Middlesbrough braced for summer in interest in Djed Spence

I wouldn't be too bothered if he went to be honest, at some point you've got to cut your losses. There's been concerns with the lads attitude since his youth team days and both woodgate and warnock have called him out on it, so I'm of the opinion now that he hasn't done enough on the pitch to make allowances for those attitudinal issues.
 
Doncaster Smoggie said:
I get you don’t like the manager, now you start on the coaching staff. . If you want a change fine, but who do you think should replace them. Too many people want change without having a suitable alternative.
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No examples given on these defensive mistakes and if raw talent needs polishing as billy said, the coaching staff are the ones to do it.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
He's a better player now than Fry was at 20.
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hmmm, he's a better athlete than Fry was, but not a better footballer. Becoming a better athlete is largely just hard work. Becoming a better player is about willingness to learn, dedication to your profession, lifestyle choices, attitude, and relationship with coaches. It's much harder to improve that side, the bit that Djed is missing, than to put a bit of bulk on like Fry.
 
Obvious ability, early promise but hasn’t kicked on from there. Attitude and body language very poor (just observations). If we can get a fee for him then I’d move him on.
He’ll probably do quite well elsewhere, I wish him well and hope he does.
 
How long is he contracted for? Unless his contract runs out at the end of next season, then I would keep him. He's still young, has some ability, but obviously has a long way to go in terms of developing.

Who wants him anyway?
 
I would be disappointed if we gave up on this lad so soon. He's struggled at times this season but i think that's due to us not having a settled formation, i also think that he has yet to find his position (RB/RWB/RW,) but he does provide versatility and is a better all round player than Fisher. I would also say that a lot of player's form has fluctuated dramatically this season, not just Djed, he does seem to be a target more than others though.
 
Frozen Horse said:
Fair point about Fry, I'm not disappointed if he stays either. I suppose it all comes down to the offer.

I do think criticism of him has been way over the top, but really his early form has become a stick to beat him with.
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I can't believe people are still calling out Fry.
 
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bear66 said:
No examples given on these defensive mistakes and if raw talent needs polishing as billy said, the coaching staff are the ones to do it.
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I can think of several occasions where he has switched off or not tracked his man back. for that man to put in a cross or score a goal.

I am just racking my brains as to which games and teams they were.

I am not convinced you can coach that aspect into someone. If they don't have situational awareness or maybe just a work ethic, then I am not so sure how they can evolve.

I do enjoy watching him play at times, but he frustrates me in equal measure. He might do something brilliant and inspired in a game, but the reverse is that he always has a clanger in his locker as well.
 
It would take a 'cant refuse offer' for me to sell Spence. £5 mil plus sell on and i'd let him go. As has been said there's questions regarding his attitude. He was actually going to be released by the club prior to his appearance in the first team due to his attitude.

He's hit that development wall i call 'the fear'. He no longer plays with freedom and is now very conscious of making mistakes. This has reigned in a lot of what he was good at i.e. playing with freedom and unpredictability. There's still something there but he needs a mentor that can really focus his attention.
 
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Well I'd keep him, he's still young. Saw loads of potential when be first broke through. Same goes for Coulson. It takes time to establish yourself as a young player.
Look at Tav for example,people were slating him on here saying he holds onto the ball for too long, runs down blind alleys etc.etc. It's taken him a while to show consistency....
Spence therefore KEEP KEEP KEEP !
 
Billy69_uk said:
I can think of several occasions where he has switched off or not tracked his man back. for that man to put in a cross or score a goal.

I am just racking my brains as to which games and teams they were.

I am not convinced you can coach that aspect into someone. If they don't have situational awareness or maybe just a work ethic, then I am not so sure how they can evolve.

I do enjoy watching him play at times, but he frustrates me in equal measure. He might do something brilliant and inspired in a game, but the reverse is that he always has a clanger in his locker as well.
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I think you'll struggle to remember many. He was responsible for switching off at the far post a few months back, but there are 48 other goals we've conceded this season, not many brilliant ones that some Boro player hasn't contributed to in some way. He's better than most (Championship) players at getting back between ball and man when running back and he wins most headers.

I don't disagree that he is frustrating at times . . . going forward.
 
BoroMart said:
I guess you can add onto that the Fulham hierarchy too, they let him go for a reason.
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They had the Sessegnons coming through at the same time as Spence, which is why I guess they didn't see Spence getting enough games to justify a further contract
 
Because I've got nothing better to do today, I'll go through every goal that we've conceded which Spence has been partly at fault for.

Against Swansea, he lazily closes down his man, and then watches as the ball is passed to Dhanda, who runs off and scores.
Against Preston, for the second goal he fails to block a slow ball rolling past him, it's picked up by a Preston player who passes it to Scott Sinclair who runs on and scores, he could also have closed down Sinclair after his intial mistake. This is a game he was actually playing as a right back too, so it's less excusable.
Against Blackburn, he wanders off and leaves his original man to start marking Rothwell, disrupting our other players marking and then completely leaves him anyway to allow him to run in for a tap in.
Against Rotherham, very loosely marks Crooks to allow him a free shot from the edge of the box.
Against Swansea he deflects their opener past Bettinelli, though I don't blame him for this one whatsoever, Howson and Bola were at fault for this one.
Against Millwall, demands the ball off Akpom and immediately loses it as he paid no attention to the player behind him, they break away, the ball is in the back of our net 5 seconds later.

There's 5 goals he's been at fault for this season, plus one where he's unfortunate. These are just the ones that actually led to goals too, he's made plenty of mistakes that haven't.
Now, for most of these goals you can excuse it as he's playing as an attacking player, but then there's absolutely no contribution up the other end of the pitch to balance it out.
He's only started 21 games this season and he's spent a lot of the second half of the season on the bench, so I think 5 goals is fairly significant.

He ia far from the only player to make mistakes leading to goals, before someone again comes in with "what about when McNair or Howson did this", and I'm not trying to pretend he is and there are other players who share culpability for some of these goals.

If he's going to be an attacking player, he should be scoring and assisting. I think there's only Dijksteel of the regular starters who's been involved in fewer goals.
 
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