Bristol City v Middlesbrough FC: Impassioned Michael Carrick shows his caring side - and shuns the easy life
A STELLAR midfielder in a long and decorated career at Manchester United, Michael Carrick’s journey as a player was as smooth as his trademark passes.
Management is proving somewhat different, certainly at the minute.
Having accumulated the wealth and trappings of success you associate with such an illustrious player, some in Carrick’s shoes might just opt for an easy life and perhaps head for the golf course back in leafy Cheshire.
Not Carrick. The heart of a football man still beats hard and after being given the backing of Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson earlier this week following an awful run of form, the Boro chief has spoken in impassioned terms about his desire to turn things around. And he definitely cares.
He added: "I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be in this job if I didn't have that.
"That's all I've known. I've been fortunate enough to be at some good football clubs and around some fantastic people and to learn off that.
"I’ve been in the game a long time and I'm in it because I love it. I'm in it to try and have some success. And yes, I care.
"Listen, I see my family one day a week, if I'm lucky. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't care about it because I care about them an awful lot as well!
"But this is what I do, this is what I love and it doesn't change.”
Boro head to Ashton Gate, against a bogey side who they have not beaten in their past six meetings, at a low ebb after six losses in their past seven matches in all competitions.
Confidence is brittle, with Carrick needing to restore it quickly if they are to remain in the play-off picture.
He added: "There's different ways and confidence works in many different ways and your mindset and flipping it.
"It can come back just as quickly as you maybe lose it and then you take a bit of a hit. It can be one moment in the game, it can be one game.
"It can flip so quickly and you’ve just got to keep giving yourself the best chance really and doing the things that are classed as simple things.
“It’s not easy to keep doing, but you've got to do the simple things as well as you possibly can, definitely work as hard as you can and things fall into place and before you know it, you're off and running again and you’ve forgotten about those feelings that maybe you had at certain points in the season.”
Dael Fry is back in the fray for Boro.