Middlesbrough v Bristol City: Neil Warnock redoubles efforts to strengthen Boro

The 72-year-old believes that the Teessiders, who have netted just once in their opening two fixtures of 2021/22, are light up front and is desperate for reinforcements.

“Bristol have got a great record against us, so we’re up against it, but I’ll conjure something up,” said Warnock.

“We’ve got to come up with a formula to give us a chance of winning the game. I haven’t got a problem at the back or in midfield, it’s just my forwards really, trying to find a formula where we can create and score goals, which is not easy at the moment with the players we’ve got. We do need an input there and we are working. 

“One or two things have cropped up in the last 48 hours. I’ve spoken to a couple of players and I’m quite optimistic that we can get these done.”

Reinforcements are however unlikely to arrive in time even for Boro’s midweek showdown with Queen’s Park Rangers.

“We are working really hard to get bodies in, but it looks like we are going to have to struggle through this week,” Warnock added.

“There have been all sorts of problems, really. You’ve got to talk to the agent, I try and talk to the player. Other clubs come in for players, they don’t want to move, all sorts of things come into it. Some of them don’t want to move to the North East. 

“But you’ve just got to keep going. Over the last 24 hours I’ve been a lot more confident of getting a couple in, hopefully by next weekend. I can’t see us getting them in before QPR though, which is disappointing.”