When Chris Wilder got chatting to Antonio Conte at a recent awards night, Middlesbrough’s manager jokingly accused the Italian of copying his tactical blueprint.
At his former club, Sheffield United and, albeit to a lesser extent, on Teesside today, Wilder has built teams around attack-minded wing-backs and a trio of sometimes overlapping centre-halves. It is not a million miles removed from the system Conte swiftly installed at Tottenham, favoured utilising at previous clubs and, like his FA Cup fifth-round opponents on Tuesday night, seems philosophically attuned to.
