MICHAEL CARRICK remains confident Middlesbrough’s summer signings will come good, and insists it would be wrong to read too much into the absence a number of new arrivals from the side that saw off Southampton at the weekend.

Boro brought in 12 new players during the summer transfer window, but only three – Seny Dieng, Rav van den Berg and Lewis O’Brien – started Saturday’s game, which saw the Teessiders claim their first league win of the season.

Tom Glover was not going to start given that he is the second-choice goalkeeper, and Alex Bangura is currently unavailable because of injury, but it still felt telling that in a game Boro really needed to win, Carrick opted to leave the likes of Lukas Engel, Sammy Silvera, Morgan Rogers and Emmanuel Latte Lath on the substitutes’ bench.

All four have struggled to make much of an impact since moving to Teesside in the summer, but Carrick is adamant he did not make a conscious decision to turn away from his new recruits.

“There’s a balance to be struck to a point, but I wouldn’t read too much into it,” said the Boro boss, whose side return to action when they head to Valley Parade to take on League Two side Bradford City in the Carabao Cup third round this evening. “I think all the boys have settled in really well.

“As a team, we’ve not had the best run of results, and of course it’s a lot easier for new lads to come into a team that’s winning. There’s a balance of what is right for each game, but on Saturday, it certainly wasn’t a case of, ‘Let’s clear them all out and start again’.

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“Obviously, there are still connections we need to find, but Saturday was just a case of picking the best team for that game. That might change moving forward.”

While it would have been an ideal scenario if all of Boro’s summer signings had hit the ground running, Carrick was always prepared to take a long-term view of the club’s transfer business.

He did not expect instant results, and has been at pains to stress that even experienced, settled players can suffer dips in form.

“I’ve got patience with them,” said the Boro boss. “Whether you’ve moved from another country or just down the road, there are no guarantees you’re going to be at your best all the time. We understand that, and it’s about a season and producing a team to perform over a long period of time.

“I’m certainly patient. I had plenty of times in my career where I had a bad couple of games or a bad month, but that’s football and we’re here to help.

“I think you can maybe overplay the factor of new boys coming in because it’s not necessarily about new signings. I played for the same club for a long period of time, but still had plenty of dips in form over the years.

“Individuals can sometimes just dip in form. We have to understand the evolution of the team when new players arrive of course, but it’s not something I’m too concerned about. I’m sure the boys will all be fine.”