Jonathan Woodgate will stick with playing five defenders

While Tony Pulis tended to play with a five-man backline, Woodgate started the season looking to be more positive with the selection of a flat back four.

However, the defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City exposed vulnerabilities within the Boro defence, and Woodgate opted to switch to a formation with three centre-halves and wing-backs when his side travelled to West Brom last month.

He retained his revamped system for the games against Huddersfield Town and Fulham, and watched his players keep successive clean sheets, and while a lack of defensive options meant he had to field Paddy McNair at centre-half last weekend, he will be sticking with his new formation for the foreseeable future.

“I think it’s going to be a good base for us,” said the Boro head coach. “I think it suits our players more. I tried it against Cardiff, but we didn’t create a lot of chances, but I had that chance to really work on it on the training ground in the international break after the Birmingham game.

“I did a lot of work with them then, a lot of shape work, and we had a real focus on how I wanted them to play. If you look at the team, we’ve only really got one natural winger, and that’s Marvin Johnson, so we’re suited to playing this way.

“We’ve had an unsettled defence at times, but now we’ve got more of a base. We’re suited to this system. Lewis Wing is playing in that deeper role, which he’s doing really well in, and it’s a mile better.

“They’ve done it in the last three matches, but that was three games in a week. The more we do it and the more we train at it, the better we’ll be. That couple of weeks after the Birmingham game, where I could sit down with the team and really work on their shape, that was vital. I could really get over to them what I wanted them to do.”

Woodgate’s faith in his new system was evident in this week’s Under-23s game against Newcastle United. Having failed to feature against Fulham, Marc Bola and Anfernee Dijksteel were selected in the second string to help retain their match sharpness, and mimicking the formation that is becoming entrenched in the first team, they were asked to play as wing-backs rather than in a flat back four.

From the moment he was appointed, Woodgate has spoken of a desire to create a better link between the first team and the Under-23s, and that extends to ensuring the two teams are following the same tactical patterns so it easier for players to move from one side to the other.

“That (the change in shape) is how I’ll be looking to go forward, so it’s important the players are comfortable with that. If Bola plays (in the first team), then he’ll be playing left wing-back, and if Dijksteel plays, he’ll be playing right wing-back.

“It’s the same thing with (Marcus) Browne. He’ll be playing as a number ten if he’s selected, so it’s important he gets used to playing there.”

Bola’s last start came in the home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, while Dijksteel has not been involved since the loss to Birmingham at St Andrew’s, but having sanctioned the pair’s summer arrival from Blackpool and Charlton Athletic respectively, Woodgate has not lost faith in the youngsters’ ability.

He has told them not to regard this week’s second-string appearance as a demotion, but rather an opportunity to push their credentials for a return to the first team.

“They’re not playing for the first team, they’re still young players, and I think that it’s important that when their chance comes again they’re not rusty,” he said. “They’re not going to play every single game for the under-23s, but they are all under 23.

“I think it was important to have a strong team which went there (to Newcastle), and we had a really strong team. Connor Malley played, Ben Liddle, (Stephen) Walker, Browne, Bola, Dijksteel, Hayden Hackney, a 17-year-old kid, Nathan Wood, Zach (Hemming).

“If there are games which I think they can play in, they’ll play. Like I explained to them, if you’re not playing (in the first team), at times you will play (in the reserves) just to keep your fitness up. You can do all the training sessions in the world, but when you get your chance, you need to be match fit.”

And having blooded a number of youngsters already this season, Woodgate is ready to turn to more of his juniors if he thinks it will help his side pull away from trouble.

“They’ll get a chance,” he said. “I’ve used Ben Liddle as an example - when he came away with us in pre-season he wasn’t at it, and I told him, but now he’s playing well so he’s in the first team. If the players at Under-23 level are willing to put it in and work and show me they’re improving, they’ll be in there.”