Middlesbrough missed out on the chance to make it three wins in a row this weekend after being beaten by Watford.
Boro took the lead through George Edmundson shortly after the second-half restart only for Edo Kayemebe and Kwadwo Baah to respond for the hosts and deny Michael Carrick’s men the chance to return to the Riverside Stadium with all three points.
Watford changed from their usual possession-based style of play, with Tom Cleverley revealing that he had tweaked his tactics to combat the threat of Boro and his switch paid off to culminate in a disappointing final game before the international break.
- READ MORE: Baffling Michael Carrick selection call cost Middlesbrough vs Watford, he had no reason to make it
Emmanuel Latte Lath form not a concern for Michael Carrick
One of the biggest disappointments this season has been the form of striker Emmanuel Latte Lath.
The forward was of interest to the likes of Ipswich Town but remained on Teesside and has featured regularly.
Unlike last season though, Latte Lath is struggling in front of goal and hasn’t scored since the opening day of the season – a penalty against Swansea City.
Latte Lath’s overall game hasn’t been poor though. Against Watford, he was as busy as ever but failed to put away his only chance.
Teams seem to have also figured out how to stifle the Ivorian. Latte Lath works best when running off the shoulder of the last man but now, teams are dropping further back to give the forward less space to work with.
Middlesbrough’s biggest problem revealed after Watford defeat
The lack of chances for Latte Lath is an alarming theme that is becoming more and more apparent after Watford loss.
Middlesbrough are yet to win a game where they’ve had more possession than the opponents from their league games so far.
It’s a worrying pattern to see that Boro are actually less efficient when they have more of the ball and fail to make it count by punishing the opposition.
Whether that’s because Middlesbrough are being wasteful or teams have learned how to restrict the Teessiders when they have the ball is two different things but Carrick is going to need to address this rapidly or face dropping even more points.