Why Michael Carrick retains faith in his misfiring Middlesbrough attack and his style of play

Michael Carrick, head coach of Middlesbrough
-Credit: (Image: Richard Lee/REX/Shutterstock)


Michael Carrick has backed his misfiring Middlesbrough attack to find their form after a disappointing start to the season.

Boro lost 1-0 to Sunderland on Saturday as they slipped to 12th in the Championship as they once again failed to create enough chances, while those they did were wasted. It was a continuation of an all too familiar story for Carrick's side so far this season.

In total, Boro have managed only six goals in their opening six league games, and only two of those goals have come from open play. They have the worst goals to expected goals comparison ratio in the division, with their xG currently 10.9 as they continue to struggle to break teams down who allow them to have the ball and sit deep behind it.

But backing his side to get it right, Carrick said: “100% we’ve got the tools. We’ll find a way, I’m certain of that. We haven’t found the answers in terms of putting the ball in the back of the net, but in general, over a period of games, we’ve shown we’re definitely capable of creating the chances.

"We’ve missed some chances but it will come. I keep saying the same thing about fine margins and details. We feel like we’re close but not close enough to be winning enough games and it’s up to us to take that next step."

Asked if he could explain what the exact problem was, the Boro boss continued: “It’s never one thing. I think it’s an accumulation of a few things. You can see how much it means to teams when they beat us. I think that’s a compliment to us and credit to the boys of how strong we are individually and as a team, and how other teams are seeing that as well. It feels like a different game to the one we watch them play week in, week out before our games. That’s fine, the onus is on us.”

The Sunderland defeat came after their head coach Regis Le Bris changed his side's game plan having identified a way he felt would beat Boro. That follows Paul Heckingbottom saying similar before last weekend's draw with Preston North End. Despite that, Carrick is not yet willing to completely overhaul his system to find the answers.

"There's a way of playing," he said. "We bring players in to play a certain way and play to their strengths so we're not going to flip that on its head so early in the season. We can do things better, the way we were around the box with our movements and ideas.

"We can definitely improve. It's not rip it up and start again by any stretch. We've lost three games in 19 or so. It's time to take a deep breath and keep doing what we're doing."