Middlesbrough are still not completely out of the race for a place in the Championship play-offs as things stand.
Michael Carrick‘s side currently sit 10th in the second-tier table. They are seven points adrift of the top six, with eight games of their regular season still to play.
As a result, they do still have a chance of breaking into the play-off, to give themselves a chance of winning promotion.
However, Middlesbrough will surely have to be almost perfect in the run-in if they are to do that, given the form of those teams above them.
Now though, it appears there is a belief may not have the quality required to do that, among some observers.
Middlesbrough given play-off verdict
Last summer saw a considerable overhaul at ‘Boro. In total, 12 new players were added to Michael Carrick’s first-team squad.
Meanwhile, numerous others would depart The Riverside Stadium. Now, Graeme Bailey believes that those brought in to the club, are not up to the standard needed to do the jobs they were brought in for.
He also feels that a lack of goals, is a major problem for the club. When asked whether he thinks Middlesbrough can reach the play-offs this season, the journalist told boro.news:
“There’s always a chance, but I don’t think they are good enough for top six. Middlesbrough don’t score enough goals, they really don’t. As I’ve said previously, I think it was a pretty poor summer transfer window. The team went backwards massively, in some regards.”
Next for ‘Boro is a trip to St Mary’s on Friday afternoon to face Southampton, when they return after the international break.
Goals undoubtedly a problem for ‘Boro
It is hard to argue with the suggestion that Middlesbrough are not scoring enough goals at this moment in time.
So far this season, they have scored just 53 goals in 38 league games so. Only one team in the Championship’s top ten has found the net less frequently.
Indeed, Chuba Akpom’s contributions from last season have been a big miss, and they have not been able to find a consistent goalscorer to replace him this time round.
That in turn, has made it much harder for them to pick up the results they need consistently, to break into the play-off places.
Meanwhile, the fact they have been unable to find a replacement for Akpom, highlights just one of the areas where they appear not to have been good enough in the market.
Even some of their recent wins, such as the one at Birmingham City, have arguably not been as convincing as they should have been.
With that in mind, even if Middlesbrough did somehow break into the top six, it is hard to imagine them then being able to produce the performances needed to win promotion once they got there.