Michael Carrick sends Middlesbrough mentality message as they look to overturn disappointing start

Michael Carrick says Middlesbrough must remain positive and focus on putting a good run together, as dwelling too much on the past will serve them no good in their race for promotion.

Boro have now completed a quarter of their Championship campaign and sit disappointingly in 11th place. That's despite pre-season hope that a solid end to last season and a strong summer transfer window could all come together to make for a credible promotion push this season.

Carrick's side do remain just three points off the play-off places despite dropping points in eight of their 13 games so far this season. Like many supporters, Carrick shares frustrations in the points dropped, but takes belief from performance levels as he explained why rueing what might have been will ultimately serve no purpose.

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“We want to win more games, there is no getting away from that," Carrick said as he sat down to preview Boro's trip to QPR. "We’re good enough to win more games as well, but we’ve got to respect that it’s a tough league. There are a lot of good teams and there are always two teams in every game, so we can’t take anything for granted.

"We just have to look at the next game and make sure we perform and do enough to win the game. Largely, I think in most games we’ve dropped points in, we’ve been close and should have more from them. But that’s gone now and it’s about doing enough to win games.

"We have to take a lot of belief from performances, and what we have done. We beat Sheffield United and played really well at Norwich. I think the key is staying stable and not letting one game or one part of game tell the whole story or set the emotion. Certainly, for the players and, myself, and the staff, we concentrate on staying level positive and taking that into the next two games."

There are two sides when looking at Boro's start to the season - with Carrick's side now two points worse off than last season when they endured such a poor start and ultimately left themselves playing catchup all season - a task they were ultimately unable to succeed in.

The dropped points leave them once again chasing and needing a far greater level of consistency in results than they've so far been able to achieve. That said, performances in general have been better this season, with Boro often not getting what they deserve from games, albeit with a lot of that down to their own deficiencies in various areas. That means there can be hope of improved results, with Boro by no means cut adrift from the promotion chasers.

On how open the table is looking, Carrick continued: “That’s what the Championship is - it always is. Historically, that’s how it is, so there are no surprises in that. Of course, we’d love to have more points at this stage, every team would. There’s a long road ahead, though.

"There’s another international break at the end of this week, and then the winter run kicks in, and the league takes shape after that, really. So, in terms of league position right now, I don’t think we need to judge it too much just yet. We focus on what’s next, right through the winter.

"It’s up to any team to put results together and pull away as it starts to take shape. Every team will do different things and, for us, it’s important we just focus on ourselves and what we’re going to do. We can only impact ourselves and that has to be a positive impact. We’ll see how it takes shape."

As far as improving results is concerned, a solution does not appear easy for the Boro boss, largely because of the inconsistency in the problem. If there were trends in particular things that were costing them, it might be an easier fix. But lately, Boro's only consistency is in finding different ways to drop points in games.

Carrick continued: “There’s definitely an element of trends and things happening again and again that we have to look at and put right. If it’s just an individual thing or a one-off, then it’s not as much of a theme. But whether it’s concentration levels, or all sorts of different things, we have to try and find a solution.

"I’ve said it a lot though, there are a lot of good things. I think if we just keep doing the right things then we feel over the course of the season we’ll give ourselves a good chance. We’ve got to help ourselves at times as well though."

Boro will be aiming to return to winning ways on Tuesday evening when they travel to QPR. They picked up an important victory there last season too at a particularly tough time, and Carrick will be hoping his side can repeat the feat as he aims to go into the third international break of the season off the back of two victories, with Luton Town's visit on Saturday following this trip to the capital.

“They had a good result at the weekend and went to Burnley recently and got a result there as well," Carrick previewed. "It proves against teams right at the top that they can compete. I tend to say the same things a lot about the opposition. Whatever game it is, we know every team is capable in this league.

"They’re well-organised and well-coached and it will be a tough game. It always is down there. We had a tough game last season there. We go there looking forward to it while also appreciating the challenge and knowing what to expect from them. After the recent results, I’m sure they’ve had a big boost from that.”