MICHAEL Carrick reiterated the importance of his full Middlesbrough squad after a much-changed side beat Exeter to book a spot in the last eight of the Carabao Cup.
Carrick made seven changes at St James Park on Tuesday night and those who came into the side took their chance and gave the head coach food for thought ahead of the coming Championship fixtures.
Morgan Rogers, Sammy Silvera and Emmanuel Latte Lath were on the scoresheet and another player to catch the eye was summer signing Alex Bangura.
It's been something of a frustrating start to life on Teesside for the left-back, who was forced off injured on his debut away at Blackburn and had a spell on the sidelines, during which time Lukas Engel impressed.
But making just his second start for Boro, Bangura caught the eye at Exeter, having a hand in the first goal and setting up the second for Silvera.
An impressed Carrick said: “It wasn’t easy for him to come in like he has - it’s a new club, new country, and he hasn’t played much because of the early injury. As much as it might be assumed it is, it really isn't easy to just slot straight into it.
"In a team where there was a few changes, Alex did really well. I thought all the boys that came in did well, which was pleasing. We looked like ourselves and you could see the things that we’re working on and the longer the game went we looked more and more dangerous, so I was really pleased with that."
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Carrick has always stressed the importance of his squad depth, which has been evident in recent weeks with the head coach forced to deal with a growing injury list.
He said: “As I always say, everyone is going to play some part throughout the season. There will be times where someone, for whatever reason, is out of the team for a spell. The beauty of it is that we have the options to make the changes.
"It would be easy to come here and say, ‘go again’ to the boys who have been playing regularly lately. But we made the changes because we have so much belief in all the boys and we’ll use everyone."
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