Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder has praised Jonny Howson, Sol Bamba, and Lee Peltier for their leadership, in an interview with The Northern Echo.
Middlesbrough have got a solid balance of experience and youth at present and new boss Wilder is using it to his advantage.
The side that lined up against Huddersfield on Saturday boasted experience with Bamba, Howson, Andraz Sporar, Luke Daniels, and Paddy McNair to name a few, whilst also giving chances to younger players like Isaiah Jones, Marcus Tavernier and Marc Bola.
There was also places on the bench for Toyosi Olusanya and Josh Coburn.
In January there will also be the addition of recalled youngsters Djed Spence and Nathan Wood. Spence will likely rejoin Boro from his loan spell at Nottingham Forest, whilst Wood has been confirmed to return to Teesside next month after his loan at Hibs was cut short.
Wilder spoke out about who the young players should look up to at the club, picking out three players in particular.
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“If Nathan Wood is starting out and he’s looking at Jonny Howson’s career, Jonny has played in the Premier League, he’s played the majority of his career either in the Premier League or Championship, a fabulous career,” he said.
“But he’s still got that desire and hunger to go at his age. Jonny’s been outstanding.
“I think Lee Peltier and Sol Bamba have been great examples, they do the right things, they train well but they train with a desire and an intensity in the sessions.
“For me, that automatically rolls into matchdays, so I’ve been really impressed with those two guys.”
Prior to his injury, Peltier had played the previous two games under Wilder alongside Howson and Bamba. But he was replaced by Anfernee Dijksteel at the weekend. Peltier is set to miss the next month of action after pulling his hamstring in the defeat to Preston North End.
Thoughts
When Neil Warnock came in to manage at Middlesbrough he spoke about a lack of leaders and immediately set to address that. He brought in Peltier and Bamba as free agents and the squad looks far more solid with them in it.
It will be interesting to see if Bamba keeps his place when Dael Fry comes back into contention this weekend when Boro take on Swansea City at the Riverside.
