ADAM CLAYTON has given Aitor Karanka his full backing to turn things around at Middlesbrough by describing the head coach as a “top manager” in desperate need of seeing his players display the required “fight” to turn things around.

The Northern Echo:

Adam Clayton, front, has backed his boss to turn things around

Defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-final at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday has left Boro focusing on the 11 matches remaining in the battle to secure a second season in the Premier League.

A trip to Wembley for a semi-final would have provided a nice distraction from the strains of the top-flight, but Middlesbrough’s priority is to conjure up a way of climbing out of the bottom three before the end of the campaign.

Pressure has mounted on Karanka since the back-to-back defeats at Crystal Palace and Stoke City, and the league position worsened over the weekend when Hull defeated Swansea to push his side down to second bottom.

There were calls for chairman Steve Gibson to sack Karanka after the Stoke loss. If anyone expects a change this week then they are likely to be disappointed.

Clayton, who recently signed a new contract under Karanka, is convinced the right man is at the helm and has urged everyone inside the dressing room to see the job through.

“I know that the manager is a grafter,” said Clayton. “We have seen it from his first season in charge here. He puts everything – everything – into the job that he can. That’s why he gets so upset when we lose and happy when we win.

“I don’t think anyone can try harder than the manager, the way he studies the opposition, watches video after video. I don’t think he can do any more than he does. We know we have a top manager in charge and we are right behind him.

“We need to keep fighting. And keep fighting. It’s just that one win we need. Swansea have done it and they were dead and buried. Other teams have been dead and buried before. A little change, or a little bit of luck, and all of a sudden it looks rosy.

“We need to get that change and it needs to come sooner rather than later. If we can get that then the strength of the group will see us over the line.”

During the ten-match slump in the league there have been plenty of disagreements behind-closed-doors and a further indication of the unrest is how Karanka opted against naming Stewart Downing and Patrick Bamford in the match-day squad.

The boss cited that the 18 players he chose instead to face Manchester City have shown greater ‘fight’ on the training ground, including Gaston Ramirez who has performed poorly since having his request of a move to Leicester turned down in January.

Despite the problems, Middlesbrough battled away against Manchester City even though the visitors’ greater quality saw the job through courtesy of goals from David Silva and Sergio Aguero.  

Clayton, remembering the events of a year ago when Karanka’s bust-up with the players threatened to derail the promotion push, said: “There are no chinks in our armour. No chinks between Aitor and the team.

“I don’t think it can get any harder than it was at the end of last season. It was a tough, tough time. There were ten games to go with the palaver that went on. But then we went six unbeaten and got across the line.

“The strength in this group, the togetherness, what we have been through … I tweeted the other day that when you go through things in life with people, you get stronger.

“The amount of things we have been through together, the arguments we have had, the amount of love that everyone has given each other … honestly, there are so many ups and downs in a season, the amount of things that go on, they have all made us a very strong group. We just need to get a win and try to turn everything that is negative into a positive.”

After the defeat at Stoke nine days ago there were sections of the Middlesbrough supporters who turned on Karanka and called for him to ‘go home’.

Such strong feelings could have raised their head again had Middlesbrough gone out of the FA Cup cheaply. Clayton has revealed how the players wanted to turn in a spirited display.

He said:  “It was a tough week after Stoke. You want to win every game. The crowd for the last ten minutes against Stoke was understandably upset. That has an effect on the way home, thinking about it and knowing you are in a bit of a hole.

“It’s also when you see the characters around, we have had a few face to faces this week, with many different people. We have had talks, everybody who has needed to say something has had it out.

“I can’t tell you how much we are trying to turn it round, we are doing everything we can. We are fighting, we are arguing, we are trying to get it right. We went out for food together, everyone was together and we know what we need to do. It is just turning that one result into a win and it will turn.

“I don’t think there is a tighter group than what we have. I have friends for life here in Gibbo (Ben Gibson), Grant (Leadbitter), Stewy (Downing) and people like that. It is one of, if not the tightest dressing rooms I have ever been in. We will never stop fighting. That will never happen.

“As long as we have a chance we will keep grafting and we just have to turn one of these decent performances into a result and who knows where it will take us.”