Middlesbrough continue their 2024 pre-season campaign this weekend with a meeting versus SC Heerenveen.
The 2024/25 Championship season is now just over one week away for Middlesbrough.
Michael Carrick will welcome Swansea City to the Riverside for Boro’s Championship opener on Saturday, August, 10th.
The Teessiders will be aiming to get the upcoming campaign off to a much better start than the previous year, which saw them fail to win their opening five ties.
The North East outfit have had a positive summer so far, going unbeaten across their pre-season fixtures to this point.
Delano Burgzorg scored his first-ever Middlesbrough goal in a 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderers to kick off the club’s 2024/25 preparation.
Boro then edged past Gateshead before an enthralling 5-3 victory over Doncaster Rovers. Doncaster’s manager praised Middlesbrough and Carrick heavily after the clash.
The Reds’ most recent outing was less eye-catching, with Middlesbrough drawing 0-0 with Harrogate Town on July 31st.
Carrick and co. are now gearing up for their final pre-season meeting of the summer, which sees them face Dutch outfit SC Heerenveen at the Riverside at 2pm BST on Saturday, August 3rd.
Middlesbrough team news
With eight days until the start of the Championship season, Carrick will be desperate to have as many players as possible fully fit to ensure his side have the best chance of starting 2024/25 well.
However, while Middlesbrough do not have as many issues as they did at the end of last term, they still have a few injury concerns.
Tommy Smith and Marcus Forss will miss Middlesbrough’s Championship opener as they continue to recover from long-term injuries.
Elsewhere, Boro have a couple of concerns at centre-back going into their final pre-season fixture.
Dael Fry and Darragh Lenihan both missed the end of 2023/24 and are still not quite fully fit.
Fry missed out versus Doncaster Rovers last weekend, while both he and Lenihan were absent in midweek.
Speaking after the Harrogate draw on Wednesday, Carrick provided an update on Fry and Leninhan.
He said: “He (Fry) just picked up a bit of a niggle. He’s around, he’s training with us, so he’s fit.
“But he’s been out a long time, since January really, and he missed a lot of last season.
“So, it’s similar to Darragh (Lenihan) really. We’re managing them. We’re managing their minutes as well as their training load.”
Left-back Alex Bangura is a long-term absentee and will miss the Heerenveen tie as well.
How will Middlesbrough line up vs SC Heerenveen
With the Swansea game taking place next weekend, Carrick will likely want to use this game to give his best eleven a runout.
The team that started the 5-3 win over Doncaster is expected to be similar to how Boro line up versus the Swans.
However, injury and fitness issues may force Carrick to tweak things for this weekend’s friendly.
With Rav van den Berg and Matt Clarke Middlesbrough’s only fit centre-backs right now, their minutes will need to be managed on Saturday.
However, as Fry and Leinhan remain short of fitness, Jonny Howson could be forced to deputise at the back to ensure Clarke or Van den Berg are not overworked.
This would allow Aidan Morris to be handed his second Middlesbrough start after he shone against Harrogate last time out.
Here’s how we think Middlesbrough will line up against Heerenveen on Saturday…
Dieng (GK)
Ayling
Howson
Clarke
Engel
Hackney
Morris
Jones
Azaz
McGree
Latte Lath