Boro must beat Sheffield Wednesday today and hope both Leicester and Blackpool lose to still be in with an outside chance of a sixth-place finish.
This weekend is pivotal. A real big one, said Strachan.
Not just at the Riverside but elsewhere. I don't know if it will be make or break, because you could have said the same about the trip to Plymouth on Monday. You never know when it is coming.
It's a game of football, you want to win it, you want to win every game. You want to make the crowd happy, your team-mates happy, the coaching staff happy and you want to make yourself happy.
You shouldn't need any more motivation than that to play football. Self motivation is a great thing. I think we need four wins, we have to win all of our remaining games to stand a chance.
All of my players are quite sensible, they are reasonably intelligent and I think they will know that. If we don't get the 12 points then we will only have ourselves to blame.
We can't blame anyone else.
Since dropping out of the play-off places in the aftermath of Strachan's opening match defeat to Plymouth on October 31, the former Celtic boss has been unable to push them back into the top six.
But even his harshest critic would have to concede that since the turn of the year there have been signs of progress and the players at his disposal have shown greater resilience.
Strachan, though, still wants to see more, particularly in the final third of the pitch, where he feels his team have lacked quality all too often this season.
You need gradual change of mindset, not wholesale,
said Strachan. If you look at our football, our problem has not been work-rate or application, it's our final pass or finishing in the last 25 yards.
That makes a huge difference.
You have to look to next season, that's what being a manager is about and I will be looking at ways of improving that.
It will be difficult to get over the hurdle, of finding that creativity, but we are starting to get things from Justin Hoyte that we have not seen for a while.
He is overlapping and getting into goal-scoring positions, which I don't think he has been used to before. That is an example of what we want, we are trying to involve everyone in the last 25 yards.
Strachan would like to think there will be further examples of improvement in that area of the field at the Riverside Stadium today, when Wednesday arrive on the back of just one win in eight matches.
It is a run of form which has left them in the relegation zone, but in touch with the four teams immediately above them and that is enough to convince Strachan that this afternoon will not be a comfortable afternoon.
They are a team desperate for points, he said. They will do everything they can to win a game of football. I would not expect them to play free-flowing football, because of the circumstances, it won't be the beautiful game. But we will deal with anything thrown at us.
I don't know how they will play, how they will feel, I can't answer questions I don't know the answers. There's some questions I can't answer.
Cardiff midfielder Gavin Rae has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
The 32-year-old requires surgery after rupturing ankle tendons and is likely to be sidelined for around 12 weeks.
The news comes following the timely return of Joe Ledley after a double hip operation, with the Wales international playing his first full match in two months as the Bluebirds held Nottingham Forest to a goalless draw.
Source: Northern Echo
Source: Northern Echo