Albert joins the Hoops

Nsue, Albert and Dimi all deserved the chance. I think Ayala was slightly hard done by as well, although to be fair Chambers did well for us, so really the decision was justified.

Leadbitter was unlucky as he was injured when the season kicked off so it was understandable why Karanka brought in a replacement. De Roon was obviously brought in to be that replacement, and I think him getting injured on the opening day was a massive blow. Karanka wanted to stick with 4-2-3-1 I think but with a midfield 2 of Clayton and Forshaw we were overrun in midfield, that's why he switched to the 3 midfielders, so by the time De Roon came back into the side he was used as a box-to-box midfielder. If we could have used him as another defensive midfielder alongside Clayton I reckon we'd have been able to stick with Ramirez as a no 10 and that would have benefited Negredo, having Ramirez playing off him.

If we'd have had this team that season I think we'd have been fine;

..................................Dimi......................................

Nsue.......Chambers.......Gibson.........Friend

...................Clayton..........De Roon..................

Adomah...............Ramirez................Downing

..................................Negredo..................................


It would have been interesting to see how that team would have coped. I think Negredo would have been isolated because Adomah and Downing didn't really have enough speed and stamina to support him quickly enough. Ramirez was fine up to Xmas then decided he wanted to leave. I would have put Stuani into a forward position and bought a winger and sold Ramirez.
 
Given the lack of attacking threat down the flanks in that season, I think AA should have been given a PL chance. He may have been slightly short at that level, but so were many other players who played a full season.

He was never consistent; on his quiet days he'd have done very little, but on his very good days, he'd have caused most PL defences problems. I think he'd have got 4-5 goals and as many assists over a season. Not massive amounts, but compared to the numbers we got, a useful improvement.
 
It would have been interesting to see how that team would have coped. I think Negredo would have been isolated because Adomah and Downing didn't really have enough speed and stamina to support him quickly enough. Ramirez was fine up to Xmas then decided he wanted to leave. I would have put Stuani into a forward position and bought a winger and sold Ramirez.

Traore had the speed and stamina to support him but had no end product at that time. I think as soon as De Roon returned from injury he should have slotted in alongside Clayton and then we should have gone with Traore on the right and kept Ramirez as a no10. He persisted with Stuani on the right but Stuani offered very little in that position if he didn't score.

I think we should have sold Ramirez and replaced him with Deulofeu, or even Bojan. It wasn't working for him at Stoke but maybe Karanka could have gotten a tune out of him, especially in the system we played.
 
We got Traore and much the better of the exchange. Albert was a very good Championship player and will still do a job for QPR in this league.
Nsue really wasn’t all that and definitely needed replacing. Just not with Barragan.
Karanka broke even across his buys by the way.
 
I think Adomah and the club had made his mind up that him and Karanka had gone the distance.
There were rows daily apparently.
Don’t forget though, we got Traore as part of the deal with Villa.
Was it an upgrade for us ?
I think so.

Yeah, I suppose in the long run he did prove to be an upgrade but Traore didn't actually offer us much that season, as he had no end product - he was still very much a work in progress at that point.

I think Adomah would have been inconsistent in the Premier League. He'd have had some poor games but he would have chipped in with goals and assists as well.
 
Good luck to Albert. He was outstanding for Boro in the promotion season and a brilliant signing overall.

It was good he received a fantastic reception when playing for Villa at the Riverside.
 
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