Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick ‘calm’ despite difficult start to season
Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick has said he is staying calm despite a poor start to the season.
The Teesside outfit, who finished fourth and only missed out on promotion by five points last season, have struggled for form in their opening games.
After losing their first two league games, Carrick’s side picked up their first point of the season against Huddersfield – with the game finishing 1-1.
He said: “There’s no hiding from the fact that we haven’t won the games we wanted to win.
“However, it’s a long season and it’s about the bigger picture. I feel in the games we have played, we’ve been doing a lot of good things."
He added: “It’s the start of the season, it’s not desperation times by any stretch. The results haven’t changed our thinking.
“I know what the boys are capable of, I know what I’m seeing in training and I know what I’ve seen in games, so I’m pretty calm about things.”
One area Carrick’s side have struggled with this season is scoring goals.
Since ending last season as the Championship's second top goal scorers, Middlesbrough have seen key players Chuba Akpom, Cameron Archer and Jacob Ramsey all depart the club.
“Credit to the boys (Akpom, Archer and Ramsey), they all had good seasons. You can see they have quality with the clubs they’re at now," said Carrick.
“For us it’s about adapting, evolving and finding the next best solution."
He added: “It’s not about replacing what’s gone, it’s about what we do now to achieve success. We’ve got good options. We’ve got flexibility and variety.
“We’ve obviously got decisions to make in terms of team selection. That’s a good place to be. We feel over the course of the season we’ll be alright.”
Carrick eluded that his team was still in the market for incomings, but he chose to remain coy on the names of players the club was interested in.
“We’ve got players that are of interest, that’s just like every other club in the land. There’s players that you’re looking at to improve your club with," he said. "I can't give you any names though."
Looking forward to this weekend, the Boro manager admitted that this Saturday’s clash against promotion rivals West Brom could prove to be another tough game.
He said: “They (West Brom) are a very good team. We sampled that down their place (The Hawthorns) last season. They’re very organised and intense in the way they play.
“They’ve got good players with experience at this level. It’ll be a tough challenge for us.
“I keep saying similar things in this league, there is a lot of good teams, and it’s very even in some ways.
“You’ve got to be at your best (every game) and certainly we’ll have to be close to our best to do well on Saturday.”
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