Burnley defeat highlights issues for Boro to address (From The Northern Echo)

Burnley defeat highlights issues for Boro to address

8:00am Monday 16th January 2012 in Middlesbrough FC Match Reports By Scott Wilson

A FOOTBALL team is like a jigsaw puzzle. You find the right piece to plug a gap in one area, only to discover you've overlooked a gaping hole in a different place entirely.

So while the capture of Lukas Jutkiewicz should enhance Middlesbrough's attacking threat in the final four months of the season, Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Burnley suggested Tony Mowbray still has problems to address elsewhere.

If the final solution to Boro's Championship conundrum is promotion back to the Premier League, the jigsaw currently remains half-completed at best. It is only to be hoped that by the end of the transfer window, Mowbray at least has all the requisite pieces in his possession.

Another midfielder would be of benefit, with the absence of both Nicky Bailey and Barry Robson at the weekend disrupting a unit that has functioned effectively for the majority of the campaign.

Bailey, who is set to be out for at least another month with a knee injury, is rapidly emerging as the player Boro can least afford to be without.

He provides stability and solidity at the base of midfield, and while Richie Smallwood has toiled manfully in the last two league games, he is not a like-for-like replacement.

Smallwood struggled to restrict the movement of Burnley's midfielders in the first half of Saturday's game, and while neither of the visitors' goals came from flowing passing moves – the first, from Jay Rodriguez, came from a set-piece, while the second, from Kieran Trippier, was a skidding 30-yard strike – the momentum the Clarets were able to generate undoubtedly forced Boro on to the back foot.

Mowbray has previously claimed he will not be entering the market to replace Bailey. One wonders in the wake of Saturday if he will be changing his mind.

He could also do with an attacking midfield presence to provide cover for Barry Robson, who will return from suspension at Coventry this weekend. Kevin Thomson might have shaken off his myriad of injury problems, but he is still to recover anything like his top form.

“When you break it down, there are reasons for what happened,” said Mowbray. “Nicky Bailey's undoubtedly been a key figure this season and Barry Robson can be a catalyst on days like this. He gets people out of their seats and drives them on, so they're big losses.”

The same could be said of Jason Steele, who fills another position where it could be argued that Middlesbrough have inadequate cover.

Steele injured his thigh in last weekend's FA Cup win over Shrewsbury, and while Danny Coyne stepped in from the substitutes' bench seven days earlier, a minor problem kept him out against Burnley. Whether the 38-year-old would have been played anyway is a moot point.

Connor Ripley is clearly regarded as Steele's long-term understudy, but you do not get too many 18-year-old goalkeepers playing regularly in the Championship.

Ripley's first taste of senior football did not go well last season, with the youngster replacing Steele in a 5-2 defeat at Reading, and Saturday's outing will hardly have bolstered his confidence.

He could not be blamed for Burnley's first goal, with Rodriguez sweeping home after David Edgar dummied Ross Wallace's corner, but he was culpable for the Lancashire side's second.

Joe Bennett cleared to Trippier, and Ripley appeared to dive too late as he allowed the full-back's long-range effort to skid into the net.

“He knows he should have done better with that, but it's his debut and things like that happen to everyone,” said Rhys Williams. “The best players and the best teams make mistakes.

“Look at the top keepers, they still make minor mistakes. We all do. He'll have to take that on the chin and go into the next game making sure he's ready if selected.”

That next game might be against a Coventry side rooted to the foot of the table, but having suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time this season in their opening two matches of 2012, Boro will still have to improve if they are to avoid an unwanted hat-trick.

They had to wait until the 89th minute to test Lee Grant, with substitute Tony McMahon twisting his way into the area to force the Clarets shot-stopper into a save at his near post.

Faris Haroun should have done better with a first-half header that failed to find the target, while only Scott McDonald will know how he failed to even get a shot away when Justin Hoyte found him on the edge of the six-yard box shortly before the interval.

Even so, the hosts' attacking threat was limited, and while Jutkiewicz's arrival will enable them to adopt a more direct approach than is possible with McDonald and Marvin Emnes in the team, a lack of creativity from midfield remains a concern.

“We've probably won a few games through the strength of our defence, but I think we all agree that we have to start scoring a few more goals and start winning games that way,” said Williams. “If we were scoring more goals then there wouldn't be quite as much focus on what we're doing as a defence.

“We shouldn't get too carried away by one result though. If you look at the league table, we're still sitting fourth. I know this is a game we shouldn't have lost like that, but every team loses games. It's how you respond that counts. We have to take this on the chin and go into next week determined that it's not going to be three in a row.”