Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick was left far from pleased at full-time on Monday night following his side’s 4-3 defeat at home to Leeds United.
The loss has now finally put to bed any chance that Boro had of finishing inside the play-offs for the second consecutive season under Carrick. Despite taking the lead during the game through Isaiah Jones, the Teesside outfit found themselves 4-2 down heading into the closing stages of the game.
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Top goalscorer Emmanuel Latte Lath bagged his second of the game in the final three minutes but it was too late for Middlesbrough to salvage a point against a Leeds team that was so prolific throughout the game.
Nevertheless, Carrick felt as though Wilfried Gnonto’s goal a few minutes before half-time which should have been ruled out for offside “had a big sway” in the result as Boro’s season drew to an unfortunate conclusion at the end of the game.
Speaking in his post-match interview, the former Manchester United midfielder was very critical of the linesman for ruling the Leeds United goal as onside, which put the visitors 3-2 ahead [quotes via Leeds Live]:
“The offside goal is frustrating my point of view,” Carrick stated.
“We are coaching the boys to be a unit and to be connected when they come out of a line. If there’s somebody behind you, you’ve got to trust the linesman. It was fantastic defending and he’s a yard offside.
Should this have been ruled out for offside? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/xsTOMOrdEA
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) April 22, 2024
“He [Gnonto] was not given offside so, from my point of view, what do you say now? Just follow your runners everywhere and you will end up on the goal line defending? At some point, you have got to hold your line and trust that and today it went badly against us,” the 42-year-old continued.
“It was a massive blow and had a big sway in the game for sure. It changed the swing of things but I felt we came back and dealt with that really well. We got on the front foot in the second half. We controlled it and dominated large parts of the game but, in the end, that goal was the difference.”
