TWO games, two defeats. Suffice to say, the start of the Championship season has not really gone to plan for Middlesbrough.

The key question Michael Carrick will be wrestling with as he sifts through the wreckage of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Coventry is whether the last week is evidence of a genuine decline since the end of last season or simply the inevitable consequence of an incomplete rebuilding project that remains ongoing.

He will be hoping it is the latter, with the final three weeks of the transfer window set to witness a flurry of signings that should improve Middlesbrough’s squad.

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The signing of left-back Lukas Engel from Danish side Silkeborg should be confirmed in the next 24 hours, while Boro are also in advanced talks with Atalanta over Ivorian forward Emmanuel Latte Lath. Carrick is adamant there is a plan for the anticipated departure of Chuba Akpom, with the loss of last season’s leading scorer surely requiring significant investment into the purchase of a new playmaker to fill the ‘number ten’ role.

All of that should help – and it has to. Admittedly, we are just two games in, but the current Boro team looks markedly inferior to the side that finished last season in the play-off positions, particularly in attack. It is hardly a coincidence that Carrick’s side have failed to score in either of their opening two league games, with neither Morgan Rogers nor Matt Crooks looking remotely convincing in the positions they are currently being asked to fill.

Rogers looks dangerous when dropping deep and running at opposition defenders, as evidenced by the slaloming second-half run that took him into Coventry’s 18-yard box and almost resulted in a goal, but struggles when tasked with leading the line and holding up the ball with his back to goal. Crooks is as honest as the day is long, unfailingly giving his all, but he lacks the finesse and creative vision to replicate what Akpom was doing last season. As a result, Boro have looked toothless in their opening two games, bereft of a cutting edge in the final third.

The contrast with Coventry is stark. Boro’s weekend opponents are also in a state of upheaval, having lost their two best players from last season. Viktor Gyokeres has moved to Sporting, while Gustavo Hamer withdrew from the squad on Friday as he completed a switch to Sheffield United. Yet while Mark Robins also expects to be conducting further business in the next three weeks, the shape of a new Coventry side is already evolving with most of the key parts in place. Yes, Coventry can still be described as a work in progress, but at least the construction is well under way. When it comes to Boro, the project remains at the planning phase.

“You’ve got to understand this time of the year and the window,” said Carrick, as he reflected on his side’s defeat at the CBS Arena. “Things are thrown at you, situations are thrown at you, and we’re just trying to make the best of whatever it is. Some of it is within our control, but some of it is out of our control. That’s the transfer window for you.

“There’s a balance between judging a game and knowing where we’re at. We’re disappointed and know what we need to improve, but at the same time, the bigger picture is the bigger picture and it’s a long season. That doesn’t mean you can forget about it and think, ‘Everything is going to be rosy’ because it won’t be unless we put things right. But we’ve got long enough to put things right.”

Boro were deservedly beaten at the weekend, although Carrick is right when he points out that key moments went against his side.

Josh Eccles’ 11th-minute shot could have deflected anywhere after it struck Hayden Hackney in the Boro box, but flew invitingly for Matt Godden, who was able to hook home from close range.

Coventry’s second goal involved another deflection, with Godden’s near-post header from a corner again striking Hackney, with the ball flying to substitute Haji Wright, who drilled home from the edge of the area. The home side’s third, in stoppage time, was an own goal, with Darragh Lenihan unwittingly deflecting Godden’s cross past a helpless Seny Dieng.

Coventry were a threat whenever they counter-attacked though, with the pace and fluidity of their attack standing in marked contrast to the blunt ineffectiveness of Boro’s attacking. As had been the case in their opening game of the season against Millwall, Boro enjoyed more possession than their opponents. But as had been the case seven days earlier, they spent most of their time passing the ball sideways and failing to make any meaningful impact in the final third.

The exception came in a ten-minute flurry at the start of the second half when Boro should really have levelled. Rogers shot wide after his mazy run, Isaiah Jones slashed at a shot that flew into the side-netting and a stretching Sammy Silvera wasted a golden opportunity when he fired over from the edge of the six-yard box.

“I didn’t think it was a 3-0 game,” said Carrick, who will attempt to get his side’s league campaign up and running when they are reunited with Huddersfield Town at the Riverside on Saturday. “We did a number of good things in the game. I thought they were a good team, and it was a tight game for spells. They had a little bit extra, and then we had a little bit extra of it, but in the end, goals change games. We weren’t quite able to take the chances that we created, and that went against us.”