Michael Carrick's Middlesbrough explained
Positional play, inverting wingers, drifting strikers and how Boro have gone from relegation scraps to promotion pushes
When Michael Carrick was appointed Middlesbrough's head coach in late October of last year, the Teesiders found themselves in 22nd place in the Championship. Under the Geordie, Boro are now sitting pretty in third, having only lost three league matches since Carrick’s appointment.
Having broken the malaise the club found itself in under Chris Wilder, Carrick has been praised not just for the results he’s brought to Boro, but for his tactics and expansive style of football. While the automatics might be out of reach, Middlesbrough fans can dare to dream about a first Premier League appearance since the 16/17 season.
To understand how Carrick has deployed his side, we need to first look at Middlesbrough under Chris Wilder, Carrick’s predecessor. Wilder is well-known for his time at Sheffield United, where his innovative tactics saw the Blades rocket from League One to 9th place in the Premier League. Wilder’s playing style and 3-5-2 formation was hailed by pundits for its expansiveness, overlapping centre-backs and front-foot playing style. Wilder’s system was synonymous with Sheffield’s success but saw mixed results at Middlesbrough.
These tactics were not suited to Middlesbrough’s players - Matt Crooks was not able to influence games as a deep-lying midfielder, while Riley McGree did not threaten after being shoehorned into a number 10 role. Wilder’s stubbornness to inflexibility led to his downfall and eventual sacking in October, with Carrick replacing him. Since then, Middlesbrough saw a dramatic upturn in form and rocketed up the Championship table. In Carrick’s first 10 games, Middlesbrough won 22 points - the most of any manager since Sir Bobby Robson in 1994.
This isn’t just results-based analysis; Carrick has turned what was a dysfunctional Middlesbrough side into one of the most tactically interesting sides in the division. It is no surprise that one of the smartest, most underrated Premier League midfielders of his time has had a promising start to his managerial career. In a league where players are inherently less tactically gifted, and managers look to compensate for these shortfalls, Carrick has looked to some of the best football sides in recent years for inspiration.
Carrick’s Middlesbrough has all the hallmarks of a possessional play team; an extremely functional, fluid and effective one.
Using an asymmetrical back 3 to build out, a system similar to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, with the right-back tucking into the defence and the left-back bombing forward to create a wide front 5, allowing the left-winger to invert and spend more time on the ball in central positions. This creates the 3-2-5 formation that is synonymous with positional play.
The team looks to calmly play out from the back, with goalkeeper Zack Steffen being used as a way to restart patterns of play as an 11th outfielder to create overloads and outnumber the opposition in the first phase of play. Steffen’s excellent ball-playing ability allows Boro to progress the ball to the fullbacks who can attack and exploit the space in front of them.
When attacking, Middlesbrough use a lot of principles seen in Spanish or Dutch teams. Carrick’s side looks to build overloads in wide areas to stretch defensive blocks and isolate their wingers and full-backs. Left-back Ryan Giles (on loan from Wolves) in particular is able to exploit space on the isolated flank and has plundered 7 assists in 30 Championship games.
While they like to use overloads and use positional play to build up, Boro don’t necessarily fit either major stream of positional play. Their average position isn’t structured enough to be classed as positionism, while nowhere near dynamic and effectively lopsided to be classified as relationism, or at least Fernando Diniz’s version of it. Middlesbrough players occupy fixed areas of the pitch, but players such as Chuba Akpom and McGree (who’s been revitalised on the left flank) have enough freedom to drift across the pitch and occupy different positions to help the team move forward
Boro’s second goal in their recent 3-0 win over Blackpool is a perfect example of how Carrick sets up his team to play. Middlesbrough constantly look to play forward, while comfortably retaining possession. It is indicative of how Carrick has this team playing, and how Middlesbrough have become one of the best teams in the Championship.
Facing an uphill battle when he became manager, Carrick has been able to sensationally turn around Middlesbrough’s fortunes since October. Now seen as one of the favourites to go up through the playoffs, Boro have become one of the Championship’s best sides to watch, and a disciple of Alex Fergurson, Louis Van Gaal and - strangely - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is at the centre of that.