Michael Carrick warns Leicester City and Ipswich Town after Leeds United controversy | OneFootball

Middlesbrough's manager, Michael Carrick, thinks that the decision not to deem Wilfried Gnonto's goal for Leeds United, against his side, on Monday night, could have a big impact on Leicester City and Ipswich Town.

Boro and Leeds were involved in a high-intensity, high-scoring match which saw Daniel Farke's team come out on top with a 4-3 win at the Riverside Stadium.

Two goals from Emmanuel Latte Lath, plus an early finish from Isaiah Jones weren't enough to stave off Leeds' fiery attack, which produced three combined goals from its wingers, and one from former Boro forward Patrick Bamford.

There were no issues with any of the goals scored by Middlesbrough, the tap-in by Bamford, or Crysencio Summerville's brace, but the Whites' third goal of the night caused issues.

Wilfried Gnonto was played in behind the home side's defence by his Dutch counterpart, and he clinically finished his chance past Seny Dieng. Veteran Matthew Clarke raised his hand to the assistant referee on the near side, appealing for the flag to up for offside, but nothing was given.

Clarke appears to have been right in his protests, as replays from Sky Sports showed that the Italian winger may have strayed into an offside position.

Boro's boss has vented his outrage at the decision, and has expressed how he feels that it could affect the run-in at the top of the table.

Michael Carrick's reaction to Wilfried Gnonto's goal

The former Manchester United midfielder has said that the decision to award Leeds' third goal, instead of ruling it out, was a really poor one.

"The offside goal is a massive, massive decision, not just for us, but I’m sure there’s two other teams that have been affected by it too, in the bigger picture,” said Carrick, via the Northern Echo.

The Whites jumped above Ipswich in the table, and they can build their gap to the Tractor Boys to four points if they beat Queens Park Rangers on Friday.

Carrick continued: "We asked the boys to defend well and hold the line together, and the line is impeccable really. There’s three of them in the line on the edge of the box, they’re holding the line, and you expect that the offside will be given. It was too clear not to be."

This wasn't the only cause of annoyance for the 42-year-old. There were only five minutes added on at the end of the game, despite multiple substitution windows, two goals, and a couple of yellow cards.

On the added time issues, the Boro boss said: "To be honest, I got really frustrated with the added time too. The board goes up for five minutes, and we end up getting about 18 seconds added on (on top of that). But the ball was out of play for 90 seconds or two minutes within that five minutes that was getting added on.

"I just get frustrated. Yeah, there’s added time, but then there should be added time onto the added time as well. I got a bit frustrated with that."

What Michael Carrick needs to do to getting Middlesbrough challenging

Boro proved last night, and have done for a lot of the season, that they have a vibrancy in attack which can cause teams problems. That's not to say that work can't be done on the forward line to improve it - they don't have a better attacking record than any of the teams that are currently in the play-off places, or higher - but it's not a major area of concern.

Where Middlesbrough do severely fall behind, in comparison to those around them, is defensively. They have conceded 60 goals in 44 games. Only Norwich City, Preston North End and Cardiff City have conceded more in the top half of the table (61).

If they can shut up shop a bit at the back, more often than they have done this season, then they should be able to push higher up the league.