'TIME to go home'.

That was the brief chant in the second half from the disgruntled Middlesbrough fans whose frustrations poured out in the direction of head coach Aitor Karanka.

But it just as easily could have been a reflection of their own destiny – because they could have left at half-time and not missed anything, so certain was the outcome of this game by then.

At the interval Stoke City were 2-0 ahead and cruising, and even the most provocative of trash talking of David Haye couldn’t have lifted Boro out of their limpest performance of the season.

The anti-Karanka chant came just past the hour mark declaring ‘we’re ******* s***’. It was drowned out by just as many fans booing it.

But frustration soon turned to sarcasm and it was followed by a sarcastic rendition of ‘what’s it like to score a goal?’

Karanka will not walk away from a job he took in November 2013, while chairman Steve Gibson has a long history of showing loyalty to his managers.

Something, though, has to change over the next 11 games if Middlesbrough are to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.

“I didn’t hear the chants but I’m here because the chairman called me and I will leave when the chairman tells me,” said the Spaniard.

“For a newly-promoted team to be in the bottom three for the first time in March shows we’re doing something well.”

The signs of discontent are there though and are as obvious as Middlesbrough’s mounting problems.

Middlesbrough can at least forget their Premier League troubles this weekend when they host Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-final.

After that they face Manchester United at home then travel to relegation rivals Swansea City and Hull City desperately seeking a lift in front of goal.

Not for the first time, Middlesbrough failed to trouble the goalkeeper and had just two efforts on target.

The lowest scorers in the Premier League with 19 goals in 27 games have failed to score in 13 matches and have now gone 433 minutes without a League goal (Alvaro Negredo’s penalty against West Brom on January 31), or 496 minutes if you make that in open play (Cristhian Stuani’s effort against West Ham on January 21).

They have drawn blanks in six of their last eight League games and not won in ten.

On Saturday, Karanka tried to address the goal drought by exchanging Alvaro Negredo, his six-goal top scorer, with Rudy Gestede, a man without a Premier League goal in 370 days.

But it backfired, with the former Aston Villa striker anonymous.

The portents weren’t good from the seventh minute, when centre back Daniel Ayala was forced off with a hamstring injury.

And it was a toss-up who was more hapless on the day, Ayala’s replacement Bernardo Espinosa or left back George Friend, who was on his comeback from injury after five weeks out.

Friend had no answer to the power play of Marko Arnautovic, who tormented him time and time again and could have finished with a hat-trick rather than the two goals he ended up with.

Arnautovic broke the deadlock in the 29th minute when he fired into the roof of the net after a superb turn on to Glenn Whelan’s long pass that fooled Espinosa and Friend before he sidestepped goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Then he doubled the Potters’ lead two minutes before the break with an overhead kick from two yards out after Peter Crouch headed Whelan’s corner goalwards.

Stoke could have been ahead before the Austrian’s double after the hugely impressive Ramadan Sobhi – another player Boro could not deal with – struck the bar from Arnautovic’s cross at the end of a delightful move that included a Crouch backheel.

By contrast, the closest Middlesbrough came to scoring was a 35th-minute header from Espinosa that flew straight at goalkeeper Lee Grant from Grant Leadbitter’s free kick.

The Middlesbrough captain, who was the one visiting player to escape criticism, drilled a shot inches wide before the second goal.

In truth the Teessiders should have scored after Ben Gibson’s close-range effort on the hour was disallowed because Espinosa was fractionally offside from a free kick.

Stuani, who replaced a lacklustre Gaston Ramirez at half-time, sent a 25-yard drive wide and sub Adlene Guedioura lifted a chip over the angle with eight minutes left.

But it could have been worse for Boro after Stoke were denied a penalty. Gibson handled a pass from Ramadan after he fell in the six-yard box in time added on, while Valdes denied substitute Ibrahim Affelay when he stuck out an outstretched left hand after he seized on a pass from Ramadan.

Boro simply made it too easy for a Stoke side who provided the reaction demanded following their 4-0 thumping at Tottenham the previous week.