Former Middlesbrough midfielder Alex Mowatt has revealed the Premier League team who inspired Michael Carrick’s team talks last season as Boro target a return to the top flight.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Middlesbrough head coach, Michael Carrick – a Manchester United player for 12 years – would have a strong connection stylistically with his former club. Yet former Boro midfield loanee, Alex Mowatt has revealed that the top-flight team Carrick showed clips of to his team last season was not United, nor was it the trend-setting Manchester City side or even the aggressive attacking prowess of Arsenal.
Carrick, who arrived on Teesside in October of last year, has a rapidly growing reputation for an expressive and swashbuckling style of play that has excited the fans and created a buzz in the area. That style and attacking flair, is something that has been identified through watching and observing the approach of a team who found themselves in a similar position to Middlesbrough only a few years ago.
That team is Brighton and Hove Albion; a team that has shown that with a vision and a plan of how to play, you can not only survive in the Premier League, but excel. Michael Carrick was inspired by Brighton according to a former player when discussing the Boro bosses preferred style last season.
Mowatt was speaking about his own situation at fellow Championship club West Brom when alluding to the style aspect of Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough. “To be honest the style he [Carlos Corberan] wants to play is similar to Boro last year. We’ve watched a few clips on Brighton this season and when I was at Boro we watched a few clips on Brighton.
Referring to the FA Cup match against the Seagulls, he told the Express and Star, “We actually played Brighton too, I think that’s the new way of playing now, everyone’s looking at Brighton, who are playing some unbelievable football. It’s similar to how it was at Boro and I’ve been training with that all of last year, so it’s good for me with a similar style, I can come here and it’s not too much of a big change.”
Only seven years ago in 2016, Middlesbrough pipped Brighton to the automatic promotion spot to the Premier League. If you look at the fortunes of both clubs since then, it highlights the importance of getting it right both on the field and off it.
The north east club appear to have learned lessons in both respects and have a clear model now in place, with well respected sporting director Kieran Scott orchestrating their transfer dealings. Boro now have a clear identity; bringing in ambitious and hungry players who are mainly twenty-four and under, enabling Carrick to develop and steer his young charges with a brand of football that is much more appealing than some of his predecessors.