In recent seasons, Middlesbrough have certainly been known for their defensive prowess. They had the best defence and kept the most number of clean sheets in the Championship for two seasons in a row. And this past season in the Premier League they still managed to have one of the top defences outside the top six. That was until Aitor Karanka was sacked as manager in March. Steve Agnew took temporary charge of Boro for the remainder of the season. This saw Boro’s solid defence completely fall apart. Most notably in two shambolic displays vs Hull City and Bournemouth with Middlesbrough conceding four goals in each game.
With Boro now back in the Championship this season, Garry Monk has been appointed with the task of guiding Boro back to the Premier League. He has so far, had mixed results in that department as Boro currently sit 8th in the Championship. Not exactly where the fans, players or board would have envisioned Boro at this stage in the season.
One of the reason’s Middlesbrough have not exactly been great this season, specifically against the top sides, is because Monk has struggled to find a suitable partnership at centre back.
Ben Gibson has started every league game for Boro at centre back this season, which is not surprising, given that Middlesbrough had to fight to keep him over the summer, wading of interest from several Premier League teams.
However, finding Gibson’s defensive partner has proved to be challenging for Monk this season. So far, Monk has tried out three partners for Gibson. All of which have not done great. The first, Daniel Ayala has had quite a poor season for Boro by his past Championship season standards. The opening day of the season saw Middlesbrough lose 1-0 to Wolves, thanks to a Daniel Ayala error. He has also put in several poor displays this season, including the one against Derby County that Boro lost 3-0 and Ayala was sent off in the 60th minute.
The second, Dael Fry, is still only young and it may be too much to ask of him to be the centre back to secure Boro’s back line. He too has also made a few big errors and sometimes looks lost in games. This is to be expected though from such a young largely inexperienced centre-back who is still developing his game. But given Fry is still young and developing and Boro do not really have the time to wait for him to cut out these errors, he is not likely the man to partner Gibson this season if Boro want to stop conceding so many against top sides.
The third centre-back Monk has tried is Ryan Shotton. Shotton signed for Boro this summer and has probably been their worst signing. He has made just one senior appearance for Middlesbrough in a 2-2 draw with Brentford. In which he looked very poor.
This begs the question, if Boro have tried all of their available centre backs as a suitable partner for Gibson and none have really worked out as well as Boro would have liked, should they now look to bring in somebody new in January?
One man many fans would likely welcome back with open arms is Arsenal’s Calum Chambers. Chambers spent a large chunk of last season on loan at Middlesbrough. He played at both centre back and right back during his spell with Middlesbrough. And while he didn’t do great out on the right, largely due to his limited pace. When he played in the centre, he was superb.
Chambers was Gibson’s main centre-back partner last season. And as already mentioned, Boro did have a really solid defence for a side outside of the top six, until March. This was in no small part to Chambers putting in some excellent shifts partnered alongside Ben Gibson.
Unfortunately, due to the Teessider’s being relegated, Middlesbrough did not attempt to sign Chambers or re-loan him. But since his return to Arsenal, Chambers has been out in the cold with Arsene Wenger. In fact, he has featured just four times for Arsenal this season. He has played twice in the Europa League and when you look at who Wenger lines up for those games, it is clear he sees those players as his B team. Chambers has also played once in the League Cup vs Doncaster. His only other appearance for Arsenal this season has been in the Premier League 2.
So, it is quite clear that Arsenal do not really see Chambers as a first-team player. And while Chambers may not want to drop down to the Championship he may agree to a six-month loan deal to Boro, simply to get himself some actual game time. Something he clearly will not get at Arsenal. Plus, Chambers will already be familiar with Gibson as he played next to him for much of last season. Also, given his quality, it would be safe to say that if Middlesbrough were to loan Chambers, he would go a long way to fixing their defensive frailties.
