Before taking charge of Ipswich in December 2021, McKenna worked with Carrick on the coaching staff of Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United.
McKenna guided Ipswich back to the Championship last season and under him, the Tractor Boys are flying in the ongoing campaign.
Mowatt, who played under Carrick when he was on loan at Middlesbrough last season, revealed that an Ipswich player told him how McKenna wants his team to play, which he thinks is similar to the style of the Boro boss.
And the West Brom star is of the opinion that the reason behind the similar styles of both managers might come from working together at Manchester United.
“They’ve had a great start and everyone’s been quite surprised by how well they’ve done”, Mowatt told West Bromwich Albion’s official site.
“But I know one of the lads there and he spoke about how Ipswich want to play and I think it’s similar to how Boro did things when I was on loan at the Riverside Stadium last season.
“Their boss Kieran McKenna is obviously a former Manchester United man, just like Michael Carrick, and he wants to play similarly to how Carrick did.
“So from that sense, it’s no surprise how well they’ve done this season playing that way.”
Ipswich have failed to win against West Brom at the Hawthorns in their last six visits and it remains to be seen whether McKenna will be able to change that record on Saturday.
