Michael Carrick says he has "huge belief" in his Boro players ahead of Friday's trip to Bristol City.
Boro will be aiming to return to winning ways at Ashton Gate, and know maximum points would see them leapfrog their opponents in the Sky Bet Championship table.
Here are some of the key points made by Carrick in his pre-match press conference...
ON BEING TESTED...
There’s a natural feeling of wanting and needing to do better, and that’s from all of us. It tells you a lot about someone when you go through a time when you’re tested and it’s not going to plan, individually and if anything even more so as a group and as a club. It really shows your character. The boys are in it and living it. They’re fully committed to it. I can see and feel that, and it gives me a really good feeling of moving forward. We could have a different feeling around the place, but there’s huge motivation to get things back on track, and we’re definitely capable of doing it and doing it soon.
ON STICKING TOGETHER...
I felt for the boys after the Watford game because they put a lot into it and didn’t get anything out of it. We were disappointed because we wanted to win and knew it was an important game. We’ve got to get on with it. There are ups and downs in football. You’ve got to accept it, move on and attack the next challenge. That’s all we can do. We’ve got to stick together, help each other and look forward to what’s ahead. There’s no other way around it.
ON BELIEF...
Perspective on things is important, especially for me, and understanding what is needed and what is going to help us. You can over-think and over-analyse it, which sometimes doesn’t help. We’ve still got a hell of an opportunity in front of us, and we’ve got to take the moment that we’re in, suck it up and get on with it. We’ve got to use that as the fire moving forwards. We’ve got really good players and what I feel is a really good squad. I’ve sat here over the last two weeks and said similar things, and I’ve not changed. I’ve got huge belief in the boys and I feel that we’ll get it right, and when we do that we’ll be alright.
ON BRISTOL CITY...
They’ve got a good team. Liam (Manning) has organised them very well and they’re pretty consistent. I did my Pro Licence with him a few years back and he’s really impressive as a coach. We haven’t had great results there since I’ve been here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to change that and do something about that. It’ll be a tough game and they’ll obviously be ready for us. They’re around us in the league and wanting similar things, so it will be a good game.
ON WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO GET BACK ON TRACK...
It's doing what we believe in and committing to that. Working hard is all I’ve known throughout my life. To get something out you’ve got to put an awful lot in. A lot of the time it’s simple things. We can complicate the game but it’s working hard, dedicating, believing and working for each other. We need to make the small things go our way and we can flip it quite quickly.