Mowbray compliments ‘United-like’ Foxes

Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray has compared Leicester to Premier League leaders Manchester United after his side’s 3-3 draw with the Foxes on Saturday.

Mowbray watched on as his battling side clawed a point in the 94th minute to pull themselves further away from the Championship drop zone.

And the former Celtic chief admits he was impressed by the football on display from the Foxes.

“Leicester are a really good team with some high-quality players,” he said.

“That is what investment can do for you. It can bring quality. Sven-Goran Eriksson has to be given a lot of credit for turning that football club around to where it is.

“I have said to my players, when you are out on that pitch, you can feel the quality of the opposition.

“You know when you are facing a high-quality player who knows when to pass it, release it, run with it, cross it, and they have a lot of players in their team who have that quality and know what they are doing with the football.”

And Mowbray reserved greatest praise for Eriksson’s side with a glowing comparison to giants Manchester United.

“I sat watching the Manchester United versus West Ham clash before our game and the difference is the United players know what to do with the ball.

“At times, you could feel that about Leicester in this division. You don’t feel that every week in this division.”

“Every game is very competitive, but there are not that many teams who give you an assurance of what they are trying to do and where they are going with it. Leicester produced that but we overcame it by getting about them, putting our foot in and playing off the back of any mistakes and tackles we made.”

The Middlesbrough manager was pleased with his sides efforts against a strong Leicester side, however, insisting they could have taken all three points on another day.

“Our game plan worked quite well and, in the end, we could have won it. Ultimately it was a good fightback but there is a part of us that is disappointed.

“We hit a post twice and missed a penalty, which suggests we were always at it, and we are disappointed we didn’t get more from the game.”

Mowbray picked out City’s strength as one of their greatest attributes, citing players such as Sol Bamba and Yakubu as huge threats.

“Big Sol Bamba is a man-mountain, a great athlete who has a fantastic spring and is very difficult to mark,” he said.

“Yakubu has physical strength as well. People were bouncing off him. They had that advantage over us a bit, but we stood up to it.”