Neil Warnock' s side return to action against Derby County tomorrow afternoon, and are taking on a Rams side in fine spirits following their 1-0 midweek win over Hull City - a result that finally ended their nine-game run without a win.
Speaking after Boro's loss to QPR, Warnock gave some insight into why new signing Martin Pareyo is yet to make a start since his summer switch to the club. The Middlesbrough boss revealed: “At the moment he’s quite a way (from being ready to start a game) We just have to try and give him minutes when we can. I just thought it was worth shoving him on and he might have just unlocked the door.
“They were obviously sitting deep and taking five minutes every goal kick so we thought it might just be something just to change it.”
He continued: “We haven’t seen an awful lot with the games, we’ve had so many games He has technical ability, there is no doubt about that. It’s just the pace of the game we have to get him up to.
“You saw that with the free-kick (he gave away and received a booking for), it was a silly free-kick, a lazy free-kick. He has to know a bit more about the Championship.”
Take a look at the latest news round-up from the second tier, as the window moves closer to its final week:
“They were obviously sitting deep and taking five minutes every goal kick so we thought it might just be something just to change it.”