Source: Northern_Echo
Strachan keen for Kitson to think again
GORDON STRACHAN hopes Middlesbrough are doing enough to persuade Dave Kitson to extend his loan spell at the Riverside.[LNB] Having signed a six-week agreement when he left Stoke last month, Kitson is due to return to the Britannia Stadium after Boro's away game at Barnsley on December 28.[LNB] The striker, who opened his Boro account with a welltaken brace at Peterborough last weekend, has always maintained he has no intention of extending his Teesside tenure beyond the end of the month.[LNB] But having sensed the enjoyment that has built during Kitson's opening two weeks as a Middlesbrough player, Strachan hopes his hardline stance is softening.[LNB] I think if a player enjoys scoring goals and playing football every week, it makes a difference, said the Boro boss. They're the things we'd like to give to Dave.[LNB] Sometimes, that can affect the way you're thinking when your loan spell is coming to an end. Sometimes, when you go back, you might not get the same enjoyment because you might not be playing every week and scoring goals. I would like to think that we'd do so well over the next few matches that Dave would think again.[LNB] Kitson is one of five players currently on loan at Middlesbrough, and Strachan admits the tally of temporary players is too high.[LNB] It will be reduced by one when Sean St Ledger completes a permanent move at the start of January.[LNB] But that still leaves Isaiah Osbourne, Marcus Bent and Caleb Folan, and Strachan expects to make a firm decision on the trio's future within the next two weeks.[LNB] We'd like to make a lot of people permanent, he said.[LNB] Because I'd rather work with permanent players than loan players.[LNB] I always find it difficult working with loan players because you can put a certain amount of pressure on the players that are yours, but you can't always do the same with the players that are not yours.[LNB] It's also much harder to plan with loan players. You can't look too far into the future, and if you fill up your team with loan players, it's hard to ask the guys who you've left out to come back in. Sometimes, you have to balance that out.[LNB] We'd all prefer to have permanent players, but the circumstances dictate that we can't always do that.[LNB] Osbourne has started every game since signing from Aston Villa, and Strachan is expected to contact Villa boss Martin O'Neill in the next fortnight to discuss the possibility of re-signing the midfielder for the second half of the season.[LNB] Bent's position is rather less secure the striker has only started once since moving from Birmingham in October while Folan could yet return to Hull before the terms of his loan are complete.[LNB] The Ireland international has made just one substitute appearance in his two-and-ahalf months on Teesside, with a hamstring injury sustained on the training ground restricting him to the physiotherapy room.[LNB] By the time he returns to full fitness, his time as a Middlesbrough player will be at an end, so Strachan is expected to propose a rapid return to Humberside when he meets with Folan next week.[LNB] We'll have to think about what's best for Caleb because it doesn't look as though he's going to be fit in time to play here, he said.[LNB] The new year is past our time frame, so I need to speak to Caleb to see what he thinks is the best thing to do, and find out what Hull think is the best thing to do as well.[LNB] While Folan will not be involved in tomorrow's game at QPR, both Gary O'Neil and Rhys Williams will be available at Loftus Road.[LNB]
