Middlesborough face Preston in Carrick’s first game as ‘Boro boss.

Michael Carrick prepares for his first outing as Middlesborough manager this weekend as his side face a trip to Lancashire to play Preston North End.

It’s his first full-time job in professional football since announcing his retirement from his playing career in 2018.

Since ending his playing days, Carrick joined up with Manchester United’s coaching team and worked alongside now Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna under then manager Jose Mourinho. Following Mourinho’s departure, Carrick continued to work under Ole Gunnar Solskjær until 2021.

When Solskjær was sacked, Carrick was named as caretaker manager and his first match was in charge saw United seal their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho.

A win against Arsenal and a draw against Chelsea saw Carrick end a three-game reign unbeaten and his next job would come up ten months later when the Riverside Stadium came calling.

With his first game coming up against a deflated Preston side, it might be a perfect opportunity to get his first win as Boro boss. North End are coming into this clash after a quite shocking defeat against arch rivals Blackpool which saw the Lilywhites fall to a 4-2 crushing loss despite dominating large parts of the first half.

But a brace from Jerry Yates, a deflected strike from distance by Charlie Patino and a last second effort into an open net from CJ Hamilton sealed the three points for the Seasiders at Bloomfield Road and sent Ryan Lowe’s side packing with nothing to show for their efforts which haven’t exactly been heavily appreciated this week.

Calls are already coming from the North End fans that change is needed, and fast. The only question is where? The board, the manager, the squad? No one seems to be coming up with a concrete answer but either way, this isn’t the North End that used to turn up and upset the large majority of the Championship.

Seven years on from earning promotion to the second tier, with experience comes expectation. Under Alex Neil, North End fans felt something was being built, something to be excited about. But despite Ryan Lowe’s exciting words, it appears actions aren’t seemingly flowing.

Whilst the style of football improved towards the back end of last year, North End are struggling to find performances and goals this term. Missing out on re-signing Cameron Archer dealt the Lilywhites a blow, but the loss as Bloomfield Road reminded North End fans that their aspirations of reaching the play-offs are currently some way off and the lack of strength in depth is now hurting Preston, badly.

Ahead of Saturday’s clash at Deepdale, North End may still be without the defensive consistency in Andrew Hughes but North End fans will be reluctant to see the same back three which finished the derby game which completely fell apart under the slightest bit of pressure.

With not many memorable results or performances this season, North End’s fortunes really need to change quickly before any chance of having a successful season slips completely away.

But facing a manager preparing for his first game in full-time management is going to be no easy task, and with a few thousand Boro fans making the trip to the North-West, this may well be a very different side to the one North End battered 4-1 on the final day of last season. In fact, it’s a very different Preston side too.

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