Michael Carrick gives a preview of Middlesbrough vs Hull City.
There’s a component of attempting to maximise Michael Carrick’s current, less-than-ideal circumstances at Middlesbrough.
Because of the cheerful and nurturing nature of the Boro head coach, Carrick is unlikely to be too negative or grumble amid this nearly unheard-of injury catastrophe. This season, Boro just can’t seem to get a break on that front, and in addition to losing captain Tommy Smith and Darragh Lenihan for the year, a number of his important players have had to sit out lengthy stretches of time at different points.
To that degree, Carrick enjoys keeping a positive attitude. He put a positive spin on the fact that Boro is presently three points ahead of Hull City ahead of their match at the Riverside on Wednesday.
It is a credit to both Carrick’s coaching skills and Boro’s depth in the squad that they are just three points out of the play-offs despite losing their first seven games and then picking up injuries.
Although it was always going to be difficult, it seems especially bad to have only one victory in the previous four games given the amount of goals given up during that time. That was made worse by the way they lost to Ipswich Town on Saturday in a rather flat match.
“We were a little bit off on Saturday against a good team and were punished for it,” Carrick conceded a couple of days on. “It maybe showed that they’ve had far more consistency in their team over a period of time. It’s not easy for us at the moment because we’re needing to chop and change and players are having to come in and try and form new partnerships and connections.
“It’s not easy to get consistency in performance if you are flipping the team quite a lot. That’s not a knock on any individual, it’s just about boys getting into a rhythm and understanding each other. Of course you can change a team and freshen things up, but it’s more impactful when you have to flip it quite a bit. That’s not a knock on the quality of the lads coming in, by any stretch, it’s just how it affects you as a collective.
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