MICHAEL CARRICK feels it is far too early to be worrying about where Middlesbrough sit in the Championship table, but the Boro boss insists his side should have more points on the board given the quality of their performances this term.

Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Sunderland in the Wear-Tees derby means Boro have claimed eight points from their opening six league matches.

That leaves them in 12th position in the table ahead of this weekend’s home game with Stoke City, seven points adrift of second-placed Sunderland and three points away from the top six.

Boro started the season as one of the favourites to win promotion, and Carrick has not shied away from admitting that a top-six finish is regarded as a minimum requirement.

However, with his side having picked up just two points from their first seven games last season, before eventually finishing eighth, Carrick says there is no point fretting about how the table is looking at such an early stage of proceedings.

“I think it (the table) only really settles down over a period of time,” said the Boro boss. “With the start of the season as it is, historically this league does throw up results.

“It’s not easy to stay at the top. When I took over (two seasons ago), it was October time and we were near the bottom. Last season, we were a lot worse off than we are now and ended up close.

“That’s the nature of the league. It doesn’t really come into my thinking at the moment, it’s more about how we need to get better. There’s the working on it to get better, which I think we will do, and we’re capable of doing. We’ll be fine.”

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Carrick claims he would be more concerned if he felt his side was underperforming, but despite results not really having gone Boro’s way, he insists that is not the case.

The Teessiders dominated August’s game at Derby, only to suffer a 1-0 defeat after a defensive error, and should probably have won the home matches against Portsmouth and Preston that both finished in a draw.

Last weekend, they dominated possession against Sunderland, only to fail to seriously threaten Anthony Patterson in the opposition goal. Nevertheless, when he assesses his side’s performance levels over the season so far, Carrick is adamant his players are not too far off their best.

“Should we have more points? Definitely,” he said. “Performance-wise, when you judge it on how the games have gone, that's pretty obvious. Over a period of time, I like to think if we keep doing the right things, we’ll get the benefits.”

Meanwhile, Sam Gallagher is set to make his Stoke debut when the Potters visit the Riverside on Saturday afternoon.

Gallagher joined Stoke from Blackburn Rovers in the summer, but has been sidelined since suffering a groin injury during pre-season.

The 29-year-old is back in training now though, and is likely to be part of new Stoke boss Narcis Pelach’s squad for the weekend trip to Teesside.

Gallagher has an excellent record against Middlesbrough, having scored on two of his last three visits to the Riverside as a Blackburn player.

Boro will be out for revenge at the weekend after Stoke thrashed them 5-0 in the second round of the Carabao Cup last month.

The Potters’ form dipped either side of that cup win, with a run of three league defeats in four matches resulting in the surprise dismissal of Steven Schumacher.

Pelach was appointed as Schumacher’s successor, leaving a coaching role at Norwich City in order to take over at the bet365 Stadium. His first game as Stoke boss did not go to plan last Friday night, with his side conceding three goals in the final half-hour as they suffered a 3-1 defeat to Hull City.