Middlesbrough can emulate Karanka promotion approach but with added goal threat

One thing is certain – if Michael Carrick is to take Middlesbrough to promotion this season he will run things his own way.

A successful top six campaign in 2024-25 will bear few comparisons to the only previous time when Boro have managed to escape the clutches of the Championship under Aitor Karanka. The obvious connecting factor is that both managers have assembled a good set of focused players and have created a positive dressing room.

If there’s a major difference it’s that the duo put the emphasis on winning games in a completely different fashion. Karanka unashamedly organised his team from the back. He looked for solidity and compactness, while trying to break quickly and in doing so stretch the opposition defence.

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Carrick’s style is to try to maintain possession, work the ball forward and pressurise opponents. When Boro went up under Karanka it was a wonderful experience. Yet, as a fan, I probably prefer the Carrick approach because in theory it provides better entertainment on the pitch with a few more thrills and spills.

On the other hand, it’s notable that both managers lined up with a similar attacking formation, with one orthodox striker, a No 10 and two wide men.

Carrick’s two main attackers are probably expected to be more productive than the demands which satisfied Karanka’s needs. We have Emmanuel Latte Lath leading the assault after finishing with a very healthy tally of 18 goals last season.

What was remarkable was that most of his goals came in the second half of the campaign. If Latte Lath can carry on where he left off last term then Carrick may have unearthed another 20-goals a season man. The possibility of Latte Lath being prised away by a huge offer from a big club is rather alarming. We must keep our fingers crossed that it doesn’t happen.

Behind Latte Lath, it is likely that Finn Azaz will be given the opportunity to fulfil the No 10 role. If he is to play there on a regular basis, then he must score a decent number of goals in addition to setting up a few for Latte Lath. The arrival of Delano Burgzorg is a shot in the arm for the squad as a whole and will provide valuable competition to keep the other attackers on their toes.

Carrick sets up his sides to try to score as many goals as possible. He now has the key players at his disposal to hopefully produce the goods. Karanka had a different approach in that his target was to try to keep a clean sheet in every game, in the theory that one goal would be enough to take all three points.

As a result, there were few high scorers in the team, with David Nugent leading the way in the Championship with a mere eight goals. Cristhian Stuani top scored in all competitions with 11 goals. Remarkably, the Uruguayan started just 20 games in the Championship, coming off the bench on another 16 occasions.

It’s hard to imagine that if Carrick had a 29-year-old Stuani in his squad he would not ensure that Cristhian started every game, such was his finishing prowess in front of goal. When Stuani left Boro in 2017 he joined Girona, and has since gone on to score an average of a goal in every two games for the Spanish club, many of his goals coming in top flight football.

He was often used as a right-sided player by Karanka. Stuani did a good job there but it would have been interesting to see how he might have performed as a No 10. Karanka initially fielded Diego Fabbrini at No 10 but eventually decided that he needed more from the position and brought in Gaston Ramirez as Fabbrini’s replacement in the January. This turned out to be the golden move which guaranteed promotion for the side.

Ramirez, who had failed to cut the mustard at Southampton, was an absolute revelation on Teesside. He stamped his impression on every game and was the talisman who brought the best out of the whole team. Ramirez, who was also from Uruguay like Stuani, scored seven goals in his 18 appearances. He would certainly have been top scorer if he had played throughout the full season.

One major bonus for the Boro in 2015-16 is that they suffered from very few injuries. Carrick will be hoping for similar good fortune this season. No less than 11 of Karanka’s men played in 35 or more Championship games, while eight of them made 40 or more appearances.

In addition, Karanka’s five-man defensive unit played together virtually throughout the season. That’s another thing which Carrick would love this time around.

Goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos was an ever present and a solid last line of defence, while more often or not Emilio Nsue, Dani Ayala, Ben Gibson and George Friend lined up in front of him. Ayala and Gibson were a terrific centre-back partnership. In many respect the Teesside faithful would have loved to see Ben back at the club following his departure from Norwich. After all he is one of our own.

Gibson has instead signed for Stoke City, but then Carrick has two half decent defenders for every position this season should they all remain fit. Karanka was happy to see his full-backs push on when the opportunities arose and Carrick is also likely to issue the same directive.

We know that Luke Ayling loves to get forward and so do Lukas Engel and Alex Bangura. The latter is one of my tips to be a big player for the team this season. Karanka had two orthodox wide players in Albert Adomah and Stewart Downing who were not only expected to create chances, but also to get back and defend whenever possible.

Carrick has Isaiah Jones, who is no stranger himself to defending, but is particularly effective when attacking. Izzie is expected to create plenty of openings for Latte Lath and Burgzorg this season.

The two diligent central midfielders in Karanka’s time were Grant Leadbitter and Adam Clayton, who carried out a similar job to the one which Carrick will be looking for from Jonny Howson and Hayden Hackney this season. The strong comparisons between Leadbitter and Howson are obvious though as a fan I prefer Howson, whose ability to cover every inch of the pitch knows no bounds.

It would be wonderful to think that Carrick can hang on to Hackney this season. He’s another who has been linked with a potential move away but who is vital to the smooth running of the team when he is fully fit. Karanka took Boro into the play-offs before winning promotion while Carrick also led the club into the top six in his first season in charge.

Now hopefully Carrick can pull off a similar feat this year by taking Boro back to the Premier League, preferably by an automatic promotion route. If anything Carrick’s task is arguably more difficult because the gap between the moneybags clubs and the rest of the Championship has widened considerably.

Relegated trio Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United have all benefitted from a healthy parachute payment and will all be better equipped in terms of finances to challenge for the top two places. However, look what Ipswich achieved last season on a tight budget. It can be done if you’ve got the players, the belief and a top manager at the helm.

The key to Carrick’s hopes will be in bringing in another couple of new signings who can make all the difference to the side. Then, if the injury nightmare is at last dead and buried, there’s no reason why Boro can’t be one of the big players in the Championship this time around.