Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate reveals thoughts after Newcastle friendly

Boro took a 2-0 lead against the Premier League club following goals from Britt Assombalonga and George Saville but squandered their advantage in the second half.

Woodgate was understandably disappointed with how the match ended but says match fitness is his main concern at this stage.

“Listen, I want to win every game no matter what it is, but the biggest thing is for players to gain in match fitness,” Woodgate told the club’s website.

“They’ve all worked tremendously hard on their fitness during lockdown and since they have returned to training, but none of that can actually prepare you for playing games.

“Minutes on the pitch are the most important thing at this moment. A lot of the players now have two lots of 60 minutes under their belts which is what we wanted, and we’ll have another opportunity to build on that further.

“We’ve just over a week to go before we re-start again now, and the focus next week will be on that first game back against Swansea.”

Boro will face Swansea on Saturday, 20 June, the first of nine games in a 33-day period.

The Teessiders don’t appear to have any serious injury concerns ahead of a crucial run of fixtures, with the likes of Patrick Roberts, Daniel Ayala and Dael Fry all back in training following setbacks.

Yet Woodgate knows he’ll have to rotate his squad in the coming weeks, despite the threat of relegation from the Championship.

“We will have to manage things carefully,” the Boro boss added.

“We’ve got some lads in the squad who have come back from injury and haven’t played in a while so we’ll have to take care and assess things as we go along.

“That situation isn’t unique to us. Every club is in the same boat, so we’re all on a level playing field in that respect.”

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