Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka has heaped praise on his team after their impressive 2-0 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday, whilst also playing down Alvaro Negredo's goal drought.
Strikes from Gaston Ramirez and Stewart Downing, grabbed Boro their first home win of the season and a vital three points which, for the time being, pushes Karanka's team up to 14th in the table. It is alsoonly the second time this season that Middlesbrough have scored twice in a league match.
Despite seeing less of the ball and relying on elements of luck throughout the first half, most notably seeing Bournemouth's Joshua King go close to scoring twice, the Middlesbrough bossinsisted he was more bothered about his own team and how well they had played.
"I think it was a really good game for us," he toldSky Sports. "I don't care how many games I have, the most important thing is the performance once again and the three points, and especially at home because our crowd was used to coming here every single game last season and seeing us win most of the games.
"With this performance, after the last three performances, I think we showed the right way.
FULL-TIME | Aitor @Karanka's 150th game sees #Boro's 250th Riverside win! GET IN!!! #UTB pic.twitter.com/ZXhWeXT7vr
"Every single point in the Premier League is gold for us. If we want to add points we have to suffer a lot. For example, Bournemouth were a team who were in the Championship three years ago, but now they are a better team, they have better players and one more year experience than us.
"We know that every single game and every single point is going to be difficult for us. But once again, playing in this way, showing everybody how together we are, is the way."
"We were having problems in the first 15-20 minutes, playing in the same way that we played last weekend against Arsenal, but we were better with the 4-3-3. Gaston showed once again how good he is, but after Gaston there are another ten players."
Despite the win, doubts still remain about loan striker Alvaro Negredo, who has only scored once this season in the 1-1 draw with Stoke on the 13th August. Karanka dismissed suggestions that the Spaniard was struggling thoughand focused on other assets of the striker'sgame.
He added:"As a coach, I can't just see the goals that he's scoring or not, I have to see the big picture. And the big picture is that Alvaro's an amazing striker. With him on the pitch he can hold the ball, he can assist like he today and he's a massive player for us."
Middlesbrough now travel to Negredo's old team, and current Premier League leaders, Manchester City in the final match before November's international break. With four points from their last two games, Karanka's side will be confident of causing an upset and be hopeful they can build on Saturday's comfortable 2-0 win over Bournemouth.