Michael Carrick at pains to have to repeat himself after latest Middlesbrough loss
Michael Carrick cut a frustrated figure after Middlesbrough's defeat to Bristol City. A game which too closely mirrored Boro's shortcomings for the season as a whole so far, he knew he was at risk of repeating himself too often and didn't like doing it.
All too often this season, Boro have dominated games but had nothing to show for it. That was exactly the same again at the Riverside as they lost 2-0 to goals from Anis Mehmeti and Yu Hirakawa. The Boro boss was reluctant to praise the general control of the game, as he so often did after earlier frustrating results. He pulled no punches in his verdict of where his side must improve, with his frustrations clear to see.
“Listen, it’s happened too often," he said. "You can’t be that dominant, that on top and that creative and have nothing to show for it, never mind be 2-0 down at half-time. It’s something we have to improve on and do something about. Goals change games and change the momentum of games.
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"By the time they scored, we could have been two or three up by that stage. Then it gives you a totally different challenge going into the second half. Ultimately, I can’t keep saying the same things again and again. We need to do something about it."
Offering more analysis on the game, he continued: “I thought we played really well first half, as crazy as that might sound. We gave the ball away twice and got punished extremely for it. Other than that, there were maybe two or three minutes where we got a bit edgy, and the stadium got a bit edgy.
"Other than that, I thought we were very good. It’s hard to say when you’re 2-0 down. That’s the game - both boxes decide the game and as much as we want to control the game and give ourselves what we feel is our best chance of creating chances and winning the game, at the moment we’re not getting the benefits of that."
Carrick was undoubtedly hurting. At pains to explain why his side were going through this difficult period, it's clear without him saying it, that he does need that little bit more from them. Not the type to publicly throw them under the bus, however, he's maintaining his message of belief.
He insisted: “I’ve got the utmost belief in the boys. There is some awfully good football to create the opportunities. But the game is about scoring goals and we need to find a way of doing that. It’s frustrating, but we have to help each other to get through it.
"We can score goals. I don’t think it’s a case that we can’t score. We’re finding it difficult at the minute, but it’s very different from thinking, where is the next goal coming from? Personally, I feel there is a lot of goals in this team, but we’re not getting anything through at the minute and that’s on us."