearance when former Sunderland loanee Alfred N’Diaye flicked the ball over his shoulder, but having misjudged the flight of the ball, he found himself unable to make any contact.

Hernandez flicked the ball into Niasse’s path, and the Senegalese striker, who is on loan from Everton, calmly drilled home.

Seven minutes later, and Boro’s backline was sliced open again. James Husband was making his first league appearance in a Boro shirt since February 2015, but the full-back was found wanting as Maguire’s long ball enabled Grosicki to gallop on his inside.

Gibson was unable to cover, and when Grosicki delivered a low cross into the centre, the onrushing Hernandez was able to slide home a simple first-time finish.

Boro were all at sea, and the calamitous nature of their defending was surely a result of the switch in their playing style. That said, however, they were a threat in attack, something that had not been the case under Karanka.

Eldin Jakupovic made fine saves to deny both Negredo and Gestede before the interval, but the Hull goalkeeper was beaten in controversial circumstances in first-half stoppage time.

Gibson headed on Stewart Downing’s corner, and de Roon was clearly in an offside position when he nodded the ball home. N’Diaye was on Gibson’s shoulder as he rose to meet Downing’s delivery, and referee Michael Oliver, who consulted with his assistant for the best part of a minute, must have thought the ball came off the Hull midfielder. It didn’t, and hence the goal should not have stood.

Oliver’s decision gave Boro a lifeline, but their desire to get on the front foot meant they continued to live dangerously. Valdes produced a smart save at the start of the second half to deny N’Diaye, and with Antonio Barragan looking especially vulnerable at left-back, Gibson was forced to produce an excellent last-ditch challenge to prevent Niasse getting a close-range shot away.

With 20 minutes to go, however, Hull scored a fourth goal to kill off the game. Again, Boro were culpable, with substitute Adlene Guedioura completely losing Maguire as the centre-half headed home Grosicki’s free-kick at the back post.