Source: Northern_Echo
Strachan happy with his outlay
McDonald set for Boro debut tonight[LNB] Boss certain £3.5m is good value[LNB] Record of 93 goals in 196 games[LNB] MIDDLESBROUGH manager Gordon Strachan believes securing the services of Scott McDonald will prove to be money well spent.[LNB] The Boro boss yesterday refuted the suggestion put to him that paying £3.5m for a striker untried in the English Championship was a gamble.[LNB] There was only £30m spent last month in the transfer window, £140m less than at the same stage last year.[LNB] This makes McDonald's move from Celtic Park to the Riverside more than ten per cent of the total outlay and the fourth largest sum paid out.[LNB] Only Adam Johnson's switch to Manchester City, for £7.5m, Younes Kaboul's return to Tottenham from Portsmouth and the delayed deal to take Fulham's Chris Smalling to Manchester United in the summer, for £10m, cost more.[LNB] It didn't make any headlines on Sky Sports News,[LNB] said the bullish Scot. And I didn't see it on the back of too many newspapers.[LNB] If you go to Peterborough now and Scunthorpe they will be asking that for their strikers.[LNB] McDonald, who is expected to make his Boro debut at the Riverside tonight despite still suffering some stiffness from a recent hernia operation, has arrived at the Riverside with an impressive strike rate of 93 goals in 196 appearances.[LNB] Strachan believes his new recruit, who has already netted 14 times in the SPL this term, will not only justify his price tag but vindicate being called a striker.[LNB] He is a striker that scores, because I've come to realise in the last year that there's people out there calling themselves strikers without striking,[LNB] said the Boro boss, clearly taking a swipe at the club's former misfiring frontmen.[LNB] If you look at his record he lives up to what he's called.[LNB] At Motherwell he scored goals against Celtic and Rangers. When he played in the Champions League he scored against AC Milan, Manchester United and Shakhtar Donetsk, and he scores in Old Firm games.[LNB] With his record he has the right to be called a striker.[LNB] Strachan will be hoping McDonald will strike when Boro entertain Mark Robins' Barnsley tonight.[LNB] But while the former Hoops chief will be looking to the 26-year-old new recruit to get on the scoresheet he does not want the Australia international to carry all the burden.[LNB] Strachan revealed last week he felt that the Teessiders were becoming too reliant on the departed Johnson. But now the 11- goal winger has finally flown the Boro nest and impressed on his Man City debut as a substitute at the weekend he is looking to get contributions from all over the pitch.[LNB] I hope we can all now become a more rounded team, said the 52-year-old.[LNB] We can not build a team around one man.[LNB] That has been proved before. You can not rely on one man to win you games all the time.[LNB] It is not fair and it is the same with Scott McDonald, because if that one man is injured, suspended or lost a bit of form there is no point in us turning up.[LNB] Middlesbrough approach the Championship game tonight looking to extend an unbeaten mini-run which has now stretched to four games. But despite this good run of form Strachan is unsure whether the team has finally turned the corner after a frustrating and inconsistent campaign.[LNB] He said: We're getting harder to beat, that's for sure. I have no idea if we've turned the corner yet. You can only tell at the end of the season when you look back and say that was our defining moment'.[LNB] I could say yes, and we get beat (against Barnsley) you say What is he talking about' There is no point in saying things I don't know.[LNB] If I could tell you we will go unbeaten from now until the end of the season, I would say yes', but I don't know.[LNB] All I know is that the players have to work hard and we get a wee bit a luck, get some of the (injured) players back it will be easier, that's for sure.[LNB]
