Michael Carrick's clear Middlesbrough play-off message

Lampard has been quick to point out that Coventry were 17th in the Championship when he took charge in November, keen, no doubt, to try and use that sense of perspective to take the pressure of his players ahead of the final four games.

Middlesbrough, on the flip side, were in the top six when Lampard took charge of Coventry - which is where they were expected to firmly reside this season before a ball was kicked.

But the campaign hasn't gone to plan and with four games to go they now find themselves playing catch-up again, three points adrift of Coventry prior to Good Friday's visit of Plymouth Argyle.

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Boro have been as high as fifth this season and were recently as low as 13th. So, while Lampard tries to use his side's progression as a motivating factor, how does Carrick reflect on what has gone before and what impact can it have on how the coming weeks play out?

"It's about drawing on the experiences of knowing what you can do and what you're capable of," he said.

"It's the here and now. This is where we are, this is the situation.

"We know what's at stake, it's about thriving on it, enjoying it and being excited by it.

"It's four games, a mini season. We've been higher in the league at times, we've been lower in the league at times. It's about now. That's what counts."

The problem with Carrick talking about Boro drawing on and learning from their experiences is the fact that's something they haven't managed to so far do this season.

Last week's defeat at Millwall was so very similar to plenty of the setbacks that have gone before.

But the message Carrick was clearly desperate to get over in his press conference at Rockliffe on Wednesday was that Boro can't dwell on what could and should have been.

Asked about the frustration of this season's inconsistency, he said: "It hasn't cost us yet. There's something we can do about it. We're right in it. Nothing is over.

"The important thing is feeling it and learning it. We've spoken about that as a group, drawing on the experiences.

"We'll draw on the experience of the whole season as a group. We've been together quite some time now, then obviously January sparked us again. We have to use the ups and downs to make it happen in the next couple of weeks.

"We're still in there. Four games feels like there's not long left but a lot can go on in that time. A lot can go on this weekend. A lot can change and flip in different directions.

"Friday is a really big game for us and a big game for Plymouth. At the moment we're focusing on one game at a time as a group because we know how quickly it can go in different directions."

Boro have lost their last two games, but Carrick says: "Definitely the belief is there. It's a tough challenge because it's tight but we're not coming from a crazy way back.

"It won't be made up as a miracle if we make the play-offs. We're close enough where we have an opportunity and it's realistic.

"We're not striving to do anything that nobody has done before or anything like that.

"It's just trying to win games and we'll have a great chance if we win our games. It'll be tough, tight, there'll be challenges emotionally but that's this stage of the season and it's pretty normal."

It's rare for a side in the Championship to fail to reach 70 points and still finish in the top six. So, with Boro currently sitting on 60, does Carrick think they'll have to win their four remaining games, the last of which is away to rivals Coventry on the final day.

"We may well have to, we might not have to," he said.

"Right now it doesn't really matter. The next game is what matters. Then it's Monday.

"The picture after Monday will be a lot clearer. In some ways it's a pointless answer.

"We might have to [win all four] but are all teams going to win four games? That probably hasn't happened this season so it just shows."