Friend Hoping Middlesbrough Bounce Back After International Break

Middlesbrough left-back George Friend is hoping the club bounce back straight away after defeat in their last game against Nottingham Forest.

Boro let standards slip against Aitor Karanka’s side as they suffered a 2-0 home loss at the hands of their former manager, and the defender is expecting the team to raise their game after the international break:

“When we come back there is a whole load of games to bounce back in and we have to be ready for them. And of course we will look at the Forest game. We can’t dwell on it but have to work out what went wrong as a team and evaluate your own performance as well so you can put it right.”

“We’ve got the break now and hopefully the lads who are away will play well for their countries and the lads still here will work hard to keep the fitness levels up and be ready to go again.”

Middlesbrough face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough in ten days time before consecutive home games against Rotherham and Derby County.

The defeat to Forest means they have slipped outside of the top two with Sheffield United’s 1-0 win over Hull City at the weekend leapfrogging them to the top of the table.

Friend was a key man when Boro were promoted to the Premier League back in 2015/16, and having captained the side in the vast majority of games this campaign, in the absence of Grant Leadbitter, he will be looking to lead the Teessiders to a second promotion in three years come May.