Michael Carrick gives 'honest' verdict on Leeds United early pressure claims ahead of Carabao Cup clash

Michael Carrick has played down talk of Leeds United being under early pressure after dropping points at home to Portsmouth on Saturday, insisting ‘one game doesn’t make a season’.

Leeds were expected to take all three points from their 2024/25 season-opener but almost came away with nothing, relying on Brenden Aaronson’s 95th-minute effort to pull level at 3-3 after Callum Lang’s late penalty. Daniel Farke’s side were dominant for large portions and hit the woodwork three times in the opening minutes, but sloppy moments proved costly and the fast start that was expected never materialised.

Middlesbrough are at Elland Road for their Carabao Cup first round clash against Leeds this evening, having won their own opening-weekend meeting with Swansea City. But win, lose or draw, Carrick stressed the importance of calm heads with so much left to play for between now and May.

“I don’t know to be honest,” Carrick told reporters when asked if Leeds were already under pressure. “But what I can tell you is they have a fantastic squad. Great group of players, individually and collectively. They proved that by how far they went, how close they came to the Premier League. It’s one game. One game doesn’t make a season. Nothing is won or lost just yet.”

The meeting of two Championship promotion hopefuls represents an unusually challenging first round of the Carabao Cup, given Premier League clubs are not yet involved, but rotation is expected on both sides with a tight turnaround between the opening league games. Daniel Farke has already hinted there will be changes from the weekend and Carrick is expected to follow a similar approach.

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There has been speculation regarding young Boro forward Josh Coburn, who is subject to interest from Championship rivals Millwall. But Carrick insists the 21-year-old will be involved in some way at Elland Road this evening.

“Josh will be involved,” the Boro boss added. “He’s in the group, and he’ll play a part in the game in some way. That’s literally it from my perspective. What’s going to happen in the rest of the window, we don’t know.

“This isn’t referring to any individual player, but sometimes things happen in the transfer window, and you have to react to that. That’s the same with any player, but with all of them, we’re really happy at the moment.”

Leeds will welcome a familiar face back to Elland Road this evening with promotion hero Luke Ayling expected to feature, having made his half-season loan permanent this summer after leaving West Yorkshire. The 32-year-old led Boro out on Saturday and could well do so again, if club captain Jonny Howson doesn’t feature.

“I’ve spoken so often about what I think about Luke, I would have liked to have him in his prime,” Farke said of this evening’s returning right-back. “He’s an outstanding character and player, one of the best I’ve worked with character-wise. I know that he’s always desperate for us to win games and be successful. He’s always professional, he’ll give his best to make sure his team is successful but I know deep inside he wants us to do well. It feels strange to have him in a different shirt.”