Ex-Middlesbrough and England manager Steve McClaren has offered his take on the future of Michael Carrick as poor results have placed the former Man United midfielder under pressure.
McClaren, who famously won the League Cup with Middlesbrough exactly 20 years ago, spoke to The Red Radio, recounting the fantastic achievement that saw the Teesside club lift a major trophy for the first time in their illustrious existence.
Steve McClaren backs ‘fantastic’ Michael Carrick
Asked about his own time managing Middlesbrough in relation to the situation Carrick finds himself in, McClaren said:
“A big factor in me joining Middlesbrough was after talking to Steve [Gibson] and him laying out the vision and I bought into that straight away.
“It’s important to get that message out there and we tried to spread that around the community so that everybody knew what was expected. Yes, there was added pressure, especially when results didn’t go as well. We did have good days but we had some really bad days as well.
“But when you have that clear vision, it’s something you can cling to and hang on to. I’m positive because Steve has stayed with the club and continues to invest in the club. Michael Carrick was a fantastic player and is a fantastic character and a fantastic coach. Everybody here at Manchester United talks so highly of him.”
The former England manager, who is now back at Manchester United operating under Erik Ten Hag, added:
“You can see that in the way the team played when he first came in and in certain spells this season. You’ve got the right man, the right owner, but you have to make sure that everybody knows the vision. The town, the community, everybody should understand it so that everybody can then buy into it. Whatever that vision is.
“I’m positive for Steve, and knowing the Championship, that the vision will be getting back to the Premier League. Middlesbrough were so close last season to doing that and they can do it again. I’m positive that’s what Steve wants – he wants to see Middlesbrough back in the Premier League again.”
A building process
With Middlesbrough’s obvious lack of goals contributing towards the poor form of late, McClaren recalled parallels of his tenure and how he also had to adapt in terms of finding goal scorers. He said:
“You’ve got to build. If you look at the squad I had when I first started to the one I ended with…
“We had Maccarone, Hasselbaink, Viduku, Yakubu. You only win football matches when you’ve got strikers of that calibre. Middlesbrough had that last season; they were scoring goals. They’ve struggled to do that this season, but you’re only one or two little nuggets away from actually becoming a team capable.
“I watched the Chelsea games. At home, so good. So organised, so disciplined, everybody on the same page working for each other. It’s just that missing link. I remember saying to Steve after we won the cup, ‘We’re going into Europe now, we need a better calibre of strikers because they make the difference’.
“We had everything else in place, we just needed a better calibre of striker. Middlesbrough are not that far away. They just need, I think, like most clubs who go up in the Championship, that striker that can score 20-plus goals.”
McClaren is not wrong, in that period around 20 years ago, Middlesbrough did steadily build from the back and then added some very technically gifted players to a strong base. They had strong, experienced players in Ehiogu, Southgate and Boateng, who were supplemented by the arrival of the likes of Juninho, Mendieta and Zenden. Halcyon days indeed. But they didn’t stop there. Once they won the League Cup and competed in Europe, they started to add that oh so important element of quality at the top end of the pitch. Hasselbaink, Viduka and latterly Yakubu were brought in.
Middlesbrough’s current struggles
Middlesbrough could do with some of that star power right now as they struggle to find any rhythm and continuity. As they slipped to their fourth defeat in six matches against Stoke, you could see the confidence draining away from a team usually renowned for their swagger and belief.
It is a harsh lesson for Carrick to have to endure, but he is quickly finding out that however aesthetically pleasing the football is on the eye, the team must at the very least be stronger at either end of the pitch. Preferably both. At the moment though, his charges are paying for their lack of prolificacy at one end, and their inability to keep things tight at the other.
The situation has been exacerbated by misfortune with injuries, but in a few weeks’ time, he will have all but a couple of long-term absentees available. That will enable him to select a relatively strong and settled 11 and try to finish the season strongly.
Middlesbrough’s best performances have come against better teams where they have had to adapt and deviate away from their default style. Carrick has shown himself to be tactically astute in games against Chelsea at home, and in both victories vs Leicester. He must call upon that coaching prowess to lift his side out of the doldrums or risk being involved in a dog fight with the other Championship strugglers.