Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka has hailed the impact goalkeeper Victor Valdes has made since arriving at the club.
Valdes, 34, joined Boro on a free transfer in the summer following a troubled spell at Manchester United.
"My experience with Victor is that he's improving a lot,'' Karanka said. "He's the player who we wanted to bring in because he's an amazing keeper and a leader in the changing room.
"At the beginning he wasn't at the level he is now but it is understandable. He came from a long period of not playing and before that he came from Barcelona. For him it was difficult at the beginning. Maybe I helped him, I had a few meetings with him and now he's doing well.
"As a player I had similar experiences. I have the same mentality as a coach that I had when I was a player. I lived in my career something similar to Victor here.''
Middlesbrough are the Premier League's bottom scorers with 13 goals, though their record of 16 goals conceded has only been bettered this season by four other teams -- meaning their goal difference of -3 is substantially better than their relegation rivals.
"We can't forget last season we got promoted on goal difference,'' Karanka said. "It's not about how many you score, it's about the goal difference and the difference we have now between us and the bottom three is massive."
Boro will be without the injured Gaston Ramirez when they play Liverpool on Wednesday, but Alvaro Negredo could return.
"Alvaro can be [available] but we have to check," Karanka said. "I don't want to take risks because we have an important game on Saturday too [against Swansea]. In the busy Christmas period of this league you can't make mistakes.''