Fortress Riverside and the old Boro adage Michael Carrick must destroy next season

The key to a successful Middlesbrough promotion push could be in unlocking the floodgates at the Riverside. If Boro can make the stadium a fortress again then they can start to quickly rack up valuable points.

Last season Boro won just ten of their 23 home games in the Championship, which effectively prevented them from gaining a top six place. The fact that Boro gained one more point away from home leaves no doubts that improvements are necessary at home.

If Boro can win 15 games at home in the new campaign and maintain their half decent away form, then a top six place is virtually assured – and even an automatic promotion position would come within reach. Boro still turned on the style on occasions at home last term. The wins against Southampton and Leicester were special, while the 4-0 hammering of Preston was outstanding.

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But Boro started poorly with home defeats by Millwall and QPR, while mid-season setbacks at the hands of Bristol City and Plymouth proved costly. I have a friend who lives in the South who came up for the Plymouth game and described it as the worst football match he had ever seen.

It’s difficult to disagree. Boro were dismal that day.

However we can delve into the facts behind the results. In early season Boro’s new-look squad had not gelled while the mid-season hiccup was largely the result of the fact that Michael Carrick had no fit strikers to choose from. This time around, with the new found confidence which has been generated within the squad and the prospect of quality signings to join them, we have every reason to believe that the future is looking bright.

Naturally there are key factors involved. Boro need to hang on to Emmanuel Latte Lath because he will surely be a major force in the Championship next season. The addition of another striker, and with the likes of Isaiah Jones, Marcus Forss and Finn Azaz providing both goals and ammunition, can make the Riverside a daunting place for visiting teams.

Certainly Boro need to start beating the strugglers at the wrong end of the division. At the Riverside, Boro overcame just four of the teams which finished in the bottom half of the table. They drew with another four, including against Huddersfield and Rotherham, who finished in the bottom two places. They also lost to four of the bottom 12.

There’s an old adage that Boro always beat the top teams and lose to the bottom ones. We need to destroy that theory next season.

In any case Boro did finish the campaign very strongly. They would have remained unbeaten at the Riverside from the beginning of March onwards had not a blatant offside goal been awarded in Leeds’ favour. When Boro were last promoted in 2016, Aitor Karanka’s side had an absolutely astounding record at the Riverside.

They won 16 of their 23 games and drew another five. They only teams to win on Teesside were bogey team Bristol City and Nottingham Forest. Karanka’s side played a totally different type of football from Carrick’s team, being organised at the back and relying on clean sheets to help them gain results. David Nugent was the side’s top scorer in the Championship with a mere eight goals.

Carrick, to his credit, puts the emphasis on putting the opposition under pressure, and as a result his team generally scores a decent number of goals. In fact Boro netted 71 times last season, compared to the 63 goals which Karanka’s side scored in winning promotion.

If Carrick can increase Boro’s firepower this summer there’s every reason to believe that the Riverside will be a wonderful place to visit next season.