Gareth Southgate believes defence is the best form of attack for Middlesbrough as he seeks a more ruthless approach at both ends of the pitch.The Boro manager swiftly signalled his intention to play entertaining football after succeeding Steve McClaren at the Riverside Stadium and at times, his side has done just that.
But the fact that Boro only secured their Premier League status in their 37th game of the season for the second successive campaign graphically illustrates the challenge which lies ahead.
Southgate spent much of last summer attempting to recruit attack-minded players, and succeeded in the capture of Tuncay Sanli, Jeremie Aliadiere, Mido and Gary O'Neil before adding record signing Afonso Alves to the mix in January.
His focus will be on his midfield this time around after the departure of Fabio Rochemback as he looks to provide support for his frontmen and the cover to allow last season's leading scorer, Stewart Downing, the freedom to provide a regular goal-threat.
But the former England defender knows all that will count for little if his goalkeeper and defence cannot establish a firm foundation.
Asked about the entertainment value last season, Southgate said: "I don't think we did it often enough.
"What we did this year was let too many goals in and didn't give ourselves a platform to build on.
"In too many games, we went a goal behind, and that inhibited the type of football we wanted to play.
"We have got to be better organised defensively at the start of the season and then I know we have got players in the team who will excite the fans and score goals.
"It's finding the balance. I know at times, we have played good football and not converted our chances, and that has come back to bite us."
Boro found themselves in trouble as the season reached crunch time with a run of 10 league games from the end of February either side of their FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Cardiff yielding just one win.
That sequence of results included creditable draws at Aston Villa, Arsenal and Tottenham and at home to Manchester United, but with the points total ticking over only slowly, they were in danger of being engulfed by the chasing pack.
A 2-0 win over Portsmouth ultimately brought an end to their fears, and they finished with a real carnival when they trounced Manchester City 8-1 on closing day.
However, Southgate has already taken the lessons he learnt during those difficult weeks to heart.
"In the second half of the season, we let in a goal a game and that gave us a chance to win matches, he added.
"In the first half of the season, we were way above that - we were nearly two goals a game for the first 10, 15 games.
"It doesn't matter what attacking players you have got in the side, if you are conceding like that, it gives you an impossible task a lot of the time."
More Football News from TEAMtalk
