'We need to improve, I need to improve' - Jonathan Woodgate on Middlesbrough's defeat to Swansea City

Middlesbrough's Saturday lunchtime clash with Swansea City very much had the feel of a pre-season friendly.

Add in the fact that both sides seemed to make an endless number of substitutions, plus the disjointed, lethargic nature of Jonathan Woodgate's players' performance and there could be no doubting that the contest which unfolded at the Riverside was one that counted for very little.

Except that it was a Championship match, Boro's first since the coronavirus pandemic brought 2019/20 to a halt, and one that the Teessiders really needed to get something from in their quest to beat the drop.

Nineteenth in the table at the start of play, placed precariously just above the drop zone, Woodgate's men were miles off the pace and conceded three times without reply before the interval.

If there was any doubt that the hosts had a genuine fight for survival on their hands, what played out on the pitch during a chastening opening 45 minutes emphasised exactly how much trouble the club is in.

Woodgate is no fool, he knows what was served up against the Swans was unacceptable, and admitted after the full-time whistle that both he and his players need to be much better if they are to have any chance of beating the drop.

"We weren't good enough, we need to improve, I need to improve and look at the players," the Boro head coach conceded.

"If the players play well, they stay in the team, if they don't, they don't play.

"It is difficult to explain because in training we do train well every single day and the last week we've trained really well. But we've come up against a side there who were very good.

"It was very disappointing. I thought Swansea were very, very good and we got cut open on numerous occasions, especially in the first half.

"To be honest, we couldn't get near them. Our performance was not good enough - no shadow of a doubt. We need to go back to the drawing board."

Boro actually began the brighter of the sides but almost found themselves a goal down on seven minutes, George Friend slipping while trying to deal with a ball over the top, allowing Aldo Kalulu a clear run on goal.

The Frenchman's dinked finish came back off the woodwork and the hosts were afforded another let-off when Rhian Brewster failed to divert Conor Gallagher's header from an Andrew Ayew cross past Dejan Stojanovic,

Livepool loanee Brewster did however get the better of Boro's stopper on 18 minutes, forcing home a first-time finish at the near post following Ayew's probing run and low cross from the left.

Less than three minutes later, the Swansea lead was doubled with Woodgate's men again looking all at sea.

It was, quite simply, too easy for the visiting side to advance into a threatening position on the edge of the home box, Gallagher finding Kalulu, who crossed from the right for Brewster to slam an effort into the turf and past the despairing dive of Stojanovic.

There were a couple of promising moments at the other end of the field, though the game was ended as a contest on 34 minutes when Gallagher got to Jay Fulton's pass into the box before Friend, then went down under the Boro left-back's challenge.

Ayew sent Stojanovic the wrong way from the resulting spot-kick and that was pretty much that.

Boro's second-half performance was slightly improved, though they never really looked like making a breakthrough, and it was the Swans who came closest to finding the back of the net as George Byers' bent a delicious 90th-minute effort against an upright.

If the visitors had scored five, it would have been difficult to argue that the scoreline flattered them.

By contrast, Boro managed just a single shot on target during the whole 90 minutes, and when that is all a team can muster while they're being opened up so easily in their own half, alarm bells should be ringing loud and clear.

Boro: Stojanovic, Howson, Shotton (Roberts 46), Fry, Friend, McNair, Clayton (Spence 46), Nmecha (Fletcher 69), Wing, Coulson (Johnson 55), Gestede (Assombalonga 71). Substitutes not used: Pears, Tavernier, Morrison, Saville.

Swansea: Woodman, Roberts, Cabango, Wilmot, Bidwell, Fulton (Byers 74), Grimes, Kalulu (Garrick 53), Gallagher (Celina 81), Ayew (Dhanda 81), Brewster (Routledge 74). Substitutes not used: Mulder, Guehi, Naughton, Dyer.