Michael Carrick is asking for Middlesbrough fans to keep the faith and back the team - but understands that ultimately their backing depends on what happens on the pitch.

Boro host Watford at the Riverside this afternoon in what feels like a huge game for both under-pressure managers. Carrick is facing increased scrutiny as Boro dropped to ninth after a third consecutive defeat on Wednesday at Sheffield United. With just two wins in ten, Boro have dropped to ninth in the table, with familiar problems remaining unresolved and therefore costing them valuable points.

Tom Cleverley’s Watford arrive on the back of a 4-0 home defeat to Leeds United - their eighth defeat in 11 games. At a club where manager changes are as frequent as buses, it’s little surprise that Carrick’s former Manchester United team-mate is under pressure.

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Both sides and managers could really do with a result in Saturday’s game then. And with Boro the home side and playing in front of increasingly frustrated and discontent fanbase, there threatens to be a harsh atmosphere on Teesside, particularly if Boro start poorly.

When that potential was put to Carrick ahead of the game, he said: “I understand the disappointment and frustration of supporters because they want and expect results and come to watch winning teams, exciting football and goals.

“I understand that, but the boys are giving everything they can in terms of effort and attitude. We need to find better ways, and I need to find better ways alongside them.

“We ask the supporters to be right behind us because the intentions are there from all of us, we care deeply about it and we are hugely motivated now more than ever to try and put this thing that we’ve got going on to the right track.

“We need the supporters with us to do that. I totally understand the situation. I get it, I’ve been involved in football a long time and understand what results do and things “that it can create both ways.

“It’s something you’ve got to accept and it’s up to us to put things into the game with energy and a performance level for the supporters to get behind us and create that support, noise and atmosphere. We’d obviously love them to do that. We need the support, the boys thrive off it.

“From my side of things, it’s perspective. We are in a situation where we haven’t got enough points and we want more but I’ve said it before, this is not the end game for us. We can come through this and find the next result and whether that’s Saturday or after that, we fully believe that we can have a really strong finish to the season.”

Carrick can’t predict the future, but he’s under no illusions as to how important Saturday’s game is for both out-of-form sides. Despite the recent slumps for both, they are both within touching distance of the play-off places still.

“It’s an important game and I get that it’s important for many reasons,” he said. “We’re around each other in the league, we’ve got similar kind of aspirations for what we want to get out of this season so it’s an important game for that.

“It’s a big game. We know that. Tom and his players are going through a similar situation to ourselves in terms of where they want to be and have been at periods in the season and where we find ourselves at this point. So it’s an important game for sure.

“It’s not going to decide the ultimate end of season scenario but it’s going to have a say towards it and we are totally aware of the importance of it.”

With that in mind, as much as he’d love a commanding victory, he’d take a scrappy 1-0 home win. “We’d all love to win in a great way and score loads of goals but it’s not always possible,” he concluded. “Watford are a good team so we are not going into this game taking anything for granted. But listen, a win at this stage would give everyone a really good feeling.”