Gyokeres. Armstrong, Larsen...? No, Forss & Hoppe...

Naturally I hope I'm wrong but I can't see the two strikers we've actually landed have the goods to fire us to promotion. Forss, let go by West Brom, came through Brentford's B Team and did ok when he got a run out without any sense that they or their fans were begging him stay. Hoppe, let go by LA Galaxy, did ok-ish at Schalke then bombed at Mallorca. It's hard not to conclude we're getting other team's Akpoms while while genuinely lethal strikers slip through our fingers yet again...

Right now, if I was a neutral I wouldn't fancy us because you can't say it looks as if we've remedied the problem that's plagued us for years: scoring enough goals. Drive for show, putt for dough...
Oh just do one

You miserable sods.
 
Naturally I hope I'm wrong but I can't see the two strikers we've actually landed have the goods to fire us to promotion. Forss, let go by West Brom, came through Brentford's B Team and did ok when he got a run out without any sense that they or their fans were begging him stay. Hoppe, let go by LA Galaxy, did ok-ish at Schalke then bombed at Mallorca. It's hard not to conclude we're getting other team's Akpoms while while genuinely lethal strikers slip through our fingers yet again...
bloody hell, talk about depressive.

Forss is a finisher, not quite prem ready, but he's proven he knows how to find the net. Hoppe, a project we've been trying to get for a while. decent feet, was one of Schalkes only shining lights as they got relegated, didn't settle in Mallorca (language issue) and got injured.

I'm happy with both and I don't think these mean we will not go for Larsen, there is still space for 2 strikers with Watmore leaving and Coburn going on loan.
 
I find it hard to believe people seemingly think we can control what order we get signings in. If we'd already signed a Larsen or a Gyokeres I doubt there'd be much moaning. Funnily enough the bigger targets are harder to sign. That doesn't mean we aren't trying or that Forss and Hoppe are instead of a more established striker.

It'll be the same people who can't grasp that we can actually work on multiple deals at the same time ("why are we trying to sign a defender when we need strikers" etc).

Forss is a proven player at this level. He's probably going to get around 8-12 goals. He might surprise a few and get a lot more, but every team needs players like that. If every striker signing was going to get 20 goals we'd win the league with about 120 points.

Hoppe is more unproven but has scored goals at a good level, is young and has a lot of potential. He's not going to be the main man, he'll be a rotation option behind at least 2 others to begin with.

Obviously if we sign no other strikers then moan away, but there's zero indication from the club we're anywhere near finished with our transfer business in that position at this point. As it stands these two lads look like decent signings that add something to the squad.
 
I’m ok with Forss and Hoppe coming in but as you say we need someone (preferably two) who have shown they can get well into double figures in this league. Let’s hope we can pull something big out of the bag
Do you know I think big Uche might do better than Akpom. He tries 100 % and could cause problems on the end of Giles crosses.
I also wouldn't let Coburn out on loan until we get some proven signings in .
 
Looks like good business to me. They're both mobile, technically good, can head the ball and can finish. I like. If the get 16 to 20 goals between them it would be ok for that money, given that we have goalscorers elsewhere in the team.
But, with Jones and Giles supplying from both wings, they could have a really good season.
 
We are going to create a lot of chances, we just need players who can get in the positions and stick 1 in 3 / 4 chances away.
They also work hard and obviously fit the way Wilder wants us to play. Young, cheap, potential massive upside - I'm liking it.
Of course, no guarantee they will be great players, but as with every signing need to be optimistic 👍
 
Getting new strikers is always a risk, but we have to take that risk when you haven’t a mountain of cash. At least the chances will be created for the new lads this season as the creative talent is there on the wings and through the middle.
 
It doesn’t matter how much they cost, it’s whether or not they do the business.

Will they be like ‘next to nothing’ Bernie Slaven?

Or ‘blow your budget’ Phil Boersma?

We’ve been here before many many times, it’s part of the fun.
 
I don't think we've actually ever been linked with Gyokeres, have we?

There's been a lot of wishful talk on her, and a bit on pseudo-news sites such as FLW, but all they do is trawl through message boards like this for stories.

Anyway, this time last year if we'd been linked with Gyokeres, we'd have been saying "who", "3 goals in 30 games, wtf" and "typical cheap Boro"...

I've long sad it's time for us to unearth our own gems and not arrogantly think we can cherry pick other championship clubs best players.
 
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Wilder will know what he needs and if he has given the thumbs up to purchase Forss and Hoppe then I am just gonna sit back and not worry.
 
For the way we play, there is no way that playing 46 games most Saturdays and Tuesdays can keep up with the demands of the championship playing a high pressing Chris Wilder team mate. Some of them I mentioned are not good enough to start for a team chasing promotion. From the off Watmore, Forss and Hoppe would be the weakest out of the ones I said Gyökeres and Muniz would start, but they need the chance to rotate…

Again, Middlesbrough are not the only team that press yet others manage to have strikers that play the majority of games. We have become obsessed with rotation and for me, is part of the reason none of our recent strikers have been successful.

We need 2 strikers that play the majority of games to build a partnership and confidence. Rotating between 5 won't do that, and neither will keeping 3 on the bench.
 
Again, Middlesbrough are not the only team that press yet others manage to have strikers that play the majority of games. We have become obsessed with rotation and for me, is part of the reason none of our recent strikers have been successful.

We need 2 strikers that play the majority of games to build a partnership and confidence. Rotating between 5 won't do that, and neither will keeping 3 on the bench.
I know I am going back a bit but Steve McLaren sold me on having four strikers when we had Jimmy, Viduka, Maccaroni and Yakubu (and a couple of others) being rotated, we always looked like we had goals in the team no matter what the injury situation.
 
I know I am going back a bit but Steve McLaren sold me on having four strikers when we had Jimmy, Viduka, Maccaroni and Yakubu (and a couple of others) being rotated, we always looked like we had goals in the team no matter what the injury situation.

Which is doable for a PL team in Europe, not so much a Championship one.
 
Which is doable for a PL team in Europe, not so much a Championship one.
Yes I agree we can’t afford that calibre of squad right now but I was more talking about the principle of having a few options. Before the McLaren team I was all for a settled strike force, still am really, always play your best team and all that, but over a season you do need to be able to freshen up every now and again due to injuries or loss of form.
 
Again, Middlesbrough are not the only team that press yet others manage to have strikers that play the majority of games. We have become obsessed with rotation and for me, is part of the reason none of our recent strikers have been successful.

We need 2 strikers that play the majority of games to build a partnership and confidence. Rotating between 5 won't do that, and neither will keeping 3 on the bench.
I honestly believe that if we had 2 strikers that put the ball in the back of the net Wilder wouldn’t rotate as much
 
Yes I agree we can’t afford that calibre of squad right now but I was more talking about the principle of having a few options. Before the McLaren team I was all for a settled strike force, still am really, always play your best team and all that, but over a season you do need to be able to freshen up every now and again due to injuries or loss of form.

Yeah, option's are ideal but I just can't see why any aspiring strikers would want to come to Boro and sit on the bench with the odd start. They have no chance of being successful.
 
Yeah, option's are ideal but I just can't see why any aspiring strikers would want to come to Boro and sit on the bench with the odd start. They have no chance of being successful.
Fair comment and I suppose that would be up to Wilder to keep players happy, maybe even Tav thought he was a couple of bad games away from being benched.
 
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