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The Leeds United factor that should work in Boro's favour ahead of Elland Road visit
IT might have come in the Carabao Cup and featured two much-changed starting line-ups, but Michael Carrick says his Middlesbrough players can still draw plenty of optimism from August’s win over Leeds United as they prepare to return to Elland Road tonight.
Boro dumped Leeds out of the League Cup as they claimed a 3-0 victory in West Yorkshire courtesy of goals from Anfernee Dijksteel, Delano Burgzorg and Josh Coburn.
While Coburn has subsequently left to join Millwall on loan, Dijksteel and Burgzorg could well find themselves in the starting line-up again this evening, alongside the likes of Luke Ayling, Dan Barlaser, Finn Azaz and Emmanuel Latte Lath, who were also involved in August’s victory.
Carrick accepts that Leeds’ approach to tonight’s game will be markedly different to the Carabao Cup encounter, when Daniel Farke rested a number of his big names, but the Boro boss still thinks his side’s win at the start of the season could be a factor in the rematch.
“You can take a little bit from it (the cup win),” said Carrick, whose side will be looking to maintain the standards they displayed in last Friday’s spirited 1-1 draw at Burnley. “Every game is different, and especially so with that one being in the cup.
“There is a bit of a different side to that - they are one-off games – but certainly, in terms of the feeling of having success there and scoring goals, I’m sure it will add a little bit of something. But it’s a whole new test for us tomorrow.”
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Boro ended the weekend in fifth position, seven points and three places behind a Leeds side who head into the midweek round of games sitting in an automatic-promotion spot. Leeds have won eight of their ten home matches in the Championship so far this season, and are snapping at the heels of leaders Sheffield United.
Boro have hauled themselves into the play-off mix in recent weeks, and continue to target a top-two spot of their own, but while tonight’s game will see both sides hit the 20-match mark for the season, Carrick insists he is unconcerned by the possibility of Leeds moving ten points ahead of the Teessiders if they were to record a home win.
“Honestly, we don’t give too much thought to it and what it looks like,” he said. “We know roughly where we are and know that, in that spot, there are things to gain.
“I think recent performances and the teams we’ve played against mean the boys are in a decent place. But I don’t get too caught up with, ‘Who’s running away with it, who’s around us etc’. We know where we’re at without talking about it or focusing on it too much.
“It’s about putting performances together and pushing to continue improving. Even after a good performance on Friday, there are areas we feel we can keep pushing to do a little bit better or a little bit more.
“Where we are, there’s no getting away it, there’s an underlying belief and confidence, and an understanding of what’s possible and what we’re capable of on any given day. It’s more about, ‘How can we do more of that’, and what comes of that will come towards the end really. We’ve been building for some time now to keep striving to be towards the top of the table and challenging, and that comes through performances that the boys can get confidence from.”
