MICHAEL Carrick said the search for stability was the reason behind the changes he made to his Middlesbrough team against Watford - and described the surprise omission of Delano Burgzorg as a tactical decision.

Burgzorg has been one of Boro's best performers of late but was dropped for Saturday's visit of Watford, one of four changes, with Ryan Giles, Samuel Iling-Junior and Finn Azaz also left out.

Carrick tinkered with the shape and pushed Hayden Hackney into a more advanced role, but his changes backfired as Boro slumped to their fourth straight defeat.

“We tried to be a little bit more stable and solid and close the distances really," he said.

"We were just trying to be more compact as a team. I thought we started all right actually, as a team.

"We started well but it just became more difficult as the game went on. The first goal is important. We responded well in the second half - kept going, kept trying, kept trying to be positive. We made changes to try and do that, freshen it up and find a way. We just couldn’t manage that in the end."

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Burgzorg was introduced at half-time - a rare early change from Carrick - and he made a difference from the bench, going close on three occasions in the second half.

Explaining his decision to leave Burgzorg out in the first place, Carrick said: “There are always decisions to make. It was a tactical one, it wasn’t personal.

"We just felt that we, of late, have probably been a little too open for different reasons and we tried to do something about it today. Certain things worked, certain things didn’t. That’s totally on me."

Giles was also dropped after a poor performance at Sheffield United in midweek. It's been a tough start to life back at Boro for the the loanee, who scored a late own-goal against Sunderland.

Carrick said: “Ryan played two games and we just felt we needed to make some changes and freshen things up.

"It’s not a personal one or who’s in favour, who’s not. I felt, we felt as staff, that it was a good team to pick today, and that’s it really."