The Championship table since Middlesbrough hired Michael Carrick | OneFootball

Michael Carrick has had a transformative impact at Middlesbrough, and has supporters dreaming of a potential push for automatic promotion in the remainder of the Championship season.

The former England international took over in late October after Leo Percovich had restored some hope in a five-game caretaker stint, following the departure of Chris Wilder.

A breakdown in relations between Wilder and those above him at the club appeared to spill onto the pitch, with the players clearly playing within themselves considering the level of performance that Carrick has coaxed out of them since.

Boro just missed out on the play-offs last season after showing a lot of promise under Wilder, also in cup competitions, and therefore a top two finish or at least push would have been expected heading into the campaign.

The Teesside club were in 21st position and only above the relegation zone on goal difference when Carrick was hired, and what a difference the next 14 league games have made.

This was simple to visualise using the ‘custom dates’ function on WhoScored‘s Championship table, to see where Boro would rank if the season started when Carrick walked through the door.

As can be seen in the picture below.

Boro still rank third, as they are in the standings right now, behind Sheffield United and Burnley.

They have the joint-second best goal difference for the time period, October 29th to February 7th, tied with Sheffield United with +14.

Though that has arguably come about in more spectacular fashion, with Boro scoring 28 goals in that timeframe compared to the Blades’ 22.

Carrick has not completely mastered the backline as of yet, though they have kept back-to-back clean sheets, but he will be very pleased with how they have improved in the final third.

Since his appointment, Boro have been the division’s joint-highest scorers with Burnley, finding the net 28 times, but in playing two league games more than the Clarets in that time.

Boro have conceded 14 goals in as many league matches under Carrick, keeping four clean sheets in that time, a number that was beginning to be a little worrying before Paddy McNair has come into the backline to play a role in two consecutive shut-outs alongside Darragh Lenihan at centre back.

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West Bromwich Albion sit fourth in this table since Carrick’s appointment, given their improvement under Carlos Corberan, with one point fewer than Boro having played one game less, and then there is a six-point drop-off to Luton Town and an eight-point gap to Sunderland and Watford, demonstrating the chasm between the four best performing sides in the time period and the rest of the second tier.