Dan Barlaser was also under the weather on Tuesday so was isolated from the group in the hours leading up to the game at Stoke in the hope more players won’t be affected.
Forss “didn’t feel good”, said Carrick, but the forward, making just his second league start of the season, starred at the bet365 Stadium, scoring the first of Boro’s three goals and causing the Potters problems throughout.
He should have had an assist to add to his goal but Tommy Conway somehow scooped his cross over the bar in the first half when the score was 1-0.
Thankfully, that miss didn’t prove costly, with second half goals from Finn Azaz and Conway wrapping up the points and ending Boro’s five-match losing run.
And it was a timely return to form for Forss, who was a key player for Boro in Carrick’s first season in charge but the forward has been disrupted by several injury setbacks since.
“Marcus does what he does, fantastic finish and caused problems,” said Carrick.
“It’s little things really, knowing what he’s good at. He had a little bit about him in the last week or so, he has a bit of fire about him and I just thought he’d suit today.
“That’s why we have the squad and i keep talking about it. There’s no point in me keeping talking about the squad and how good it is if we don’t use it and tonight it worked well.”
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Asked to expand on the comment about Forss’s “fire”, Carrick said: “He’s got that, Marcus, in a good way and we need that as a group. We had it tonight.
“There was a stubbornness and a steeliness about us for the most part. I’m pleased for Marcus, he’s played through the middle for us a couple of times recently which he hadn’t done for a while. He was back on the right and he did well.
“We just had a good balance across the frontline. There were times when we played through and Marcus was a threat wide.
“He had his fingerprints on two big moments in the first half. It was a good night for him.
“He didn’t feel good either, he was a bit ill, so he didn’t last as long as we thought but there’s a bit of illness going through at the moment. Dan was ill as well today so we had to keep him away from the group. There’s a bit going round. Hopefully we’ll manage that in the next few days.”
Azaz, like Forss, was brought into the attack for the game and excelled against Mark Robins’ side as Boro moved to within four points of the top six.
“It was about time I got something right,” laughed Carrick.
“It was a tactical thing, really, of spaces we wanted to exploit. I thought the four through the middle of H (Hackney), Aidan (Morris) Finn and Morgan (Whittaker) were particularly good.
“Tommy again, could have had another, but keeps getting in areas and scoring goals. Neto as well down the left, there was a really good threat for us all night.
“Marcus, Morgan and Tommy as that triangle, the front three, linked and found the space and played off each other and played really intelligently. Finn is that. He’s as good as anyone in and around those tight spaces. It was all there to see tonight.”
