The talking points and take aways as Middlesbrough drew 2-2 with Cardiff City

We can all play armchair manager after the fact, but it's hard to escape the feeling that Kim Hellberg tinkered too much on Saturday.

The result was Middlesbrough needing to come from two behind at half-time to earn a draw against Cardiff City.

The main talking point centred around the decision to bench Will Lankshear, with the Boro boss insisting after that it was not a mistake.

That Lankshear came off the bench at half time and inspired Boro’s comeback draw does not exactly strengthen Hellberg’s argument. But he had a point.

As Boro learned last season, the Championship schedule is an unforgiving beast. Rely too heavily on one play, ala Hayden Hackney, and you put that player - and as a direct consequence yourself - in a vulnerable position

Rotation wasn't Boro’s problem against Cardiff City. Of course a Championship club will miss an £8 million striker. But it's unrealistic to expect him to start all 46 Championship games.

Rather than rotation, it was Hellberg’s tactical tinkering that felt off on this occasion.

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The point should be heavily caveated with the appreciation that Hellberg’s tactical genius has won Boro far more points than it's cost them. In fact, it was only Tuesday at Stoke where, going in goalless at half time, the feeling was that Boro held the advantage because of a belief that their manager would be better equipped to make the necessary tactical adjustments to change the game. And so it proved.

But it's hard to escape the feeling that against Cardiff City, Hellberg over thought it, and perhaps over-complicated it.

Perhaps there's an arrogance and injustice to the quality of Cardiff City in that analysis. But did Boro really need to play a back three at home against a Cardiff side who’d picked up just one point on the road this season?

Cardiff were a side who performed better than their league position suggests. That's fair to say.

It's not a secret that Hellberg tinkers with the Boro game plan from match to match based on the analysis he does of the opposition. It's served him and Boro well in the main.

But the balance of that felt off against Cardiff, in complete comparison to the last home game against Wolves.

Then, with a solid back four, Boro imposed their game on Wolves. They were aggressive, they were positive, they were dominant.

Against Cardiff, with the back three and a really isolated Aidan Morris in midfield, the balance of playing your game vs the opposition’s felt skewed in the wrong direction.

Cardiff were aggressive in their attack. At one point, in possession on the half way line, Boro were defensively man for man and had a flat line of five defenders, given how high so many Cardiff players were.

Of course there has to be an element of awareness for how the opposition can hurt you, but there should be - particularly when at home - more of an emphasis on making the opposition worry about you.

It felt too much like Boro decided to let Cardiff have the ball in the first half in the way they almost surrendered the midfield battle by the sheer lack of numbers in that area of the pitch. Morris was overrun time and again.

It flipped in the second half. Lankshear’s presence was huge, for sure, but Sebastian Berhalter’s introduction made a big impact too, particularly on getting a grip of the game in the middle.

Hellberg’s opposition analysis can be useful. It can be used to identify the areas for Boro to exploit.

But he has to be careful in finding the balance. Boro shouldn't look like they're thinking more about what the opposition might do, as opposed to what they can do.

They proved against Wolves how good a team they are. They deserve the chance to prove that every game. Let the opposition worry about you.

Boro’s defensive frailties laid bare

After conceding two goals against Cardiff City, Boro have now conceded two or more goals in five of their last six league games. It’s far too many.

The positive is that Boro have not lost any of those five games - which is quite the record in itself. But how long can that go on before it catches up with them?

They have dropped points because of it too. The Cardiff draw followed draws against Millwall and Birmingham City too.

Boro may not concede many chances but that cannot be used for too long as a justification for the clear defensive frailties that exist. Boro have to avoid the amount of goals they’re currently shipping.

Ominous prospects for Connor Barron

Hellberg’s point about rotating Lankshear leaves question marks around Connor Barron’s prospects at Boro, as conversations at Rangers continue with one eye to a January recall.

Barron was signed to add depth in midfield, and Hellberg noted to have good depth you have to play the backup players to keep them at the required levels.

Resting Berhalter for this game felt almost inevitable. The USA international returned from the States last Thursday and went straight into high-energy games against Wolves and Stoke City.

Hellberg back to the fluid back three instead of sticking to the back four that had worked so well a week earlier. As well as overthinking it, it would be fair to ask if the system which sees centre-backs step up into midfield is also over-complicating things.

As a temporary measure before Barron got up to speed, it made sense. Now, with Barron having apparently impressed during the international break, that he still doesn’t get the opportunity doesn’t suggest his game time prospects are positive.

Mixed feelings after draw

It’s hard not to feel frustrated about the draw in isolation. Football is never so black and white, but Boro have to beating Cardiff City at home.

That they didn’t after two big wins against Wolves and Stoke City feels so very typical Boro.

Those wins mean it’s still a really positive week for Boro. Seven points from nine is an excellent return from the run of fixtures they had.

Wins over Wolves and Stoke means Boro have played five of the six teams directly below them and not been beaten by any of them.

Nevertheless, merely accepting that and using it as a means of comfort for dropping two points against Cardiff is not the mentality of a promotion-winning side.

Boro had put themselves in a position that would have seen them top of the league now had they beaten Cardiff. They won’t win every game, of course not. But they do need to be a bit more ruthless to get out of this typical Boro cycle.