Middlesbrough’s Pace a Real Threat to Tottenham

By Ryan Wrenn | Feb 3, 2017

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 20: Ben Davies of Spurs in action during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round Replay match between Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur at The King Power Stadium on January 20, 2016 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /

It’s not often that you can pinpoint an area of weakness in this Tottenham team, but Middlesbrough might end up so lucky.

Saturday’s clash at White Hart Lane pits a Tottenham riding an eight match unbeaten record against a team that hasn’t won in the Premier League since mid-December.

Prior to that 3-0 win over a hapless Swansea, Middlesbrough could claim only three Premier League wins to their credit — two of which came against similarly relegation-threatened teams Sunderland and Hull.

Boro is also winless against any team in the top six, having been outscored by a combined total of nine goals to three, including a 2-1 loss to Tottenham back in September.

There’s one strength Boro manager Aitor Karanka can count on however. After conceding a league-best 31 goals in 46 matches played in the Championship last season, Boro again lean heavily on their defense. Their 26 goals conceded is a better defensive record than any other team from 8th place down, and indeed is two less goals than both Liverpool and Manchester City.

If Boro fans find little solace in such numbers, it’s likely because of a limp and almost entirely ineffective attack. With just 19 goals to their credit, they are currently the most wasteful team in the Premier League.

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Like most other mid and lower table Premier League teams, Boro’s issues are largely the result of an Isle of Misfit Toys attacking lineup. Manchester City castoff Álvaro Negredo is at least in part responsible for ten of those 19 goals scored.

Gastón Ramírez once commanded a £12 million fee from Southampton when that amounted to a lot of money, and now only semi-reliably works the engine room in Boro’s attack.

Boro’s biggest signing of the January transfer window was the re-acquisition of Patrick Bamford, a once-prolific young striker who since his return from loan to Chelsea seems to have all but withered away.

Few could blame Tottenham’s defensive line for not mustering much fear in the face of such an attacking lineup. There is one possible exception here however.

In the second half of that 2-1 match back in September, Karanka brought onto the pitch a young winger only recently acquired from Aston Villa. The 21-year-old Adama Traoré came in and immediately added a piercing edge to Boro’s attack, actively driving the ball forward with some keen dribbling and a magnetic attraction toward the penalty area.

If it didn’t make an impact on the day, it at least suggested that Boro might have the makings of secret weapon on their hands. Here was an enthusiastic and direct player to disjoint defenses and break open the club’s attacking potential.

To date it has not quite gone exactly to that plan. Traoré’s career began in Barcelona’s vaunted youth system, but since joining the Villains the season prior the Spaniard struggled to live up to that standard. His dribbling was indeed exceptional. Anywhere from the halfway line to the edge of the opposition’s penalty area was his to boss and rip apart.

The problem is that that was about the long and short of his talents. He could get the ball forward, but rarely knows what to do with it when he does get in range of goal. In sixteen appearances — including ten starts — for Boro this term, he has yet to contribute either a goal or an assist.

That will not stop Karanka from starting Traoré on Saturday. Fruitless though it might be, Traoré remains Boro’s most kinetic option, and pitting him against Ben Davies might be ideal.

The Welshman will likely be in for the injured Danny Rose. Though he tends to excel in defensive situations, a player like Traoré will keep him pinned back and unable to lend even his usual lackluster attacking nous to the match.

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For a team like Tottenham, missing out on an adventurous full-back means essentially coping without one half of the attack. So narrow does Pochettino prefer to have his team attack that Rose and Kyle Walker on the opposite flank are often the team’s only sources of width. Should Traoré again prove a menace, Tottenham run the risk of a lopsided effort against a surprisingly stern Boro defense.

Even if Traoré et. al. might not score, Pochettino will be anxious to avoid another draw. To do he will have to have a plan in place to either contain Traoré, or perhaps hope that he will falter if left to his own devices.