Liverpool loanee Ben Doak served notice to Isaiah Jones in exciting Middlesbrough debut cameo
Ben Doak has served notice that he aims to mount a strong challenge for Isaiah Jones’ role on Middlesbrough’s right flank.
The teenage Scot looked lively and worked hard to try to make an impact when he was brought off the bench against Preston North End. It’s still early days for Doak, but he will clearly make a bigger impact once he gets to know the players around him.
Last season’s knee injury looks well behind him, so now Doak will be on a mission to start playing regular Championship football as quickly as possible. The competition with Jones is to be welcomed. Hopefully it will help to bring the best out of both men.
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Jones is the man in possession at the moment but, along with his team-mates, needs to step up on his game and help Boro get back into top gear. Isaiah can be a match-winner when he is on top form. The two penalties he has won this season bear testament to what can be achieved when he goes bursting into the box.
If Jones is already looking over his shoulder at the potential challenge from Doak, then this will inspire both men to produce the goods. Marcus Forss will also be determined to have something to say on the matter when he is fully fit and knocking on the door again.
At the moment Doak is just one of several new boys who are battling to get their feet under the table and increase the competition for places. George Edmundson did not have too much to do against Preston but he looks a pretty solid centre-back with a reasonable amount of experience behind him.
He linked up well with Matt Clarke. So it will be interesting to see if Michael Carrick sticks with the duo at Sunderland, especially if Rav van den Berg is ready to go straight back into the side. Boro benefit from playing Luke Ayling at right-back because of the impact he can make down the flank, which may leave van den Berg, Edmundson and Clarke battling for the two central defensive roles until all the club’s defenders are fully fit.
After his heroics last season, van den Berg is arguably the best of the three when fully fit, though Clarke has climbed a few ladders this year. Just like the potential Jones-Doak battle on the right, competition for centre-back positions is most welcome because we haven’t seen too much of it for a while.
What we need now is for the team to take off in the final third of the field. Carrick is quite right to point out that several new signings are still finding their feet at the club, which has shades of last season. At the same time, Boro have created enough chances to comfortably win several of their early games. The finishing continues to be very disappointing.
In this respect, we are still waiting for Emmanuel Latte Lath to take off again. There were excuses against Preston because the Ivorian was one of several players who had a very tiring international two weeks, including Jones and Seny Dieng.
However, the highlight of Latte Lath’s contribution towards the end of last season was his amazing finishing. He created openings for himself and finished superbly. That’s one thing the team desperately needs now. They will surely create fewer chances at Sunderland than they have of late, so it’s vitally important they start putting them away.
Of course, you can’t just point the finger at Latte Lath. Several players have had good opportunities lately but failed to score. It was great to see Tommy Conway grab his second goal in four games against Preston. He indicated again that he is a superb addition to the squad.
Along with Latte Lath and Conway, Boro have players of the calibre of Delano Burgzorg, Finn Azaz, Jones and the fit-again Riley McGree, all of whom should be accumulating their fair share of goals. It would be great to see at least two of these men hit the onion bag at Sunderland.