Source: Northern_Echo
Wheater: We need to win ugly
DAVID WHEATER says Middlesbrough are ready to sacrifice entertaining supporters if it means that a Premier League return can be achieved by winning ugly.[LNB] Boro are already out of the Carling Cup, courtesy of Tuesday's 2-1 defeat at Millwall, and left looking ahead to the remaining 43 fixtures in the Championship, plus whatever falls their way in the FA Cup.[LNB] Their start to the season has been indifferent, with preseason expectations and hopes among the fans already fading.[LNB] Sunday's narrow victory over Sheffield United was witnessed by the Riverside's worst ever league crowd; down by around 7,000 from the 21,000-plus that attended the opening day defeat to Ipswich.[LNB] But rather than become bogged down by what the feeling is among the fans, Wheater believes the players need to focus on building on the positives. If that means winning and not performing to their best, then so be it.[LNB] We are not happy that we lost because we wanted to do well in the cups. But it is not our most important target this season, he said. We know what this season is about and that is having to concentrate on the league.[LNB] Getting through in the Carling Cup might have been nice, but I will take losing in that if it means we can gain automatic promotion.[LNB] We played well at Millwall and lost, but for me what I would rather do is win ugly in the league if it means we are up towards the top going for the Premier League.[LNB] To do that Middlesbrough need to take huge strides. Performances have not been dissimilar to those that manager Gordon Strachan labelled boring last season, despite squad investment of around £6m.[LNB] His team have won one of their opening three fixtures in the Championship, but are placed in mid-table, and demands are such that they cannot afford to have another season like the last.[LNB] With Kris Boyd and Scott McDonald two strikers capable of scoring plenty, provided they are given the service, Wheater is satisfied the newlook squad will come good.[LNB] It was never going to be instant because we have a new team coming together, said Wheater.[LNB] If we keep improving, racking the points up like we did on Sunday, then we will see that this team has quality and it should shine through.[LNB] It's all about points and ending the season better than last year.[LNB] There's more time in this division than you would get in the Premier League, so I do think this squad has a little bit of time to settle down and develop.[LNB] We could, though, do with getting the points now, we have had a slow start, but we need to start motoring a bit more. We are improving. I know we are.[LNB] The gaffer said we played better than we did in the last game. We just need to keep improving at the back and scoring goals.[LNB] Winning ugly is what it is all about at the moment. We just have to get into the habit of winning and keep winning.[LNB] If we can do that the performances will follow.[LNB] Strachan intends to add to his squad, although he had no update on the £600,000 offer that was rejected by Dundee United for winger Craig Conway.[LNB] He looks certain to move to Teesside before Tuesday's transfer deadline, but the Arabs still want more than £1m.[LNB] United manager Peter Houston expects the 25-year-old to face AEK Athens tonight. He said: He's a good pro so he'll be coming with us and is in the team for Thursday. Unless the club accept a bid between now and the game which I don't think they will do Craig is ready to play.[LNB] Strachan also wants to bring in a defensive midfielder and another defender, but he may decide not to add another goalkeeper having realised that Jason Steele could save him a significant amount of his transfer budget.[LNB] Middlesbrough's reserves won 2-1 at Hull City last night.[LNB] Hull took the lead through Ray Ford, but Boro hit back through Andrew Taylor and a last-minute free-kick by James Gray.[LNB]
