MIDDLESBROUGH will again be without Rav van den Berg and captain Jonny Howson for Tuesday night's Carabao Cup second round tie against Stoke City.
And while Riley McGree has a chance of being fit for the game against the Potters, Michael Carrick hinted that he'll resist the urge to put the Australian international straight back into the side and will instead wait for next Saturday's Championship trip to Cardiff.
Van den Berg, Howson and McGree all missed Saturday's Championship draw with Portsmouth. Carrick confirmed that Tuesday will come too soon for van den Berg. It's not clear at this stage whether the Dutch centre-half will be in contention to return at Cardiff.
Howson is likely to miss the trip to Wales, with Carrick confirming the midfielder faces "a little bit longer" on the sidelines.
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“Rav just wasn’t ready for today," said Carrick after Saturday's draw.
"He won’t be ready for Tuesday either. There is no point in rushing him or risking him on Tuesday, so we’ll just see how he is this week and make a decision before Cardiff.
“Jonny will be a little bit longer, Riley we’ll see. We need to manage that and perhaps be patient.
"The make up of the squad right now means we don’t need to rush that and don’t need to push him. Whether he is back for Tuesday or Saturday, we’ll see. But certainly no need to push him for Tuesday."
Dael Fry, Darragh Lenihan, Marcus Forss and Tommy Smith are all not yet ready to return and won't feature in the next week. It remains unclear when any of those four players will be back in action.
Carrick said: “Dael, Darragh and Marcus are a little further on, so it’ll be after the international break for them.”
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