AITOR KARANKA is confident his Middlesbrough players can cope with Atdhe Nuhui’s physical threat – even though the Sheffield Wednesday striker tore them apart on two separate occasions last season.

Boro head to Hillsborough this afternoon looking to claim what would be only their second Championship win of the campaign, but if they are to bounce back from last weekend’s surprise home defeat to Bristol City, they will have to make a much better job of containing Nuhui than they have managed in the recent past.

The towering 26-year-old scored twice as Sheffield Wednesday raced into a three-goal lead at the Riverside last August – the Yorkshire side eventually ran out 3-2 winners - and was on the scoresheet again as the Owls completed the double over Boro with a comfortable 2-0 home win in February.

Nuhui also scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the previous season’s meeting of the two sides at Hillsborough, and while Karanka accepts the striker’s muscular frame makes him difficult to mark, he expects things to be markedly different this afternoon.

“We could feel how good he is, and how important and dangerous he is, last season,” said the Boro head coach. “We were losing 3-0 at home so we have to learn from that day.

“We know the player, and he’s a player who always gives us a lot of problems because he’s strong and it’s difficult to stop him, but we have to think about ourselves and try to find their weaknesses.

“The main thing is to try to stop the ball from getting to him. When he receives the ball, it’s difficult because he’s big and hard for a defender. I used to be a defender and we have to try to stop the long balls to him.

“It was difficult for me (as a player) to mark this kind of player as sometimes you don’t know if you should anticipate or wait behind him. It depends on the moment and how confident you are, but all my defenders know him and all of our defenders know how difficult it was to stop him last season.”

As well as worrying about the threat posed by Nuhui, Karanka has also spent the build-up to today’s game dealing with the fall-out from Albert Adomah’s transfer request.

The Spaniard remains adamant that Adomah still has a future on Teesside despite this week’s events, which were sparked by the pair’s argument in the wake of last weekend’s 1-0 home defeat to Bristol City.

Adomah was angry at his omission from the starting line-up, but Karanka did not take kindly to being told who to select and will once again exclude the winger from his plans this afternoon.

It does not automatically follow that Adomah will be leaving before the transfer window closes on Tuesday – at this stage, Boro are still to receive a formal offer for the 27-year-old – but it is hard to see how his differences with Karanka can be reconciled.

When the boot was on the other foot last month, the Boro head coach firmly insisted he would be selling Jordan Rhodes if he was the Blackburn boss and was aware of the Scotsman’s desire to leave Ewood Park.

With this week’s events forming part of a mixed start to the season that has seen Boro win just one of their opening four Championship matches, there is a need for the Teessiders to steady the ship this afternoon before heading into the international break.

No one is panicking in the wake of last weekend’s home defeat, but having shelled out more than £14m to sign Stewart Downing, David Nugent and Cristhian Stuani in the close season, it was anticipated that Boro would be up with the pace setters in the early weeks of the campaign.

Instead, they head into today’s game in a mid-table spot, although Karanka maintains it is still too early to read anything into league positions or early-season form.

“There was no panic here, in the training ground or club, after last weekend,” he said. “By maybe there was around (with the fans). I can understand that because last season was really good, but again I said at the beginning of the season that this season is going to be very difficult.

“If someone had thought that this season we were going to get promoted in January or February, it was a big mistake.

“We have nine months and everybody has to know that the league is nine months long. We aren’t going to lose the league in August, and we’re not going to get promoted in August either. We have nine months to work.”