Behind the scenes at Boro as Kim Hellberg ponders everything to find improvement

“One thing I hear everyone saying is that ‘it has to turn’,” he said ahead of Boro’s clash with Portsmouth on Saturday. “And that's what you have to believe. But you have to also make it turn, and that's what we're trying to do.”

It’s that final part that has consumed the workaholic Boro boss in recent weeks. For while he is very much a modern coach he focuses on improvement and development of players - believing long-term results ultimately come from that - he is also appreciative of the stage of the season we’re in.

Boro have gone winless in five at the worst possible time. From having a good grip on automatic promotion, Boro are suddenly relying on results elsewhere and, Hellberg thinks, maybe even needing to win all of their remaining five games.

It’s been a busy period, and Boro’s chances have not been helped by injuries, or a hectic Easter weekend coming off the back of six players being away on international duty.

The extra couple of days leading up to Portsmouth allowed the Boro boss to give their international players an extra day off, while the rest of players were in all week at Rockliffe working hard to prepare for a critical run-in.

Hellberg is in no doubt. Boro, by whatever means necessary, need results. But don’t expect that to mean any drastic changes to Boro’s style. Hellberg has been questioning everything about Boro’s game in recent weeks.

“I reflect after every game,” he said. “You think, as everyone else does, about the substitutions you should do, the shape, this and that. How could I prepare the team better before the game in more being clear with this shape or that shape?

“Or how can I prepare more in the way to switch? How could I at half-time switch positions better? How can I make the week look better? Should I have more theory? Could I have less theory on this day? It’s always those things you try to go through and see what you can do better.

“Of course, it always comes down to results in the game. There’s a lot of things that go to your head where you think you could have done it differently. But, in general, I'm very proud of how we have attacked this period.

“It’s just coming down to small things that we didn't do well enough, and in many ways sometimes it’s also luck. The focus is: how could I have done better?”

That inner focus says a lot about Hellberg. About his own desire to be self-critical and self-reflective, with the ambition of always improving himself as a coach.

But there is, of course, an ulterior motive behind the words. The Boro boss says he cannot understand how Boro are playing as they are, how games are looking as they are - with Boro averaging over 60% possession and over 20 shots per game - and yet not picking up wins.

In truth, it’s not too hard to understand, however. The fact is, Boro have not been clinical or ruthless enough. They aren’t scoring enough goals. And when they are scoring goals, they’ve stopped holding on to their leads or killing games off.

The problem for Hellberg is that it’s ultimately a player problem. It’s about decision-making in the moment, it’s about taking your chances and handling the pressure.

But to continue playing the brand of football Hellberg wants, and believes is the right way to get the best out of his group of players, he needs his players confident. In that sense, he can’t publicly berate them.

And with that in mind, when asked if he needed his players to be better - if they had to execute the game plan better, he turned the focus back to himself.

He said: “It’s always on me to help them build everything. I work with them on how to build things. It’s like taking them from A to B and then to C, and continue with it.

“At the start of the season, everyone is where they are, and then you need to try to improve. That's why I’m here. If you just said, ‘this is where we are and we will not get better’, then everyone can be a coach.

“My job is to take them from A to B and C. That's what I think we have done. Then of course during a season you will lose games and win games, and now it's been a lot of not winning but it goes back and forth in that part.

“It’s your job as the coach to develop people in every aspect of the game, and that's what I'm trying to do. Of course we want better results, but if we keep doing the right things and keep being positive in that, the results will come.”

Here at TeessideLive, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Middlesbrough FC coverage and analysis.

Make sure you don't miss out on the latest Boro news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.

Your information will be hidden, you'll only ever receive messages from the Teesside Live sports team, and you can leave any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'Exit group'. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice .