MIDDLESBROUGH boss Steve McClaren has admitted he is still waiting for his £8.15m "gamble'' on Massimo Maccarone to pay off.

The Italian striker is in line to make his first senior start this season in tomorrow's game at Tottenham after confirming his recovery from ankle ligament damage.

Maccarone, who made a substitute appearance in the 1-0 home defeat by Newcastle a week ago, has scored four goals in three reserve games.

Boro desperately need to boost their firepower after scoring only seven in nine Premiership outings and slipping back into the bottom three.

McClaren, who smashed Boro's transfer record to lure Maccarone from Empoli in the summer of last year, is hoping the 24-year-old marksman can provide the answer.

Maccarone struck three times against Spurs last season, scoring in the 3-0 win at White Hart Lane and grabbing a brace in the 5-1 Riverside romp in Boro's final home game of the campaign.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was among those who urged McClaren to take a chance on Maccarone.

But the jury is still out, with some fans having dubbed Maccarone "Missimo'' after he managed only nine goals last season and lost his place.

McClaren confessed: "I think it's fair to say that we're still waiting for the gamble to pay off.

"Every signing is a gamble, especially with strikers, but we did our homework on him. He'd been playing in Serie B, but we'd seen enough of him in international football, at Under-21 and senior level, to know the quality he had.

"It's a bonus having Massimo back - it's like a new signing. He was still our top scorer last season with nine goals, and he also got nine assists.

"We said this was going to be a massive year for Massimo. He was on fire early last season and he needs to get back to that sort of form.

"He found it difficult after his honeymoon period. He found it hard to adapt to the culture, the language and the English game, which is faster and more physical than he was used to in Italy.

"The one part of his game he needed to improve was the physical side and during the summer he worked hard on weights to become stronger.

"Anybody who saw him come back for pre-season could see the difference. He was aggressive and looked like scoring goals. It was a real blow losing him so early in pre-season.

"Every club needs someone to score 15-20 goals a season and we believe we have one here. But I'm not going to put pressure on any individual to score 20 goals a season.

"We're playing very good football and creating chances, but we're not scoring enough goals.

"It's not just the strikers, though. We're looking to the midfield to score goals. We want Mendieta, Zenden, Doriva and Greening to contribute more goals - we're looking at the whole team to score. We need to be more ruthless in front of goal.''

McClaren is also expecting better things from Michael Ricketts, after beating off competition from tomorrow's opponents to land the England striker from Bolton for £2.5m in January.

Niggling injuries have restricted Ricketts' appearances, and he has started only one first-team game this season.

McClaren said: "Just over a year ago he was playing for England. He's shown his potential and that's why we brought him here.

"He's had injuries, but he's been back playing for a few weeks now and he's waiting for his opportunity. We expect him to take that opportunity when it comes. It's up to Michael what he does. It's up to all the players to start delivering.''

Boro picked up only one point from the first 15 this season before successive victories over Everton and Southampton, with a Carling Cup win against Brighton in between, revived their fortunes.

But unlucky home defeats by Chelsea and Newcastle have set alarm bells ringing again at the Riverside.

McClaren conceded: "We're very concerned about where we are in the league; we're not happy, but we're not worried because we've only played nine games.

"We know we have to turn it around, but we've done it before and we know we can do it again. I take comfort from the fact that we've been here before; we've lost four in a row, but we've bounced back.''

* Former Boro star Christian Ziege could make a dramatic return for Spurs. The German defender, who suffered a career-threatening thigh injury on Boxing Day, has completed three reserve games and been added to the squad by caretaker-boss David Pleat.

* Boro goalkeeper Sam Russell's loan spell with Scunthorpe has been extended for a further month.

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