Middlesbrough backed to find key element missing from last season

Tommy Smith is backing Middlesbrough to find their consistency once again after a nightmare season with injuries. The experienced right-back was able to play just six times for the Teessiders last term, with his season ended in October by a ruptured Achilles.

It was a sharp contrast to his first season at the club, when the former Stoke City and Huddersfield Town full-back made 40 appearances as Boro reached the Championship play-offs. Smith was by far alone in the treatment room, however, and he feels that inability to pick a consistent team affected the side's performances.

Michael Carrick and Co are targetting another promotion campaign in the coming season, after some promising form in the final months of last term, and Smith has backed the manager to continue to 'galvanise' the squad over the summer ahead of a new challenge.

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“I think this season has been different to last because of the amount of incomings and outgoings," he said. "Whereas previously we were a lot more consistent with how we were as a team, whereas this season, it’s been a lot more inconsistent.

"Obviously injuries played such a big part in that. I’ve never known an injury record like it in my career. That does play a big part and it does hamper you in terms of what you’re consistently trying to do. You’re constantly having to change the personnel, the shape, all these kind of things."

It wasn't just injuries of course, with the Boro squad overhauled last summer due to a number of factors. Several key players ended loan spells on Teesside, and that meant a raft of new signings, who inevitably took time to settle into the squad. It's something Carrick is looking to avoid this time around, with quality over quantity the key phrase

"In the summer window there was quite a lot of players leaving because of loans and sales, and that meant we had to bring a lot of players in as well," Smith added. "That can take time because things just don’t work at the drop of a hat.

"Some people can just naturally bed in straight away but others will take a little longer. Everyone is different. I look at where we are now as a team though, and I think, when you look back at all that, as a team we’ve done great. It’s not been easy.

"You had players coming in to form and then all of a sudden injured and out for three months. It’s not easy as a team to deal with that kind of setback.

"But I think, on a whole, how we’ve dealt with that and how the manager has dealt with it - galvanising the lads and keeping them resolute throughout the season - I think everyone has done great. The club is in good hands with the manager and the squad that we’ve got. I’m sure we’re looking at next season and the only way is up for us.”