Ex-Liverpool and Aston Villa man praises Neil Warnock's tactical switch against Swansea plus Stoke boss assesses options ahead of Middlesbrough clash

We round up some of the latest Boro-related news stories ahead of the game at the bet365 Stadium:

EFL Pundit on Swansea win

Middlesbrough forward Duncan Watmore scored his first two goals for the club in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Swansea.

It’s a result which kept the Teessiders in touching distance of the Championship play-off places and which Neil Warnock described as his best win at the club.

Warnock changed his side’s formation to play with a back three and wing-backs, a decision which was praised during the EFL’s highlights show on Quest.

Studio guest, former Liverpool and Aston Villa defender Stephen Warnock, said: “My old manager, the wily old fox Neil Warnock knows what this league’s about.

“He’s very sensible, matching Swansea up with a 3-5-2 formation and it’s a great finish from Duncan Watmore”

“To blast it from such short range, keepers got no chance”

Stoke boss happy with his squad

Wednesday’s 1-0 win at Wycombe saw Stoke keep up with the Championship pacesetters.

The Potters are eighth in the table, one point ahead of Boro, despite a few injury setbacks, which included former Boro midfielder John Obi Mikel who missed the Wycombe game with a calf strain.

Yet manager Michael O'Neill believes his squad have enough to deal with a heavy fixture schedule, staring with Saturday’s game against Boro.

"We still have good players in the stand and are yet to play,” said O'Neill after the Wycombe game.

"We are carrying six or seven big injuries so it is good that we have the numbers and we’ll look at how they are and who will be ready to play again on Saturday.

"This means four points away from home, previous to that we were disappointed to drop points to Norwich in a game we could have taken something from

“It will be nice if we can get a result on Saturday and then move onto the game on Tuesday.”

We only had ourselves to blame says Cooper

Finally, Swansea boss Steve Cooper says his side only have themselves to blame for Wednesday’s defeat at Boro.

The Swans had taken seven points from their last three games before the trip to the Riverside but struggled to break down Neil Warnock’s side.

"It's disappointing. From the start, I thought we weren't ourselves and in the end we didn't manage to improve,” said Cooper after the match.

"We gave away two really poor goals and probably didn't create enough either so there's not many positives to take out of the game, that's for sure.

"I'm disappointed, the players are disappointed, they know we've dropped our standards tonight and they know we fell short. If you don't play anywhere near your level, you're going to get punished."

The Swans boss added: "Unfortunately, it's self-inflicted I must say, but that's what happened tonight.

"They scored two goals, and it's not always easy to do in this league. We can't blame anything apart from ourselves tonight. We were well short."

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