Middlesbrough were required to show a different side to their game against table-topping Leicester City, and they did so with an excellent 1-0 win at a packed Riverside Stadium.
Michael Carrick‘s side are used to monopolising possession against their opponents, but the Boro boss knew that Leicester have too much quality to be able to do that for the whole game. Instead, Carrick ensured that his players were focused and alert to the dangers posed by the team that sit top of the Championship with some stoic defending.
Steel is something that is synonymous with the Teesside area, but there has not been too much of it at the heart of Boro’s defence this season, particularly in the early throws of the campaign. They also have an unhealthy habit of conceding first during games. That was not the case on Saturday though as Dael Fry and Paddy McNair shepherding a rear guard that refused to be beaten. The former, it seems, was tasked with man-marking Leicester City dangerman Kelechi Iheanacho.
Carrick issued specific instructions
Fry did not hardly put a foot wrong and was a towering influence. His stats via WhoScored corroberated that theory. He made 2 tackles, 1 interception and 3 clearances. He also won 3 aerial duels.
Another who was under specific instruction was stalwart Jonny Howson who did a similar job on talented young midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Howson stuck to the task expertly, which even meant that he found himself in a centre-back position at times, but it worked, as Dewsbury-Hall was shackled and forced into 5 unsuccessful touches/bad control and was dispossessed twice during the encounter.
Howson on the other hand made 2 tackles, 2 interceptions and 1 clearance. Also managing to make 2 key passes throughout the game.
Tactically astute
The move from Michael Carrick and his coaching team to snuff out the threat from Leicester’s most dangerous players was tactically astute. Having seen that Leeds United had similar success the week before with a 1-0 win, Boro did their homework and tempered their attacking approach to nullify the threat. They reaped the rewards and it was a player-ironically on loan from Leeds-that produced a moment of brilliance to secure the win, with Sam Greenwood’s whipped free-kick nestling in the top corner of the goal.
Middlesbrough are noted for their attack-minded strategy, a very much, ‘we will out-score you’ mentality. But that would have been kamikaze against such an impressive Leicester outfit. It showed that they have more strings to their bow and can mix up their approach depending on the opponent. That showed in the fact that Boro only had 501 touches in the match, compared to Leicester’s 894.
It is a good sign moving forward that his side can play in that way, as they have on occasions been labelled a little one-dimensional in the way they play. Leicester have failed to score just three times this season, so as much as the Foxes were not at their best, it will still be a source of great confidence for the Boro defence.