Football Season Guide

Following a poor start to last season, Middlesbrough parted ways with veteran boss Neil Warnock and replaced him with former Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder. He oversaw a dramatic turnaround in results, including a remarkable unbeaten home run but, after fading in the remaining few weeks, Boro missed out on the playoffs by five points. First summer window under Wilder and he has made the impressive signing of Lenihan for his back three, whilst Giles will fit perfectly into the left wing-back role to provide width and a constant threat with his crossing. Following the end of the loan spells of Sporar, Balogun and Connolly, Boro are light in attacking options as things stand, particularly as Wilder opts to play two strikers at a time in his 3-5-2 lineups. Little else has changed at Middlesbrough, with Wilder keeping things consistent like he did with the Blades, although Marcus Tavernier's future is under threat with offers from Premier League clubs, which would be a huge blow. Boro have an excellent manager for this level of football and have solved their goalkeeping issues of last season with the impressive arrival of Steffen, and have a settled defence and solid spine of the team. However, strikers must be targeted during the remainder of the transfer window to solve the lack of firepower currently on show.