3 games that cost Aitor Karanka his job at Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough 1-3 West Ham

Throughout the season, Middlesbrough have been one of the toughest teams to break down and indeed score against, and that was a chief reason why they remained above the bottom three for so long.

Thus, their 3-1 defeat at home to West Ham on January 21 surely had alarm bells ringing around the Riverside Stadium.

Only twice before that loss had Karanka’s men conceded three goals in a game this term (the others being Everton in September and Liverpool in December), but for it to happen at home against a West Ham side hardly pulling trees down this season must have been of concern to the Boro faithful.

Karanka’s men then kept just one clean sheet in their succeeding five league games under the Spaniard, and combine that with their bluntness going forward, and Boro were seriously struggling.