Nice to ‘see us at the top’ for Middlesbrough’s Aitor Karanka

Middlesbrough went top of the Championship table on Tuesday night, edging Burnley and leapfrogging Burnley to the delight of manager Aitor Karanka.

Middlesbrough's Stewart Downing shown during his team's Championship match against Ipswich Town earlier this month. Stephen Pond / Getty Images / December 4, 2015

Aitor Karanka says he wants his Middlesbrough side to be a top-of-the-table club at the end of the season – and not just for Christmas.

The team leapfrogged Brighton & Hove Albion at the Championship summit on goal difference after a scrappy win at home to Burnley.

“It’s nice to look at the table and see us at the top,” admitted the Boro manager.

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“It means we’re doing a good job. But we need to be there at the end of the season and we have to look at the next game.

“I’m very pleased. Our performance maybe wasn’t the best and not the nicest to watch.

“I had a tough job to do, to pick the first XI, but the players who played did really well in terms of their attitude

“I told them before the game we need a lot of games and all of them have to be ready, and that was a really good example of that for me.”

Karanka has been keen to stress the importance of his squad, and the Spaniard made four changes after Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Birmingham City.

“When I speak about the club and the team I speak about all of the players,” he added.

“It took me three days to decide the team. I asked my staff about who to play in the first XI, and all of them gave me four different team sheets. Mine was different. We have good players who can do very well.

“It’s difficult because we have to manage the players and make sure they’re all motivated.”

Burnley manager Sean Dyche was pleased with his side’s display despite seeing their winless run stretch to six games.

He said: “The margins are tight, we could have come away with a clean sheet and a point.

“Credit to Boro, they’ve done well at winning tight games this season.

“They like to keep the ball here and move it around the back. We had to find a way of affecting that and I thought we did for a lot of the game.

“But we looked hungrier to get something from the game and they started to stand off a bit and go deeper.”

Dyche is confident his side can get back into form after slipping to fifth in the table.

“We’ve won nine out of 12 before this, so we know how to win games, it has deserted us for the moment,” he added.

“A couple of things have gone against us, but we also have to take care of our own business.

“There are a lot of runners and riders this season but we think we’re among that.

“We need to push forward. We think we’re close, but the margins are so fine at the top end of this division.

“Tonight we played with calmness and assuredness, but we just let ourselves down in the final third.”

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