MICHAEL Carrick is ignoring the league table as his Middlesbrough team prepare for their trip to Huddersfield Town, for while the Terriers are struggling he knows only too well that there's no such thing as an easy game against a side managed by Neil Warnock.

Town are in the relegation zone and three points adrift of safety but have shown life and fight since Warnock came out of retirement - again - drawing at home to Norwich before winning at Millwall last time out.

Carrick has enormous respect for Warnock's longevity and achievements in the game and knows the former Boro boss will try to put some of his inside knowledge to good use at the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

"Some of the boys know him ever so well and of course he knows the boys the same," said Carrick.

"He has a wealth of experience, he's been in the game an awful long time, he's seen a lot of things and experienced a lot.

"He's had a lot of success. He's clever, smart, he knows football, he knows our players. It will be a tough challenge.

"They've had a couple of good results and performances so we're expecting a tough challenge, especially with Neil leading them."

Carrick has first-hand experience of what it's like to play against a Warnock team, though one particular memory is a painful one for the now-Huddersfield boss.

“The one I can remember most is the Sheffield United one actually when they ended up being relegated because we got beat against West Ham," recalled Carrick.

That was in 2007 when Manchester United, who had already won the title, lost at home to the Hammers on the final day and with the Blades losing at home to rivals Wigan, Warnock's side were relegated.

"That one didn’t go down to well with him," said Carrick.

"But yeah, my memories of Neil Warnock teams are that they’re hard-working, well-organised and hard to play against.

"He’s tough to play against and I can’t remember a game ever where we won easily. That’s what we’ll expect on Saturday."

Record-breaking Warnock passed 1,600 games as a manager when he was in charge at Boro.

"I'm going grey just thinking about that," laughed Carrick.

"It's staggering. It's not easy, it's not an easy business, sport, to stay in at that level for so long in that role.

"The ups and downs over the years that you go through, to be in that over a period of time is incredible and shows the love of the game he must have, to keep going."

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Warnock's Huddersfield had less than 30% of possession in their win at Millwall so Carrick is expecting his side to have plenty of the ball on Saturday, but he says it's what you do with it that matters.

"The Millwall game was a prime example of possession not winning you games," said Boro's boss.

"It gives you an element of control if you want to play that certain way. Some teams don't need possession to be dangerous. We have to be wary of that.

"We're genuinely expecting a really tough game, the way they play makes it very difficult to play against.

“It's a tough place to get a result against a very good manager. The chances are it will be a tight game and we have to take our opportunities."