FORMER England centre-back Colin Cooper yesterday defended Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren against claims that his international duties are undermining his new club.

McClaren is back with Boro after helping to mastermind England's crucial World Cup qualifying victories over Germany and Albania.

Boro face Newcastle United in tomorrow's Riverside Stadium derby with no points and no goals from McClaren's first three games in charge.

But Cooper said: "I don't think it's a problem. The manager has his England thing and that's great. It's down to the manager and the club.

"We've had a cracking week here. Everybody is back in place and we're looking to get a good result against Newcastle. Everyone knows the manager is a good coach and he's got good coaches around him at the club.

"I presume it's why he picked the staff he did when he came here. Steve Harrison has had his full coaching hat on and we've done a normal week's training and watched England with admiration.

"We try to do on a Saturday what we're told to do in training and how people outside perceive it is up to them."

However, Cooper confessed: "Things couldn't be much worse and they can only get better.

"But it's only three games and we don't see it as a major panic. I think we let the manager down to a degree in the last match at Everton, but he's still upbeat and feels we're on the right track, so we're hoping to get off the mark as quickly as possible.

"We've played some nice football, but we haven't made that many scoring opportunities."

Szilard Nemeth, who scored twice in Slovakia's 4-2 win over Moldova on Wednesday, could be asked to carry the burden of Boro's attacking ambitions.

Nemeth and Alen Boksic, who missed Croatia's World Cup qualifiers through injury, face fitness tests.

"The quicker Alen gets fit the better for us,'' said Cooper. "Everybody know his talent. Szilard is sharp and we know he will get goals. We've seen that in training and on videos of him playing for Slovakia.

"He's had a difficult start here with a double hernia, but he's desperate to play and show why he came to England.''

Boro face the threat of a fit-again Alan Shearer without key defender Ugo Ehiogu, who is serving a one-match ban. But Cooper stressed: "Steve Vickers is a very capable replacement for Ugo in my opinion, though my opinion doesn't pick the team.

"Alan Shearer is still a fantastic centre-forward who did well here last year and scored a good goal. If you finish with a clean sheet you feel you've done a half-decent job in stopping him scoring. He's been out with long injuries before and come back and scored a lot of goals.''

Boro are set to parade new £1m signing Allan Johnston, who sealed his move from Rangers this week.

"Allan looks tricky and very skillful in training and can deliver crosses to help us score,'' said Cooper. "He can score, too - he's shown that in training.

"We need to get the message across to the fans that we're all frustrated and we hope they stay behind us.

"I think people are prepared to let the new regime settle in and give them time, though that's not something you get in the Premiership. The quicker we get points on the board, the better.''

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