First friendly could reveal a lot of Wilder’s plans for Boro
FIRST RUN-OUTS IN RED FOR NEW FACES
THE wait is finally over and those long boring Saturdays are no more.
Middlesbrough are back in action today as they kick off their pre-season schedule with a friendly at Bishop Auckland.
It is the second summer in a row Boro have begun their summer friendlies at Heritage Park and manager Chris Wilder will be hoping to see his players tested early into their preparations for the new season in front of a sold-out crowd in Durham.
All 1,900 tickets have been snapped up for the friendly, which kicks off at 1.00 today.
Wilder will be looking for particular things from his players in their first outing of the summer and it is fair to say from a fans’ perspective there will be plenty to look out for too.
We reveal some of the things we will be looking out for.
NEW PLAYERS IN ACTION FOR THE FIRST TIME
Boro have made three new signings so far – Liam Roberts, Ryan Giles and Darragh Lenihan – and all will be in action at Heritage Park.
New players always bring with them a sense of intrigue and excitement and fans in attendance will have a first glimpse of the new arrivals, who will no doubt be hoping to give a good first impression of themselves too.
NEW HOME KIT
We are still waiting to see Boro’s new away kit but unless theyo spring a surprise, expect today to be the first time we see the club’s new home shirt given an outing too.
Given Bishop Auckland play in blue - the colour Boro’s away kit will be - it’s unlikely there will be any surprise shirt unveilings this weekend.
The new red threads are what Wilder’s side will be expected to wear for the Bishop friendly after mixed reviews so far.
The new Errea kit did not initially catch the imagination of supporters when first unveiled by the club with club hero Fabrizio Ravanelli modelling.
Yet the more fans have seen of it, particularly when donned by the new signings, the more positive the comments towards it have been.
WHO IS HUNGRY TO IMPRESS?
This might be just a friendly game and ultimately about building match sharpness ahead of the new season but, make no mistake, Wilder will be expecting players to impress and stake a claim.
The ambitious Boro boss has plans to bring in many new signings before the start of the season with his desire to have a really strong squad next term full of depth and quality.
In that respect, competition for places is going to strong and for those players at the club these early games are a chance to impress and keep themselves high in Wilder’s thinking.
There are players, such as Martin Payero and Marc Bola, who have work to do to convince the Boro boss after last season.
It will be interesting to see the intensity levels and which players look hungry to impress. You would hope that would be most of them.
RESHUFFLING AND EXPERIMENTING
Quite often pre-season offers managers a chance to do some experimenting.
In Wilder’s case this summer it would be a surprise if he moved away from his favoured 3-5-2 formation, though he might at times take a look at 3-4-3 which he often switches to if needing to take something from a game later on.
In general, though, after having limited time during the season last term to work on intricate details of how he wants his Boro side to play, expect the formation to be fairly consistent as he uses the summer friendlies to try and get his Boro side well-drilled in exactly how he wants it to look next season.
The experimenting then, if any at all, could be more around individuals and their positions. Lenihan’s arrival leaves question marks over the back line with him, Anfernee Dijksteel and Paddy McNair all right-sided centre-backs.
Hoever, Lenihan and McNair are comfortable to the left of Dael Fry, while McNair can also play in midfield.
Could Wilder experiment with switching the Northern Ireland international back into the middle of the pitch?
Having yet to sign a left-footed centre-back, could that potentially offer Bola a chance to showcase his potential to provide cover for that position next season as well as his more natural left wing-back role?
ANY YOUNGSTERS GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY
One the of exciting parts of preseason every year is seeing some youngsters play in the first team and monitoring them to see if any have what it takes to make that step up to the senior squad.
Last summer Jeremy Sivi started very well but it was the consistency of Isaiah Jones which ultimately made him Boro’s breakthrough star last season. Can any players follow in his footsteps this summer?
Boro need cover for Jones at right wing-back and highly-rated Joe Gibson not only excelled in that role as captain of the under-23s last term, he also impressed on his firstteam debut at Mansfield in the FA Cup third round
Kamil Conteh arrives at the club this summer from Watford and, while initially an under-23 signing, he has solid pedigree and could push for a more prominent role with a strong pre-season.
Where the Teessiders are perhaps shortest right now, as the club continues to work hard on new signings, is upfront.
Forwards Uche Ikpeazu and Chuba Akpom have been told to find new clubs< leaving Duncan Watmore as the only senior striker at the club
Josh Coburn has enough firstteam experience now and should get a good chance to push for more minutes next season if he can impress in these early games.
This could also be an exciting opportunity for academy striker Cal Kavanagh, who has had an impressive couple of seasons.
The Ireland youth international scored goals for fun at youth level and while goals were harder to come by on loan at Harrogate in the second half of last season the experience gained might serve him well.
His style of play looks suited to Wilder’s way of playing.