Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg has praised his players as they sit second in the Championship following a 1-0 victory over Wolves on Saturday.
The club has had a demanding off-season, bringing in 12 new players including Championship joint top-scorer Will Lankshear, while losing Hayden Hackney, Dael Fry and Morgan Whittaker. Despite this significant squad rotation, Middlesbrough have lost only one of their opening nine league games.
"With everything that's gone on, what happened last season, all the rotation in the squad, it's been an unbelievably strong start from the players," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees.
Recent Form and Upcoming Fixture
Middlesbrough's opening run of fixtures has included matches against five of the current top nine teams. Their next game is a trip to Stoke City on Tuesday evening at 20:00 BST. Stoke are the Championship's form side, having won five and drawn one of their last six matches.
Focus on Performance Over Table Position
Hellberg said he is not reading too much into the current league position, instead focusing on how the team has performed. "The table is not that important but you look at the teams we've played and how they've started," he said.
"We've played a lot of teams who've started the season and we've performed in a very good way with a lot of players. That's the main thing. My job is to keep working hard to get them better as we'll need them all through the season."