FOR everyone on the coaching staff of a Middlesbrough persuasion, they must be banging their head against the wall. In terms of performances, Boro have been right up there this season barring a 30 minute spell at Queens Park Rangers. In all four games, they’ve demonstrated a positive, high tempo attacking play that manager Chris Wilder has instilled into them from the early stages of his managerial tenure. Part of his remit has always been placing plenty of emphasis on the wing-backs going forward.

As Wilder says, you can play as well as you want but it’s about what happens in both boxes. On the recruitment front, Boro’s efforts to bring in that striker Wilder wants have hit dead ends thus far and like anything in football, it’s up for debate whether their fortunes would have changed had their desired number nine been there from the start of the season. At the other end, damaging goals have been leaked.

But the best investment they have made so far is bringing Ryan Giles to the club. His contribution to the side has been there for all to see but perhaps what is most telling is he has alleviated the pressure from Isaiah Jones on the opposite flanks. In terms of how Boro want their wing-backs to be for this season, they have absolutely cracked it.

The early signs to this season are that any team that comes up against Boro are going to have a job on their hands coping with them two. The numbers are there for all to see already. Giles already has two assists from their opening four games of the season and two pre-assists (if they actually count). Jones on the opposite flank has two assists along with a goal on the opening day of the season.

Whilst they excel in their positions, they are not quite carbon copies of each other. Giles has a wand of a left foot and some of the crosses he delivers would make any fox in the box salivate at the thought of. Harping back to Boro’s pre-season game against Morecambe earlier in the summer, he put it on a plate for three Boro players to score in the first 30 minutes of the game helping himself to three assists. He’s continued in the same vein throughout the season. Had it not been for some abject finishing in some games, he would have had more by now.

As for Jones, he burst onto the scene last season and has not stopped there. His skill and pace has demonstrated that he is a nightmare for defenders to come up against. Regularly the most fouled player on the pitch. Having developed as a winger, he regularly shows what he is capable of going forward bombing down the right and is a strikers dream when he gets in behind defenders.

Members of the Stoke City press box were in conversation after Wednesday’s game quietly murmuring amongst themselves. ‘How have they not won that game tonight?’ was the general theme. ‘Their wing-backs tortured us tonight’ they said. The feeling is we will be hearing a lot of that this season.

Wilder’s comments with pay testament to that after a stoppage time equaliser stunned them at the Bet 365 Stadium: “The players performances out there, I thought were in 8’s, all of them” he said. “I didn’t think there was anybody who dropped the standard from Sunday. It was important that we got some consistency into our performances.”

The key word their being consistency. Wilder flies the flag on his philosophy on a regular basis. On the whole, they have been carrying out his instruction with plenty of emphasis on the wing-backs but they are yet to reap the rewards in terms of results. That first win eludes them.

He continued: “I don’t want to be a yoyo team and I don’t think we have been this season. There are periods of games where we do need to show that consistency but we are all after that.

“You have seen today (Stoke City) were still on the right tracks in terms of how we want to play our football, create opportunities, get after teams and how we want to defend.

“There is a structure and a style to us and in that, we’ve got some good players that are playing well.

“Alex (Mowatt) was one of them, I thought Jonny Howson was outstanding, midfield three were great, Marc (Bola) is doing a job for us in there and he did well, both wing-backs were really positive and the nine (Duncan Watmore) and the ten (Riley McGree) caused them problems.

“Generally, it’s difficult to really criticise that performance apart from the two boxes which unfortunately is the two biggest things.”

Boro have been amongst the goals this season and it’s no surprise when you have Giles and Jones in the side. Chuba Akpom is bang in form having helped himself to a brace at Sheffield United, Duncan Watmore was a constant threat against Stoke and took his goal really well whilst Marcus Forss continues to feel his way into the side but is already off the mark. But as he said last week, he’s keeping the number nine shirt free for a reason.

One thing for certain is whoever this striker may be, they won’t be short in supply of chances with Giles and Jones in the side this season.