Smokedsalmon

Honestly can't stand it. He's so unsuited to the system it's unbelievable. Every manager seems to have these blindspots to particular players.

Last year was a perfect storm for Akpom. New manager came in and built the team around him. Everything went through him. He rode that wave of breaking the 20 goal mark for Boro (Ironically, dipped off massively after he broke the goals at home record as well). I just can't see him reproducing it.

Selling a 28 year old striker with 1 year on his contract who has had 1 good year in professional football for upward of 10m would represent fantastic business. Best possible outcome in my opinion.

Yeah, but Nugent made me feel safe. Whenever I saw him playing I'd feel comforted. You always knew what you'd get, a man born to play Championship football. That header vs Hull took us up. Bosh. Surprised he's not more of a cult hero.

I am so over Cameron Archer. Hope he goes somewhere else ASAP if only so that the collective Teesside conscience moves on from him. We need the David Nugent of our promotion push, not the Patrick Bamford.

That is pretty bold. Medicals don't usually happen until a fee is agreed.

I think 15m for Akpom would be great value and if we get that then all the best to him. The key to a club of our size is then reinvesting the money wisely with deals like Engels & this coffee fella. That's the model and I'm 100% happy with it.

All our fullbacks are dogshit and we haven't got a nasty Daniel Ayala-esque grock shithouse who is a nightmare to play against. Our centre halves are all a bit soft. Also the midfield provides 0 defensive cover and we are DESPERATE for a #6.

I don't know - our attack was sussed before the play-offs, was toothless during the play-offs, and has carried on in that fashion in pre-season and on Saturday.

I think the sooner Silvera & Jones are starting at LM/RM the better. I really, really don't like playing number 10s or strikers in those positions, which is what McGree & Forss are. Pace and the ability to run at a man out wide makes such a huge difference. The absolute gold standard of this that a football team should be aiming for are Martinelli & Saka for Arsenal - both can go inside, outside, quick, ball-carriers who have engines to track back. I think Silvera and Jones could do a good job at this level in an equivalent way. Our attacks look so tepid and slow sometime

As far as defensive double pivots go it's not so bad, if you can get the front 4 involved.

Neither does anyone claiming one's booked.

It almost certainly was not a thing.

Spot on mate - we are definitely going to miss out on players doing it this way, and people need to learn to accept it. I doubt very much a single player in the Luton squad is on more than 15k a week. Brentford & Brighton will have been doing it the same way before they had sustained premier league cash. It's just the only way to keep a football club of our size and investment going and personally I think it's fantastic that we're finally living within our means, even if it does mean we don't get any big superstar signings in (who let's be fair, are always *** when we do anyway!).

The thing is mate Akpom is about to turn 28, has never had a season like this before, is a bit injury prone, and is asking to break our wage ceiling. As a club we could take the easy option, give him what he wants, and then he reverts to type and never, ever replicates last season again (which I would absolutely bet my house on, by the way) and we are stuck with an aging striker on a 3 year deal on 30-35k a week who we can't shift. That's what we would have done before Scott, no question. I appreciate how good he was last year but he is by no means a no-brainer risk-free move an

Yeah, the club desperately need to improve their communication - but I can also understand them not wanting to air their dirty laundry in public and look unprofessional. It's a tough balancing act - we'll never know 100% what goes on behind closed doors but I think as supporters we should 9/10 times side with the club instead of cryptic tweets from players who've been here a year.

Even if it is just a case of Boro not agreeing to pay what Wolves wanted, that is a good thing. We spunked away SO much since we got relegated just giving clubs & players what they wanted. Our fans still have that attitude. "Just pay them the 5m!" "Just give Chuba 30k!" that is how you end up in the financial muddy waters we find ourselves. We're trying to do it differently (at long last!) and we need to give the club a good few years before it pays off. We might lose Chuba on a free next year. It could happen. He could also revert to type and score 5 goals this season. Ale

Have to say, my instinct on the whole Chuba/Giles posting on Twitter debacle is that they're both talking ***, to be honest. Player & agent power is absolutely everything in modern football and there is no way that if Giles was that desperate to come here it wouldn't have happened. So easy to post a little one-word Tweet to try and drum up a bit of support. If he'd come out with an actual explanation then maybe I would give it some credit, but all this cryptic "Not true" "Relatable" bullshit is just players covering their backs. Akpom was an absolute joke of a player up until las

Boro sign player = champions. Boro not sign player = ***. Boro score goal = champions. Boro concede goal = ***. And thus the wheel spins...

Spot on, he needed replacing about 3 years ago. I was gobsmacked when we gave him another year. Him and McNair sum up everything about how poor we've (generally) been since we got relegated again. Total plodders.

I've been saying I'd like us to move to 433. I like the way Arsenal/City (and now Spurs) play with the two free 8's in the middle and a 6 holding. Feel like we are better suited to playing that way than building the entire attack around Chuba (which Coventry showed over 3 games, is actually quite easy to nullify).

I think it is bonkers that people get so worked up over this kind of thing. When Carrick came in, he will have been given the absolute rundown on how it will be: Scott is in control, cheap deals, future prospects for the most part. Scott has literally already had to bin one manager off for not following along with this, do you think there's any chance he would have been even slightly unclear with Carrick over what he was getting himself into? He literally came out the other day when asked about new signings and jokingly said "do we need them?", "I am happy with the squad" - yes,

Think we're missing a natural striker. Lots of players looking to provide rather than shoot, but we're playing really well right up to that point.

It's very tongue in cheek mate. Obviously nobody wants a Boro (or any player) to be seriously injured.

With any luck we might go get one that is half decent now...