MICHAEL Carrick has again called for calm despite Middlesbrough's poor start to the Championship season, saying: "It's not a disaster by any stretch, we're not on the floor."

Boro host Southampton at the Riverside tomorrow still looking for their first win of the season, with Carrick's side propping up the Championship having picked up just two points from their first seven games.

But the head coach insists there's not a lot wrong with his side and believes a couple of tweaks and the confidence boost that would come with a victory will help to kick-start the campaign.

Boro came within touching distance of the Premier League last season but after suffering play-off heartbreak at the hands of Coventry City, lost a number of key players, including Premier League loanees who returned to their parent clubs and Chuba Akpom, who signed for Ajax.

Twelve newcomers arrived in the summer and new-look Boro have so far struggled, but Carrick insists he has full belief in the squad at his disposal.

He said: "The boys proved what they were capable of last year and it's largely a different group as well, which we can't forget about. We need to help and develop the squad as well now, but it's still capable of similar things.

"The encouraging things for me in terms of performance levels, I'm not saying we've been unbelievable and the best we can be but we've been pretty good for the large amount of games and definitely spells in games.

"It's not a disaster by any stretch. We're not on the floor. There's plenty to take from it. We have to change a couple of little things, or not necessarily change but improve a couple of things. It's definitely not rip it up and start again."

Asked what he believes to be the main contributing factors to Boro's poor results this season, Carrick said: "There are all sorts of reasons. Little things in games can go the other way, that little dent in confidence, that moment where it goes against you and you have to find a way to get it back.

"There's no easy answer. We'll find a way. It doesn't take a lot to tilt the other way. We've been close in every game really, in most games at least.

"We definitely should have won more games, and that's not me looking at it through rose-tinted glasses, we should have won more games."

Having come so close to winning promotion last season, the general expectation on Teesside was that Boro would again be in the mix challenging to go up this term. Winger Isaiah Jones this week insisted that remains the aim in the dressing room.

Carrick said: "My expectations and the group's expectation is to win football matches, that is it.

"Whether it's this week, next week, the week after, every game the aim is to win football matches.

"In terms of down the line, the bigger picture, that's not something you can control and look too far ahead towards. It's about what happens now. Yeah, of course we plan ahead and what it might look like but it's really about accumulating points and results. That doesn't change.

"I was saying the same things last year. That's what I believe in. It brings you success or it doesn't, it's what happens game by game and I save brain space for that."

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Tomorrow's game is a clash between two teams both in need of a win. After making a promising start to the season following their relegation from the Premier League, Saints have now lost their last three games, including a 5-0 hammering at Sunderland and a 4-1 thumping at home to Leicester.

Carrick said: “It’s an interesting challenge. They’ve just come down from the Premier League and they’ve assembled a really, really strong squad, individually and collectively. They have fantastic options, strength in depth and carry a real threat with their quality. They’ve not had a fantastic run in the last couple of weeks, but I expect they will be a strong team in this league for the rest of this season.

“We want to play well which means being good going forward and not giving much away at the other end of the pitch. It’s hard to predict how a game will go, particularly in this league, but I know we will be giving it everything.

"It’s quite clear the style that their manager likes and sticks with. He is obviously a good coach and coaches his teams well, because they do have a clear identity that shines through. It will be a good test for us. We feel we’re a good team, and if we start putting our performances together we’ll be a really good team. That’s where our focus is."