AITOR KARANKA sat down to clear the air with his Middlesbrough squad after the nine-match unbeaten run came to an end last weekend – but he will not be afraid to blast his players again if they fall below par.

Karanka insists he has the best pool of players in the Championship and claims he has come to realise just how exceptional the group are as individuals as well as athletes.

But he admits that when his team fails to perform to a level which he has come to expect then he lets them know about it, like he has following the last three performances.

Karanka was not satisfied with the display in the FA Cup defeat to Burnley, the marginal victory over Brentford a few days later or in defeat at Bristol City a week ago.

But after talking things over with his players in midweek he has reminded them just how highly he regards them all and how he would not swap his squad for any other in the Championship.

“I had a meeting with them on Tuesday but after that meeting we all knew what the aim was and we are in a really good position,” said Karanka. “We had a meeting, a chat, I asked them a few things, we were speaking about things, it was not a rollocking, just to discuss where we are now.

“After the meeting I felt what I knew before. I know that they are amazing players, but they are even better as a person than they are as players. All of them. They are all amazing kids.

“My biggest disappointment will be for them if we don’t get there in the end because they deserve it for the work they put in. I don’t have enough words to say thank you to them. We are where we are because they are amazing.

“We have not achieved anything yet, and if we lose on Saturday I will kill them again. But when I am disappointed after the game, if I say something after the game, then they will know it is because I am disappointed. I still think they are all amazing though.”

Despite his respect for the players he has at his disposal, Karanka is keen to improve his squad after this afternoon’s visit of Nottingham Forest to the Riverside Stadium.

Boro, out of the FA Cup, do not play again until the visit of Blackburn in a fortnight and by that time he hopes to have at least a new centre-midfielder in his ranks. Benfica’s Swede Victor Lindelof is still in his sights, while in an ideal world Middlesbrough will have persuaded Fulham to part with Ross McCormack for a price they feel is realistic.

Karanka said: “The transfer window is always a distraction. But it is true when you are in our position it is easier. The January one is different and difficult. You have to bring players who are not happy in their teams. I have players at this moment who are really happy so I have to find the balance.

“It is difficult but the main thing is we are in the position where we are. When you need to strengthen your squad with players who are not playing and then they have to play 20 games in a few months, sometimes they are not ready.

“But we are top so it is easy. I always think this window is important because of injured players, it is important but you have to know that the players you are bringing in are going to do everything.

“If the players coming here know that they are coming to an amazing changing room, a club that wants to be in the Premier League next season and if he is a player who wants to come here then they know before coming they will have to work hard to get in the team.”

Boro are six points clear of third in the Championship despite seeing their nine match unbeaten run come to an end at Bristol City, who also became the first team to score past Dimi Konstantopoulos during that run.

But Forest, undefeated in 11 matches, will head for Teesside today knowing Middlesbrough have only lost once at the Riverside in the league this season, so they will could look to frustrate.

Karanka thinks the Riverside is a different place nowadays to when he first took over.

He said: “It is impossible to get promotion with just 12,000 in the stadium like we had. We need to know that they are behind us when things are going against us. When your batteries are almost empty they can help you to find extra energy.

“The team is playing really well now. The people are going to the stadium and they feel they are playing really well. We have to keep going because the next game is against Forest so it will be difficult.”