‘One of the best’ – Finn Azaz issues rallying cry to Middlesbrough players following crucial victory over Derby County

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Finn Azaz is hopeful Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough side have turned a corner after back-to-back wins in the Championship following a 1-0 victory over Derby County on Saturday.

Azaz notched his 10th goal of the campaign to claim victory at The Riverside, which made him the first player in the second tier to rack up 10 goals and 10 assists so far.

The attacking midfielder has been a revelation this term, but had gone nine games without a goal contribution prior to the midweek win over Stoke City.

Azaz and Middlesbrough’s form looks to be righting itself again after he made it three goal involvements in two games with his stunning strike against John Eustace’s Derby side.

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Finn Azaz calls for Middlesbrough consistency after Derby win

Azaz’s poor form was a factor in Boro suffering five successive defeats as they fell down the Championship table and out of play-off contention.

A run of form which mounted pressure onto Michael Carrick and also saw Middlesbrough linked with Steve Cooper as a potential replacement.

However, a 3-1 win against Stoke stopped the rot, and they have since followed that up with another vital win to re-establish themselves in the race.

The Irishman has called on his side to gain more consistency in pursuit of the top six. Speaking via The Northern Echo, Azaz said: “There’s going to be dips in a Championship season. We know how hard it is to maintain the levels. We’ve had a tough run, but we’ve done everything we can to come through it.

“We’ve tried to work as hard as we can to rectify that, and in the last come of games we’ve managed to do that. To come out of a tough run is great.

“We knew we would come out of the bad run because we’ve proven we are one of the best teams (in the Championship), and we all have that inner belief. As a team, we’ve stuck together and tried as hard as we can to ignore the outside noise. We knew we’d come out of it.

“I hope this is the start of a run. I’ve got all the belief this team is one of the best teams in the division. If we maintain our levels, I’ve got all the belief we can go on a great run.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
6	West BromWest Brom	35	12	16	7	45	32	13	52
7	BlackburnBlackburn	35	15	7	13	40	35	5	52
8	MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough	35	14	8	13	55	46	9	50
9	Bristol CityBristol City	34	12	13	9	43	38	5	49
10	WatfordWatford	35	14	7	14	45	48	-3	49

“The belief in the dressing room has been high all season. We know and we’ve proven we’re good enough to be there as a team, and we have all the belief.

“As long as we focus on ourselves, we will be fine. It might be cliched, but I genuinely believe if we maintain the levels (shown against Stoke and Derby) to the last game, we will get in the play-offs. We will be looking to win every game.”

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Azaz is the man that knits everything together in attack for this new-look ‘Boro side following Emmanuel Latte Lath’s departure in January, with a number of new pieces to bed-in.

There was always likely to be something of an adjustment period for his side given the new faces of Kelechi Iheanacho, Morgan Whittaker, and Samuel Iling-Junior.

With Ben Doak also set to return, it is likely to be an exciting end to the campaign for Carrick’s side. Middlesbrough are the envy of many clubs in the Championship in terms of their attacking depth, which could be the difference during the run-in.