Michael Carrick - Middlesbrough Manager

3-1 away win at Birmingham in his tenth game in charge to put Boro to fifth in the table.



They played some lovely stuffs but also made things difficult for themselves at times and it really should have been a more comfortable win. Bit of a strange decision from Carrick to play a CM as the main striker and the main striker on the right wing, but the CM ended up with 2 goals and an assist so don't think anyone can argue with it.

In his first 10 games in charge, Boro scored 21 goals, which was second only to league leaders Burnley with 23.
 
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Look at the match stats, he must have made Boro play some great stuffs!
possession 61 - 39
Shots 18 - 9
Shot on target 8 - 1
Isn’t it better to loan Hannibal to Boro instead?
 
Old United connection for the Birmingham goal too - Tahith Chong, who seems to be doing well for them this season.

On the England thing: Southgate’s previous proper managerial gig was for Middlesbrough? Seem to remember he was Doing well despite being thrown in at the deep end, and then Gibson had a bit of a panic and replaced him causing them to fall out of the playoff spots. Selling their best player in Adam Johnson (yeah, the ex city fiddler) obviously didn’t help.
 
Were they 22nd when MC took over? Or was it 23rd. Now 5th. Really pleased for him
 
Next England manager right here.
If he carries on like this it would make great sense as he perfectly fits fa's no thrills type manager that won't bring any scandals to their doorstep and is well respected for what he achieved as a player.
 
One of my favourite players of that era. I'm struggling to think of a top manager that didn't also have a big personality though, which is the only thing that gives me doubts about MC the manager.
 
Old United connection for the Birmingham goal too - Tahith Chong, who seems to be doing well for them this season.

On the England thing: Southgate’s previous proper managerial gig was for Middlesbrough? Seem to remember he was Doing well despite being thrown in at the deep end, and then Gibson had a bit of a panic and replaced him causing them to fall out of the playoff spots. Selling their best player in Adam Johnson (yeah, the ex city fiddler) obviously didn’t help.

He got Middlesbrough relegated in the first place tbf
 
He got Middlesbrough relegated in the first place tbf

Think I remember at the time his squad was decimated and he was basically stitched up, but there was no doubting he was the wrong man for the job.

The amount of scandals emanating from the club from wantaway players was unreal if I remember rightly - Viduka, Yakubu, Mido to name a few. Don’t think he was cut out for club football, still don’t think he is.
 
I'm not sure about him being 'stitched up' at Boro tbh - it was a squad of strong, experienced personalities and Southgate couldn't lead them out of the trouble. The bulk of the team got to the UEFA cup final under McClaren as I recall.
 
I'm not sure about him being 'stitched up' at Boro tbh - it was a squad of strong, experienced personalities and Southgate couldn't lead them out of the trouble. The bulk of the team got to the UEFA cup final under McClaren as I recall.

Again, memory is sketchy but the whole spine of the team left, including himself, and was never adequately replaced. The replacement of the forwards was disastrous. Hasselbaink, Yakubu and Viduka were replaced by Mido and the Turkish fellar whose name I’ve forgotten, made Carragher look daft one match if I remember rightly. My old fellar is a Middlesbrough fan since the 40s/50s and I went to many games in the late 80s early 90s, don’t think I know or have met many boro gabs who blame Southgate. Rumour was Gibson realised he could no longer financially compete so was having a reset. He’s done it a few times!
 
Again, memory is sketchy but the whole spine of the team left, including himself, and was never adequately replaced. The replacement of the forwards was disastrous. Hasselbaink, Yakubu and Viduka were replaced by Mido and the Turkish fellar whose name I’ve forgotten, made Carragher look daft one match if I remember rightly. My old fellar is a Middlesbrough fan since the 40s/50s and I went to many games in the late 80s early 90s, don’t think I know or have met many boro gabs who blame Southgate. Rumour was Gibson realised he could no longer financially compete so was having a reset. He’s done it a few times!

I don't think anyone could argue that Southgate made a complete mess of that squad. Relegation was on his head, he wasn't stitched up beyond the usual changes that happen within a squad over years.
 
Isn’t it better to loan Hannibal to Boro instead?
Carrick wasn’t in charge when the loan took place initially, and it’s never the best idea to reloan a player in the same season (see Ethan Laird going from Swansea’s main player to barely playing after January with Bournemouth).

I think there was some links for Iqbal to go to Boro on loan, but it sounds like we’ll be keeping him around for the full season to train with the senior squad and such. (Not the best idea, in my opinion)
 
Carrick wasn’t in charge when the loan took place initially, and it’s never the best idea to reloan a player in the same season (see Ethan Laird going from Swansea’s main player to barely playing after January with Bournemouth).

I think there was some links for Iqbal to go to Boro on loan, but it sounds like we’ll be keeping him around for the full season to train with the senior squad and such. (Not the best idea, in my opinion)
Since we never see him, yeah perhaps not.
 
Obviously wasn't the problem. Players respected and played their hearts our for him to the final day. Was gobsmacked that the goldbridge gang were laying into him. If only he had a season with ETH to aid in his coaching development. Such is life.
 
Obviously wasn't the problem. Players respected and played their hearts our for him to the final day. Was gobsmacked that the goldbridge gang were laying into him. If only he had a season with ETH to aid in his coaching development. Such is life.

Both Carrick and McKenna seem to be doing pretty well at their respective clubs, so they certainly have some knowledge of football. The problem within the set up was obviously not those two.
I haven't looked at Goldbridge's site for a year or so, I find him quite irritating.
 
Would have been fun to face him and Boro in the FA Cup, but then they went ahead and got obliterated.
 
A crucial 1-0 home win over 6th-placed Millwall to send Boro to fourth on the table.



Don't be fooled by the scoreline, it was a great game to watch. Boro played some lovely stuffs until they scored (after which they seemed nervous and made a lot of mistakes). Millwall was tough as nails and threatened Boro in the last 15 min trying to get an equaliser.
 
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2-0 home win over Watford to allow Boro to steal Watford's 3rd place in the table.



Best performance all season. Boro played some beautiful quick passing football. Would love to see the xG stats as Boro could have easily scored about 5! Carrick's very first signing as a manager - Cameron Archer, looks like a hit already.
 
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Obviously not doing his credentials as ten Hag's eventual successor any harm! We would have been fine if he had stayed on for the rest of the season instead of hiring that fecking fraud Wreck-It Ralf.
 
Obviously not doing his credentials as ten Hag's eventual successor any harm! We would have been fine if he had stayed on for the rest of the season instead of hiring that fecking fraud Wreck-It Ralf.
Yep we should have.

I completely understood we needed to get another manager for the last 6 months to fight for 4th. But I thought they’d hire an actual manager. If they had Ralf in mind, they were better off sticking with Carrick
 
Great to hear he is doing well…I hope he keeps his feet on the ground and works his way up the management ladder slowly.
 
Yep we should have.

I completely understood we needed to get another manager for the last 6 months to fight for 4th. But I thought they’d hire an actual manager. If they had Ralf in mind, they were better off sticking with Carrick

Too many toxic voices, especially one on YouTube, constantly poisoning the well talking badly of Carrick and McKenna for him to have even got a chance.
 
Yep we should have.

I completely understood we needed to get another manager for the last 6 months to fight for 4th. But I thought they’d hire an actual manager. If they had Ralf in mind, they were better off sticking with Carrick

I prefer this situation where we have ETH.
 
Yep we should have.

I completely understood we needed to get another manager for the last 6 months to fight for 4th. But I thought they’d hire an actual manager. If they had Ralf in mind, they were better off sticking with Carrick
Dunno about that. Our board are really really dumb. If Carrick did well they’d probably have given him the Job full time as he’s a United legend and all that. Great to see him doing well though.
 
Very early days yet, but appears to have a handle on what is required, and getting the best out of players.
It will be interesting to see if he can get Middlesbrough promoted, and then what he can do in the EPL.
For me a top manager knows how to get things back on track when the team are going through a bad patch, and Carrick has not had a bad patch yet, so will be interesting to see what happens then.
 
Yep we should have.

I completely understood we needed to get another manager for the last 6 months to fight for 4th. But I thought they’d hire an actual manager. If they had Ralf in mind, they were better off sticking with Carrick

Didn't Carrick rule himself out regardless out of respect for Ole?
 
Too many toxic voices, especially one on YouTube, constantly poisoning the well talking badly of Carrick and McKenna for him to have even got a chance.
This forum was very guilty of that. And it pre dates any voices on Twitter.
 
Pleased to see him doing so well at Boro. Imagine it's too much to be able to catch up to 2nd place given Boro are 12 points behind Sheffield United having played a game more. But even so, hope he can get them promoted and have the wisdom to stick with Boro even if he's offered a Premier League gig.
 
Too many toxic voices, especially one on YouTube, constantly poisoning the well talking badly of Carrick and McKenna for him to have even got a chance.
Goldbridge and co ranting to make a few quids was expected. It was actually Scholes and Keane on TV that disappointed me the most that time.

 
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This forum was very guilty of that. And it pre dates any voices on Twitter.
Not really. There were plenty on here who found the notion of the coaching staff being even remotely responsible for the team’s woes absurd, and said so repeatedly.

The number slagging off Carrick and McKenna was very small, and there were widespread rumours that those two tried to implement a progressive brand of football, but were thwarted by Phelan (and Ole, possibly).
 
Both Carrick and McKenna seem to be doing pretty well at their respective clubs, so they certainly have some knowledge of football. The problem within the set up was obviously not those two.
I haven't looked at Goldbridge's site for a year or so, I find him quite irritating.
I rated them while they were here, McKenna especially was an extremely highly rated coach. They’re doing well now at their respective clubs BUT they could easily have been part of the problem. More because they were both quite young and inexperienced coaches under a not too great manager. There were rumours the players thought McKenna was too ‘school masterly’ etc - ETH is the same but he has the gravitas - our players were rotten and up their own arses but they needed someone to come into to lay down the law of the land. Now they’re both managers at lower league clubs they can command ultimate respect, but they couldn’t when managing United under Ole.
 
Not really. There were plenty on here who found the notion of the coaching staff being even remotely responsible for the team’s woes absurd, and said so repeatedly.

The number slagging off Carrick and McKenna was very small, and there were widespread rumours that those two tried to implement a progressive brand of football, but were thwarted by Phelan (and Ole, possibly).
We’ll have to agree to disagree on that. It dates back to Phelan himself under Fergie, through Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs and on. Whining about our coaching staff has been an ongoing theme on here.
 
Not really. There were plenty on here who found the notion of the coaching staff being even remotely responsible for the team’s woes absurd, and said so repeatedly.

The number slagging off Carrick and McKenna was very small, and there were widespread rumours that those two tried to implement a progressive brand of football, but were thwarted by Phelan (and Ole, possibly).
Ole has been and is still being shamed here. It’s not a small number here picked out Carrick and McKenna at that time.
I think that Ole did great job to manage our squad until Ronaldo entered the mix. Unfortunately, several bad, or not-worked out transfers are one of the several reasons that Ole’s tenure ended in that way.
Really good to see Carrick is starting nicely in championship. There is still a long way for him to find out how good he can become. I just keep watching and hope him, a legend in this club, all the best in his journey.