MIDDLESBROUGH have been told to forget about qualifying for Europe by influential skipper Gareth Southgate.

Saturday's defeat at Bolton left Boro sitting one place from bottom in the Premiership after picking up just one point - the same number as basement club Wolves.

Towards the back end of last season manager Steve McClaren suggested his side would be pushing hard to earn a UEFA Cup place this time around.

However, Southgate insists Boro's latest defeat - they have now won one of their last 11 games - should make all the squad stand up and be counted.

"Obviously when you are at the bottom there is going to be a lot of criticism," said the England international, who heard the large contingent of travelling Boro supporters at the Reebok Stadium boo their heroes off the pitch.

"You can see by the reaction of the fans after the game what they thought of it.

"Whatever our expectations were at the start of the season they are irrelevant now.

"We are at the bottom with five games gone and it's a reality check, we have got to put things right."

And Southgate, who was part of the Boro side which started a top-flight campaign poorly in August 2001, insists the current crop of stars can turn things around.

"We lost four in a row two years ago and we had to battle our way through it," he said. "There's no reason why we can't do that again.

"I think it's a bit early to talk about relegation but we need to start to picking up some points to make life easier for ourselves.

"We know that that performance is not acceptable.

"We have now got get back on the training ground and try to put things right.

"It is a concern that we haven't won for so long but we believe we can get things right."

Meanwhile, Boro boss Steve McClaren refused to condemn Juninho's reaction to being substituted at Bolton.

The Brazilian was replaced on 57 minutes for the second time this season; trudging straight down the tunnel in disgust.

But McClaren said: "I'd be disappointed if the player was not disappointed. I didn't see the reaction. I can imagine he was disappointed."