Michael Carrick has spoken about the excitement in the Boro camp ahead of Monday’s meeting with Sunderland.
Here are some of the key quotes from the head coach’s pre-match press conference…
ON THE GAME AHEAD…
I can’t wait. It’s a fantastic game to be part of. I’ve got to play my part, the players have got to play their part and the supporters can play a massive part on the night in creating the atmosphere and energy in the ground. These are the types of games you want to be involved in, playing against our local rivals in terms of league position and what both clubs are trying to achieve. It’s set up to be a really important game.
ON PREPARATION…
You can’t get away from the buzz and the sense of what it means, and the extra spice that comes to the game. In terms of performance, there are the fundamentals and we have to prepare normally for the game. There’s no denying there’s an extra energy, an extra flavour and excitement that these games bring. We’ve got to play with that bit of extra feeling and bring out the best of us on Monday.
ON THE SUPPORTERS’ ROLE…
Going into the game, it’s more about what we feel we need to do and what we prioritise to give us the best chance of winning the game. You naturally feed off the emotion and the feeling. That’s why the supporters have a big, big part to play for us, so we can feed off each other because I think we need to create that within the stadium for ourselves. The big games are the ones that really bring out the best in you and test you. We’ve all got to be at our best together on Monday.
ON MORGAN WHITTAKER’S ARRIVAL…
We’re big fans of Morgan, which is why we made such an effort to bring him here. We’re excited about what he can do, his attributes, what’s to come from him and how we can help him improve. We feel that we’ve got good forward players, and the amount of chances we’ve created and scored this season proves that. We’ve got a good variety and flexibility within the forward line who can play in different positions and we feel that’s a strong part of our group.
ON MARK TRAVERS…
Trav has settled in really well. With Sol (Brynn) and Seny (Dieng’s) situations, it was something we needed to address. Tom (Glover) has played and done well, and we’ve got Trav in now as well, so we’re happy with the goalkeeper situation now. Trav is a good goalkeeper. He has gained a lot of experience and played in some big games in the Premier League this season, so he knows and he’s ready. He’s a good goalkeeper and it was an opportunity we had to take.
ON TRAINING…
The buzz is good. Having Ryan (Giles), George (Edmundson), Morgan (Whittaker) and Mark (Travers) over the last few days has naturally given everyone a little boost and a bit of energy. There’s an excitement. There’s a huge game on Monday that we all can’t wait for, and the boys are fully prepared and have their eyes on that.
ON THE PREVIOUS MEETING IN SEPTEMBER…
I thought we played particularly well for the most part. We had some opportunities early on and their goal came from a bit of an unlucky deflection on our side. We didn’t end up creating enough chances in the second half as the game went on, and they defended quite deep with a lot of numbers and held onto their lead. We learnt a bit from them and a bit from us, and we’ll try to take that into the game on Monday.