Aitor Karanka not concerned about Boro team's lack of goals

Aitor Karanka is “not concerned” by his team’s apparent lack of goals.

Boro have the best defensive record in the Championship so far this season but are only eighth on the ‘goals scored’ chart.

That’s left the club with an impressive plus-28 ‘goal difference’, which is the third best in the division.

However, there’s a train of thought among a section of the fanbase that Boro’s relative lack of goals could scupper their promotion prospects.

When asked about the issues, Karanka said: “My concern would be if we were seventh or 10th in the table, but when you are second in the table and the balance between the goals that you are scoring and the goals that you are conceding is good, then I’m not concerned.

“We are second in the table and the balance is good. All the players are committed with their defensive actions and we have quality up front to score goals.

“I would like to have 10 or 15 more goals and six more points,” he added, tongue in cheek, “but the balance is good and the confidence in the squad is good.”

So is it fair to say Karanka’s philosophy is to build a watertight defence and then add a creative element at the other end of the pitch?

“Yes,” he answered, “because in Spain we say, ‘to build a house you must start with the floor’.

“I like to start without conceding goals and then when we have quality up front to score we are going to win a lot of games.

“It’s very important for me that we don’t concede goals.”

That’s not to say Karanka isn’t frustrated that his strikers aren’t converting their chances but he doesn’t want to change his tactics and throw caution to the wind.

He also believes the fact that Boro are creating so many goalscoring opportunities is a positive sign in itself.

“I don’t think we need to take any more risks,” he said. “I would be concerned if we were finishing games and we hadn’t created chances. Against Bolton we created four or five clear chances. We finished the game with many chances. Against Leeds I lost count of the chances we had.

“I don’t think it’s a concern that we finished the game and only scored one goal, because we won the game, but if we had created four or five every single game and weren’t winning it would be a concern.”

The Boro boss admits pressure may be one of the reasons his strikers are not converting more goalscoring chances.

“Sometimes it’s the pressure,” he said. “For example in the last game we could have had two or three shots from outside the box, but the players decided to pass the ball instead of shoot. Sometimes it’s the moment and it is their responsibility, but I’m not concerned about the number of goals.”