We aren’t far away from getting this right

That being said, I think Scott takes some blame for that for not addressing some of the issues in the transfer window(s). Those problems being CBs who can’t play out from the back and the lack of depth/options in midfield.

But that’s the thing, Carrick wanted Edmundson. He keeps picking him ahead of our better centre backs, so he obviously rates him.
 
It's like a bloke in the gym concentrating only on his chest and arms but ignoring his skinny little matchstick legs.
It’s not necessarily the defence, although obviously a huge component, that’s the issue. The middle of the park is too easy to get through and they know this as they pushed for smallbone/kamara/morton. I think we’ve gone top heavy to essentially outgun teams, rightly or wrongly. Probably think anf back soon, ayling and howson can slot there when fit is enough to see us through. 3 in the middle is an option with hackney more advanced to give us a base. Maybe ayling to tuck in and make a 3 to allow Giles forward whipping more balls in with morris sitting. I’m sure they will be thinking this through. It’s not perfect by any stretch but it’s the championship and it’s nuts. Still plenty to play for.
 
Top 4-6 and to see actual progression from previous seasons.
Fair comment. But there’s still time for that outcome, it’s the start of feb and historically under Carrick second half of the season is better. We could be a bit of an unknown in the next few weeks to opposition as it’s not going to be looking to get doak isolated against his full back. Hopefully a bit more variety with the new signings and in inheanacho we have someone we can bounce the ball into and look to get runners off him going in behind from all angles instead of playing lath in behind. Its gonna be an interesting couple of months.
 
So the real question for me, having thought about it and reflected on not just last night but the reason that this season see us scrapping for a 6th place finish, is whether I believe Carrick can take us forward from here. The evidence is that he either can’t or won’t. So we will keep seeing this pattern. A great run of form like we had in November with goals and wins followed by kamikaze defending and poor runs of form because we simply cannot win or even play ugly.

He should see the season out and at that point we should look for a fresh manager to build on what are many many successes since Carrick joined.
If this is the situation we are in where we don't think he is capable of getting us promoted this season but we think the squad is capable then it would make most sense to replace him with someone we do think is capable as soon as possible. Seeing out the season with Carrick which inevitably ends with more championship football next year seems like a waste of time. Not to mention that we're potentially going to lose more of our best players in the summer and will need another rebuild.

I'm not sure I think we should get rid of Carrick right now but I'm also fairly confident that even if offered a playoff place today we wouldn't even get to Wembley because we can't be consistent enough over two games.

It's really frustrating me watching a good chance of promotion be completely wasted.
 
There’s a stubborn refusal on here to believe another manager wouldn’t be able to get a tune out of this bunch of players. Multiple examples in our very recent history have shown new managers getting more out of a group when it goes stale under the existing man. Couple that with the current guy not even trying to play a different style of play or formation I think an improvement in our play would result immediately as the opposition won’t have a blueprint of how to play against us just by watching the last game.

Rather than write the season off in early feb when well positioned we should get rid of MC and give someone else a chance with this extremely talented and ridiculously mismanaged squad. If we don’t and we manage to squeeze into the top 6 then there’s no chance of MC tactically outwitting anyone in a 2 leg play off semi final.
 
But how many times are we gonna replace a manager with someone who is ‘capable’ only for history to repeat itself? We’re really not far away with the set up we have now from getting where we want to be, it’s literally small adjustments needed. We have no god given right to in the premier league over any other team in this division and it’s a tough, b*stard of a league to get out of but we’re getting closer in terms of the playing squad, a new manager would rip it up and start again.
 
it’s literally small adjustments needed.
Small adjustments this manager has repeatedly refused to implement, like for like square peg in round hole changes to the same dogmatic 4-2-3-1 system are all we ever get.

Azaz deserves to be dropped after his god awful performances recently but we all know he’s playing the next game no matter what in the hope it just clicks.
 
It is the only model for the club without doubt. I much prefer having a structure than allowing a Manager to pick who he wants like Strachan years ago.

Recruitment has been mainly good. Some haven’t worked out like Engel and Silvera, but others like Rogers and ELL have been an amazing success.

We have seen some of the best attacking football in my years following Boro. We’ve also seen some of the worst defensive performances ever.

I really like Carrick as a bloke. He’s calm, measured and backs the players. What is frustrating is how we can go from defensively brilliant against West Brom, to a shambles against Preston and Sunderland. The West Brom game should have been a catalyst to really securing that 5th spot. Instead, stupid mistakes (and some misfortune) has cost us.

Why can’t we adopt an approach where without the ball we go 4-4-2, keep it tight and don’t allow huge spaces between defenders and midfield. Then when we have the ball look to be expansive. The two are compatible. We’ve done it several times.

This season has been the most frustrating I’ve had. Defeats that shouldn’t have been. Draws that should have been wins.

If play offs are not achieved and I think it won’t then Carrick has failed and needs to go. As much as I don’t want that to happen.
 
This is where I’m at too. I just can’t see Carrick fixing the obvious problems when they have been ignored for this long.

That being said, I think Scott takes some blame for that for not addressing some of the issues in the transfer window(s). Those problems being CBs who can’t play out from the back and the lack of depth/options in midfield.

We really have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. If a load of blokes on a football message board can see that we have a real issue with defence an d it would have been nice to strengthen this window then I’m sure Carrick can see this as well. He’s probably being busting a gut behind the scenes to put this right but for whatever reason it’s not yet worked out this season.

But despite that we still have a punchers chance of going up through the playoffs. We can beat anyone on our day, we just need 3 of those days come the end of the season.

Scott will know, Carrick will know and Gibson will know why there has been problems. They aren’t idiots. It’s a shame so many think they.
 
Small adjustments this manager has repeatedly refused to implement, like for like square peg in round hole changes to the same dogmatic 4-2-3-1 system are all we ever get.

Azaz deserves to be dropped after his god awful performances recently but we all know he’s playing the next game no matter what in the hope it just clicks.
I can’t disagree with that and you’re right, it is frustrating. He shifted to 3 at the back for the Leicester games last year to great success but not enough I agree. I also agree on the substitutions being like for like. I’m not defending to the hilt saying the sun shines out of his **** because he does get things wrong but I think he gets more right than wrong.
 
I want Carrick here for the long term. We are building towards something. No point in ripping up and starting again with new manager and who wants different players. Our squad isn’t good enough for top 2 by a long way. We are where I thought we would be, amongst 5-8 decent but inconsistent championship teams pushing hard for play offs. We’ve had a ridiculous run of injuries for 18 months or so and it takes it toll not fielding some kind of consistent side. We struggle to keep clean sheets which is obvious but we also need to be ruthless at the other end of the pitch. The amount of times when we’re in control of games but not taking good chances/opportunities needs to be sorted as you know the opposition will score. Also, for me, I think howson is a big miss. His experience, being in the right place to sniff out danger, ability to win a tackle and keep us ticking over can’t be underestimated. He’s still starter when fit for me. I’m still confident that there is plenty left in this season for us and going forward with Carrick in charge.
Well we have lost more points from winning positions and from unforced errors than any other team in the Championship so we probably should be a lot closer to the Top 4 than we are.
 
Have we sacrificed building a squad in search of an occasional gem who we can flip for profit? It's good that we are able to do that of course but the state of the squad and lack of players in certain areas compared to other areas is alarming. There just cannot be any way in earth Carrick has said to Scott yeah I'm happy with the defence what we need is more fire power. It's baffling.
 
But how many times are we gonna replace a manager with someone who is ‘capable’ only for history to repeat itself? We’re really not far away with the set up we have now from getting where we want to be, it’s literally small adjustments needed. We have no god given right to in the premier league over any other team in this division and it’s a tough, b*stard of a league to get out of but we’re getting closer in terms of the playing squad, a new manager would rip it up and start again.
I’m not sure what you mean by “we’re really not far away”. We been dog sh@t for months and Carrick has been here nearly 3 years . How long is this almost there going to take and how much more money do we need to throw at it . We’re one of the highest spenders , highest wages and still look closer to a 7-10 position side than 5-6 side . Carrick is offering little more that being a nice guy who we all want to succeed but is showing no evidence he will
 
There’s a stubborn refusal on here to believe another manager wouldn’t be able to get a tune out of this bunch of players. Multiple examples in our very recent history have shown new managers getting more out of a group when it goes stale under the existing man. Couple that with the current guy not even trying to play a different style of play or formation I think an improvement in our play would result immediately as the opposition won’t have a blueprint of how to play against us just by watching the last game.

Rather than write the season off in early feb when well positioned we should get rid of MC and give someone else a chance with this extremely talented and ridiculously mismanaged squad. If we don’t and we manage to squeeze into the top 6 then there’s no chance of MC tactically outwitting anyone in a 2 leg play off semi final.
I completely agree with this. I think we’ll fall away horrendously now, but in the off chance we somehow bumble our way into the playoffs, there is nothing to suggest Carrick has the tactical nous to win in 3 extremely competitive matches with it all on the line, let alone our keystone cop defence.

We aren’t going to get promoted, so let’s see if a manager can tighten this team up, with a tweaked formation and a more disciplined ethos and culture. I think the risk vs reward tips heavily in the favour of reward.
 
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