MICHAEL Carrick raised eyebrows when he revealed at the end of last season what he'd told his players following their defeat at West Brom early in the campaign.

The 4-2 loss came at the end of August and in the middle of what was a deeply troubling start to the season. Boro left the Hawthorns having picked up just a single point from their first four games and looked a million miles away from being Championship promotion contenders.

And yet Carrick would later reveal that he told his players that day that - if he could - he'd back them to make the top six.

Had he made that public at the time, Carrick would risked looking delusional - but the revelation nine months later offered insight into the faith Boro's head coach has in his players and his methods.

Boro didn't eventually finish in the top six last term but they came extremely close, quite the achievement given their wretched seven-game winless start.

Eleven months after that defeat at the Hawthorns, Boro return tonight in a much healthier position. They haven't made as fast a start as they'd have hoped but Saturday's win at Stoke means Carrick's side are just two points shy of the top six and five behind tonight's hosts, who top the pile.

Safe to say, then, Carrick would have no reservations in repeating last year's confident claim that his side will be right there in the mix when it matters.

"100%, you have to back yourself," he said.

"You have to be stubborn at times, I'm sure my missus would say I'm stubborn, but you have to have that as a head coach.

"You have to believe in something to back it. Within reason of course and sometimes you have to find different ways but I totally believe in my players, 100%.

"Yeah, we've had games where we haven't had results but the bigger picture - and it's easier to say that when you've won a game - is what we look at. The biggest thing for me - it's OK me saying it - but the boys believe in it."

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West Brom's four-game winning run came to an end at the weekend when the Baggies went down 3-2 at Sheffield Wednesday, their first loss of the season.

Carlos Corberan's side remain top, despite that setback, and Carrick isn't at all surprised to see them leading the way.

He said: "If you look at them, they have a really strong team, physically, experience wise, they have good quality.

"They're a force in this league and I think they'll be up there come the end of the season.

"This league throws up results from week to week but I think come the end of the season they'll definitely be up there."