MO BESIC claims the current Middlesbrough squad is superior to the one he left last season – because there is no longer an over-reliance on Adama Traore.

Boro will attempt to cement their place at the top of the Championship table when they host Rotherham United tonight, with the weekend’s results having left the Teessiders at the head of affairs in the wake of their Friday-night win at Sheffield Wednesday.

Besic broke the deadlock at Hillsborough, and the Bosnian has become an increasingly influential figure since returning to the Riverside on a second loan deal from Everton.

Last season, he was part of the Boro side that lost in the play-offs, and while he was impressed with the strength of the squad during his first spell on Teesside, the 26-year-old feels the current group is much better equipped to mount a successful promotion push.

He attributes much of the improvement to the absence of Traore, not because the winger lacked ability or application, but rather because Boro had become much too reliant on their Spanish speed merchant in the second half of last term.

“This squad is much better,” said Besic, who signed a second loan deal in August after attempts to engineer a permanent transfer from Merseyside fell through. “We are more focused, stronger.

“We have lost Adama, but have come together as a stronger team. We have quality on the pitch, and it is more spread now rather than the focus being on just Adama. It is much better.”

Besic suffered a disrupted pre-season as he tried to sort out his Everton future, so it was perhaps understandable that he took a while to hit peak form this term.

He was dropped to the substitutes’ bench in the wake of last month’s defeat at Norwich, but regained his place for the trip to Ipswich, where he scored his first goal of the campaign.

Having impressed at Portman Road, he produced another eye-catching display at Hillsborough, where he played in a slightly more attacking role than was the case for much of last season.

With George Saville having arrived to bolster Boro’s defensive-midfield ranks, Tony Pulis clearly envisages Besic playing further up the field, and the Bosnian’s relationship with his manager was a key factor in his decision to return to the North-East this summer.

Pulis was bitterly disappointed when he was unable to sign Besic permanently, and his desperation to secure a second loan deal underlines just how highly he rates the midfielder.

“The manager has really managed me really well in the last two months,” said Besic. “You could see at Hillsborough I was really fit, strong, and I think I am now at my best.

“I like this manager a lot, defence as well as attack. He can do both. I like this because I can tackle and I can play. The most important thing is I want the freedom from the coach, and that is why I came back here.

“It was not too easy to come back and play well at first because from the last time I played a game at Middlesbrough to the next it was three months. I didn’t have a proper pre-season at Everton. You know what it is like when you go on loan, the travelling, you don’t know what is happening with your future.”

Pulis could revert to a flat back four tonight, having played with five at the back at Hillsborough. Martin Braithwaite is set to return to the starting line-up after he was rested on Friday as Boro take on a Rotherham side without a single away point.

Middlesbrough (probable, 4-1-4-1): Randolph; Shotton, Ayala, Flint, Friend; Clayton; Braithwaite, Besic, Howson, Downing; Assombalonga