MICHAEL Carrick says Middlesbrough must find a way to break teams down after Sunderland became the latest team to frustrate Boro's attack.

Boro dominated possession and territory against the Black Cats but only managed a single shot on target, with Chris Rigg's first half goal enough to secure a fifth win in six games for Regis Le Bris' Sunderland.

Middlesbrough have picked up just eight points from a possible 18 and have repeatedly come unstuck against teams who are happy to sit deep and invite Carrick's men to try and pick their way through the defence.

Carrick felt that was the case with Sunderland in the second half at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, which the head coach says Boro must take as a "compliment". But he says Boro must also find a way to negotiate such a tactic.

"We’re finding teams are defending really deep against us, even when they don’t against other teams," said Carrick.

"They’re happy to do that against us, and we’ve got to find a way of breaking teams down when they do that.

"The same today, the celebrations today, it felt like it wasn’t just a normal game. We’ve got to get used to that, take it as a compliment and use that. We’ve got good players and we are a good team.”

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Carrick felt Boro deserved something from the Stadium of Light. The visitors had the better of the early chances, with Tommy Conway hitting the bar with a header, but Boro struggled to create clear cut openings after Rigg's goal.

Carrick said: “I thought it was pretty close and, if anything, we probably edged it in terms of being the better team and having more play around their box. But it was pretty close.

"The goal is the goal, it’s fell to them kindly, but other than that we limited them to very few moments. They have individual quality, especially in wide areas. But we have a couple of instances of big chances, especially in the first half - the first big one with Tommy and then the red card incident for the challenge on Manu, two big moments.

"Then, the longer it goes, is what we’re finding against a lot of teams, especially if they get a lead on us, they defend very deep with a lot of numbers. We’ve got to face that challenge and find ways to break teams down.

“I’m sure if we doing the right things, keep creating the opportunities and being the better team in pretty much every game we’ve played so far, I’m sure we will start to get the rewards.

“We have to react to it. We’re bitterly disappointed to come here and lose. Whatever way we lose is bitterly disappointing. We understand what the game is and we can’t cloud over that or hide that. It’s a defeat and we’ve got to take that and face it head on. But there is an element of looking at the bigger picture. I thought we came here and controlled it for large spells and did a lot of good things."