MICHAEL CARRICK insists he is not downplaying the significance of Middlesbrough’s recent poor run – but the Boro boss will nevertheless be heading into tomorrow’s game with Swansea City unperturbed by his side’s struggles.

Boro’s midweek home defeat to Hull City means they have lost four of their last five matches, a sequence that has seen them drop back into the bottom half of the table for the first time since mid-October.

The Teessiders are only one point closer to the play-off places than they are to relegation zone, having lost ten of their 21 matches so far this term.

Their form is a long way off what is required to mount a viable promotion push, but while Carrick is not ignoring his side’s losing run, he is adamant he will not let it affect the prevailing mood around his squad.

“I’m realistic,” said the Boro boss. “I understand where we are. I know I don’t particularly look at the league table every single day, but we know where we are.

“The biggest thing for me, we know what we expect of ourselves and the standards we have set. If we don’t quite hit them for whatever reason, we get frustrated and we get disappointed. But then actually we get fire in us to think, ‘Come on, let’s do something about it’.

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“I understand there is plenty of work to do, but it’s all still to play for. However many points there are to make up, at this stage the history proves that it’s what happens next - over Christmas and after Christmas - that shapes your season really.

“So that’s why we look at what’s in front of us always. It’s up to us now in that period ahead to push for more points, and then push again after Christmas and see where that takes us.”

Having established an early position of strength on Wednesday thanks to Emmanuel Latte Lath’s sixth-minute opener, Boro dropped out of the game alarmingly in the second half as goals from Liam Delap and Ozan Tufan condemned them to defeat.

Carrick defended his players in the immediate aftermath of the game, and continues to maintain that the overall performance level was good, hence his optimism ahead of the trip to the Liberty Stadium.

Ultimately, though, it is the result that matters and with sixth-placed Sunderland six points ahead of them, Boro desperately need to return to winning ways in the league tomorrow before turning their attention to Tuesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final with Port Vale.

“Some of the recent results we’ve had, we’ve left thinking, ‘How has that happened?’ And then, funnily enough, some of the wins we’ve had have come from games where we were maybe a little frustrated with our performance,” said Carrick. “Everyone tells us how well we’ve played and what a good game it was, when actually, I’m going home and thinking it wasn’t as good as we can play.

“There is always the balance between performance and results, but I appreciate in the end the result is what matters. In the grand scheme of things though, you want to a consistent level of performance to be able to sustain the points over the course of a full season. We’re all striving for wins, of course, and if you can get them, you will climb the table. That’s exactly what we’re looking to do.”

Josh Coburn’s niggling groin problem kept him out of the squad on Wednesday night, but the striker could return to the fold in Wales tomorrow.

Riley McGree and Marcus Forss remain unavailable, while Carrick will have to decide whether to stick with Rav van den Berg at centre-half or restore Matt Clarke to the starting line-up alongside Dael Fry.

Middlesbrough (probable, 4-2-3-1): Dieng; Dijksteel, van den Berg, Fry, Engel; Howson, Barlaser; Jones, Crooks, Greenwood, Latte Lath.