Middlesbrough have not had a great start to the 2024/25 Championship season.
The Teessiders kicked off the current campaign with expectations of a promotion push in what is one of the most open Championships in recent memory.
After failing to pick up a win in their opening fixture for 10 years, Middlesbrough beat Swansea City 1-0 at the Riverside Stadium on August 10th.
With an unwanted record finally put to bed and Boro having already bettered their early-season form from 2023/24, things were seemingly looking up in the North East.
However, Middlesbrough lost 1-0 to Derby County at Pride Park in the following outing.
Boro should have bounced back this past weekend when they faced off with Portsmouth but defensive errors, including a baffling decision from Seny Dieng, cost Middlesbrough the three points.
Middlesbrough bottom of Championship in one key statistic
After their shambolic display against Portsmouth and Isaiah Jones’ error against Derby, it appears on the surface that Boro’s main problem is their defence.
However, the statistics actually suggest that Middlesbrough have a problem at the other end of the pitch.
As per Fbref, the Reds have so far managed 66 shots in their opening three Championship fixtures – the most in the division by some way with Queens Park Rangers’ 55 giving them second place.
However, in a rather damming indictment of their finishing, Middlesbrough rank dead bottom of the table for goals-per-shot-on-target (0.08).
In comparison, one of Boro’s promotion rivals, Burnley, have a goals-per-shot-on-target ratio of 0.73.
Michael Carrick should be concerned about Middlesbrough statistic
The extent of Boro’s inability to score goals this season is further highlighted with several more stats and should concern Michael Carrick greatly.
Finn Azaz leads the Championship for most shots on target with six so far this season.
Delano Burgzorg has the highest shots per 90 ratio in the division with 6.16 and Azaz is second with 5.18.
Emmanuel Latte Lath also leads the Championship for xG, with the striker sitting at 2.1 after his first three games.
Despite all of this, Middlesbrough scored just one goal in their opening two matches and clearly have much work to do when it comes to creating better shooting chances.
Boro have some good finishers on their books, but Carrick must get his side to start taking shots when there is actually a decent chance to score, instead of just firing them off from any range.