Middlesbrough fans will want to forget Tuesday’s defeat to Stoke City very quickly.
Just as things looked as though they could not get any worse after failing to beat Derby County and Portsmouth, Boro’s season hit a new low in midweek.
Middlesbrough faced off with Stoke City, aiming to get back to winning ways and book their place in the third round of the League Cup.
Michael Carrick made a number of changes to his starting line-up, with Luke Ayling and Matt Clarke the only survivors.
Boro’s young side did not play terribly during the first 45 minutes at the Riverside Stadium and Josh Coburn should have scored inside four minutes vs Stoke.
Following the striker’s miss, the evening quickly turned sour for the Teessiders, with Stoke taking a 1-0 lead into the break.
Middlesbrough sent unwanted record vs Stoke City
George McCormick started the tie at left-back, being handed his first competitive start for the club.
However, the academy product twisted his ankle in the opening minute and despite playing on, was eventually forced off at half-time.
This forced Carrick to make a change that will go down in infamy among the Boro fanbase.
Lukas Engel was shambolic vs Stoke, replacing McCormick at left-back and going on to put on arguably one of the worst displays of any Middlesbrough player ever.
Stoke scored four in the second half, with all of their efforts coming down Engel’s side of the back-four.
Now, thanks to a lot of help from Engel, Middlesbrough have broken an unwanted 48-year record.
Boro’s previous biggest defeat in the League Cup came against Manchester City on January 21st, 1976.
Middlesbrough lost 4-0 that day, with Tuesday evening’s result seeing the Teessiders break that record in spectacular fashion.
What did Michael Carrick say about Stoke City defeat
The defeat to Stoke continues a trend of Middlesbrough really struggling in the early stages of campaigns.
Boro failed to win their opening five Championship matches of 2023/24 and though they have beaten Swansea City this month, it is clear the early-season demons remain.
Following the defeat, though, Carrick tried to take some positives from the game, including his team’s first-half display, as per Teesside Live.
He said: “Twelve minutes. Literally 12 minutes. Strange. Putting it into context there was a lot of good things in the game. First half we were pretty good to be honest.
“It was a harsh lesson in how brutal football can be if you don’t take your chances and don’t defend well enough and the game goes away from you.
“And after that 12 minutes it’s a horrible result and a horrible game to end up going through. Largely there were a lot of good things but it just went away from us really quickly.”