THE international break provides everyone associated with Middlesbrough with an opportunity to take stock after the opening month of the season.

Boro return to action this weekend – how has their start to the campaign gone and what are the burning issues they will be looking to address in their forthcoming games?


GIVEN the squad restructuring that continued right up to the transfer deadline, there are mitigating factors for Middlesbrough’s dreadful start to the season.

From now on, though, they no longer apply. Things have to start improving quickly if pre-season ambitions are not to be hastily redrawn.

With his side rock bottom of the Championship table, Michael Carrick is facing the biggest challenge of his fledgling managerial career.

There is no need to panic just five games in, but having ridden the crest of a positive wave throughout last season, the Boro boss needs to prove he can turn things around when conditions are more testing.

First and foremost, he needs to work out his best starting XI now that his squad is fully assembled.

Where is Sam Greenwood going to play following his loan move from Leeds? How can Lewis O’Brien be shoehorned into the side given Hayden Hackney’s ongoing importance and the need to remain defensively secure?

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Is Riley McGree still a nailed-on starter, as he was for much of last season, or has Sammy Silvera moved ahead of him in the pecking order? Will Lukas Engel or Alex Bangura be the first-choice left-back?

Carrick did not have to turn to a Plan B last season, but having talked up the flexibility of his new-look squad, this might be time for a change in formation. Might five at the back suit the current squad? Or what about a 4-3-3 rather than a 4-2-3-1?

The lack of options in attack remains a worry, with Josh Coburn the only real alternative to Emmanuel Latte Lath for the ‘number nine’ role. Coburn had been earmarked for a loan move earlier in the summer, but could evolve into a crucial performer.

Boro head to Blackburn for their first game after the international break, with Saturday’s trip to Lancashire kicking off a testing run of matches that will also see the Teessiders take on Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton and Watford before the end of the month.

The Carabao Cup trip to Bradford on September 26 looks a good opportunity to make further progress in the competition, but given Boro’s league position, it is not the priority.

By the time the next international break arrives in the middle of next month, Carrick’s side need to be out of the bottom three and heading up the table.