ACCORDING to Terry Venables it's still early days in the Premiership.

But, unlike Steve McClaren, El Tel is now in a situation where three games without a point and without a goal mean, for him, a five- minute discussion with Ally McCoist and Des Lynam.

The former Boro head coach can sleep easy in his bed knowing that his job on Teesside is done.

Not so Mr McClaren.

It would be unjust to describe Boro's new manager as dispirited but it appears the sheer extent of the job at the Riverside is only just starting to dawn on him.

With Venables last season it was a case of survival at all costs, and if a former England head coach with Venables' pedigree can't get the best out of players then no-one can.

McClaren has started from scratch and on Saturday, after just two games in charge, it appeared that the emergency panic button had already been pushed.

His 4-4-2 formation was jettisoned and a back five was introduced with instructions, if not to stop Duncan Ferguson winning every ball in the air, then at least to pick up the pieces before the Everton players did.

It was possibly slightly rash against an Everton team who no doubt by Christmas will be back in a more customary location in the bottom half of the Premiership - or at least as soon as Big Dunc gets injured.

But McClaren rang the changes in a bid to secure his first points as Middlesbrough manager. Plan B saw Robbie Mustoe replaced by Paul Okon, and Steve Vickers coming in for Brian Deane with Joseph Desire-Job pushing up alongside Hamilton Ricard.

After 62 minutes it was 2-0 down and back to Plan A.

"I knew when I came here the job was going to be a tough one," said McClaren. "The history over the last two years proved that.

"I knew it would take time. It's better to know the truth after three games than at Christmas or even later. We've learnt a lot of things that we can take forward but there's 35 games left and we will get it right."

Those remaining 35 games begin in a fortnight and by the end of September he will probably have discovered the extent of the job he faces.

Boro should expect to take points from each of their next three games - at home to Newcastle, West Ham and away at Leicester.

If they don't then another season of frustration awaits the Riverside faithful.

There were few plusses to take away from Saturday, even though the game did see the introduction of Slovakian international Szilard Nemeth.

Unfortunately it was difficult to judge a player who was far from match fit and someway off the pace.

But McClaren saw encouraging signs from his new man, although the absence of Alen Boksic was of more immediate concern.

"He (Nemeth) looked bright, and he's looked good in training," said McClaren. "He came on and looked lively.

"But we obviously missed Alen Boksic - he's still a couple of days away with his bruised calf."

What is worrying for McClaren is that without the Croatian Boro look almost incapable of creating any meaningful chances.

A return of two shots over 90 plus minutes of football - only one of which was on target - is not an encouraging sign.

It took 18 minutes for Paul Ince to prod an effort wide of the target by which time Boro were 1-0 down.

The back five somehow managed to allow Kevin Campbell to escape their collective attentions at a corner and Mark Schwarzer was grasping at air as Campbell headed home from inside the six-yard box.

By the time Joseph-Desire Job brought a smothering save from Paul Gerrard on 79 minutes the game was effectively over - Scot Gemmill had seen to that.

A corner on the left on 52 minutes was played short to Niclas Alexandersson. whose cross was cleared by the head of Paul Ince to the Scottish international on the edge of the box. Gemmill took no time to fire a super effort into the far corner.

An over-zealous Uriah Rennie didn't help matters by blowing up for almost 50 fouls in a game that was by no means dirty, and only once threatened to get out of hand when David Unsworth clashed with Paul Ince.

Indeed although Ince's future on Teesside is in doubt - his name leads a list of players who could be on their way under the new regime - his battling qualities were again in evidence.

Along with Gareth Southgate's interceptions and Job's running, they were the few plus points Boro could take away from an otherwise miserable afternoon.

Read more about the Boro here.