It's an attitude that goes a long way to explaining why Michael Carrick enjoyed such a glittering career.

Boro's head coach was obviously supremely talented as a player but what's equally as crucial when reaching and then staying at the top is the right mindset.

A win - be it a game, a cup or a title - is obviously celebrated but the focus quickly switches to what comes next. It's one of the reasons Carrick has a trophy cabinet that 99% of players can only dream of, because no matter what he's achieved he's always strived for more.

That's exactly the case at Boro with Carrick at the helm.

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The head coach has enjoyed a superb start to life in the dugout at the Riverside, bouncing back from defeat to Preston by picking up 10 points from the next four games and leading Boro up the Championship table.

But rather than settle and pat himself on the back for his work so far, the focus in the four week break between the Norwich City win and the visit of Luton Town today has been on improvement.

“You’re never satisfied or wanting to get into a comfort zone where you feel you can sit back and relax," said the head coach.

"We want to keep improving and getting better as individuals and as a team."

That obviously doesn't mean that Carrick doesn't recognise the many good things his team were doing before the break.

He says: "There are bits that we’ve been working on to improve, but we want to keep going down the same line because I think it’s clear there was a feel-good factor among the group which we wanted to keep. We worked hard and challenged each other to be better and I think the boys are in a better place now as a result than we were four weeks ago."

Carrick continued: “We’ve got principles of play that we look to stick to. I’m not so big on being stuck on formations so much. It’s been pretty consistent so far, but my focus is more about the principles that we have and getting the best out of the players that we have.

"I think we’ve played some really good football and I’ve been really pleased with the performances that we’ve brought. But I’m not satisfied because you always want to be better and we’ve got to keep pushing to always try and be better."

It's not difficult to make a case for the World Cup break having come at a bad time for Boro. Unbeaten in four, on the back of a superb victory against Norwich and with key men such as Chuba Akpom in blistering form, the stoppage threatened to halt quickly building momentum.

But Carrick actually believes Boro will be better for the break.

He said: “Because of the games we’ve had we’ve stayed in a decent rhythm. I don’t feel like we’ve lost that, even with the week off we had.

"The boys came back after and trained really hard, trying to keep that intensity up. It was important that we didn’t switch off too much, and if anything we kind of ramped it up a little bit more for them.

"They feel better for it and we’ve had a few games which have gone well but now it’s back to it, which is where we want to be and what we’re here for. It’s been different having the mid-season break, but it’s no big drama.

"We just make the most of it and the time we had around the boys, giving us time to prepare and work on things.”

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