THE list of Middlesbrough players who have impressed enormously since the appointment of Michael Carrick is a long one.

Chuba Akpom has fired his way to the top of the goal charts, Ryan Giles leads the Championship assists table, Hayden Hackney has been a revelation, Tommy Smith has been Mr Reliable and the January loan signings have quickly made their mark.

You could go on.

But one of the players who undoubtedly deserves to be near the top of that list is Darragh Lenihan.

After arriving from Blackburn in the summer, Lenihan had a bit of a wobbly start to life on Teesside as Chris Wilder's Boro faltered.

But since the arrival of Michael Carrick and the switch from a back three to a four, Lenihan has been immense.

He's started 32 of Boro's 38 league games and recently captained the side in the absence of Jonny Howson. Other than missing the home win over Millwall with injury, the centre-half has played every minute in the Championship under Carrick.

He's been something of an unsung hero for Boro - but not in the eyes of the head coach.

“First and foremost as a personality, as a character, he’s a really good person," said Carrick.

"He’s everything you want, desperate to learn, comes in every day wanting to improve, humble, stable. He’s a pleasure to have around. He’s one of the voices in the group and leads by example. As I said, a real pleasure."

Lenihan played more than 250 times for Blackburn and captained Rovers, so arrived at Boro armed with bags of experience.

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Carrick says the Irishman is a "clever" defender - and still improving.

“He’s got terrific attributes as a player, he reads the game really well. he’s clever and he’s developing," said the head coach.

"He won’t thank me for saying it, but he’s getting on a bit. Not over the hill by any stretch! But he’s not a young player any more and Darragh will know that. That’s part of the experience. You can see that confidence and belief in him but that doesn’t stop him wanting to learn."

From front to back, Boro's players have bought into Carrick's style of play. Lenihan priority is obviously keeping the ball out of the net but he's calm in possession and alongside goalkeeper Zack Steffen and Boro's defenders helps to build attacks from the back.

Asked what he's worked on with the defenders in training, Carrick said: "It’s just instruction, what distances we want between players, what’s his role when covering certain spaces, in possession what we’re asking him to look for. It’s not always easy.

“Personally, you come in, looking at the players, where my instinct takes me. Darragh has been terrific. He’s been a big part of what we’ve done.”