Boro v Chelsea (FA Cup QF) 0-2

[Changing Times 12,347]

On 3/20/2022 at 7:38 PM, Foxtrot Oscar Colin said:

I think he will move mcnair into midfield once a new cb is signed. Defo a new gk, new lwb and two Strikers although I hope coburn can nail down a starting spot regularly next season. Coulson should also be brought into squad.

We can't lose sight of the fact that all of our valuable players are academy/ youngsters who we have brought through and given chances to. For me coburn, wood and Brynn need to be playing games next season. We need to balance out signing a few for the here and now and making sure there's a pathway for those lads to also be getting games and we still finish top 6. That's the challenge for wilder imo.

I don't see us moving McNair into midfield but I guess we'll see.  I think Wilder will prefer him at the back as one of the defenders to get forward with the ball.  

When I said about needing 5 players, that was specific to the starting XI for this particular game.  That doesn't necessarily mean 5 new signings.  There's no reason why Bola can't be the left sided player for example although he needs to kick on again now.   I think we need more legs in midfield personally, as Howson and Crooks are too slow for me, and Tavernier is the only one who seems to be able to keep up with more dynamic players/teams.  I don't know if we have a prospect like that in the academy teams though.  Coburn should definitely be given an opportunity as one of the strikers group, I think it would be a shame if he didn't.  A GK I think will be needed as Lumley is simply unreliable.  No idea if Brynn is ready for that but if he's rated at all then he should be at the very least our back up keeper.

[ChipBarrington 315]

2 hours ago, Changing Times said:

Do you mean Stuani?

Sorry probably should have just said Negredo to avoid confusion. Thought someone may think it was a suggestion for now and jump on me about his age/wage/"why always with former players" 😁

[Foxtrot Oscar Colin 607]

14 hours ago, Bruce said:

I agree but with a caveat. Dijksteel, Jones, Bola and Spence all took at least 12 months from signing to come good. Crooks was the exception but he was, I think, Rotherham's player of the season after a year in the Championship so he was as close to a sure bet as you can get in the Championship.

I agree that we have a bad habit of making failed statement signings. If Payero stays and gets over his run of bad luck he could come good next year but in many ways, blowing pretty much our entire transfer budget on him was a vanity move. Lea Siliki was a waste of money, Sporar looks like the latest in a long line of forwards who have failed with us.

My personal feeling is that Wilder will try to minimise the changes for the first 11 but fill in the gaps in the squad. Realistically that means a striker and either left-footed centre back with McNair moving into midfield or a central midfielder. Most of the churn may be beneath the surface as it were.

Outs: Spence, Sporar, Uche, Lea-Siliki, Daniels/Lumley/Brynn, Taylor, Akpom, Coulson, Olosunya, Wood, Hall (and pretty much all the U23s currently out on loan except Kavanagh and Fletcher)

Uncertain: Payero, Connolly, Peltier, Bamba

Returns/extensions: Balogun, Howson

That's a huge purge but most of it is deadwood. If that many do leave it's also a statement on our shoddy recruitment since the Unhappy Monkdays. 

Any signing can take time to gel but I think woodgates poor management really affected Dijksteel and Bola. Even a half competent manager like warnock had them playing well in a short period of time. In fairness I think payero has looked very promising at times he just needs a run of games and to stay injury free, he can pretty much do everything needed from a cm and has good set peices and I think he could have a big part to play next season if he's given a chance. 

I certainly wouldn't be selling coulson or wood. Both will be needed next season and need a chance to prove themselves. Wingback is a pretty punishing position over the season and Bola is injury prone so coulson could cover both flanks even if we sign a lwb I think he would get games. Wood is an England u21 International and needs a proper chance in the first team he's got alot of potential although I understand he's out of contract end of this season so he may decide to leave. 

[Foxtrot Oscar Colin 607]

6 hours ago, Changing Times said:

I don't see us moving McNair into midfield but I guess we'll see.  I think Wilder will prefer him at the back as one of the defenders to get forward with the ball. 

I suppose it depends on who he can sign for lcb. I don't see dijksteel being dropped and howson will need resting I think he will play in both positions but I don't see us signing a dcm given that crooks could also cover and payero and mcgree can take his place on the right.

[Bruce 1,561]

7 hours ago, Foxtrot Oscar Colin said:

I certainly wouldn't be selling coulson or wood. Both will be needed next season and need a chance to prove themselves. Wingback is a pretty punishing position over the season and Bola is injury prone so coulson could cover both flanks even if we sign a lwb I think he would get games. Wood is an England u21 International and needs a proper chance in the first team he's got alot of potential although I understand he's out of contract end of this season so he may decide to leave. 

Wood's problem is that his route to the first team is blocked. He only really plays RCB and there's no way he's getting a game there ahead of Dijksteel, McNair or even Peltier. Coulson, like Connolly, has gone backwards since he broke through. He's now not getting a game for POSH. Shame because I really liked Coulson as a player.

Seems to me that if we buy a better LCB than McNair that Paddy will move into midfield and cover LCB. If we buy a better central midfielder than Howson then Paddy stays LCB. I don't see us buying both. 

As far as I can tell, our first team priorities are a striker, one of a LCB or a central midfielder and, possibly, a keeper. The rest all looks like cover unless we lose a 1st teamer to another club or season-long injury. Oddly, I think this is the same regardless of what division we're in. If we get promoted we definitely need a keeper upgrade and the incoming 1st team players will need to be Premier league battle-hardened rather than Championship pros. Newcastle have shown that what you need are unglamorous, oven-ready players. 

[GrimsbyBoro 1,968]

Regardless of what division we are in there is major transfer movement ahead. The following players are out of contract:

Bamba

Peltier

Taylor

Howson

along with some notable under 23’s (Malley, Burrell)

Then the loans are set to end for:

Connolly

Sporar

Balogun

So from the out we are after 3 strikers, 1 left wing back and a couple of centre backs.  

Howson might not need replacing if either McGree or Payero are any good but could easily be another position we look at.

Then I think we will look for a first team keeper with Lumley to act as cover.

So that’s 8 players in before replacing anyone we choose to move on. 

[RiseAgainst 3,793]

10 minutes ago, GrimsbyBoro said:

Regardless of what division we are in there is major transfer movement ahead. The following players are out of contract:

Bamba

Peltier

Taylor

Howson

along with some notable under 23’s (Malley, Burrell)

Then the loans are set to end for:

Connolly

Sporar

Balogun

So from the out we are after 3 strikers, 1 left wing back and a couple of centre backs.  

Howson might not need replacing if either McGree or Payero are any good but could easily be another position we look at.

Then I think we will look for a first team keeper with Lumley to act as cover.

So that’s 8 players in before replacing anyone we choose to move on. 

The sad thing is, out of the seven players you've listed, only Howson and Bamba really deserve retention. Peltier is a liability, Taylor gives us nothing, and the strikers haven't done it for us this season despite numerous chances. Sporar is perhaps the most deserving, given his promising early partnership with Watmore, but I doubt anyone would shed any tears if he left.

[Redcar Rioja 5,976]

39 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said:

The sad thing is, out of the seven players you've listed, only Howson and Bamba really deserve retention. Peltier is a liability, Taylor gives us nothing, and the strikers haven't done it for us this season despite numerous chances. Sporar is perhaps the most deserving, given his promising early partnership with Watmore, but I doubt anyone would shed any tears if he left.

I would give the Sporar/Watmore partnership a 5/10 in that they were not the greatest pairing but functional in that we got by with them. The Connolly/Balogun pairing, I can't honestly call it a partnership, is a 2/10, it hasn't worked and doesn't look like working and despite the Sporar/Watmore combo not being great the "upgrade" with the two new loans has been underwhelming and failed to deliver.

I don't know where we stand with Akpom but if he returns I'd wager that he would be a better bet than either Connolly or Balogun despite the latter showing sporadic individual flashes of skill. It's being rumoured that Cardiff can't afford the supposed £750K we are looking for Uche which means we may still have him around the Club. Apparently the South Wales Club are in a financial mess so I'm guessing they could be next seasons Derby or Reading.

[Bruce 1,561]

38 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said:

The sad thing is, out of the seven players you've listed, only Howson and Bamba really deserve retention. Peltier is a liability, Taylor gives us nothing, and the strikers haven't done it for us this season despite numerous chances. Sporar is perhaps the most deserving, given his promising early partnership with Watmore, but I doubt anyone would shed any tears if he left.

I think that's unfair on Peltier. He's had one stinker of a match but mostly he has come in and plugged a gap in a no-nonsense way. I don't think it's a priority to keep him but he can at least cover most positions at the back in an emergency. I can see us keeping Peltier and Bamba if we're in the championship next season.

Taylor has also generally been fine. He got found out against Chelsea but they clearly worked out a game plan to double-up on him and we weren't quick enough to respond. I do suspect that ultimately Tav's best position will be LWB so I don't see us keeping Taylor. Still, he was an integral part of our charge up the table and I think his part in that has been undervalued. With McNair being right-footed, Tav under-performing for a while and the left-sided striker being poor, Taylor hasn't had much attacking support. As Balogun has improved a bit, Tav has come back into form and McNair gained more confidence, we've seen a lot more attacking interplay down the left. Taylor's no Isaiah Jones, but very few are. If we end up keeping him as a back-up in the Championship I think that will be fine.

Really, the only failing part of the team is the strikers. Yes Connolly is 6 months younger than Jones so, in theory, he could still come good. I just don't see it. Balogun may come good next year; this season came too soon for him. I don't know if Sporar has gone off the boil permanently or not but he was hardly setting the heather on fire at his best. We'll have Uche and Akpom back but Akpom is league 1 standard and Wilder has decided that Uche doesn't fit in this system. It'll be interesting to see if Wilder gives Coburn some starts and, if he does, whether Coburn can really play in this system for a whole match. To be honest, I think he'll stick with Connolly and Balogun unless his hand is forced.

[Redcar Rioja 5,976]

26 minutes ago, Bruce said:

We'll have Uche and Akpom back but Akpom is league 1 standard and Wilder has decided that Uche doesn't fit in this system. It'll be interesting to see if Wilder gives Coburn some starts and, if he does, whether Coburn can really play in this system for a whole match. To be honest, I think he'll stick with Connolly and Balogun unless his hand is forced.

To be fair to Akpom I think he is better than that. We had a lot of Players who weren't performing and given the hoof ball tactics it's unfair to have expected an ex Arsenal Academy product to be comfortable playing that type of football. He and Balogun may make a better pairing next term under Wilder?

For the remainder of this season I think it would be criminal if Coburn wasn't given a start in games now. None of the Strikers can claim to deserve their spot and Coburn has looked by far the more composed and more likely to score or at least get a shot off on target.

Uche doesn't fit but he is cheap as chips and as an impact Sub to throw on to ruffle defenders late in games that we are trailing in I think could be a useful plan B which could result in three or four more points over a season.

Reality is we need a new strike force entirely and apart from Coburn and Watmore the rest are all likely to be surplus to requirements.

[Borodane 6,301]

I think we’ll keep howson for competition in midfield next season. He’s only turning 34 this may so he can easily go for another year and even more so if he’s not first choice. He’s been excellent under Wilder and deserves another contract unless he can find a longer/better one elsewhere. We either move McNair into Howsons spot or we buy someone new.
 

It’s a difficult one with McNair. Ideally we want a left footed lcb, but McNair is too good and valuable to sit on the bench while Dijksteel is also proving to be too good to be on the bench. the easy move would be to give him the DM position, but is he suited for that in Wilders thoughts?

[Redcar Rioja 5,976]

1 minute ago, Borodane said:

I think we’ll keep howson for competition in midfield next season. He’s only turning 34 this may so he can easily go for another year and even more so if he’s not first choice. He’s been excellent under Wilder and deserves another contract unless he can find a longer/better one elsewhere. We either move McNair into Howsons spot or we buy someone new.
 

It’s a difficult one with McNair. Ideally we want a left footed lcb, but McNair is too good and valuable to sit on the bench while Dijksteel is also proving to be too good to be on the bench. the easy move would be to give him the DM position, but is he suited for that in Wilders thoughts?

Dijksteel was a midfielder and was only moved to RB at Charlton as an emergency and the rest as they say is history! If we can recruit a good LCB then having a McNair/Dijksteel problem will be the least of Wilder's worries for next season.

[Borodane 6,301]

1 minute ago, Redcar Rioja said:

Dijksteel was a midfielder and was only moved to RB at Charlton as an emergency and the rest as they say is history! If we can recruit a good LCB then having a McNair/Dijksteel problem will be the least of Wilder's worries for next season.

In theory yes, but it’s a matter of resources. We might not be able to buy both a lcb and a dm. That’s why I was thinking that moving McNair into DM would be a logical move, as we also have to recruit strikers, a keeper and a lwb. So we definitely have to prioritize resources. 

[Redcar Rioja 5,976]

11 minutes ago, Borodane said:

In theory yes, but it’s a matter of resources. We might not be able to buy both a lcb and a dm. That’s why I was thinking that moving McNair into DM would be a logical move, as we also have to recruit strikers, a keeper and a lwb. So we definitely have to prioritize resources. 

I was agreeing but it wasn't very clear from me I'll admit. If we sign a LCB then McNair could play the DM or the RCB role which would mean what do we then do with Dijksteel and I was meaning that Dijksteel could play the DM role also. Basically the two of them could be interchangeable. 

[TeaCider24 12,641]

1 hour ago, Redcar Rioja said:

Dijksteel was a midfielder and was only moved to RB at Charlton as an emergency and the rest as they say is history! If we can recruit a good LCB then having a McNair/Dijksteel problem will be the least of Wilder's worries for next season.

He played about 2 games for them as a midfielder in his entire time there.

He made his debut in 2017, as a defender, he's played almost every game in the 5 years since then as a defender, and will have trained and been coached as such in that time too.

It surely makes far more sense to just keep him a defender than hope he can go back to position he was playing when he didn't have a football club as a teenager.

McNair had far more experience of playing in midfield in his career than Dijksteel does, they're only a year and a half apart in age too, if you were going to move one to fit them both in the same side, it would be him.