Michael Carrick on Marcus Forss’ Middlesbrough display at Stoke
MICHAEL Carrick said Marcus Forss brought “fire” to Middlesbrough’s performance against Stoke, despite the fact that the forward wasn’t feeling well after contracting the sickness sweeping the Boro camp.
On Tuesday, Dan Barlaser was also not feeling well, so he was kept out of the team in the hours before Stoke’s game in the hopes that other players wouldn’t get sick.
Carrick noted that Forss “didn’t feel good” before the match, but the attacker shone in Boro’s 3-0 win at the bet365 Stadium, creating numerous chances for the Potters and scoring the first goal.
In the first half, with the score at 1-0, he should have added an assist to his goal when Tommy Conway somehow scooped his cross over the bar.
Fortunately, Boro’s five-match losing streak came to an end as goals from Conway and Finn Azaz in the second half sealed the deal.
As for Forss, who had a pivotal role for Boro in Carrick’s debut season as manager but has been sidelined by a slew of injuries since then, his return to form couldn’t have come at a better time.
“Marcus does what he does, fantastic finish and caused problems,” Carrick stated.
Knowing his strengths is important, but it’s the little things. I simply thought he’d be a good fit for today since he’s been acting a little bit lately; he’s got a little fire in him.
I can’t stop bringing up the squad and how important it is.
There’s no point in me continuously talking about the squad and how amazing it is if we don’t use it and tonight it worked beautifully.”
Asked to expound on the comment about Forss’s “fire”, Carrick said: “He’s got that, Marcus, in a good manner and we need that as a group. We had it tonight.
“There was a stubbornness and a steeliness about us for the most part.
I’m thrilled for Marcus, he’s played through the middle for us a couple of occasions recently which he hadn’t done for a while.
He was back on the right and he did great.
“We basically had a fantastic balance across the frontline. There were instances when we played through and Marcus was a threat wide.
“He had his fingerprints on two critical moments in the first half. It was a wonderful night for him.
“He didn’t feel good either, he was a bit ill, so he didn’t survive as long as we hoped but there’s a bit of illness going through at the moment.
Dan was ill as well today so we had to keep him away from the group.
There’s a bit going round. Hopefully we’ll manage that in the next few days.”
Azaz, like Forss, was thrown into the attack for the game and thrived against Mark Robins’ team as Boro moved to within four points of the top six.
“It was about time I got something right,” joked Carrick.
“It was a tactical matter, essentially, of spaces we wanted to exploit.
I thought the four through the middle of H (Hackney), Aidan (Morris) Finn and Morgan (Whittaker) were very good.
“Tommy again, could have had another, but continues getting in positions and scoring goals.
Neto as well down the left, there was a really big threat for us all night.
“Marcus, Morgan and Tommy as that triangle, the front three, linked and found the space and played off one other and played extremely cleverly.Finn is that.
He’s as good as anyone in and around those tiny spaces. It was all there to see tonight.”
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