FOOTBALL is a numbers game: the comfortable victory over Reading made it three wins on the spin, three clean sheets, nine points from nine, six points off the play-offs… they are great digits to wave goodbye to a traumatic 2013 that has been dominated by a long downward spiral of negative numbers that led to Mogga’s P45.
Boro now have 36 goals. Only the top two Derby and Leicester have scored more. Of course, scoring goals was never the problem. Even under Tony Mowbray Boro were rattling the goals in: threes, fours, a cluster of 2-2 draws. The problem was keeping them out and no matter what combination of players were used, goals were seeping through – especially from set-plays deep in the red zone. Being two goals up wasn’t a guarantee of a point.
But the ever open door that was Boro’s Achilles heel has slowly creaked shut under Aitor Karanka.
Continue reading ¡No Pasarán! Boro’s New Look Steely Defence Starts From The Front