Boro still have work to do

Better sides than Boro have lost to Manchester United this season, but few have been brushed aside with such alarming ease.

Steve McClaren is right to stress that one disappointment does not devalue everything his side have achieved in the last 12 months, but the Boro boss is also astute enough to know that basking in past glories is no longer an option in the modern game.

Serving his apprenticeship under Sir Alex Ferguson taught him that and, just as the Manchester United boss was already planning improvements as he celebrated winning the treble in 1999, so McClaren has spent the last month weighing up the best way to ensure this season is not put to waste.

There will be no knee-jerk reactions in the next few weeks but, with the transfer window now open, Boro will be on the look-out for a couple of short-term solutions in the January sales.

"How well we do is dependent on how often we get our best side onto the field," said McClaren, who confirmed in his programme notes that he was hoping to sign a defensive midfielder and a left-back as cover this month.

"At the moment, we're missing the likes of (Mark) Viduka, (George) Boateng, (Gaizka) Mendieta, (Ugo) Ehiogu and (Chris) Riggott - that's hitting us hard.

"I do think there's a gap between the rest of us and the top three. Sometimes you can bridge it, but we had key personnel missing and you can't afford to be without some of your best players when you play against a team like Manchester United.

"I think we all know who the top three sides are and I don't think any of us will be kidding ourselves about that.

"This was a huge lesson for us, but we've had a good year and a good season so far. We know that there are better days ahead."

Ironically, one of the best days of the season so far came at Old Trafford in October as an injury-hit Boro held United to a 1-1 draw.

Sadly there was never any danger of history repeating itself at the Riverside as a similarly depleted Boro side were well beaten by a rampant United who have now won eight of their last nine starts in the Premiership.

That is championship-winning form - or at least it would be if Chelsea and Arsenal were not on a similarly unstoppable roll - and, while United had injury problems of their own to contend with on Saturday, they were still better than Boro in every department.

Mark Schwarzer - who could yet find himself joining the United bandwagon later this month - was beaten at his near post as Cristiano Ronaldo rattled the upright in the eighth minute, and could then only parry Ryan Giggs fierce cross-shot 60 seconds later, leaving Darren Fletcher with the easiest of tap-ins from six yards.

Defensively, Boro never came to terms with the fluidity of a United attack shorn of some £60m worth of attacking talent in the absence of the suspended Wayne Rooney and injured duo Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha.

Alan Smith gave Colin Cooper a torrid time on his 600th league outing, while both Giggs and Ronaldo drifted in from their wings to form a talented triumvirate whenever United broke forward.

Boro's attack, on the other hand, was pedestrian with Joseph-Desire Job contributing next to nothing before being withdrawn before the interval and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink successfully shackled by the imperious Rio Ferdinand.

Mark Viduka has hardly been prolific since signing in the summer, but there are few better than the former Leeds striker when it comes to holding the ball up with your back to goal and, with a hamstring injury likely to keep him out of action for another month, Boro's strikers are beginning to look worryingly lightweight in his absence.

It was in midfield, though, that the gulf in class was at its most apparent. United's 4-5-1 system gave them a numerical advantage at the heart of the game and, with Roy Keane largely doing as he liked, Boro's midfielders struggled to make any kind of an impact.

While Bolo Zenden has excelled since being switched inside earlier this season, he is neither combative nor creative enough to master the best midfielders in the land.

Doriva looks like he would struggle against some of the so-called lesser lights and, with Boateng's broken toe ruling him out for the best part of a month, McClaren's decision to hand former Everton midfielder Alex Nyarko a trial and pursue Portsmouth's Amdy Faye looks justified. Nyarko, however, has since moved on to Southampton and the search continues.

"I thought their two best players were Keane and Giggs," said McClaren. "I thought they were phenomenal.

"Keane used to be the all-round midfield player covering every blade of grass on the pitch.

"Now he's got a more disciplined role, and he does it very effectively. He's the heartbeat of the team - and he certainly was against us.

"I think the quality of Manchester United's midfield play was there for everyone to see.

"When you come up against these top sides you have to pass the ball well and I thought that, on the day, we just didn't pass the ball well enough."

United did and, after Fletcher's ninth-minute strike had broken the deadlock, both Smith and Ronaldo went close to extending the visitors' lead with strikes from outside the area.

Boro finally mustered their first effort at goal in the 27th minute - Zenden firing over the crossbar from 30 yards - and the hosts did at least perk up temporarily after Szilard Nemeth replaced Job at the interval.

Hasselbaink headed Stewart Downing's cross over the top, and Gabriel Heinze produced a magnificent last-ditch tackle to deny the onrushing Nemeth, but Keane simply dropped a little deeper and Boro's brief period in the ascendancy came to a shuddering halt.

United were happy enough with their one-goal lead, but the scoreline assumed a more realistic look 11 minutes from time.

Substitute Eric Djemba-Djemba fed Giggs and, after the Welsh winger had nutmegged Southgate, he coolly clipped the ball past both the retreating Cooper and the advancing Schwarzer.

Result: Middlesbrough 0 Manchester United 2.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.