STEVE AGNEW has described how he is avoiding the outside talk of Middlesbrough’s perilous position towards the foot of the Premier League in a bid to keep his players focused on a pulling off a survival act.

Boro are now seven points adrift of safety with eight matches remaining as they look to stay in the top-flight a year after sealing promotion from the Championship.

If Middlesbrough are to avoid dropping back into the Football League at the first time of asking they will have to end the 13-match winless run that has seen the threat increase and Aitor Karanka lose his job.

Agnew is the man tasked with leading Middlesbrough out of trouble at this late stage of the campaign but their chances have been written off by many following the midweek defeat at fellow strugglers Hull City.

Agnew, who has collected one point from the first nine available under his watch, said: “I don’t see it. I have enough intelligence to work out what is being written.

“At times like this my focus is on preparing for Burnley and winning, nothing will get in my way or thought process to prepare the team.

“The dressing room was really disappointed the other night but then you have a long hard think about what is needed. All those small messages go a long way towards putting a positive frame of mind back in there.

“We have had three different games since I took over. The last 20 minutes against Manchester United was good and we scored; Swansea we had the chance to win in the end and it was a point away in Premier League; then the other night we scored a goal early, and the second goal, but the management of the game and the shape wasn’t there.”

Middlesbrough are short of options to change things at the back for the visit of Burnley on Saturday. George Friend, Fabio da Silva and Calum Chambers remain sidelined, while Gaston Ramirez trained on Friday morning and could figure.

Agnew has been satisfied with the reaction of the players since Wednesday night’s defeat at Hull, although he is desperate to see the training ground approach reflected when they face the Clarets.

He said: “It’s not just myself who believes, it’s little messages a long the way in team meetings that help us all believe. This is where we are … what we need to do. We know that.

“We feedback from the game on Wednesday, this was really good and the areas we need to improve. All these messages will put the players in a positive frame of mind.

“What we have to say is Burnley have had a fantastic season, they are a very good team, so it will be a hard game. But we can do it.

“Our frustrations have been not winning enough matches. That is where we find ourselves, it hasn’t been our attitudes. The one thing I would say is the fighting spirit is still there. The fighting spirit you seen last season will be evident on the pitch.

“Last season they had to fight hard to get points from Burnley and they have to do it again. We know exactly where we are, we have to set up to win the game.

“That’s what we will be doing. They understand the importance of the game, what we have to do is carry out the game plan, and remain stable in terms of the gameplan, then I am very confident.”

Agnew was critical of his own tactics at Hull in midweek as the major reason why Middlesbrough lost. In trying to make his team more dangerous and playing with two up front, Middlesbrough were weaker at the back.

He could tinker again when Burnley come to town. He said: “It is clear we need to score goals and to win matches. In terms of the shape of the team, I think when we need to attack, score goals, we need more focal points to the attack, sometimes two strikers gives you that option, sometimes a player off the striker does.

“Our thought is not always to play with two, but probably we need to encourage more support when it goes forward. It was frustrating. We got caught out with the balance required when we lost the ball.

“Because the game was a big game and maybe we got caught up in the emotions on the night. Taking the lead and knowing how to deal with being in front has not happened for a while. We spoke about it and learned from it.”