'It's very easy to jump on something': Carrick jumps to Boro defence after Leeds

MICHAEL Carrick jumped to the defence of his players and Middlesbrough's approach after sloppy errors proved costly against Leeds United.

Boro cheaply conceded possession in the build-up to the decisive second goal which was rifled in by Dan James.

What made it all the more frustrating was the fact it came after Boro had enjoyed their best spell of the game and looked the more likely side to score the next goal.

But Carrick refused to blame his players, instead pointing to the good that came from Boro's approach after they'd wrestled back control at Elland Road.

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He said: "In the second half the boys played with a lot of confidence and belief. There's going to be times when you give the ball away.

"There's things you can do on positionals and what you do to manage transitions, but in terms of giving the ball away the boys did a lot of good things to get control back and that's by getting hold of the ball and showing personality to do that.

"It's very easy to jump on something when you give the ball away and use that as the key mistake but you have to take it both ways. We want to avoid that of course but we were playing with such belief in the second half and we just got caught. I can't fault the boys for wanting to do the right things."

Leeds have now won eight straight home games and eight of their 11 Elland Road fixtures this season but Carrick felt the disappointment in the away dressing room at full-time was evidence that Boro are on the right track.

He said: "You can come here and look at their team and recent history and accept it and move on, but disappointment is a good thing. It shows where we're at and we can compete.

"We've shown we're capable of beating anyone in this league."