Town boss Roy Keane says he is looking for new strike pair David Healy and Daryl Murphy to end Town’s goalscoring woes. The duo are likely to go straight into the side facing Keane’s former Celtic boss Gordon Strachan’s much-changed Middlesbrough team at Portman Road on Saturday.
Keane says his new additions on loan from Sunderland will give him further attacking options: "We’ve had a problem scoring goals all season and hopefully Murph and David will come in and give us something a little bit different to go with the other strikers we have.
"We can’t expect miracles from the two boys. We still have to create chances for them. We have been doing that but we haven’t had anyone putting the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis.
"I think our top goalscorers, Jon Stead and Jon Walters, have six goals, which tells a story in itself. You look at other clubs and a lot of their players are into double figures, which is what’s held us back.
"As bad as we were on Saturday [at Preston], in terms of the two goals we gave away, generally speaking in the last two or three months we’ve played some decent stuff.”
The Blues boss says the Boro match is a significant one: "It’s an important game for us, without a shadow of a doubt. If people think I’m not hurt or embarrassed by where we are, they don’t know me.
"But we’ll get it right. Last Saturday, in the midst of the disappointment, it was probably a good day because I learnt a lot about my players. You learn a lot about them when you’re losing matches not necessarily when you’re winning.
"Whether it be the last 10 or 15 minutes and certain players’ concentration levels. If you focus on the two goals we conceded last week, you wouldn’t see it on a Sunday morning.
"Last Saturday was, in a strange way, a good day for me where I learnt a lot about our players again.”
Keane says his side’s lowly position is no fluke: "We’ve not won enough games. After 20-odd games, the table doesn’t lie, we are where we deserve to be, fourth from bottom, and we have to do something about it.”
The Blues boss says he will use Daryl Murphy as a striker rather than a left midfielder and the Irish international is likely to start up front with fellow new signing David Healy, who at yesterday’s press conference said that the two of them had played a few reserve games as a strike pair at Sunderland over the last couple of years.
Skipper Jon Walters and new keeper Brian Murphy will again miss out with neither player having trained before Thursday’s press conference and considered "very doubtful” by Keane.
Walters’s continued absence is likely to see Jaime Peters play on the right of midfield with stand-in captain Grant Leadbitter in the centre with David Norris. Jack Colback may make way for Owen Garvan on the left, with the youngest of the three Sunderland loanees having had a couple of quiet games.
At the back, Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney will continue in the centre, despite the poor goals conceded at Preston last week, with Liam Rosenior on the right. Keane could opt for either Pim Balkestein or David Wright on the left. In Murphy and Richard Wright’s absence, Arran Lee-Barrett will keep his place in goal.
Keane says he enjoyed working under Gordon Strachan at Celtic but says he didn’t play him enough, although hamstring injuries also played their part: "I worked with Gordon for five or six months. I enjoyed working with not just Gordon but his staff. I didn’t play as many games as I would have liked, but that’s the manager’s decision.”
The Town manager says it’s another chance for the Blues to show that they have progressed from earlier in the campaign: "We played them early in the season with a different manager and a lot of different players and they were much stronger than us that day.
"It’s a bit like when we played West Brom, we’re a lot better than we were then and hopefully we’ll find that out on Saturday.
"Obviously, it’s going to be a tough game, they’ve got some good players and Gordon’s bought well. It’s going to be a good test for us, but we’ll be ready.”
Middlesbrough, currently in ninth place on 37 points, eight ahead of the Blues in 18th with an away record of won six, drawn three and lost five, signed seven players in the transfer window, five from Strachan’s former club Celtic: strikers Scott McDonald and Chris Killen, defender Stephen McManus — targeted by Town in the summer — and midfielders Willo Flood and Barry Robson.
In addition, frontman Lee Miller came from Aberdeen and Spurs full-back Kyle Naughton has signed on loan.
Strachan says he could have signed even more: "It was hectic and rather strange. I've never been involved with so many transfers at the one time and it was getting confusing at times - who you were speaking to on the phone, who was whose agent and what club was phoning.
"We tried to do other things and didn't manage them as well, so it's been a busy time."
Strachan says he enjoyed working with Keane at Celtic as much as the Blues boss was happy under his management: "Roy was terrific to work with. He was low-maintenance, a great player. He was great with the young men at Celtic Park, the kids loved him. He had that drive to bring the best out of the people around him.
"That’s what you have got to do as a manager; it’s not about being a great manager, just trying to get the best out of people.
"To get the best out of people can be a bit rough at times. I’m not saying Roy does that, but you have to be a bit like that to get what you want sometimes.
"I spoke to him about four weeks ago. He is a good student of the game. It’s not so much tactics, it’s about getting the best out of groups. He was at Manchester United and tried to get the best out of a group of players around him.
"There’s so much rubbish talked about tactics, when in reality it’s more about getting the best out of a group.
"He had a presence at Celtic. When you are in the tunnel ahead of an Old Firm game you need big characters, like Neil Lennon, John Hartson, Roy Keane, Stiliyan Petrov. You need players like that.”
New signing Barry Robson has already picked up a suspension for a red card against Bristol City last week, while Adam Johnson was sold to Manchester City and Isaiah Osbourne has returned to Aston Villa after his loan deal expired.
The Teessiders will also be without Chris Riggott and Emanuel Pogatetz (both hamstring), Jeremie Aliadiere (ankle), Rhys Williams (pelvis), Seb Hines (ankle and knee) and Matthew Bates (knee).
Bates spent time on loan with Town in the 2006/07 season, making two appearances before a cruciate knee ligament injury saw him return home. The defender is again out of action with a knee ligament injury — his fourth — and is not expected to play this season. No current member of the Town squad has played for the Teessiders.
Town have had the better of Middlesbrough over the years, winning 26 games (24 in the league), drawing 10 (10) and losing 16 (15).
Earlier in the season at the Riverside, Boro won 3-1, Jon Walters netting an injury time penalty for the Blues after Gary O’Neil and Jeremie Aliadiere (2) had scored for the home side.
The sides last met at Portman Road in the Carling Cup in November 2002 when the Blues won 3-1 with Thomas Gaardsøe, Jamie Clapham and Darren Bent scoring for Town and Franck Queudrue for Boro.
In the league, the most recent fixture at Portman Road came in Town’s 2001/02 Premier League relegation campaign, Darren Bent netting his first career goal to give the Blues a 1-0 victory.
Saturday’s referee is Keith Hill from Hertfordshire, who has shown 74 yellow and three red cards in 21 games so far this season. Hill’s last Town game was the 3-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace back in August in which he booked only the Eagles’ Clint Hill.
Squad from: Lee-Barrett, McLoughlin, Rosenior, D Wright, Balkestein, Delaney, McAuley, Leadbitter, Norris, Colback, Garvan, Peters, Edwards, Quinn, Martin, Murphy, Healy, Stead, Couñago.