Recently arrived Middlesbrough playmaker, Finn Azaz, feels his side can find the right formula to give league leaders Leicester City something to think about if they get their strategy right.
Azaz, who arrived on a permanent transfer from Aston Villa has already shown what he can do in this division via a loan spell with Plymouth Argyle, but he showed the Middlesbrough fans just what he can do in a red shirt in midweek. He opened his goal scoring account for the Teessiders in spectacular fashion, dropping his left shoulder to sidestep a defender and whipping a venomous shot into the top left corner.
Sadly for Michael Carrick‘s side, it was not enough to take a share of the spoils, with Preston North End running out 2-1 victors.
Middlesbrough’s dominance
It is not the first time the club has been on the receiving end after they dominated the game, but key moments in both boxes has been largely to blame for their lack of points of late.
In spite of the poor form in terms of results, Azaz-speaking to BBC Radio Tees Sport-reiterated that the group are fully on board with the approach and the belief in camp is still very high.
“You have to try not to listen to the outside noise and have that belief that you are on the right track,” said the 23-year-old.
Further endorsing Middlesbrough’s style, orchestrated by Carrick, he added:
“I have been in this league long enough to see what dominant performances are and to see a way of playing, which is what we have. Not many teams in this league have that.”
The games come thick and fast, offering Middlesbrough the opportunity to arrest their current form without dwelling too much on previous defeats. The next obstacle in their quest to improve comes in the shape of league leaders Leicester. It will be a tough test, but Boro have raised their game against the better teams in the Championship this season, and the ex-Villa man thinks that they can spring a surprise on the Foxes, just as they did in November.
Michael Carrick instills plenty of belief
Continuing with the theme and constant thread of belief, something Michael Carrick breeds plenty of, Azaz said:
“I think we have to believe that we should go in and win every game. From every game I’ve been in so far, we feel we have been the dominant side, that includes playing against big teams. I think we will definitely go into the game (against Leicester) with belief.”
Speaking specifically about the kind of game in store between the two, new boy Azaz gave his thoughts on how the game might play out, saying:
“We are looking at their threat from the wide players, their forward players are really good, so we will look to nullify that by keeping the ball.
“It’s the best way of defending against them and it will be a really good game with two good sides going at it.”
Well aware of the discontent at the lack of wins lately, the attacking midfielder feels that the players just need to adopt a tunnel vision approach, almost like a siege mentality as they attempt to get back to winning ways.
He saidL
“We have to stay strong and silence that negativity. We know the results haven’t been good enough and we understand the frustration from the fans. We’ll obviously try to rectify that.”