MICHAEL Carrick has called on a close friend for some Sunderland advice ahead of tomorrow's Wear-Tees derby - with Middlesbrough's boss picking the brains of Wayne Rooney.

Rooney masterminded a Plymouth victory over the Black Cats at Home Park last weekend, Sunderland's first defeat of the season.

Carrick has obviously done plenty of his own homework on Boro's neighbours but also got in touch with his former Manchester United teammate - and plans to again in the hours ahead.

“We’ve exchanged a couple of messages and I’ll speak to him more at some point," said Boro's boss.

"It was a big result for them, so I was pleased for Wayne. It was an important result for them. In terms of what we take from it, Sunderland have largely been consistent in the games they’ve played and you can see how they’re trying to play - the patterns and consistencies within the game.

"We’ve got a decent idea of how they approach things, but it doesn’t mean that makes it any easier to play against.”

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Boro came out on top when these sides met at the Stadium of Light last term, with Carrick's side taking full advantage of Dan Neil's sending off and running out 4-0 winners.

But that game doesn't come into Carrick's thinking ahead of tomorrow's re-run.

He said: “I think you need to be careful, and certainly from me, not to expect… people have been talking to me about last year and that was a good day for us but going into Saturday it doesn’t mean a lot.

"The experience that lads will take from it, understanding what the day is going to bring and how it’s going to feel, the atmosphere, but in terms of what’s happened in the past, it will have no relevance to it whatsoever.

"We’ve got to have our eyes wide open to what Sunderland can bring, obviously they’ve got fresh ideas and a new coach, so we have to be ready for that. But certainly, we are up for it and will be going there looking for a positive result.”

Boro are likely to face a very different test to what they've had to negotiate in recent weeks, when opponents have set up to stifle and frustrate.

Carrick said: “I’d like to think we can adapt and play different ways in different scenarios. Sometimes we’ll have a lot of the ball and we’ve got to try and break teams down, other times we’ll attack from deep and be a bit more in transition because you’re defending a bit more.

"We work on that as a team and as a group to find the answers for whatever is thrown at us. We’ll see how the game pans out. They’re a good team and there’s a challenge ahead of us, so we’ve got to find a way to adapt.”