Middlesbrough's Ryan Shotton has stated that the team's performance in the loss to Barnsley on Saturday was 'nowhere near good enough'.

Boro suffered yet another defeat on the weekend which means that the side now sit just three points off the relegation zone with 12 games to go in the current season.

It was a loss that could have a big impact on the side in the coming weeks, as Barnsley are a team who Boro are now competing with to stay in the division. Another result that didn't go for them was Wigan Athletic's victory over Millwall.

Middlesbrough now have two very tough home games coming up against Leeds United and Nottingham Forest.

Shotton has admitted that the performance was not good enough and that Boro lacked any real quality throughout the pitch on Saturday.

Speaking to BBC Radio Tees, Shotton said: "We’ve been sitting in there reflecting and we know it was nowhere near good enough, the quality throughout the pitch."

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The verdict

It's going to be really interesting to see if Boro potentially could sneak into the relegation zone at some point over the next few weeks because it seems a real possibility.

It's now imperative that they bounce back and show some real encouragement in the next game against Leeds United. If they get beat heavily, it could well knock them into the bottom three.

Defeats to Luton Town and Barnsley have put them deep under serious pressure and they need some of their star players to step-up and save them.