Hard lessons for Boro to learn

BORO have learned the hard way that even a massive £40m outlay does not guarantee immediate success.

The large group of summer signings, overseen by a new management team, created great anticipation on Teesside.

It was a positive and brave attempt to turn things around quickly. Boro seemed all set to wipe away the agony of relegation in one fell swoop. Yet the agony goes on and the feeling of abject disappointment lingers.

So why have things not been working out so far? Well, maybe we should have realised from the start that the odds were not in Boro’s favour.

After all, it has become unusual in recent years for a team to win promotion immediately following relegation from the top flight. The rigours of Championship football can provide a shock to the system.

Boro’s fellow relegated sides, Sunderland and Hull City, have fared even worse. In fact both have already sacked their managers.

Now Garry Monk is clearly under pressure to produce at Boro because results – and performances – have not been good enough.

Yet there was no reason to doubt Monk’s appointment during the summer. He is a young, forward-looking manager who did well in his first two managerial roles.

At the time of his arrival on Teesside, he possessed all the right credentials.

It was a fact, too, that the squad needed a complete overhaul. Boro were in freefall last season and there was never a chance of the same players being able to bounce back at the first attempt.

The signings, too, were reasonable on paper. Unfortunately the evidence suggests that some have not fitted in as well as might be hoped.

Britt Assombalonga, Boro’s record signing at £14m, has arguably turned out to be the best.

He is on target to score 20 goals for the campaign. That’s good going, especially as he might score 20 in a mid-table side.

Cyrus Christie has done well, while Darren Randolph is a great shot stopper Middlesbrough manager Garry Monk has a word with Britt Assombalonga despite the occasional problem with his kicking under pressure.

Yet most of the other signings still have something to prove. Some of them cannot even get into the team.

The large influx of new faces meant that Monk needed time to work out his best team. He has finally established a settled line-up during the past few weeks, yet this has come hand in hand with a poor run of results.

The biggest problem is that Boro have been under-performing. They have failed to compete against the Championship’s better sides.

If there is quality within the squad, as we suspect, then it is up to the manager to ensure that his team wins the battle on the pitch to give the extra quality the chance to shine through.

There is still hope, even if Boro’s target is now the play-offs.

But everybody at the Riverside must start to do better.