January 2017 Transfer Window

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,884]

I've heard nothing yet, but the only reason I have heard about this thing at Rockliffe is because it directly involves something I do.

Other than that, my man on the ground has said nothing yet... personally I'd like Aitor to stay, stability is something we need.

I dont want to be back in the championship next season.

 

Oweee :D

 

I don't agree. I think Karanka has underachieved in every season he's been here. I don't have time to type a full response though i'm afraid.

 

Don't worry, I wouldn't expect you to write an essay like me. I'm surprise anyone bothered to read it :D

 

And I know the basis to your argument, since you have raised you concerns in the past. I think the amount of money spent would be one of the key points you'd raise? And, no doubt, he has had a lot, can't deny that. And wasted an awful lot too.

 

There's definitely a case that if he hadn't got us promoted, he would have underachieved.

 

But; taking control of a struggling Championship club, bringing stability, getting them to the play off final, then promoted automatically, and now in the first PL season a real chance of survival. As well as some cup runs / scalps. To be honest, he couldn't really have done a whole lot more.

 

Essentially yes.

 

I thought we fell over the line last season when we should have romped the league with that squad. First season again i thought he had a squad very capable of finishing in the automatic places and after Norwich away we're really should've pushed that home. As you say, you can maybe be a bit more sympathetic in that first full season due to his experience.  Many many pundits had us down for a comfortable mid table finish this season based on the money we spent. That might still happen but i doubt it.

 

A lot of pundits had us as odds on for relegation before the season started, I don't recall anyone saying that we'd be comfortable.

[Borodane 6,301]

I know we have signed a new shirt deal sponsorship  with some Chinese company lol

 

Is this the big thing or are you joking :dodgy:

[Neverbefore 10,942]

Looking forward to seeing what complete rubbish pp comes out with to explain this when absolutely nothing happens.

[stevo7790 6]

I know we have signed a new shirt deal sponsorship  with some Chinese company lol

 

Is this the big thing or are you joking :dodgy:

 

No lol this is just something else that come out.

[p_mards 1,365]

Karanka hasn't underachieved in every season here. First full season(play off final), no chance as we hadn't spent a huge amount of money then. Second season, possibly given that we spent big money stumbled over the line but that's the Championship in a nutshell isn't it. The majority of fans think they should get promoted as their squad on paper looks good to them. This season we're roughly around where I expected us to be so he hasn't underachieved. He had a huge Championship budget in our successful promotion season but we've progressed every season that he's been here so there can be no complaints about the job that he's done. Many other managers have had massive budgets and haven't made progress. Steady progress with a healthy budget isn't to be scoffed at.

 

I remember similar negativity towards the end of McClaren's reign too. I fear that Karanka will similarly be a case of you don't know what you have until it's gone... We're at the highest level that we've been at in 8 years so some fans need a bit of perspective.

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

I don't agree. I think Karanka has underachieved in every season he's been here. I don't have time to type a full response though i'm afraid.

 

Considering a bunch of factors involved, especially including his inexperience, I can't agree with that. I think it's entirely subjective though and appreciate why some think he has.

 

For me, I look at this being his first managerial job. He steadied us in his first year, got us into the play-offs in his second and got us promoted in his third. That's a gradual improvement that I'm personally very happy with. As he's got more experienced, we've got better to the point of us now being in the PL. That was our aim ever since we went down, to get back where we feel this club belongs. He's the only one who ever looked like getting us there and he delivered in the end.

 

As a comparison, the more experience Southgate got, the worse we got. Recruitment wasn't good, we relied on youngsters to the point where we were playing them out of position (Bates centre-mid for christ's sake).

 

He's had the most investment out of any boss we've had and that is commonly used as a stick to beat him with but on the flip side, I don't think either of our other managers in the Championship would have been given that kind of money to invest in the squad.

 

I suppose the argument is would another manager have done better? Given the investment, would they have done better? I don't know, we would pay a huge disrespect to the teams around us in the Championship to say they absolutely would have done it better for a start.

 

One thing that I am pretty sure of is that no manager we could have got would have organised that defence to the point of being record-breakers like Aitor did.

[BoroDave4 1,025]

No chance I'd be happy with AK going right now. By keeping us solid defensively he has a fair chance of keeping us in this league. Their isn't a single manager currently available that I'd trust more than AK to keep us up. I've been a Boro fan for an awful long time and if we have to do it ugly this year then so be it. We can build on that, but only if we do whatever we must to survive.

[Humpty 3,261]

I don't agree. I think Karanka has underachieved in every season he's been here. I don't have time to type a full response though i'm afraid.

 

If you think he underachieved in every season hes been here thats your opinion, but go back to his first season here when we were near the bottom of the table in the championship when mowbray got sacked when karanka came in he brought us up to 12th place in the table if memory serves me well. If you call a guy that saves you from relegation and brings you up to mid table respectability underachieving i dont get it and many on here wont either. 

 

The other thing is i hate burnley but even i recognise the strong and hard working side they had last season, would of been hard for any championship team to beat to the title so us finishing second id argue wasn't a underachievement. 

 

Now the arguement about the season we got in the playoffs will rumble on forever because i think we should have got automatic that season and should have done a better job in the playoff final but at the end of the day theirs no shame in finishing the runner up in the playoff final. Thinking about it also gave us the money to start the big automatic push next season so at least he progressed the club forward.

 

This season id agree he is underachieving i think thats because hes stubborn and hes trying to take on the media, fans and chairmen he will lose his job if he continues to take on everyone.

 

He did ok when he took over from Mowbray. We had an ok squad that was more than capable of mid table, he did well to adapt and get them organised, i will grant you that.

 

We were 10 points and a game in hand ahead of Burnley by January last season. So i don't buy that.

[Humpty 3,261]

It's easy to say he stabilised us, he got us to the playoffs and then got us promoted but there's no context to those statements.

[Neverbefore 10,942]

He was given the target of getting us promoted and he did that. He received the support he needed from Gibson and did what he needed to do.

 

I think the 6 months out of the championship are clouding your judgement of just how difficult the championship is. It's very unpredictable and many managers have failed having thrown money at it and with better squads than we had.

 

You talk about our squad being good enough to win the league but we still had stop gap loans etc coming in so we weren't exactly perfect.

[smoggyindonny 14]

I don't agree. I think Karanka has underachieved in every season he's been here. I don't have time to type a full response though i'm afraid.

 

If you think he underachieved in every season hes been here thats your opinion, but go back to his first season here when we were near the bottom of the table in the championship when mowbray got sacked when karanka came in he brought us up to 12th place in the table if memory serves me well. If you call a guy that saves you from relegation and brings you up to mid table respectability underachieving i dont get it and many on here wont either. 

 

The other thing is i hate burnley but even i recognise the strong and hard working side they had last season, would of been hard for any championship team to beat to the title so us finishing second id argue wasn't a underachievement. 

 

Now the arguement about the season we got in the playoffs will rumble on forever because i think we should have got automatic that season and should have done a better job in the playoff final but at the end of the day theirs no shame in finishing the runner up in the playoff final. Thinking about it also gave us the money to start the big automatic push next season so at least he progressed the club forward.

 

This season id agree he is underachieving i think thats because hes stubborn and hes trying to take on the media, fans and chairmen he will lose his job if he continues to take on everyone.

 

Just putting in bold the thing that sticks out to me.

 

Saved us from relegation?  We were 16th in the Championship when Mowbray was sacked on the 21st October.  He was sacked due to the collapse of the previous season and the poor start in that campaign, but are you seriously suggesting we were relegation candidates?

[LinoJo3 3,191]

I know I'll be in the minority here but I think generally the whole boring football thing is a myth.

 

When I sit and watch us play we look like a team that needs better forward thinking players and we look boring because we struggle to break down teams who come and get men behind the ball.

 

I don't see the things people moan on about like midfielders not crossing the half way line, de roon, forshaw and Clayton are constantly interchanging with each other and pushing forward, I've noticed it in every home game.

 

 

Our problem is that it's de roon pushing forward, he hasn't got the ability to unlock a tight defence and often looses the ball high up the pitch, forshaw turns away from defenders because he can't pass or get through them.

 

The only issues we have imo are explained by lack of ability from players wether that's not being good enough to commit and go past a defender or hit accurate first time passes to push out quicker, we always take the extra touch, the extra second.

 

For example look at traore, nobody accuses him of being 'held back' by the manager and told not to attack etc, equally nobody said the same about gaston. Is it not a bit coincidental that they have real quality when it comes to attacking so they actually attack? Yet every other player only looks bad because karanka tells them not to attack?

 

The only thing I'd like to see karanka do tactics wise is use downing as one of the 3 in midfield.

 

 

I do think karanka is the guy to take us forward and I think he's doing what he thinks is best by keeping us tight because that's our best chance of picking up points with the current squad.

 

I think he's playing percentages, for example if we were to 'open up' more or whatever, would we score enough extra goals to make up for and surpass the extra goals conceded? I'm not sure we would.

[Humpty 3,261]

He was given the target of getting us promoted and he did that. He received the support he needed from Gibson and did what he needed to do.

 

I think the 6 months out of the championship are clouding your judgement of just how difficult the championship is. It's very unpredictable and many managers have failed having thrown money at it and with better squads than we had.

 

You talk about our squad being good enough to win the league but we still had stop gap loans etc coming in so we weren't exactly perfect.

 

No it's not clouding my judgement. Thanks though..

[boro_lobster 2]

My source is trying to find out the latest as well. Is an eveining watching SSN/refreshing Twitter/oneBoro/FMTTM on the cards?

Lol

[Tom 2,492]

 

 

Just putting in bold the thing that sticks out to me.

 

Saved us from relegation?  We were 16th in the Championship when Mowbray was sacked on the 21st October.  He was sacked due to the collapse of the previous season and the poor start in that campaign, but are you seriously suggesting we were relegation candidates?

 

We had won 2 of our first 12 games that season, the point at which Mowbray was sacked. We had won the same number after 12 games this season. If we are relegation candidates now, we were then.