Michael Carrick says Middlesbrough’s defensive record this season highlights how in football the smallest of details can be costly, as he called on his side to tighten up.

Ahead of Sheffield Wednesday’s trip to the Riverside on Boxing Day, Boro have the joint-worst defensive record in the Championship’s top eight - though they are also the division’s second highest scorers.

That’s aided by the attack-minded, positive brand of football that Carrick plays at the Riverside. However, some have suggested that this could be a huge factor in Boro’s poor defensive record too - with Boro open to the transition.

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Carrick said: “Generally, I'm encouraged and excited about what we can do. We've ended up conceding too many goals for where we want to be. I think we've scored a lot. We've been dangerous for long periods of the season and we've actually defended well and not given a lot away.

“But we've ended up conceding too many goals, really, and there are different reasons for that. So it’s something that we need to tighten up on. I don't think it should be one or the other [attack or defence]. When I say that, just because you're an attacking team doesn't mean you should concede more goals and vice versa.”

Continuing as he tries to find the solution, Carrick said: “I think it's, in many ways, two separate things. We need to get that right. It doesn't necessarily mean we need to stop attacking because the type of goals we’ve conceded are not really from that in the main.

“It's not like we've over-committed loads of bodies forward. It's more managing moments really, and just being that little bit tighter and a little bit better when we have to do that. There are loads of little details that if you end up getting them right, it ends up becoming quite a big thing.

“We speak about a lot - every little action, every little movement, every little situation within the game, if you get it right, you don't quite get it right, can then snowball onto the next one and swing the momentum both ways. So some of the littlest details can end up becoming quite important.

“We’re striving to get it right. The boys are training well. They want to improve. They want to learn. We've got to keep going better. There are so many different ways of doing it. Whether it's individual, whether it's in small groups, whether it's on the screen, on the pitch, in the meeting room, whatever it may be.

“Sometimes it's just conversation and whatever's in front of you at the time, you kind of pull in and try and use it as players. It can be quite informal at times, but there's loads of different ways of doing it. So it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be on the pitch and you have to be 100% training to practice real time. It’s all about finding the little ways to make a difference.”

Carrick will be hoping his side can make the necessary improvements on Boxing Day when Sheffield Wednesday visit. The Owls are in really good form having lost just one of their last seven - climbing to ninth in the table and just three points behind Boro.

But Boro will be backed by a packed out Riverside Stadium for the traditional festive fixture - and it’s one they have a great record in. Boro have lost just one of their last ten Boxing Day games on home turf - though ironically Sheffield Wednesday were the one of the ten to beat Boro back in 2018.

Looking to the game and the impact a sold-out Riverside can have, Carrick said: “It’s a very tough game. They're a really good team and on a really good run. The performance and the way they found a way to win the other day [with ten men] was impressive.

“It's great [to play in front of a sold-out Riverside]. It's great that we know that going into the game. It's an important time here and it's important that the supporters come and are excited and looking to be entertained first and foremost. Obviously, that comes with results as well, and it's up to us to do that. But it's fantastic to know that, and the boys will be looking forward to it massively.

“It’s nice playing at home in front of our own supporters and feeling the support that we get. It’s a massive, massive opportunity for all of us to feed off that energy and create that energy. We've got a responsibility to try and create that within a stadium from what we do on a pitch, and certainly for a support to be as loud and as vocal and as supportive as they possibly can be, which they are really good at.

“At certain times they give you that little extra boost, that little bit of extra spice and energy around the place would be fantastic. It’s up to us to repay that as well.”