Smokedsalmon
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Posts posted by Smokedsalmon
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4 minutes ago, PsychFur said:
Just for a bit of balance that '1 good year in professional football' was last season and while there's no guarantee he'll reproduce that form in the future there's nothing to suggest that he won't either.
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.
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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.
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5 minutes ago, Duvel said:
Bamford was a better player than Nugent though.
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.
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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.
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2 minutes ago, LinoJo3 said:
Well done to the club if we get these 2 players in, proper ‘hidden gem’ types we’ve been wanting us to get for ages. Not only do they look good players but the fees mean we could make some nice money on them if required. If they match previous performances here then they become £8m+ players imo.
Also I’m guessing Engel was who the medical was for so once again he was right that one took place.
That is pretty bold. Medicals don't usually happen until a fee is agreed.
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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.
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Just now, TeaCider24 said:
Ffs, why are we so *** *** at defending?
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.
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16 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:
Our attack looks incredible for the majority of last season with mcgree and forss out wide. They're not the issue.
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.
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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 sometimes because we haven't currently got pace & penetration in wide areas (which, when Archer first came into the squad, he was somehow managing to do on his own at his best).
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4 minutes ago, ManBearPig said:
As if Ipswich have Luongo and Morsy sitting in their midfield and they’re beating Sunderland away from home 🤣
As far as defensive double pivots go it's not so bad, if you can get the front 4 involved.
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13 minutes ago, SzilardNemethsCurtains said:
I mean you absolutely don't know either way
Neither does anyone claiming one's booked.
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3 minutes ago, scotty189 said:
So any update on medical from yesterday, has it been confirmed it took place ?
It almost certainly was not a thing.
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9 minutes ago, Bruce said:
I can't speak to any details but from the outside we appear to have moved from a model of "spend whatever it takes to get promoted" to build a "sustainable" club enroute to getting promoted.
By "sustainable" I don't mean actually breaking even in the Championship but reducing our yearly operating losses from £15m+ to closer to £5m. That means we can potentially cover those losses by making a profit from transfer activity. A salary cap will be part of that but it does mean that each year we're going to miss out on players we would otherwise have been able to buy.
We did make a first stab at this under Woodgate but got it horribly wrong. I hope it works this time. Most importantly we have to stop doing 180 turns every 18 months. It has almost broken the club. Personally, I think it's the way forward but we have more pain to endure as current high earners have to decide whether to leave, run down their contract or take a pay cut.
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!).
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1 minute ago, caseybwoy said:
Let’s be honest it won’t be 60-70k that’s being asked for though will it? Realistically even with a prem team coming in the maximum you’re looking at is about 45/50 absolute maximum. I know just give him a pay rise isn’t just how it works, but it’s perfectly clear how integral he is to the way we play, combine that with his performances last season, then finding a direct replacement if we don’t budge just isn’t that simple either. For success, personally I think the simplest option is to make sure he signs a contract. The first player in decades to score more than 20 in a season, not to mention his build up play and people are saying how replaceable he is.
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 and the money spent on his new contract could be used to bring in another young player who could go on and make us millions in the future. It's all about balancing it and I think we're doing the right thing.
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Just now, JTG said:
Exactly, so why not just lead with this instead of all the spin about us having assurances from Giles and him being responsible for us losing out on other targets. I actually agree with everything you've said there, my gripe is more with the club PR machine. Just be upfront about it. Surely if we were ever at the point of having had an offer accepted by Wolves it would have been picked up by national media, instead of just being parroted by the couple of outlets known for being a club mouthpiece.
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.
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2 minutes ago, JTG said:
Surely it makes no sense for Giles to put out that tweet unless it genuinely is BS though. It's not as though he has any reason to go out of his way to maintain his relationship with Boro fans anymore. I also don't think Giles is the level of player that can make those kinds of demands to his club. Wolves could turn around and say its either Luton or the u-23's and it puts him in a very difficult position. It's not as cut and dry as being able to say if he wanted to be here he would.
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. Alex Gilbert might end up being a better player than him. Who knows? But I'd rather take that chance than see us pay wages like we were for Braithwaite, Assombalonga, etc.
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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 last season who was having to consider offers from abroad (no doubt leagues like Greece) and now is suddenly a hot item for the first time in his life - there's not a chance in hell his agent isn't trying to cash in on what would be his final chance to make big money off Akpom as an asset.
Not to try (and be all ITK) but I heard over the weekend that we as a club are working towards implementing a hard salary cap in the same way that a lot of clubs do nowadays to maintain the wage structure and build some sustainability. The numbers I was told were that nobody is going to be signed on more than 15-20k. Akpom I believe is already currently over that, according to some people on here, so it makes sense that we're not budging on it just because he's had one good year.
The club might be amateurish at times in its communication but I think it's very clear that Carrick, Scott, and Gibson as a trio are not idiots and I trust the three of them with all their experience and professionalism to not let us be done over by predatory agents and One Season Wonders trying to get a big pay day. UTB.
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1 minute ago, Robin Johnson said:
Distinct edge to the board at the moment- frustration perhaps?
Boro sign player = champions.
Boro not sign player = ***.
Boro score goal = champions.
Boro concede goal = ***.
And thus the wheel spins...
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59 minutes ago, LBP said:
Howson being our most defensive minded midfielder is a big part of why we had the worst defensive record in the top half and conceded a goal a game imo, he's an #8 really that's gotten old
Got to remember defensive midfielder doesn't mean clogger that fouls and gets rid of it at the first opportunity anymore
Championship Rodri/Caicedo-lite needed
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.
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2 minutes ago, LBP said:
Defensive frailties of the Hackney Barlaser partnership will be exposed by the good teams I'm certain of it
I'd be interested in seeing a midfield 3 of Hackney Howson and Barlaser if Chuba goes, I reckon Hackney would get us 10 goals a season if he had a bit more freedom to get forward
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).
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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, obviously I am sure he'd like to go out and splurge like any manager would do, but he's so clearly happy with how things are going.
I do wish people wouldn't add easy to bullshit lines into their ITK posts like "this is how the manager is personally feeling" because, honestly, how would you ever know.
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Just now, martonboro said:
Can't just be me who is thinking that the last pass has been lacking?
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.
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Just now, TeaCider24 said:
Two posters in this thread practically celebrating that a Boro player has been stretchered off.
It's embarassing behaviour.
It's very tongue in cheek mate. Obviously nobody wants a Boro (or any player) to be seriously injured.
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Just now, TeaCider24 said:
That's a big blow.
No fit senior right backs now.
With any luck we might go get one that is half decent now...
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Coventry v Boro 3-0
in Match Day Threads 2023/24 Season
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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.