MICHAEL Carrick claims he is unconcerned with Middlesbrough’s form, despite a run of only two wins in nine games, which has seen Boro tumble out of the top six.
Boro’s 3-2 loss at Sunderland on Monday night was their third in four games, leaving them 14 points behind the Black Cats and 17 below the top two.
Boro’s upcoming fixtures include a trip to second-placed Sheffield United, followed by games against Watford and Bristol City.
“You want to win football games, there’s no denying that,” remarked Boro manager Carrick.
“That is what we must do if we are to achieve our goals. It (form) isn’t a concern, but we do need to win games; there’s no getting around it.”
Boro clearly needs to improve defensively. They were once again the architects of their own demise against Sunderland, as they cheaply conceded possession leading to all three goals.
Carrick stated, “Every goal has moments in the build-up; it’s not always the final action that causes you to concede a goal.” We’ve had opportunities, they’ve had opportunities; for it to work against us like it did tonight is difficult.”
When asked if Carrick needed to strike the correct balance between attack and defence, Boro’s manager replied, “Of course we do. We clearly need to score more goals than we surrender, but conceding two like that, along with the second at Preston, are goals you can’t plan for.
“These are moments. We need to handle them better. We need to be a little more cohesive as a unit.”
Carrick made a centre-half move against Sunderland, moving Dael Fry to the bench and replacing him with George Edmundson.
When asked about his reasoning behind the switch, he responded, “We have good players to choose from.”
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