Middlesbrough Head Coach Michael Carrick reflected on this season and the challenges the club has faced in terms of injuries and setbacks, and admitted that he has enjoyed dealing with some of the problems. Whilst the club did not make the play-offs, Carrick is viewing this season as a learning curve. Daniel Wales reports.
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00:00 How do you feel about the challenge of the season?
00:04 I've enjoyed the challenging part, that's the answer.
00:07 As I said, you can look at it both ways.
00:13 We're all striving to win, we love to win every week,
00:16 there's a massive element to that and there's no hiding from that.
00:19 That's why I'm here, it's what we love doing, it's what we want to be doing.
00:23 Certainly when there's challenges in football, embracing them and adapting them,
00:30 you've got to enjoy that side of it as well.
00:32 Sometimes you can feel like it's a bit of a struggle to get performance or results,
00:37 but you've got to enjoy that side to overcome it.
00:40 I feel like we've done a lot of good work this year,
00:43 to help develop individuals, help develop the team for us,
00:47 the staff to develop and get better.
00:49 We're in a stronger position and a good base to move forward
00:54 and progress for the last two games, certainly,
00:56 but moving into next season as well.
00:58 Carrick went on to speak of how this season can, if viewed correctly,
01:02 be a learning curve for all associated with Middlesbrough.
01:06 The experience is great if you use it the right way,
01:09 we've certainly had that.
01:11 In some ways it's maybe like four teams this season,
01:17 over the course of when we've had the crux of the group of injuries,
01:21 at certain points the teams end up evolving quite quickly
01:25 and looking a little bit different.
01:27 So there's a form of coaching and a kind of managing side,
01:30 we've had to manage that and get the best out of the group quite quickly,
01:34 and do different waves and spells of that.
01:36 That's part of the challenge of what we face, really.
01:40 So that experience itself has helped us to adapt,
01:44 to find different little ways, and the players have reacted to that really well.
01:48 So I think, hopefully, and I believe that we'll have more variety in our play.
01:58 Given the injuries and setbacks faced this season,
02:01 Carrick was then able to give his judgement on the campaign as a whole.
02:06 I think in some ways a lot more positive this year,
02:10 because it's been a challenging season than last season.
02:13 We had a bit of a free roll in some ways last season,
02:18 in terms of injuries and everyone staying fit,
02:20 and the team being pretty consistent and winning.
02:23 We just didn't quite pull it off at the end last season.
02:26 Certainly this season has been more challenging in terms of the players
02:30 chopping and changing in teams,
02:32 and not being able to gather consistent teams
02:34 and build consistent relationships.
02:36 I think we've probably seen that just in terms of,
02:39 over recently, in terms of the boys being fit and a bit more consistency.
02:44 You can see how important that can be in terms of team performance, really,
02:50 to have the connection and the wave-lengths with people next year.
02:54 So I think over the course of the season,
02:56 because there's been chops and changes in the teams...
02:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]