Staying calm key to upturn in Boro fortunes - Carrick

Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick has emphasised the importance of his squad keeping calm after a disappointing run of three defeats in five Championship matches.

Boro sit 10th in the league, three points outside the play-offs, but a 3-0 defeat at home to Coventry City on Saturday, in which star midfielder Hayden Hackney was sent off for two yellow cards, was a blow.

"We want to win more games - there's no getting away from that," Carrick told BBC Radio Tees.

"In most of the games that we've played, we've been very close - it wasn't long ago since we beat Sheffield United and played really well at Norwich.

"I think the key to it is staying pretty stable and pretty calm.

"One result, one half of a game or a performance shouldn't set the levels of emotion in terms of ups and downs, certainly for the players and the staff.

"We're concentrating on that really - staying level, staying positive and taking that in to the next two games."

Club captain Jonny Howson is likely to deputise in Hackney's absence for Boro's trip to strugglers Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday, while Carrick also said Ben Doak remains a doubt with fatigue.

"That's the squad, that's why it kicks in during the season - you never, ever play the same XI for long periods of time," added Carrick.