Middlesbrough (A) | Foster's Preview

Argyle head back to the North East this weekend, to face a Middlesbrough side who are somewhat less than predictable.

Boro, 13th in the Sky Bet Championship, managed just two points in a four-game stretch before, in their most recent outing, they won 2-1 at league leaders Leicester City.

Earlier this season, Argyle drew 3-3 with Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough at Home Park, in a thrilling, to-and-fro game that saw goals from Bali Mumba and Morgan Whittaker, either side of one from Finn Azaz. Azaz is now a Boro player, and is likely to line up against his former side, having scored two in his last two.

The game at the Riverside Stadium ends a busy period of games for Argyle, who will have played seven times in 22 days inclusive. With that in mind, Head Coach Ian Foster has eased his players into this weekend, physically, while ensuring the necessary information has still been imparted into the group.

“We've had to give the players a break,” said Foster. “As a group of staff, we’ve worked incredibly hard in turning around the West Brom game and the Middlesbrough analysis.

“We're in a good place in terms of that. Players have had a couple of days of recovery, and we go again [Friday] on the grass, getting ready for what will be a really exciting game for us.

“We've got a healthy group at the moment. The last game is a case of tired bodies and tired minds. We've had a couple of days break now, and we'll be fine. We'll be ready to go.

“The Leicester game - we've not taken too much from that in terms of the team shape.

“We don't think that [Middlesbrough will] play that shape against us at the weekend. We think they'll revert back to their normal system. They are another really attacking side with lots of quality on the pitch. It’s going to be a really challenging, but exciting game for us.

“We were disappointed with our attacking output on Tuesday night. Hopefully we can show Middlesbrough what we're all about in that in that phase of the pitch. I'd prefer not to concede three goals, but I'd love to score three again!”