The Guardian’s fan-led Championship pre-season preview had a Boro fan loosely predicting a finish of “anywhere between second and 20th”.
The 2018-19 Championship season is now at the exact halfway point, with 23 out of 46 league games having been played just in time for Christmas Day.
Middlesbrough currently sit fourth in the table, with 39 points so far, but despite seemingly being in a good position, there is concern among some of the fans about Tony Pulis’ style of play.
Even before the season started, the Boro fan writing in the Guardian’s Championship season preview hinted that their manager’s philosophy is akin to head tennis (or “Pulisball”, as he put it) and jokingly said he would have to train his neck muscles in preparation.
The Teessiders didn’t have the best pre-season, losing to Sturm Graz, Accrington Stanley and Rochdale, as well as being unable to face Sunderland due to weather issues, while the transfer activity in the summer saw some of the club’s big names sold, such as Patrick Bamford, Ben Gibson and Adama Traore (Transfermarkt).
That said, Boro remain well in the promotion hunt and have reached the halfway point of the season on a relatively high note, following up back-to-back defeats in all competitions – the loss to Burton a particularly sore point – with a 1-0 win at Reading secured through George Friend’s late winner.
However, they were in the top two just a month ago, so their slump over the subsequent four weeks, as well as Pulis’ oft-criticised style of football and the team’s low goal tally, means that not everyone is content with how things are going at the Riverside Stadium.
Indeed, the Twitter comments from some fans upon the final whistle at the Madejski Stadium sums up the difference in opinions among the fanbase with regards to the current state of affairs at Boro:
Going back to the Guardian’s pre-season preview, Boro fan Gareth Purver was unsure where the team would finish at the end of the campaign, settling for a guess of “anywhere between second and 20th”.
So with the club fourth in the standings and Pulis sticking to type in terms of his kind of football, it looks as though things are going very much as expected – perhaps even better, considering Boro’s position is at the higher end of Gareth’s prediction.
It remains to be seen what the second half of the season brings – the January transfer window is crucial in terms of strengthening the front line, and if the Welshman is kept on at the Riverside, fans’ neck muscles may certainly be aching a lot more come May – but it will surely have been worth it if promotion to the Premier League is achieved.
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