Boro blew a glorious opportunity to climb into the Championship’s top six when they lost at out of form Sheffield Wednesday on Monday, despite taking a first half lead.
That was the 25th time this season that Boro had scored the first goal in a Championship game, but Carrick’s side have failed to win nine of those games – drawing four and losing five.
Only Oxford have lost more games this season after scoring the first goal.
Carrick admits the number of games Boro have failed to win having scored the first goal is “far too high”, pinning the issue on “inconsistency within performances”.
But he insists Boro can still learn the required lessons ahead of their play-off shoot-out in the final two games of the season.
Ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Norwich, Carrick’s side are three points adrift of sixth-placed Coventry, who they face on the final day.
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But if Boro are to force their way into the play-offs, they’re likely to have to find a way to address the game management issue that has plagued them throughout the season.
“There’s no getting away from it, it’s far too high,” said Carrick, when the stat about dropped points from winning positions was put to the Boro head coach.
Normally in football getting ahead is a big thing. Not picking enough points is one thing, putting ourselves in that position so often shows there are a lot of positives to take.
“But there’s no getting away from the fact we need to hold on to those things and do more of them for more often.”
Admitting the game management issue is one thing, but why has it been a problem?
“I think it’s inconsistency within the performance, in different ways,” said Carrick.
“In games, the good things we’ve done, maybe we’ve stopped doing them or haven’t done them as well in certain parts of games or had drop offs for five or 10 minutes where we don’t keep the same level.
“Or there have been times in games where we’ve been good for a large spell then have a five or 10 minute spell where it drops and it changes the course of the game.
“I was a midfielder, there’s a lot played between both boxes and I’m a big fan of trying to get that right, but in the end it comes down to defining moments at both ends of the pitch.
“Concentration and consistency, all the things that add up to a performance through the whole game, we just haven’t done it for long enough, so far. And I say so far, there’s still time to go.
“It doesn’t mean we can’t have two good games to finish and show our true potential.”
Carrick’s challenge now is belatedly finding a way to solve a problem that has been costly all season.
“A little bit is feeling it and living it,” he said.
“There are a lot of younger players and this is their first real hit of outside expectations. Sometimes you have to live it and go through it.
“The tactical element is on me and changes, how we can affect the game in certain ways. Sometimes it’s tactical and sometimes it’s a feeling, that’s why it’s a joint effort from all of us.
“The lads will definitely be better for it. It’s important we learn from the experiences and put it to good use. It’s a two-game shootout now. The experience will hopefully come in useful.
“Sometimes you learn more when it’s not gone to plan. That’s happened too often this season. But hopefully it will help the lads over the course of the next two games.”
