MICHAEL Carrick has challenged Isaiah Jones to battle through this testing spell in his career and force his way back into the Boro team.

Jones was Boro's star of the season last term after the former non-league winger enjoyed a stunning Championship breakthrough, but he's fallen out of favour under Carrick and was left out of the squad all together for Saturday's win at Swansea City.

With Boro in such fine form and the attacking players impressing, Jones faces an uphill battle to get back into the team, but Carrick says battling through tough spells is part and parcel of life as a professional footballer.

“The team is just playing well so it’s not easy to make changes to the team," said the head coach.

"The squad is really, really good and they’re training well. But at the same point, the boys that are in are in a good moment and a good rhythm so that’s part of a squad game and part of things going well. You have to work hard to get back in the team.

“I think in any career, whether you’re younger or older, you’ll have times when things go for you and times when things don’t go for you so much. Every player in the squad will have had that at some point. That’s just the challenge of having a career in the game.

"You have to weather those periods, keep believing in yourself and work hard to play at your best and trust in what you do. That’s for every player in the squad and, I have to say, the boys have been really good in bringing out the best in themselves so far."

Boro look likely to again be without Dael Fry tonight against Stoke City after the Teessider missed the Swansea win due to illness. Carrick will make a late call on Matt Crooks, who has missed the last two games with injury.

Carrick said: "We missed Dael at the weekend and we’ve been missing Crooksy since last week so we’re waiting on them.

"Dael was quite ill towards the start of last week so we just need to get him back around the group again, see how he is and how he fits back in. Crooksy is touch and go at the moment, and we’ll make a late call on him.

“We go pretty much game to game at the moment because the schedule isn’t overcrowded. This week we have a midweek game, but since the World Cup break it’s been quite spaced out and we’ve had plenty of training time. It’s like that between now and the end of the season, so we can afford to go a game at a time, and it’s all about what we can control. The rest will take care of itself."

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With Stoke tonight and Preston on Saturday at the Riverside, Carrick must choose whether to shuffle his pack.

He said: "For me, it’s brilliant to have all the options. Obviously it does make my job a little harder because I’ve got so many good players to choose from, good people as well, and the lot of them deserve to play. But it is a great place to be to have those options and so much trust in whoever plays or comes on the pitch.

"They’re pushing each other as well, which I’d say is the big thing. Whoever plays, and in training, they’re pushing each other all the time and that can only benefit each individual and certainly the team moving forward."