The revealing statistics behind Middlesbrough's agonising defeat at Hull - and what changed after Stoke City win

The Teessiders are the lowest scorers in the Championship this season after averaging just a single goal a game, yet as Warnock pointed out: “When you look at our squad, there’s an awful lot of talent up front.”

Thursday’s 2-1 defeat by Hull City offered the 71-year-old a taste of Boro’s attacking flaws, though, with the visitors unable to kill the game off after Britt Assombalonga’s fourth-minute penalty.

"I said to them in the dressing room, they worked very very hard to lose that match," said Warnock during his post-match press conference.

He added: "We've only got ourselves to blame, the opportunities we've had and we haven't managed to put a decent cross in. I must have counted 20 times.”

Warnock was right, you only have to look at WyScout’s expected goals figures (Boro – 1.52 and Hull - 0.87) to see the Teessiders created the better chances.

Clearly, though, that doesn't tell the whole story and, to put it into context, Stoke’s expected goals total during Saturday’s meeting with Boro was 2.01, compared to the visitors’ 1.07. The Teessiders won 2-0.

Warnock immediately highlighted Boro’s poor crosses at the KCOM Stadium and the stats certainly support his observations.

Boro attempted 20 crosses in the final third against Hull but only six of them were met by another red shirt.

That’s an accuracy rate of just 20 per cent, which is a decrease from the Stoke match when Boro’s crossing accuracy was 58.33 per cent (seven out of 12).

Another interesting comparison is that Boro saw far more of the ball at Hull, recording 53 per cent possession compared to 31 per cent at Stoke.

Yet that meant Boro recorded more counter attacks at the bet365 Stadium and, while they didn’t lead to direct shots at goal, there was clearly more space to exploit as Stoke pushed men forward.

Warnock will also be unimpressed by Boro’s shot accuracy at Hull with only three of his side’s 13 shots hitting the target – one being Assombalonga’s penalty.

With six games to go, it’s clearly an area which needs to be addressed.