Why Michael Carrick's Championship warning is a timely one for Middlesbrough FC

As a player, Carrick was well used to engaging in the sharp end of football seasons at Manchester United - and being successful.

He won't need to be told twice that league standings only really come into their own in spring.

One glance at the congested Championship table ahead of the break for FA Cup business certainly reinforces that very fact with just six points separating fifth-placed Boro from Hull City in 16th.

Boro - who were 21st when Carrick took charge - have won six of their last seven league matches, but the real acid test arrives now in many respects.

Before the end of February, the Teessiders visit three fellow form sides in Sunderland, Sheffield United and West Brom and host two teams currently in the top six in Watford and Millwall and two on the fringes in QPR and Reading.

Carrick, whose side have lost just twice in ten matches in his tenure thus far, said: “We have to keep pushing and there is half the season to go. You can look both ways at the table because there’s not much there. You have to see it in a positive way, but there’s no point looking at the league just yet, nothing’s finished.

“Now it seems like it’s compacted even more, we see that as an opportunity.”

Canny adjustments by Carrick have been at the heart of Boro's rise with Chuba Akpom successfully switching to a deep-lying forward and Tommy Smith playing a key role. Marcus Forss has been utilised as a wide forward, while Matt Crooks shone as a centre forward at St Andrew’s on Monday.

Crooks, who scored twice, added: "It’s pretty much new territory for me, although, to be fair, I did do it at Accrington in League Two for about the first 25 games of my career. I was hopeless!

"I wasn’t sure when he (Carrick) first said it. It is a different kind of position for me but I’ve just got to try and adapt to it. I always try to do my best for the team, and if the gaffer wants me there and he has confidence in me, then I’m happy to do that."