Middlesbrough: Monk’s methods will work says Friend after Nottingham Forest defeat

There was clearly a sense of disappointment, but what is abundantly obvious is there is no real sense of panic after losing two away games in a row in August.

Despite a frenetic end to the second half when Boro threatened to salvage a result from an afternoon when they were effectively made to pay for poor finishing and a dreadful start, there were only positive vibes tinged with frustration.

Britt Assombalonga, the £15m record buy from Nottingham Forest, has every right to have hated his first return. After all he missed three glorious chances, picked up a booking and angered his old team-mates during a defeat.

That’s before you even thinking of the constant battering he got from the fans who used to cheer him, so little wonder he didn’t carry out post-match interviews just days after grabbing his first two goals in a Middlesbrough shirt.

Beyond the Assombolonga factor, though, the message being sent out by Garry Monk and the players is that they are confident these early season hiccups will not cost Middlesbrough at the end of the season when they hope to celebrate promotion.

For that to happen Monk knows he has to address the sloppy starts. Those have proven costly at both Molineux and now the City Ground in the opening two weeks of the campaign, and that needs to be addressed by the time they head to Bolton on September 9.

Full-back George Friend said: “The manager is calm and he identifies problems where we are going wrong. I think we rectified things out there during the game and we tried to get goals.

“He has been excellent since coming in. He is thorough and gets across his message and is a good man manager. We believe he can take us up. He has the staff around him with new players and the older players.”

Middlesbrough remain favourites, along with Wolves, to win the Championship. It is easy to see why when they play because they have an abundance of attacking talent.

After only four matches, a six point gap to early pace-setters Cardiff and Ipswich will not worry Monk and nor should it. But he does need to address the problems which have prevented his team from finding top gear in the first few weeks of the campaign under him.

Friend said: “We started poorly, we were slow out of the blocks, we have been a few times already this season. If we can start like that we will finish off teams. I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game. It is disappointing when you dominate a second half like that to lose.”

The system Monk prefers - with Adam Clayton sitting in front of the back four, two midfielders ahead of him and then three roaming forwards – has the potential to do some damage going forward. The problem is that it can easily lack width in the final third.

Forest ensured they started on the front-foot and that didn’t allow full-backs Friend nor Cyrus Christie – two key components because they effectively become wing-backs – to get forward enough to support the forwards who tend to play narrow.

When Forest took advantage of the bright start by scoring the opener in the 16th minute the task suddenly became much harder challenge, particularly with a hostile home crowd baying to give Assombalonga a rough ride on his return.

The lively Kieran Dowell supplied the pass for former Rangers man Barrie McKay in behind the Middlesbrough defence. He took a touch before side-footing beyond Darren Randolph. It was a tidy finish.

Assombalonga didn’t have his shooting boots on at all. Had he levelled things up before half-time when he had a similar chance courtesy of Jonny Howson’s pass then things would have been different. Instead he missed the target completely from inside the box.

With Middlesbrough pressing, former Newcastle striker Daryl Murphy added a second from the spot when Ben Gibson was adjudged to have pulled down Ben Brereton with 11 minutes remaining. Gibson redeemed himself by pulling one back four minutes later but that was it.

Middlesbrough created more chances than Forest and most arrived in the second half when Monk changed things. Ordinarily though he wouldn’t be finishing a game with five forwards on the pitch, Howson was the only midfielder, and he wouldn’t have liked to have had to change his system. Clearly Middlesbrough – who have not won away from home in the league for a year now - are still short of the levels he will be demanding over the course of the season.

Friend said: “We can strike fear into other teams with this squad. The chairman has invested well and wisely. We have kept a lot of good players. I don’t think being favourites affects us and we should have won here.”