MICHAEL CARRICK has told his Middlesbrough players to draw a line under everything that has happened so far this season and throw everything at the remaining eight matches in order to secure a place in the play-offs.
Boro have had and up-and-down campaign, with a smattering of real high points being interspersed with a string of more disappointing moments.
Injuries have been a major issue, while Carrick’s own future was called into question when his side suffered five successive defeats in the first two months of this year, but when the Championship programme resumes after the international break this weekend, Boro will head into the final phase of the season just three points adrift of the play-off places.
That gap is hardly insurmountable, so while lessons will have to be learned from the current campaign, Carrick insists this is not the right time for any soul-searching. Instead, he claims the sole focus should be on the next eight matches, with a place in the Premier League still within reach.
“We're right in there,” said the Boro boss, whose side return to action with a home game against Oxford United on Saturday afternoon. “Whatever's done now is done. We're in a spot now where we've got a fighting chance. We’ll try and clean everything up, reset and go again.
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“We’ll come back after the break and be ready to hit that next challenge of the run-in. To be in this position after everything we’ve had to go through over the last two or three months in terms of injuries and changes required in defence, we’re still in there fighting. We’ve got a chance, so we’ll give it everything we’ve got.”
Boro headed into the international break off the back of a goalless draw at Luton Town that saw them fail to record a single shot on target.
They were solid enough defensively, with Mark Travers producing a number of crucial saves, but will clearly have to improve at the other end of the field if they are to force their way into the top six come the end of the campaign.
Carrick accepts his side need to sharpen up their attacking play, but while Luton might be battling against relegation at the bottom end of the table, a trip to Kenilworth Road is still one of the tougher assignments in the Championship. As a result, it was important Boro went into their two-week break with something to show from their journey to Bedfordshire.
“I think it was important for us to take a point [at Luton] and keep the run and the momentum going, really,” said Carrick. “We can look at the game and analyse it, and be critical of this and that, because we expect certain things. We expect a little bit better. But for the day, for what it was, I still think that’s a point gained.”
