Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick retains belief in players despite winless start

Carrick’s winless side, who reached the Championship play-offs last season, suffered their third defeat in four matches after going down to Carlos Corberan’s Baggies.

The Baggies stormed ahead in a frantic first half thanks to Cedric Kipre’s 22nd-minute strike and John Swift’s 27th-minute thunderbolt, but Boro replied a minute later through Emmanuel Latte Lath.

Albion struck quickly in the second period through Brandon Thomas-Asante to make it 3-1 before Tommy Smith was shown his marching orders for the visitors soon after. Marcus Forss did convert a late penalty, but the Baggies made sure of the points when Jeremy Sarmiento struck in stoppage time.

But Carrick was criticial of referee Jeremy Simpson’s decision not to award a free-kick to Jonny Howson prior to Cedric Kipre opening the scoring.

“It’s a big moment,” Carrick said. “It’s hard not to get too frustrated, but I thought it was a clear two-handed push. You’re going to suffer things which go against you over a season.

"I’m not going to sit here and say everything is fantastic because we haven’t won yet, but equally there’s more to it than that.”

Although Middlesbrough, who had Tommy Smith sent off just after half-time following a second booking, have begun the season slowly, Carrick remains encouraged with many aspects of what he has seen from his team, which is still finding its feet after the loss of top scorers Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer over the course of the summer.

Carrick added: “I feel for the boys. There are two sides of it – there’s the result which you can’t hide from, but it’s what happens within that which leads to the result.

“We’ve conceded four shots on target, and four goals. One is a foul, one was a mistake and for a large part I thought there were a lot of good things. We have finished the game strong with 10 men. I was encouraged by things I’m seeing – it’s a strange feeling in many ways.

“You can’t hide from it, but it doesn’t knock my belief in the boys in the squad. We keep doing a lot of things we’re doing and the results will come.”

West Bromwich Albion: Palmer, Ajayi, Kipre, Pieters, Furlong, Molumby, Yokuslu (Mowatt 65), Phillips (Townsend 64), Wallace (Sarmiento 69), Swift (Chalobah 81), Thomas-Asante (Maja 65). Unused substitutes: Bartley, Fellows, Griffiths, Ingram.

Middlesbrough: Dieng, Smith, Fry, Lenihan, Engel, Howson, Hackney, Silvera (Forss 72), Rogers (McNair 59), McGree (I Jones 59), ​​​​​​​L Lath (Crooks 72). Unused substitutes: Barlaser, Gilbert, Coburn, Glover, J Jones.

Referee: Jeremy Simpson (Lancashire).