IN terms of points and the league table, Middlesbrough have undeniably regressed since last season. Last May, they finished in fourth position with 75 points from their 46 games. Today, with two games of the campaign to go, they sit in ninth place with 63 points from 44 matches.

Yet in so many other ways, Michael Carrick remains convinced his team has moved forward in the last year. Buying and improving youngsters. Developing the style of play to become more flexible and effective in a wider range of circumstances. Dealing with the blow of a succession of injuries and finding ways to adapt.

This has been a challenging season, and it will end with Boro having failed to achieve their ultimate ambition. When it comes to establishing building blocks for the future, though, Carrick is sure the experiences of the last 12 months will have proved invaluable.

“In some ways, I think there’s more positives for us to take away at the end of this season than last year because it’s been such a challenging season,” said the Boro boss, ahead of this afternoon’s penultimate game at Cardiff. “Last season, we had a bit of a free roll in some ways, certainly in terms of injuries and everyone staying fit.

“The team was pretty consistent, we were winning, and we just didn’t quite pull it off at the end. This season, it’s certainly been more challenging in terms of the players chopping and changing, and not being able to have a consistent team to build consistent relationships. To come through that, and have to change things and adapt in certain games, we feel we’re in a strong place to move forward from.”

There is every chance that this afternoon’s starting line-up at Cardiff will not contain a single outfield player that also started the opening-day defeat to Millwall. Six of the starters back in early August are injured, three have left the club (either permanently or on loan) and one, Dan Barlaser, could well be on the bench today. The footballing world moves quickly, but such a radical scale of upheaval is nevertheless unusual.

“If you look at the season, then it’s maybe been a four-team cycle where we’ve had to evolve and change because of groups of injuries at certain points. The team has ended up evolving quite quickly, and looking a bit different to how it had been.

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“From a coaching and a management side, we’ve had to manage that and get the best out of the group quite quickly. We’ve had different waves and spells of that, and that’s part of the challenge of what we face.

“That experience in itself has helped us to adapt and find different little ways, and the players have reacted to that really well. Hopefully, we’ll have more variety in our play, extra strengths that we can call upon, and sometimes we’ve experienced that through choice, but sometimes situations have forced us into that. But we’ll definitely benefit from it moving into next season.”

And as a young head coach still making his way in the game, Carrick has relished the opportunity to test himself and attempt to find solutions to complex and rapidly-evolving problems.

“I’ve enjoyed the challenging parts,” he said. “We’re all striving to win, we’d love to win every week, and there’s no hiding from that. That’s why I’m here. But when there’s challenges in front of you, it’s about embracing them and adapting.

“You’ve got to enjoy that side of it as well. Sometimes, it can feel like it’s a bit of a struggle to get performances or results, but you’ve got to enjoy the challenge of trying to overcome all that. I feel that we’ve done a lot of good work this year to help develop individuals and help develop the team, and to help make sure that us, as staff, develop too. I think we’re in a much stronger position and have a good base to move forward and progress from."