MIDDLESBROUGH are two games into the season and are yet to taste victory but Chris Wilder feels the positives have outweighed the benefits in both games.

Boro’s thin squad battled their way to a 1-1 draw against West Brom on the opening day of the season before a turbulent first half against Queens Park Rangers was the major role in their 3-2 defeat in West London.

“I've got to say, looking back at the first two games, there have been plenty of positives to take out of them” he said.

“There were obvious negatives in the first 20-30 minutes against QPR in the way we went about and let a talented side get in their stride, and the way we conceded.

“But there have been a lot of positives as well, and the general performance against West Brom, who we saw last night took Watford apart with 71% possession and the number of chances they create. So you look at that game, look at what we did to West Brom, look at the second half performance against QPR... It feels not great, of course, because we're here to win.

“We have to try and put a balance on it and not be too negative about it all, because I'm sure, as we talked about, bringing new players into the club will raise the bar and raise the standard, and that will only be beneficial to us all.”

The running theme of Boro’s start to the season has been the absence of squad depth and their difficulties in the transfer market. Following their defeat at the Prince Kayan Foundation Stadium, Wilder made an urgent call to arms for new additions to the squad to help him and the players. However, there will be no new signings available for this evening’s game.

Had Boro had added numbers in their squad, their results might have reflected differently as Wilder continued: “I know where we are at, where priorities are, position specific what we need, I know what we need from mentality and a team point of view, what players we need to get in. We all know these things.”

With the club working but not quite succeeding behind the scenes in the recruitment department, Wilder added: “That’s the biggest frustration that I’ve known of it for quite a long time but knowing it and getting it done is two different things. I know where we are at and I know that if we had been fortunate enough to do (business), would that have given us a better opportunity to win both games? Absolutely 100%. But the game doesn’t work like that and there have been obstacles put in our way.

“Obstacles in terms of Djed Spence situation and the Tav situation and these are things you have got to work around and work through but I’m sat here knowing how I want it to look and if I got it to look how I wanted it to look, do I believe that got more out of the games? Absolutely 100%.”

Boro return to action this evening in the first round of the Carabao Cup where they host Barnsley at the Riverside Stadium.