Middlesbrough

Bristol City are keen on Middesbrough's Dutch forward Delano Burgzorg, 27. (Northern Echo - via subscription, external)

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Middlesbrough defender Adilson Malanda says he has modelled his game on centre-backs Thiago Silva and Raphael Varane.

The 24-year-old was named player of the match in his long-awaited Boro debut during the 4-0 win over Southampton at the Riverside on Sunday.

Malanda signed from US side Charlotte FC in the summer but was immediately loaned back until the end of the MLS season, though he wasted no time in making a positive impression once he pulled on a Boro shirt.

He made more blocks (10) than any other player on the pitch against the Saints, four of which crucially stopped goalbound shots, most notably from Flynn Downes and Adam Armstrong.

"I'm really enjoying it, really pleased to be here and fully part of it now," Malanda told BBC Radio Tees.

"I want to thank the fans for the welcome because it was a great atmosphere to feel for a first game. Just really happy that it turned out this way for us.

"The most important thing was to get back to winning after those few results [four without a win]. The team was ready for it and I'm really happy that it turned out in a good way."

When asked who he looks up to as a defender, Malanda said: "Obviously Thiago Silva, he likes to defend, stand, never goes down, or rarely.

"Varane a little bit. I have quite a few of them, just taking from everyone."

Malanda described the Championship as "one of the most exciting leagues in the world" and said he was desperate to start playing.

"I had a chance to speak a little bit with the boys over there [in the US] and they told me it was a tough league, really intense, the duels and you can face really different teams," he added.

Hull City are set to sign 31-year-old former QPR keeper Seny Dieng once he has negotiated his release by Middlesbrough. (Hull Daily Mail, external)

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Middlesbrough are planning to test the resolve of Championship promotion rivals Hull City with a move for star defender Charlie Hughes, who could cost £10m. (Football League World, external)

Boro are also keen on signing Ecuador international winger Jeremy Sarmiento on loan from Brighton, if the Seagulls cut short the 23-year-old's unsuccessful loan at Serie A Cremonese. Sarmiento has been promoted from the Championship during loans with Ipswich and Burnley in the past two seasons. (Teesside Live, external)

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Image source, Shutterstock

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg says the "belief" of his players was vital to ending their festive Championship wobble.

Boro had gone four games without a win or a goal before they hit four in 22 second half minutes to sweep aside Southampton.

The result saw them climb back above Ipswich Town into second and for Hellberg, it was vindication of plugging away.

The Teessiders had managed 80 shots and averaged almost 66% possession in accruing a single point from those four previous games before their luck turned against the sorry Saints.

Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees: "It was a well deserved win. It was a very good second half, a lot of goals and a message of belief and keep doing the things that we've done and that will give you results over time.

The win took Middlesbrough above Ipswich Town into second place and within six points of leaders Coventry City on a positive afternoon for Hellberg and his players.

The Swede added: "The intensity, how the players trained and worked every day at the training ground, how they are with each other and how they worked with their body language even in tough periods in terms of not getting results and the frustration of playing that type of football and not getting the wins or points from that, it shows the belief in the players in how they kept going."

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg spoke to BBC Radio Tees after Thursday's 1-0 defeat at Derby County.

"It was unbelievable winning the first four games, having that start. But then getting one point from the next four and not scoring, creating a lot of chances, playing a lot of good football and goalkeepers being the man of the matches almost every game, that hurts," he said.

"Looking at the table, we are back to the same position when we started eight games ago and that hurts also. The result today hurt.

"Look at the bigger picture over those four games and we scored no goals and we created tons of opportunities to score. At the moment we are not good enough at scoring and we have to be honest with that.

"But we cannot just say 'it's not going our way'. It's not, but we have to find a way and get better at those things.

"I go into the locker room and see devastated players. They know it too, they put this on their shoulders. I need to find a way to help them better, that is my job and that's my aim."

Image source, Opta

Derby County will aim to keep in touch with the Championship play-off places when they welcome promotion-chasing Middlesbrough on New Year's Day (15:00 GMT kick-off).

The Rams are 14th and six points behind the top six after a run of just one win in seven games (D3 L3).

Boro missed the chance to close the gap to leaders Coventry with a 1-0 defeat to Hull on Monday night and remain eight points behind, while they are two clear of Ipswich and Hull in third and fourth respectively.

Kim Hellberg won his first four games in charge of Boro, but is now without victory in the past three (D1 L2).

• Derby County are unbeaten in each of their past five home league games against Middlesbrough (W3 D2), since a 2-1 Championship defeat in April 2018.

• Middlesbrough came from behind to beat Derby County 2-1 back in November and could now complete a league double over the Rams for the first time since 2014-15 under Aitor Karanka.

• Derby County have lost their past three league games played on New Year's Day, last avoiding defeat on the opening day of the year in 2019, a 1-1 home draw with Middlesbrough.

• Including 2026, eight of Middlesbrough's previous nine league matches on New Year's Day have come away from home, losing just one of the previous seven on the road (W3 D3).

• Middlesbrough's Morgan Whittaker has been directly involved in six goals in three league appearances on New Year's Day (2 goals, 4 assists), more than any other player in the EFL since 2023.

Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg is frustrated that his side have gone three games without scoring, after they lost 1-0 at home to Hull City tonight.

He told BBC Radio Tees: "Making a game look like this and coming away without any points - that's not good enough. At the moment we're not scoring any goals, and we have to be honest with that - we're not good enough in those moments.

"You can look at the last three games, not scoring a goal from something like 70 shots. That's not good enough so we have to work with that part.

"Sometimes the ball just doesn't want to go in, but you also have to look at the quality in the finishing, how we get players in the best positions to finish, and that's what I have to look at.

"We had 23 shots, and they had one shot on target and made it count."

Image source, Getty Images

Middlesbrough manager Kim Hellberg felt his side got what they deserved in their disappointing goalless draw against Blackburn at the Riverside Stadium.

Boro remain second in the Championship and Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees: "I think as a game in total, it's very disappointing. I think you can see a group of players that work very hard. We talked about this after the game of handling the expectations of sometimes not having your best day and to try and handle those things when it's not going your way.

"I think there's so much determination and much willingness to do good, to do right, to do everything for your team-mates, the fans, and I think today that became a little bit of a problem because we started to force things because we wanted it so bad.

"That opened us up for counters and that opened up a lot of technical errors that we haven't seen before. I'm a bit disappointed with myself in handling that part of the game, in helping the players live up to expectations when we don't have the best of days. In general, disappointed with the performance and we didn't deserve more than a point."

Image source, Opta

Middlesbrough will seek to finish 2025 strongly at the Riverside as they welcome Blackburn on Friday (15:00 GMT).

Boro lie second, six points behind leaders Coventry and five ahead of third-placed Ipswich after seeing a four-match winning streak under Kim Hellberg ended by a 2-0 defeat at Bristol City last time out.

Valerien Ismael's Blackburn moved six points clear of the drop-zone after picking up their first win in six games with a 2-0 home win over Millwall last Saturday, and have an impressive recent record on the road in Teesside.

• Middlesbrough won their last league game against Blackburn 2-0 in April but haven't won consecutively against Rovers since doing the double over them in 2012/13.

• Blackburn are unbeaten in their past 10 away league games against Middlesbrough (W3 D7), though their last defeat was a Boxing Day meeting in 2012.

• Middlesbrough have won nine of their past 11 home league games on Boxing Day, with both exceptions coming against Sheffield Wednesday (0-1 in 2018, 3-3 in 2024).

• Blackburn's last away win on Boxing Day came against Middlesbrough in the Premier League in 2005. Since then they've failed to win any of their nine Boxing Day away games (D3 L6), losing the past six in a row.

• Middlesbrough have won 11 of their past 16 home league games (D3 L2), with their only two defeats in this time coming against last season's champions Leeds in April and current league leaders Coventry in November.

Image source, Getty Images

Middlesbrough have added two members of staff to Kim Hellberg's backroom team.

Anes Mravac, most recently interim head coach of Swedish side Malmo, joins his team of assistant coaches.

Former West Ham goalkeeper coach Linus Kandolin has also been appointed after Alan Fettis' departure from Boro earlier in the season.

Speaking to BBC Radio Tees ahead of Friday's visit of Blackburn, and asked about Mravac, Hellberg said: "He's a good guy and a good coach."

Mravac's previous coaching roles include at IF Sylvia and IFK Varnamo - where Hellberg coached before moving to Hammarby - while he also spent four years at IFK Norrkoping, Hellberg's hometown club.

Kandolin was part of Graham Potter's backroom team at The Hammers earlier this season, having previously worked at IF Elfsborg and under Potter at Ostersunds, as well as being part of the Sweden Under-21s coaching set-up.

Kim Hellberg says he has been impressed by the mental fortitude of his Boro squad after suffering their first defeat since he took over.

Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Bristol City ended a four-match winning run and left Middlesbrough six points behind leaders Coventry.

Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees: "It's easy to be happy and have energy when you win games, it's a challenge when you lose and don't get the result you want.

"This is a very strong group and they have shown me that this week.

"It's about learning and developing from it and using it. The squad are happy, there's a lot of energy. You have to use the energy from that game in the best way you can to improve.

"The players have been brilliant this week. There's been a lot of reflection on what we can improve. We'll get better, that's the name of the game."

Riley McGree limped off early at Ashton Gate and will miss the next two games at least, though Hellberg insisted he wouldn't be "careful" with the Australian, who endured a nightmare two seasons with injury trouble.

"I don't think it's a long-term thing," Hellberg said. "You need to balance the timing on coming back - I don't like the word careful, it's not how I want to play, train or act."

The Swede said squad rotation would be vital with four games in 10 days.

"We have a lot of good players coming back. Everyone except Riley was on the pitch (in training)," Hellberg added.

"It's key in the Championship with so many games in a short period of time to rotate. It's an opportunity to give players who work every day a chance. I believe in people. It's up to them to take their chance.

"It's a competition about starting and a competition about being on the bench, that's how we want it."

After a day off with their families on Christmas Day, Boro will face 20th-placed Blackburn in front of a packed house on Friday, fresh from a 2-0 win over promotion-chasing Millwall.

"Blackburn have had good results against big teams and had a lot of close games. It's a tricky opponent with some good players," Hellberg said. "It's going to be amazing to play in front of a sold out Riverside."