Tuesday night’s Championship matchup between Middlesbrough and Cardiff City has two hot teams going head-to-head.
In what Michael Carrick referred to as a “big week” last week, Middlesbrough finally got their season going. However, they will now face a new challenge when Cardiff City comes to the Riverside on Tuesday night.
The fact that Southampton and Watford are both considered to have stronger individual qualities than the Bluebirds on paper might offer Boro confidence going into Tuesday’s match following triumphs over the aforementioned pair. But since football isn’t played on paper, the form table tells a completely different tale.
As both the Saints and Watford entered the Boro games on the heels of dismal runs, it might be stated that Boro’s recent string of league victories came just in time for them. Cardiff appears to present a different challenge for Boro than the two victories, which have helped them gain some momentum after a slow start to the season themselves. After a strong start to the season, Erol Bulut’s team is currently sixth with a four-game winning streak.
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“In some ways, we feel like we’re building some momentum,” Carrick said in his preview. We had a tremendously nice week with three victories. Prior performances had given us confidence in our ability to accomplish that. We do not, however, think that we have solved the problem. The key thing is what happens next, and we have two extremely good games ahead of us.
We strive to build on the good things from the previous week. They’re having a good run, though. They are now at the top of the table with many points, and even the games they have lost have been quite close. Cardiff is a team that tries to play through the pitch, according to our analysis of them this season.
“[Aaron] They have relied heavily on Ramsey, but he is currently unavailable. On the break, they are well-organized and dangerous. We know it’s going to be a tough game because they have a lot of threats all over the team. It’s going to be a tough game because they come in confidence following some really excellent performances in recent weeks.
Bulut, the former manager of Fenerbahce, is pleased with his start in South Wales. It was their fifth victory of the year and fourth straight after defeating Rotherham United 2-0 at home on Saturday. However, they have only won one of their four away games thus far as the Turkish manager tries to lower expectations.
The manager praised his start and stated, “It’s perfect.” “Four victories and we’re back to our winning ways and battling ways, which is what I expected from the beginning. Even though our last four games have gone incredibly well, we must keep working hard. There are only a couple of days left before our match against Middlesbrough.
“In today’s game, we noticed that the opposition stayed close and made an effort to limit their chances in the opening period. It was difficult to launch the defense. But it was much simpler to find other opportunities after the first goal. Following the second goal, we had another two or three chances to score the third. But I’m happy with how my squad performed.
It is tough to find good players on the market when you can’t spend money, but we tried our best given how difficult the transfer period was for us due to the punishment we received. Our board put a lot of effort into facilitating transfers. I believe we have some quality players.
“Everything needs to function and unite. It’s challenging to construct everything so quickly from today to tomorrow. We need time for this, and we still have work to do to get to our desired destination. We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do. If we can continue, it will be lot better. It is difficult to maintain it this way, but we’ll try.
Then, it might be a significant test for Boro’s newly found momentum. Carrick is hopeful that home crowd support can help his team. The Boro manager believes the game will benefit from playing under the lights at the Riverside for the first time this season.
Carrick said, “We’re looking forward to it.”
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