Let me be the first to state the obvious…….

 

This time next year, Boro are ……..

 

Going up as Champions 🏆

 

😀😀😀

In fairness to Wilder I'd agree that Howson was our best Player today but I am concerned at how poor and dysfunctional the other ten Players around him were. That takes some doing especially in a game with such high stakes and unbelievable support.

Today wasn't just one of those bad days at the Office. Preston are a decent side and losing to them there isn't a surprise for Boro but the manner of it was down to far more than just mentality, attitude or ability. As it happens the result was totally irrelevant thanks to Fulham going AWOL and Reading's Keeper having an aberration.

Just woken up to see this and I'm glad all the speculation can end. 

We were in no way good enough to make the playoffs and that for me is a blessing. A lot wanted us to go up to see what would happen, but some of the gubbings we have taken this season would be all the worse in the PL.

A striker is the holy grail for us, we've made so many chances in games and had 10 or 20 shots with no goals. Someone to just pop the ball in the net will bring a lot as well as goals, it gives everyone belief and confidence. 

Big plus this season has been Matt Crooks, without him we'd have been struggling big time. His goals and his play with Jones, and his assists have been absolutely massive for us. Our top scorer and highest scoring midfielder since Leadbitter - who took penalties.

But I don't think Crooks would cut it in the PL, could see him getting even more yellows and perhaps being a bit slow.

It was too much to ask Jones to do all our attacking, I think the fact we didn't recall Spence was huge call. If we were serious about the playoffs we'd have been wanting to weaken our opponents and bring him back even if he didn't play for us. Having back up for Jones, or just playing them as opposing wing backs could have been interesting. Our decision here spoke volumes to me.

Some supremely clever wheeling and dealing is needed to get our squad capable of a sustained push, and then not need a total overhaul when it ends up in the PL. We have been lead to believe we have the staff to do that so now it's over to them.

If wilder persists with this same idea of style of striker though then we'll struggle big-time. It's fair to say giving experience to Connelly and balagoun had ZERO benefit for us, with Coburn and watmore looking more effective.

Oh, and a keeper. Randolf hasn't played much at West ham, perhaps he wants some footy before he retires. 

Wilder has it all to do, how we can capitulate on the last day so badly when needing a win at the least shows how much work needs to be done and how unready we were for the POs and promotion. 

Summer transfer thread will be the place to be for a couple of months, let's hope we hit the ground running.

UTB

 

 

 

Only player I can envisage going that might be a surprise is McNair. Always a chance that money comes in for Fry, Jones or Tav, so they wouldn’t necessarily be surprises.

I think Lumley and Daniels will be gone. Bola may well be made available. Siliki gone. Connolly, Sporar and Balogun sent back. Peltier, Taylor and Bamba released. None of that would be a surprise either.

Problem today and it's happened in other games, is when Howson pushes forward and joins in the attack, which is good, the midfield is left wide open, nobody drops in to cover , Mcgree was way out of position so was Crook , this must be sorted out , also the gap between defence and midfield was too big ,

This is were smart experienced players understand when this happens, we need at least four of five , trouble is Scott wants young sell them on talent, Wilder wants to build a winning team.

15 minutes ago, HolgateHero said:

Just woken up to see this and I'm glad all the speculation can end. 

We were in no way good enough to make the playoffs and that for me is a blessing. A lot wanted us to go up to see what would happen, but some of the gubbings we have taken this season would be all the worse in the PL.

 

Strange take for me that. Would much rather take a few gubbings in the Premier League with an extra £100 million in our back pocket than “building” for another season in this league.

12 minutes ago, Humpty said:

Only player I can envisage going that might be a surprise is McNair. Always a chance that money comes in for Fry, Jones or Tav, so they wouldn’t necessarily be surprises.

I think Lumley and Daniels will be gone. Bola may well be made available. Siliki gone. Connolly, Sporar and Balogun sent back. Peltier, Taylor and Bamba released. None of that would be a surprise either.

I'd be gutted if we sold Tav. Think he's the only one we couldn't replace with the same quality. 

To be honest, I’d be gutted if we sold Fry, Tav or Jones. I’m yet to place my trust fully in Kieron Scott, so I don’t have faith in him replacing them. Not to say Scott doesn’t have it in him, I’ve just not seen the evidence yet.

19 minutes ago, Humpty said:

Strange take for me that. Would much rather take a few gubbings in the Premier League with an extra £100 million in our back pocket than “building” for another season in this league.

You and I  have a different idea of what success looks like, how to get there and how spirit and momentum are more important than 100M in the champo to rebuild a relegated PL team.

If we went up we'd need a massive overhaul. Do you buy players for the PL or ones with an eye on winning promotion again? Some players you will have only attracted because of the PL, they'll want out, the fan base will have dwindled and become disengaged, the atmosphere poisonous, the manager ditched, another rebuild necessary. And you'd like that?

Never ever does money equal success, it is by no means at all a given. I'd rather a team already pulling together than the potential to sign more players after relegation (and be able to maintain the wages of the new players on PL salaries). 

Academic now, what you would prefer is no longer of significance so we can put the whole speculation of what would be better for us to bed now.

13 minutes ago, Humpty said:

To be honest, I’d be gutted if we sold Fry, Tav or Jones. I’m yet to place my trust fully in Kieron Scott, so I don’t have faith in him replacing them. Not to say Scott doesn’t have it in him, I’ve just not seen the evidence yet.

Same. Fair bit of hype from some boro fans that Scott is going to get us some foreign gems etc etc. Nothing has told me he’s really capable of that YET. Not saying he’s going to be useless, but i’m definitely in the ‘hopeful’ camp rather then ‘expecting’ camp. 

Unreal.

7 minutes ago, HolgateHero said:

You and I  have a different idea of what success looks like, how to get there and how spirit and momentum are more important than 100M in the champo to rebuild a relegated PL team.

If we went up we'd need a massive overhaul. Do you buy players for the PL or ones with an eye on winning promotion again? Some players you will have only attracted because of the PL, they'll want out, the fan base will have dwindled and become disengaged, the atmosphere poisonous, the manager ditched, another rebuild necessary. And you'd like that?

Never ever does money equal success, it is by no means at all a given. I'd rather a team already pulling together than the potential to sign more players after relegation (and be able to maintain the wages of the new players on PL salaries). 

Academic now, what you would prefer is no longer of significance so we can put the whole speculation of what would be better for us to bed now.

Unfortunately not many have success at this level without money. It’s why you see the same teams yo-yo-ing between the Championship and the Premier League. 

The best chance you have of staying in the Premier League is actually making it there in the first place..
 

Had time to digest Wilder’s post match interviews and I am even more of the opinion that the man is all spin. What all this attitude over ability none sense is I don’t know. It’s his job to get both of these out of the players and he forever likes to remind us that he has been successful in the past , so why fail now?

 He has moved our best midfielder to LWB to accommodate McGree who is not the player Tav is (or ever will be).  He has mismanaged Coburn who looks like the only natural forward we have. He persisted with toothless loanees when they were failing miserably, and now he tells us he can finally say it how it is.
 

Sorry but not good enough!!

He has this summer to prove he is up to the job for me but I am not at all confident he will do it. 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, GrimsbyBoro said:

Wilder has made this comment

“I think Jonny Howson was one player I can rely on from a mentality point of view and today he looked at home and comfortable in the game. He was a leader today and by far our best performer.”

I think it’s official that I don’t watch the same thing as Wilder.

Pointing this exact comment out as a thing to criticise Wilder about after the way you've compared the comments people make between Warnock and Wilder is quite mad, to me.

The only difference in that to me is that Howson was the one player who actually did look like he was trying to get on the ball and drive the game for us. It wasn't a 10/10 performance, not by a long shot but we had a fair few there today who mentally checked out of the game after about 20 minutes.

11 minutes ago, Boro 86 said:

Had time to digest Wilder’s post match interviews and I am even more of the opinion that the man is all spin. What all this attitude over ability none sense is I don’t know. It’s his job to get both of these out of the players and he forever likes to remind us that he has been successful in the past , so why fail now?

 He has moved our best midfielder to LWB to accommodate McGree who is not the player Tav is (or ever will be).  He has mismanaged Coburn who looks like the only natural forward we have. He persisted with toothless loanees when they were failing miserably, and now he tells us he can finally say it how it is.
 

Sorry but not good enough!!

He has this summer to prove he is up to the job for me but I am not at all confident he will do it. 

 

 

 

Wilders PPG would have us sitting 5th over the full season. He inherited Warnocks squad and a playing style that was the opposite of what he likes. 

What would be deemed ‘good enough’ for you? Were you going to be unhappy with any new manager coming in that didn’t achieve playoffs?