GIVEN the talent in Michael Carrick's squad there's been a lot of focus on Middlesbrough's attack so far this season - which has resulted in their impressive defensive improvement going somewhat under the radar.
Last season, eighth placed Boro conceded 62 goals - more than five of the seven teams above them and five sides who finished in the bottom half.
So far this term, however, only Burnley and Sheffield United have conceded fewer than Boro's five.
And Boro should, in truth, be topping the Championship pile when it comes to the league's best defence, for the majority of the goals they've conceded have come from sloppy individual errors. Derby's winner, Portsmouth's two goals at the Riverside and Chris Rigg's backheel for Sunderland all came from mistakes and were avoidable.
Take those errors out of the equation and Boro have defended extremely well. Indeed, in total, opposition sides have only managed 13 shots on target in the first eight games of the season - and six of those came from Cardiff City and Pompey.
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And Boro's defensive improvement is all the more impressive when you consider they've been without best centre-half Rav van den Berg for a large chunk of the opening stages of the season and Darragh Lenihan and Dael Fry haven't yet kicked a ball. Carrick has had to tinker with his defence on an almost weekly basis but only three teams in the second tier have kept more clean sheets.
“It’s one of the things we’ve really been conscious of and trying to focus on," said head coach Carrick ahead of today's trip to Watford.
"Woody [Jonathan Woodgate] does a lot of work with the back four and credit to him for that.
"Certainly though, it’s a team thing. You look at Manu, for example, and the recent impact he’s had, it’s not necessarily the goals but he’s playing his role as everyone else is and we’re stronger for that.
"The boys are buying into it, but sometimes having that success from it is much easier than us just telling them and showing them because they feel it. They certainly feel it and are growing from it.
"Whoever plays, whoever comes on, you can see their impact. It’s definitely something that, to be successful, we have to be a good team out of possession. At the moment, we’re doing a lot of good things with and without the ball but we’ve got to keep doing that."
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