Don Goodman says after West Brom’s victory, “Has to get better” regarding Middlesbrough and 2024–2025.

Middlesbrough will make the playoffs this year after their convincing victories over West Brom and Stoke City.

After a sluggish start to the season, Michael Carrick’s team has recently emerged victorious

and is now just outside of the top six.
They could reach a turning point in their campaign,

especially after their 1-0 victory over West Brom midweek at the Hawthorns.

With 16 points from 21 games, the Baggies led the league entering Tuesday night’s match,

but Boro delivered them a second straight loss to drop them to fourth.

Hayden Hackney’s second goal of the match in the 73rd minute gave Middlesbrough a

crucial three points as they looked to finish in the top six.

Middlesbrough has been a standout club in the league, according to Goodman,

who has hailed the team’s start to the season.

But he has brought up a concern about their goalkeeping,

pointing out that they are already well below their predicted goals (xG)

for the season and saying that this needs to change in order to strengthen their top six standings.

“There’s no denying that Middlesbrough has been among the league’s top teams in terms of performance levels,” Goodman stated.

They had an xG of 13.5 prior to Tuesday night, yet they have only scored eight goals!

They’ve only scored three goals from open play, three from set pieces,

two penalties, and one own goal, so that needs to change.

“It needs to improve.

“When they played Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, I witnessed that myself.

Even though Emmanuel Latte Lath, Tommy Conway, and Matt Clarke all had scoring opportunities,

Middlesbrough will almost definitely finish in the top six.

“They’ve gained nine more points than they did at this stage in the previous campaign,

when they had an unexpected start.

Michael Carrick will understand that there comes a time when you have to concentrate on scoring,

but in my opinion, Boro is among the top three or four teams in the Championship.

“As of right now, I fail to see how Middlesbrough can not finish in the top six.”

Middlesbrough is only one point outside of the play-off spots going into this weekend’s action,

sitting seventh in the league.

Their recent back-to-back victories have put them back in

the running to be promoted to the Premier League.

There is still a lot of football to be played this season, though, as it is still early in the season.

Carrick’s team will next travel to Watford, who is now ranked seventh, for a 3 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.