parmoboy
Well-known member
Agree with this. The team we started with on the opening day vs Stoke had promise.I always felt it was Adomah being sold that was the biggest problem. If he’d stayed we’d have been a different proposition. We were so one dimensional with him gone.
If Adomah had stayed, as well as having a decent right hand side, Stuani could have played up front occasionally with Negredo. And with less reliance on a number 10 midfielder, De Roon could have played in his proper position. So we could have cashed in on Gaston when he started twisting and it wouldn’t have been abig a deal.
Adomah was right at the heart of that promotion side, he was absolutely fantastic and we never replaced him.
It was great to be a boro fan in those promotion years. The songs! everyone was on a massive collective up, there was a great togetherness at the grounds.
It seemed obvious to me Karanka signed De Roon to essentially be an upgrade on Leadbitter, and to partner Clayton as one of the two sitting midfielders. De Roon got injured against Stoke however, and by the time he'd returned, we were going with 3 midfielders, hence why he was used box-to-box and we never got to see the best of him. If it hadn't have been for him picking up that injury, I think it's more likely Karanka would have persevered with his favoured 4231, and we wouldn't have ended up in a situation where he felt the need to try something different. Ramirez would have kept his role as no 10 and we would have gotten more out of Negredo, who wouldn't have ended up so isolated.
Regarding Adomah, he would have had games where he'd have struggled but also games where he'd have made a big difference in an attacking sense. I remember him not exactly looking out of his depth against Stoke.
Traore was exciting to watch that season but at that time he literally had no end product.