Aitor Karanka has defended his team and his tactics after being accused of playing defensively by Manuel Pellegrini.
The Manchester City manager made the comments after his team was held to a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The result follows Boro's 2-0 FA Cup victory at the home of the champions and a Premier League victory for Arsene Wenger's Arsenal at the same venue.
Pellegrini said: “We work and run but you need ideas when you play teams like Hull, Middlesbrough or Arsenal when they come with nine or 10 players behind the ball.”
Given that plucky Championship promotion chasers Boro created more second half chances than their hosts, the comments surprised Karanka, who insisted his team played with ambition at Liverpool in the Capital One Cup earlier this season and at the Etihad.
He said: “I can't got to Manchester City and play face-to-face against them because they are the sixth richest team in the world and we are a Championship team.
“But saying that, I don't think we played defensively there in the same way that we didn't play defensively at Liverpool.
“We scored two goals and had more chances to score,” he added. “In the second half they didn't have chances to score so I don't think we played defensively there.”
Karanka, whose team takes on struggling Blackpool at Bloomfield Road tomorrow, said sitting back and trying to soak up pressure against superbly talented teams like City or Chelsea would be a mistake.
“I think if you go to those stadiums just to play in your box, with their quality one or two or three (of their players) are going to finish scoring a goal,” he said.
“So we try to keep them a little bit further away from our box. We worked very well and in the first half it is true they (Manchester City) created some chances but those chances came from our mistakes because we lost the ball very quickly and when we lost the ball they created those chances.
“But in the second half, when we kept the ball, we created chances.”
Karanka insists he hasn't got time to worry about what opposition manager say about his team regardless of whether the comments are positive or negative.
Chris Vaughan/CameraSport 
Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka celebrates the win over Man City
“I don't have time to think about what Pellegrini or other managers might be saying because I have six games in 15 or 18 days, so I prefer to concentrate on my team and the game at Blackpool.
“My concentration is on the Blackpool game tomorrow, after Blackpool, it's Arsenal and making sure that at the end of the season we achieve our aims.
“If the people speak well about us it is perfect and if the people speak bad about us but we beat them it is not a problem for me.”
Karanka expects all of the players who were involved in Saturday's home victory over Charlton to be fit for tomorrow's game while Dani Ayala returns from suspension to challenge for a place in the centre of defence.
Mustapha Carayol is set to play for a Boro XI in tomorrow night's North Riding FA Cup match against Marske at Central Avenue, Billingham.
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