MICHAEL Carrick won't be making wholesale changes to his Middlesbrough team for Wednesday night's visit of Sheffield United, with Boro's boss "hugely encouraged" by performances, despite successive defeats, and confident positive results are around the corner.

Boro welcome Chris Wilder's Blades to the Riverside on the back of Saturday's deflating 2-0 loss at home to Bristol City, which followed a 2-1 defeat to Watford before the international break.

Boro have lost as many games as they've won so far in the Championship but the head coach still has complete faith in his side and won't be changing his approach.

He might well make one or two personnel changes against Sheffield United, with Riley McGree and Tommy Conway both in contention to start, but Carrick insists there'll be no over-reaction to the weekend defeat.

"From my point of view as a coach, you try and put yourself in a position and play the game in a way that you give yourselves the best chance to win the game," he said.

"Creating opportunities, playing in and around their box, we’re certainly doing that and very well. That next little bit, goals are massive and we know that. We’ve just got to start converting and we believe that we will do that.

"There’s a mixed feeling in terms of results, and it’s definitely not something we’re accepting, we’re hugely encouraged by a lot of the football though.  Both ends of the pitch as well.

"We’ve had the most shots and conceded the fewest in the whole league, so throughout the pitch is really good. It’s just proving to be at the moment in terms of results. But as far as giving ourselves the best chance over a long period, we’re doing a lot of good things."

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Asked how long it would take for Carrick to revert to making significant personnel changes, he said: "It's not a case of it being how far down the line before I make changes, it's a week to week thing.

"There's a team that needs picking every week, there could be changes within it. It's not giving a certain individual an opportunity and then you cut that. The whole squad is important and it's a constant thing, whoever has played has done a lot of good things in the performance level. We need to find that bit extra. I'm sure we will, whoever plays."

Boro have no fresh injury concerns for the visit of Sheffield United, with Jonny Howson pushing for a return to the squad. He's been missing since the Carabao Cup win over Leeds in August.

"Jonny is in the group, which is good," said Carrick.

"Jonny is hugely experienced and has had different types of experience throughout his career. He has that influence, composure and presence around the group. That's really important. We have a lot of good people in the group, really good people and good characters. They're a fantastic group and Jonny is the leader and sets the tone and example."

Carrick added: "Dael (Fry) is back with us as well.

"He needs a few minutes in terms of game-time, but he's training really well and it's great to have him back."

Marcus Forss has been on the bench for the last three games and was a late substitute in the defeats to Watford and Bristol City, but Carrick will continue to tread carefully with the forward on the back of his long lay-off.

He said: "It's great to have Marcus back. He's been out for a period of time, he hasn't played since March time, so we need to manage that.

"We need to look to get Marcus some minutes as well and manage that in the right way. But it's great to have him back. He can score goals, he's a good finisher."