UPDATE: Middlesbrough must hijack Bristol City interest as QPR transfer stance revealed: Opinion

Indeed, one could make a strong case that only Burnley’s modernised tiki-taka philosophy was easier on the eye.

But, despite the premature and tender age of the new season, Middlesbrough appear a far cry from implementing those ideologies to such devastating effect this time around.

Michael Carrick has, it must be said, navigated choppy and unforgiving waters in the summer window, one in which has seen him lose 29-goal forward Chuba Akpom and fail to strike loan returns for Ryan Giles, Cameron Archer and Aaron Ramsey, all of whom proved vital to their fourth-placed finish and precisely executed his ideas into practice.

It has revealed an antithetical set of circumstances in contrast to how a club of Boro’s latest trajectory should really stand, as they have embarked upon the season looking considerably weaker than last time out, when, in reality, they should be even stronger ahead of a bid to finally return to the Premier League.

That ambition cannot yet be discarded, either.

Though, if it is to harvest into reality then Carrick will need to take a long, hard look at their opening two league encounters and source the requisite footballing profiles to address the blaring alarms that have sounded.

Middlesbrough’s first two Championship games

The unpredictability entailed within the very essence of the Championship means that the script is rarely ever followed, but nonetheless, few could have anticipated how Middlesbrough would initiate proceedings.

For the inaugural curtain-raiser at the Riverside Stadium, they were put the sword by Millwall’s Romain Esse- who only celebrated his 18th birthday in May- in a fixture that underlined their struggles to translate many of Carrick’s footballing principles across the white line.

Sure, they kept the ball- 68% of it, in fact- but a mere two shots on target, an xG of just 0.78 and not a single big chance created provided all the evidence, albeit at an early stage, that Boro simply need a bit more.

For context, no team in the Championship amassed a higher xG than Middlesbrough’s 73.9, and only second-placed Sheffield United created more big chances than their 76 in the previous season.

Opening day nerves are to be accounted for, mind, and Boro supporters can be forgiven for hoping and expecting to consume a renewed cohesive attacking unit in Saturday’s trip to Coventry City.

It did not quite turn out like that, though.

The Teessiders were ran ragged by last season’s play-off adversaries in a harrowing 3-0 defeat, which posed just as many question marks towards their defensive structure as it did for their rather one-dimensional forward rhythm.

Summer signing Morgan Rogers was deployed just behind the striker and proved the sole ringleader of his side’s final third flow through drifting runs at defenders and into space, yet, it did not bear anything substantial.

Aside from the 21-year-old, Boro looked devoid of any verve moving forward as their wide players struggled to impact the course of the game and though their 1.33 xG and two big chances carved out arrived as an increase on the Millwall performance, they were once again unable to warm the palms of the opposition’s shot-stopper more than twice.

Granted, the loss in the West Midlands has served to highlight more than one shortcoming, but the lack of goal threat and inventiveness throughout the attacking stable- notably from wide areas- is an undoubted cause of concern that simply must be actioned sooner rather than later.

The five strikes in 11 outings from Aston Villa’s Ramsey supplemented an extra goal threat into Middlesbrough’s forward line, whereas assist-kingpin Giles laid no less than eleven goals for his teammates, meaning that there are gaping holes that have been opened up and now need to be closed.

The styles of play do differ, but the end product benchmarks- and a bit more- could be reclaimed by re-launching their interest in QPR’s Chris Willock in the wake of the club’s reported stance of preferring to cash in on the 25-year-old than perennial playmaker Ilias Chair.

Bristol City transfer interest in QPR’s Chris Willock

As exclusively reported by us here at Football League World, Bristol City are looking to engineer a move for Willock, who is approaching the final twelve months of his current deal at QPR.

Of course, that makes him a property on the transfer front as clubs often cash in at this point to prevent the risk of losing an asset for nothing the following summer, and that is something that the Robins are actively attempting to utilise after already raiding QPR once this window.

But Willock will only follow defender Rob Dickie down the M4 if wage demands are met, with this factor proving a stumbling block in any potential deal as things stand.

While it would be easy to suggest that the Robins will now hold a significant transfer kitty at their disposal through the £25m sale of prodigious midfielder Alex Scott to Bournemouth, boss Nigel Pearson reiterated prior to the transfer departure that there is little scope for the club to go out and splash the cash, or even readjust their financial set-up to make room for new wages.