Super Sam leaves stand-in chief Leo in the dark at Boro
INTERIM boss Leo
Percovich admitted he’s not in the know about Boro’s search for a new manager.
The Uruguayan is preparing to take charge for a fourth game at Wigan on Wednesday after Blackburn inflicted a second successive defeat.
Chairman Steve Gibson was absent from the directors’ box as Middlesbrough were booed off and dropped back into the bottom three.
Chris Wilder was sacked nearly two weeks ago and Boro have spoken to several candidates including former Manchester United caretaker manager Michael Carrick and ex-watford head coach Rob Edwards.
One-time Boro and Sunderland midfielder
Lee Cattermole — the Teessiders’ Under-18s coach and part of a three-man backroom team assisting Percovich — is second favourite to Carrick.
Whoever gets the gig, they will have plenty of work to do to get Boro back on track. Blackburn striker Sam Gallagher scored a screamer after claiming an opening goal that was credited to Boro defender Darragh Lenihan.
But Rovers keeper Thomas Kaminski had to make a miraculous late save to keep his side in front after Duncan Watmore had pulled a goal back just before the break.
Percovich said: “I was in charge for this game and I’m responsible.
“We have to prepare the team, we can’t just wait to see when the club is going to make a decision.
“The group have a big game on Wednesday, looking to win away for the first time this season.
“We’re disappointed that we conceded two early goals but the players stuck together and found a way to score. We came back to dominate the game in the second half.
“You need to stick with the positives but we also need to fix the way we switch off.’’
Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson saw his side, a point off the top, end a run of three away defeats.
The Dane insisted both goals were Gallagher’s, adding: “It was a brilliant performance at a big club like Middlesbrough.
“Almost every time we attacked in the first half we looked like scoring.
“Sam scored twice – the second was brilliant and the first was good, too.”
Rovers struck after only three minutes when Dominic Hyam headed down for Galllagher, with Lenihan appearing to get the final touch.
They doubled their lead when Gallagher fired past a static Zack Steffen from around 25 yards.
Watmore hit back in firsthalf stoppage time when skipper Jonny Howson slid the ball into the box.
Kaminski then pulled off miraculous 74th-minute stop to foil sub Chuba Akpom, smothering the striker’s effort before the rebound rolled wide.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Steffen 6; Mcnair 6, Fry 6, Lenihan 5; Dijksteel 5 (Jones (46) 7), Crooks 6, Howson 6, Hackney 6 (Mcgree (75) 5), Giles 6 (Bola (67)
5); Watmore 7 (Akpom (67) 5), Muniz 5 (Forss (67) 5)
BLACKBURN: Kaminski 7; Phillips 6 (Carter (80) 5), Hyam 7, S Wharton 6; Brittain 6, Morton 6 (Szmodics (65)
5), Travis 6, Pickering 6; A Wharton 6; Gallagher 8 (Dolan (65) 5), Brereton Diaz 7 (Hedges (85) 5)
STAR MAN: Sam Gallagher – Ran Boro ragged in a first half where he nearly had a hat-trick.
REF: Darren Bond 6
term. Under-pressure Hasenhuttl, whose side face West Ham today with the Austrian battling to save his job, said: “It seems it didn’t help him.
“I’m never a friend of praising players too much in the media for one reason – that they get a little bit distracted or think we are not big enough for us any more.
“I don’t want to say this happened with Sali, definitely not. But for me it is always much better when we are below the radar, able to develop their game and work on their weaknesses.
“It is hard because in the Premier League you are always in the window and this is normal, especially in English football culture, it is about creating the stars and speaking about individuals.
“This is what makes the Premier League special in some moments as
everyone wants to be here but sometimes as a manager it doesn’t make life easier.
“With some young players, we have to bring them back on the ground a bit in some moments.
“I think against the ball he’s one of the best defenders in the league, for sure. With the ball, he has definitely room to improve and he knows this, he has had better games. The
interesting thing is as long as we didn’t build up a lot and keep doing more long balls, he was even better.
“I think that as soon as we started building up, the mistake growth rate goes up a little bit.
“So this is something he has to work on. But in the past when he was confident he showed how good he can be – and I expect him to step up there and keep getting better.”