9 hours ago, Changing Times said:

Yeah I do get what you mean by chicken and the egg.  I think it's more the former than the latter, and you think it's more the latter than the former!  I think his real standard is what we've seen across his entire spell here, which is one of the reasons he's no longer deemed to be good enough for Leeds.  That doesn't mean he's a bad player or owt but just that he'll only tend to look good when we look better.  Tommy Smith is similar in that regard in my opinion.

Probably a bit of both, in truth. I would still rather him than Smith, but I’m not sure about either for next season. Ayling, to me, has more to offer going forward than smith, but I suspect he might be looking for one last long contract and I don’t know if that is wise for Boro. Carrick likes his right full back to get forward a lot, so I hope we are looking for a solid young full back. Someone whose main asset is defending but who has the speed to recover.

5 hours ago, Neverbefore said:

I think it depends on where the play was. At times we were absolutely playing 3 at the back but other times it was 4. But thats kinda been carricks philosophy since he joined, he's about working where the space is rather than a rigid formation. 

He seems to have gone with one very attacking fullback like Giles and a more defensively solid possession retaining fullback on the otherside whilst he's been here.