Michael Carrick confirms major Middlesbrough injury blow and delivers verdict on 'harsh' Sunderland defeat

Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick confirmed that his side will be without Ben Doak for a few weeks after the Liverpool loanee suffered a thigh injury in training.

Doak was a surprise absentee when the teams were announced at The Riverside on Monday night, and the 19-year-old is now facing a spell on the sidelines. Middlesbrough’s options in the wide areas are very strong nevertheless, with Morgan Whittaker and Samuel Iling-Junior making their debuts in the 3-2 defeat.

“Ben just felt his thigh during the week in training,” Carrick said.

“We'll see how it is. It won't be a few days, it will be longer. Probably weeks, not ages but yeah, it won't be days.”

Carrick said the Middlesbrough dressing room was bitterly disappointed after the defeat to Sunderland and though he felt his side did not do enough after equalising in the second half, he felt the end result was ‘harsh’ given the manner of two of the goals.

“To lose it like that is a tough one,” he said.

“It's a horrible way to lose a game, especially a game of this significance. To lose the game, to concede the goals, a deflection and an own-goal is difficult but we have to accept it.

“We started the game ever so well, went ahead and looked like we could add to it. We dealt with the two-goal swing and came back into the game and it just drifted a bit in the second half when we didn't do enough in the game. To lose it like that is a tough one to take.

“Football is ups and downs through a game and there will be times when you have the momentum and the upper hand and you have to make the most of that. You can't always expect to score more than two goals at home, to be honest. But the two goals we conceded, a deflection and an own-goal, you can pick the bones out of it but it's harsh, and we find ourselves here with nothing. It's a bitterly disappointed dressing room.”

Middlesbrough were handed a significant transfer boost before the game, with former Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho unveiled to the crowd after agreeing a loan switch from Sevilla for the remainder of the campaign.

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