After years of tipping Boro for promotion we lost faith in our summer season preview, and they’ve responded by torching the Championship with a supreme brand of Kim Hellberg-led football – Dana Malt (@danamalt) from the Boro Breakdown Podcast and James Boothby (@jamesyboz) take us through it...

Looks like we definitely lost faith in Boro just that little bit too soon. How's the season been?

DM: An enjoyable rollercoaster I’d say. We went into the season with an incredibly low mood and expectation. Plenty of fans - and neutrals - billed us to be mid-table, and for good reason I’d say. We didn’t know what we were getting with Rob Edwards, a manager who looked like a husk of a human being when Michael Carrick’s ‘sometimes very good, sometimes very shit’ Boro side twatted them 5-1 last season. Recruitment was okay, but there were plenty of new faces. Fast forward to September and we were enjoying the best start to a season EVER. Great, right? A few more games in, and slightly beige flags started to appear. Did Edwards know his best XI? Can he get more of a tune from our attack? The answer was no. At the first flicker of Wolves’ interest, he was off. Managerless Boro left in the dark 14 games in. Where do we go from here? Well, enter Kim Hellberg. We’ve been on cloud nine ever since.

JB: It's been unexpected in a word. A fast start, some unexpected upheaval and then barring the odd blip a superb run of form. And, on the whole, great football. An exciting time to be a Boro fan.

Boro in the league this season…
Boro 1-0 Swansea Fry 51
Millwall 0-3 Boro Hackney 49, Jones 87, Burgzorg 90
Norwich 1-2 Boro Sargent 85 – Azaz 43, Conway 45
Boro 1-0 Sheff Utd Conway 64
Preston 2-2 Boro Dobbin 22, Storey 88 – Targett 72, Hansen 90
Boro 2-1 West Brom Strelec 26, Sene 61 – Heggebo 90
Southampton 1-1 Boro Armstrong 61 – Sene 77
Boro 0-0 Stoke
Pompey 1-0 Boro Min-Hyeok 23
Boro 2-1 Ipswich Kipre og 45, Whittaker 55 – O’Shea 76
Sheff Wed 0-1 Boro Whittaker 6
Boro 1-1 Wrexham Hackney 80 – Windass 7
Watford 3-0 Boro Louza 15, Kjerrumgaard 32, Doumbia 49
Leicester 1-1 Boro Ayew pen 45 – Ayling 90
Boro 2-1 Birmingham Fry 17, Hackney 45 – Gray 29
Oxford 1-1 Boro Harris 28 – Whittaker 54
Boro 2-4 Coventry Whittaker 32, Thomas og 49 – Simms 10, 86, Kitching 14, 85
Boro 2-1 Derby Targett 75, Whittaker 84 – Agyemang 2
Hull 1-4 Boro Gelhardt pen 62 – Strelec 9, Gilbert 32, Whittaker 35, McGree 44
Charlton 1-2 Boro Edmundson og 81 -McGree 33, Whittaker 45
Boro 3-1 QPR Strelec 30, Whittaker 36, Conway pen 50 – Madsen pen 70
Bristol City 2-0 Boro Riis 17, Atkinson 62
Boro 0-0 Blackburn
Boro 0-1 Hull Gyabi 12
Derby 1-0 Boro Clark 70
Boro 4-0 Southampton Whittaker 54, 66, Silvera 61, Browne 76
West Brom 2-3 Boro price 75, Wallace 80 – Taylor og 42, Silvera 58, Burgzorg 90
Stoke 1-2 Boro Rigo 15 – Browne 48, Conway 59
Boro 4-0 Preston Browne 9, Conway 28, 54, Whittaker 42
Boro 1-0 Norwich Hackney 17
Sheff Utd 1-2 Boro Bamford 73 – Conway 19, McGree 45
Coventry 3-1 Boro Wright 21, 55, pen 71 – McGree 67
Boro 0-0 Oxford
Boro 1-1 Leicester McGree 45 – Okoli 18
Birmingham 1-3 Boro Ducksch 48 – Targett 13, 26, Strelec 60

I thought the wheels might come off when Edwards abdicated, but you've got better under Kim Hellberg - how and why?

DM: We had somebody who relied heavily on good vibes and a dashing smile and replaced him with a proper meticulous football nerd. One connection of mine that is in and around the club said of Boro under Edwards: “I don’t even think they worked on attacking” but credited the out-of-possession work and fitness standards. Hellberg has come in and done his homework. You can tell. He went to great lengths to see what these bunch of players are all about. For example, he went through all of our strikers' goals within the last few seasons and noticed they’ve not scored a lot with their head. How that shows up in the games is that a large majority of our crosses into the box will be along the floor from narrow areas or cut-backs from the byline. He sees which areas players suit best, which is why you’ll see Tommy Conway operate wide left rather than central. It’s why Morgan Whittaker will be central instead of out wide. It’s why he started with a 4-2-2-2 - a system that he admitted he’d never played with before. He’s been really good at adapting to what brings the best out of Boro and deserves immense credit for that.

JB: Without wishing to give Edwards too much credit, he did leave a fairly solid base to work from. Whilst we had started to trend downwards, he had brought some belief back. But Hellberg has taken things to another level. He has taken the defensive strengths we had, and built on it with attacking intent. High press, quick football. Feels like the best bits of Carrick and Edwards welded together. We are so lucky to have him, in the nicest possible way he is a football nerd. He just loves it. Ask him the right question in the presser and he will talk tactics for five minutes. A joy to listen to.

What Boro should we expect this Sunday? Suddenly went to a back three and attacking width on Monday when previously you'd been tight and playing through the middle of teams...

DM: It’s a really interesting question. I assume we’ll tweak our approach slightly. Birmingham were WIDE open on their right-hand side, which played very much into Boro’s wing-back system. It makes me wonder if Hellberg saw something in the build up to the game that prompted him to set Boro up like that. Honestly, if I could have a wild stab in the dark, I’d say we’ll revert back to ‘our way’ - playing short from goal kicks and trying to play through teams rather than over, which is what we saw more of on Monday night; Boro going long and more direct rather than utilising those short passing sequences in build-up.

JB: To be honest it is hard to say. It feels like the preferred system is a 4-2-2-2, but Hellberg likes it be pretty fluid. Can end up adopting a number of different shapes throughout the match. The three at the back worked well against Brum, and definitely caught them off guard but would not be hugely surprised to see us switch back to a four. Either way, expect a high press and for us to look to dominate the midfield.

What was done in January? What was left undone?

DM: Not too much, which could either be seen as a good thing (little disruption) or an oversight (not securing more quality to get us over the line). Jeremy Sarmiento came in on loan from Brighton. He’s a promotion tap-in merchant, so at the very least he’s a good omen. We’ve seen little flashes of him but he’s only been given one start so far. Leo Castledine came in on a permanent deal from Chelsea after a hot half-a-season at Huddersfield. He’s been injured in recent weeks but could be back for the visit to QPR on Sunday. Young left-back Fin Munroe was signed from Aston Villa after a loan spell at Swindon. Ian Holloway regarded him as the best full-back he’s worked with since Seamus Coleman and then launched a random indirect rant at Aston Villa for letting him go on a permanent (Go on Ol, love him – ed). Joe Wildsmith concluded our business and has been our number two goalkeeper. It was an alright month. It didn’t move me, but we might be okay. Some fans wanted another centre forward, but that’s like finding a needle in a haystack in January.

JB: Malanda is the big move we made in January. Was bought in the summer window, but allowed him to stay at Charlotte on loan until their season ended. An absolute Rolls Royce of a centre back and already looks like he will be played at the top level next season with or without us. Also brought in Leo Castledine who showed some promise in his first couple of games before getting injured, and Fin Munroe from Villa as left back cover. Debate was raging amongst Boro fans over whether we needed a centre forward as well. Conway has started to find the net since then, and Strelec is back from injury now but still feels one short. Especially if Conway was to be injured.

Summer Ins >>> David Strelec, 24, CF, Bratislava, £7m >>> Adilson Malanda, 23, CB, Charlotte, £6m >>> Sontje Hansen, 23, RW, Nijmegen, £3m >>> Abdoulaye Kante, 20, DM, Troyes, £2.5m >>> Kaly Sene, 24, CF, Lausanne, £1m >>> Alfie Jones, 27, CB, Hull, Undisclosed >>> Callum Brittain, 27, RB, Blackburn, Undisclosed >>> Jon McLaughlin, 37, GK, Swansea, Free >>> Sverre Nypan, 18, CM, Man City, Loan >>> Matt Targett, 29, LB, Newcastle, Loan >>> Alan Browne, 30, CM, Sunderland, Loan

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