'I want us to be exciting. I want us to be bold. I want us to take risks'

BORO’S COACH-ELECT ROB EDWARDS ON HIS FOOTBALL PHILOSOPHY

- By CRAIG JOHNS

AS Middlesbrough prepare to announce Rob Edwards as their new head coach, one question on the lips of many is how he will set up his Boro side.

In winning over Boro bosses to land the role, Edwards displayed excellent knowledge of the Boro squad. While there will be some tweaking during the summer transfer window, the new head coach will be expected to give every existing player a chance to prove themselves.

Having previously preferred variations of three-man defences, it will be interesting to see if he sticks with that at Boro, or if he tweaks things in a way that might be deemed to get the best out of the current players.

That will be the case in terms of style too, with his Luton Town side very much set out to suit their strengths, which aren’t at all similar to those of the current Boro squad.

In an interview with the High Performance Podcast last summer in which he offered insight into what he likes from his sides, Edwards said: "We realised quite quickly we had to change and adapt. We had a couple of games where we had to tighten things up, but ultimately we then weren't the team that I wanted us to be. Wolves at home was the first time we felt like we... could go and be us.