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Summer Transfer Window 2019/20 Season


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7 minutes ago, Changing Times said:

I just want a definitively better squad and we haven't really got that at this stage.  I've no idea why people need to infer that people who are disappointed are just being silly.  I couldn't give a crap about deadline day fun.  I'm a Boro fan looking to watch the best team I can and I don't believe we have that right now.  What's more, nobody else believes it either, even if lots of people appear to be trying to convince themselves otherwise.  I'm confident I'll see more entertaining football this season than last and thus I'll enjoy watching us more this season than last.  I'm not convinced we've got a better squad than last season and I'm absolutely sure the club wanted to do a lot more than they did.  You're ITK so you'll have a better idea than me but I don't believe for a second that we weren't looking to bring in at least a few new players over the last couple of days.  We weren't doing that on a whim, we were doing it to improve the squad.

We were trying to improve the squad. We are all the time. That’s a given.

If you compare our squad from this time last year to now then I’d say that on individual quality then last years was better.

But it’s not about that, it’s about the collective. 

We now have players that want to be here and play the football that Woodgate wants. I think that we as a team and as a club are much better off now than we have been for a long time. 

We had/have a budget, we now have a philosophy and a plan. If we don’t think the players fit into that then we don’t sign them. 

Thats why we didn’t get the players we were looking for. Because when it cams down to it their club overvalued them or they didn’t want to come for the right reason

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SDS, it’s Dijksteel at Rockliffe

For all those asking about these 4 players at rockcliffe just before weekend. I have done some digging appears it was bola Browne and 2 premiership loan players, sketchy with details but I believe the

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5 minutes ago, Lurker said:

We were trying to improve the squad. We are all the time. That’s a given.

If you compare our squad from this time last year to now then I’d say that on individual quality then last years was better.

But it’s not about that, it’s about the collective. 

We now have players that want to be here and play the football that Woodgate wants. I think that we as a team and as a club are much better off now than we have been for a long time. 

We had/have a budget, we now have a philosophy and a plan. If we don’t think the players fit into that then we don’t sign them. 

Thats why we didn’t get the players we were looking for. Because when it cams down to it their club overvalued them or they didn’t want to come for the right reason

I wonder if at the start of last season how many of our players (without hindsight) we would have swapped with the Norwich or Sheffield United first 11?

A lot of people on here thought we were getting promoted - a majority still thought that in January. 

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If we do decide to dip into the free agent market there is a few names we could use on short term deals to pad the squad out a bit. 

At RB...Hutton as mentioned....Mehdi Zeffane who we were linked with earlier in the window if I recall....Danny Simpson....Adam Matthews

All of them could fill in when needed, all of them have plenty of experience, 3 of them in the championship itself and Zeffane is a current international and just won the AFCON. 

None of them are particularly great I wouldnt say but as a reserve RB they could have their merits. 

A bit further forward there's Gary Hooper, Bakary Sako, Lazar Markovic, Pawel Wszolek, Will Keane, Callum Harriot and Marco Matias. 

Again, none of these are particularly exciting judging on recent seasons but could be worth a punt on pay as play (Sako) or short term deals just to add some depth. We could do worse than Gary Hooper on a 1 year deal to add another forward IMO. 

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18 minutes ago, Lurker said:

We had/have a budget, we now have a philosophy and a plan. If we don’t think the players fit into that then we don’t sign them. 

Thats why we didn’t get the players we were looking for. Because when it cams down to it their club overvalued them or they didn’t want to come for the right reason

I guess you could say this is a follow on from what Pulis used to say, something that riled people up to no end because Pulis said it. We want players who want to play for this club. We don't want players who just want an undue pay day.

The difference that we have is that now we have a manager who wants to play a certain style of football that excites the young prospects we want to bring in. Had we still had Pulis in charge, I'd be willing to bet we would have failed to get at least Browne, but probably Bola and Dijksteel too. God knows how this window would have gone if Pulis was still in charge. I guess Britt would have gone for sure so there's that, I suppose.

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48 minutes ago, Tom said:

A few evenings back when everyone lost their collective *** that we were going to lose Fry and Assombalonga, I meant to put a question on and basically ask if people would be happy to have no further incomings if it meant we hung onto both and Randolph. I forgot to do it in the end, but I suspect most people would have been fairly happy with that scenario. We definitely look like we're still lacking, but I don't think any right sided winger that we could have signed would have made up for selling any of the three aforementioned.
I think we'll end up seeing Tavernier used as a wide player now, and possibly Coulson too. The situation isn't ideal, but we have enough versatile players that we can cope with injuries in most positions (in terms of numbers, if not quality).

That said, I hope we are scouring the free agent market. There are half-decent wingers still about. Even someone like Hutton on a pay-as-you-play would make a certain amount of sense.  

 

Edit: I agree with CT though - the squad is not definitively better than last seasons. But with the suggestions of financial restraints from way back in May, I was braced for sales that haven't really happened in a damaging way, and the players we've brought in are gambles, of course, but after 18 months of Pulis, a bit of dice-rolling is quite welcome.

Was anyone expecting it to be better than last years considering all the restraints? 

I wanted it to be different and more balanced, which they have done to a degree but once again we struggled to bring in attacking players. 

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The whole strategic direction of the club has changed and although it may be easier said than done, I think we need to have a bit of patience with our new reality and way of doing business.

It’ll probably take at least the next two windows for us to see sizeable changes in the squad and unfortunately that’s the price we are going to have to pay for a series of decisions that haven’t worked out. Decisions that seemed to be made without a clear strategy or identity and with only promotion in mind.

Of course I’d have liked to see another pacey attacking player added today, but overall I’m encouraged by the direction we’re heading in. It’ll likely be a year or two of consolidation, with a mid-table finish this year and a run at making 6th next year. If that’s what it takes to secure the future of the club and deliver attacking football with a team of young, enthusiastic and hard-working players, then so be it.

At the end of the day it’ll be immeasurably better than watching Pulis put a team out to nick a draw at home or lumping it up to 1 up top with no support.

 

Edit: new to the forum - it’s been an interesting read over the last few days and I’m looking forward to plenty of debates and discussions over the rest of the season!

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We're Boro, lads. We always do best when nothing is expected of us. Our big-money buys always flop. When we are favourites for the league we inevitably end up mid-table.

We do best when we're an unattractive underdog. Think back to the AK years. None of the pundits spoke about how great we were to watch, and sometimes we weren't. They were absolutely heart-broken when we got promoted and Brighton didn't. Let the Leeds, Fulhams and Derbys spend their money and take the limelight. Woody will sort us out and we will be a good team to watch. Relax and enjoy the ride.

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A few people quoted and replied to my last comment regarding wingers. Not going to quote you all back as that would take too long.

 

The point I was trying to make is that we won't be playing with traditional wingers, which is why I get a little irked when I see people on here complaining we don't sign any.

 

Whether Fletcher and Johnson are good wide forwards is a different question. MJ is not much of a winger or a wide forward, but I think Fletcher can be decent in that position once he sorts out movement with Britt, who likes to drift left. 

 

Regarding Stuani, Karanka said it wasn't about who played where and who was a striker, it mattered who got in the box when the ball was there and Stuani was very good at that. It was more in the prem season that he got marginalised as a winger in a 451. Agree his best position was up top in a traditional 9 role, but he was tactically versatile and disciplined enough to play the wide forward role in a 433.

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2 hours ago, White Band said:

I am expecting us to finish mid-table, but that does not automatically mean that I am whining or that I don't have faith in our coaches and players. I think that we have had a better transfer window than I expected. I thought we would lose a number of key players (Randolf, Wing, Fry and possibly Britt) and am really pleased that we haven't. Browne is looking like a good signing and I am hopeful about Bola and Dijksteel too. I wasn't expecting any big name signings.

I am happy for us to finish mid-table this year. We are introducing big changes to our playing style/philosophy and that will take time to bed in. I don't think it would be in our best interests to get promoted this year - we need to build solid foundations first to have any chance of surviving in the premier league and the boom/bust cycle of premier league promotion/relegation does not provide the longer term stability we need. Let's get our playing style, finances and stability sorted in the Championship so that we can then have a decent go in the premier league if/when we get there in the future. 

But what I'm saying is, how can you predict this after one game? People need to be more positive, negativity does not help the squad or the atmosphere in the ground (as we have seen in the past) I don't know if you posted earlier but this was directed at people complaining that we were going to finish lower down the table due to not signing anyone new today. I have also said that it will take time for the team to mold to the new style of play but I see potential there to do well IF we get it right. And also that I'd prefer to finish mid-table but playing decent football compared to watching the Pulis-style Boro. I just refuse to write them off completely one bloody game into the season.

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I have to say, I find it hard to predict where we'll be. There are far too many unknowns at this stage. Think give it until October at least to get some idea, really. There's been a fair bit of late movement around the division and it's difficult to separate the good from the bad moves. Other clubs have got players in but that's not inherently good. I think the only real certainty for me in my head right now is Leeds challenging for the title. The rest, got to wait and see.

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5 hours ago, SzilardNemethsCurtains said:

Was anyone expecting it to be better than last years considering all the restraints? 

I wanted it to be different and more balanced, which they have done to a degree but once again we struggled to bring in attacking players. 

On the basis of the Luton game, I think we're fine for attacking options.

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I said earlier in the window our best business would be, not who we bring in, but who we keep. We have kept hold of Randolph, Britt and Fry who will all have a very important role to play over the season. Think if we had lost one of those it would be very difficult to replace them. So from that stand point I'm very pleased. 

Before going into the window, we needed full-backs, wingers and a back up goalkeeper. We have come out of the window with 2 out of 3 of those problem areas sorted.

In fact we have gone from pretty much having 1 senior left-back in Friend (for the last 2-3 seasons) to now being very well stocked, with Bola and the emergence of Coulson. We also could say the same with the Right-back position. We finally have a specialist right-back, with Shotton and Howson providing cover. We have also gone some way to sorting out the wide areas, in recruiting Browne, but I do think we are a winger or 2 short still.

On top of all this we have also shifted out players who were on (alledged) high wages (Braithwaite). We have also gotten rid of players who would not suit the new system we are trying to implement (Flint). Couple all this with the players we released early in the summer and that leaves the club in a much better position financially. I do still think we have a few more players to ship out to even our keel. But come the end of the season we have a clutch of players needing contract renewals.

All in all, we have had a pretty good window, yes there are still gaps in the squad (wingers) and yes there are players in the team that I personally wouldn't have. But this is part of a longer term strategy, the implementation of this strategy will not be completed in 1 transfer window or 1 season. 

UTB!!!

 

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9 hours ago, Tom said:

A few evenings back when everyone lost their collective *** that we were going to lose Fry and Assombalonga, I meant to put a question on and basically ask if people would be happy to have no further incomings if it meant we hung onto both and Randolph. I forgot to do it in the end, but I suspect most people would have been fairly happy with that scenario. We definitely look like we're still lacking, but I don't think any right sided winger that we could have signed would have made up for selling any of the three aforementioned.
I think we'll end up seeing Tavernier used as a wide player now, and possibly Coulson too. The situation isn't ideal, but we have enough versatile players that we can cope with injuries in most positions (in terms of numbers, if not quality).

That said, I hope we are scouring the free agent market. There are half-decent wingers still about. Even someone like Hutton on a pay-as-you-play would make a certain amount of sense.  

 

Edit: I agree with CT though - the squad is not definitively better than last seasons. But with the suggestions of financial restraints from way back in May, I was braced for sales that haven't really happened in a damaging way, and the players we've brought in are gambles, of course, but after 18 months of Pulis, a bit of dice-rolling is quite welcome.

Good point Tom at this time we do not know if the current squad is definitively better than last season although think it is fair to say that Downing, Flint, Besic, Hugill,Mikel were disappointing many times either collectively or individually. Also we have to take into account that Friend had a poor season Clayton had a mare of a season, Briathwaite when playing did no justice to himself.

What I am saying is that last seasons squad were not good enough, let's see how this seasons squad develops before we can really say if they are better or worse than last seasons.

 

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