Is this season like 14/15

Difficult to compare until we start over again next season. If we don’t go up who knows who will be available to sign and what funds we’ll have. Same could be said if we were promoted. Old age has taught me not to look too far forward in football, never know what’s just round the corner.
 
Ravshoutsatbeck said:
We could start next season:

Brynn
Brittain Jones Malanda Munroe
Morris Gilbert
Whittaker McGree
Strelec Conway

And we would be competitive in my eyes. Although highly unlikely we add no one.
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New goalkeeper, left back, centre mid, attacking midfielder and striker needed to get that team competitive at the top end next season.

The biggest issue this season has been our crippling lack of squad depth, we have maybe 14 decent players and the drop off after that is huge. Especially in the attacking areas we just don’t have the quality options to turn to. That’s going to be another 2-3 players.

That’s without players maybe attracting interest, such as Morris or Malanda.

It’s looking like another rebuild job.
 
We are almost certainly going to lose Hackney, and his replacement is almost certainly going to be significantly worse, at least in the short term. Can we significantly upgrade the other positions to make up for that shortfall? And then kick on the 5-10 points extra we need over the season? I would say that is unlikely.

But then again, I remember after the play-off defeat thinking we had blown it due losing a striker of Bamford's quality and not having funds to replace him adequately.
 
BoroChris said:
New goalkeeper, left back, centre mid, attacking midfielder and striker needed to get that team competitive at the top end next season.

The biggest issue this season has been our crippling lack of squad depth, we have maybe 14 decent players and the drop off after that is huge. Especially in the attacking areas we just don’t have the quality options to turn to. That’s going to be another 2-3 players.

That’s without players maybe attracting interest, such as Morris or Malanda.

It’s looking like another rebuild job.
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I honestly think Brynn will be better next year when he has already been the keeper behind a top defence this year.

We will miss Hackney, but the balance/depth/extra time to settle/grow for the players in the squad may also help.

Most teams at this level have to use youth/fringe gambles for depth - you need some of those to take their chance - maybe Ibeh, Hansen, McCabe, Munroe works things out. One of the weaknesses I feel the last few years has been trust in young players as depth.

Or I think we will at least be competitive for the playoffs.
 
1finny said:
The one thing you have done Viv is allow me to pause for just a moment.
I think I fell into the trap of
‘this season was a brilliant opportunity and next will, therefore, be a disaster.

The first bit still stands.

Looking at the team I now recognise we do have some good and decent players.
If I think about the performances without Hackney - we could (maybe should) have won every one - and we know where the problem lies.

On reflection, I don’t think it’s a major rebuild - it’s about getting the right quality in the right areas.
Millwall and Hull have shown you don’t have to big spenders.

You’ve made me more optimistic and, btw, I might hate you for ever for doing so.
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Well, we should have some optimism imo. And I mean for what remains of this season, not the next one or the future more generally. There has obviously been a few frustrations of late but I can’t understand why there’s so much negativity. Maybe negativity isn’t the right word, it’s more like outright hostility at times.

We are a good team playing good football and we have shown we are streaky, across this season. I think we are due another good run of form.
 
I think expecting people to be optimistic right now having seen us **** the bed of late is a tad unreasonable.

It's football and we have a manager who's style allows us to dominate the majority of games we play, with a few smart additions we could be a force in the division next year.

However, it will be a tough league.

I lean towards what most people feel, that this is our best chance in a decade and we've made a hash of it, which doesn't fill me with confidence.

I also see no issue in people saying "I think we have no chance but I hope they prove me wrong".

That's a completely reasonable and normal position to take if you don't have confidence in us doing much next season, of course you can still hope you're wrong. It's not in any way contradictory.
 
Alzi said:
We miss the leadership and mentality that squad had sadly. Dimi, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Clayton, Leadbitter, Adomah etc. Really felt like we were building even after that playoff defeat.

This squad crumbles under pressure. It was there for the taking after Sheff Utd. Hopefully I'm proven wrong but it doesn't feel we are on the up any time soon.
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100% this along with not doing anything of note in January.
 
You can only be optimistic for next season if we do the right business over the summer, we can’t go into next season with those three strikers at the club as they are the main reason we’re heading for failure, they should be embarrassed at that stats being thrown around at the moment regarding xg and shots to goals comparison
 
gravy173 said:
You can only be optimistic for next season if we do the right business over the summer, we can’t go into next season with those three strikers at the club as they are the main reason we’re heading for failure, they should be embarrassed at that stats being thrown around at the moment regarding xg and shots to goals comparison
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Unfortunately I think at least 1 will be here. Sene will be gone i am sure. What's abundantly clear is there no understanding between strelec and Conway. That wont change next season so one or preferably both need to move on. Its difficult choice we have Conway who I think is not quite good enough to lead the line and we have strelec who weve invested a lot of money has plently technical ability but can't seem to apply it in the championship. My preference would be a clean sweep and 3 new strikers with at least 1 or 2 them being championship ready we can't wait a full season for someone to bed in. Would latte comeback ?
 
RobboTheRed said:
Unfortunately I think at least 1 will be here. Sene will be gone i am sure. What's abundantly clear is there no understanding between strelec and Conway. That wont change next season so one or preferably both need to move on. Its difficult choice we have Conway who I think is not quite good enough to lead the line and we have strelec who weve invested a lot of money has plently technical ability but can't seem to apply it in the championship. My preference would be a clean sweep and 3 new strikers with at least 1 or 2 them being championship ready we can't wait a full season for someone to bed in. Would latte comeback ?
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You expect the club to replace every striker we have?
 
Thanks for the replies. This team has shot it's self in the foot many times lately. But is still in with a chance of the autos. However I feel a win at Portman road must be achieved to obtain this along with at least 3 other wins

However the shef wed game has typical Boro written all over it
 
Hellberg is the main factor for me. Provided he stays we will be better next season if we are still in the Championship. All the talk from Sweden was that his teams improve in their second season when he's had the time to work with them properly. That's pretty exciting given that we already play the best football in the league.
 
Whilst i'd like a new number 9, i think Conway has to stay. His experience, ability, work rate and character are important traits for this level and we're not exactly flush with cash. I also think he'd thrive with a bit of pressure off him as well.

I'd happily move Strelec on unless we change the way we play because i just don't think he suits us. Sene, whatever.
 
Humpty said:
Whilst i'd like a new number 9, i think Conway has to stay. His experience, ability, work rate and character are important traits for this level and we're not exactly flush with cash. I also think he'd thrive with a bit of pressure off him as well.

I'd happily move Strelec on unless we change the way we play because i just don't think he suits us. Sene, whatever.
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Conway is never going to be prolific 20 goal a season striker, id keep him as an impact sub , but no way should he be a starter we have to aim higher
 
RobboTheRed said:
Conway is never going to be prolific 20 goal a season striker, id keep him as an impact sub , but no way should he be a starter we have to aim higher
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He dove-tailed really well with ELL a few seasons back, so we know he can score goals in the right set up. In this set up, i'd agree that he has a ceiling lower than that of previous seasons but we need better depth.
 
Humpty said:
He dove-tailed really well with ELL a few seasons back, so we know he can score goals in the right set up. In this set up, i'd agree that he has a ceiling lower than that of previous seasons but we need better depth.
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Not what i can remember, they couldn't play as a strike partnership
 
Colgates_shaving_foam said:
Anyone writing off strelec is an absolute loon by the way.

How many times have strikers had dodgy first seasons and then gone on to be great, especially coming from abroad and weaker leagues.
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I've not written him off for future years, nobody should do that, it would make no sense. But this year he's been nowhere near the mark and nowhere near "in the game" enough, or cohesive enough to make up for it. I suppose the club might not have thought we were ready for promotion this year though when making this buy, or they might have gone for a "more ready" striker. We might have just timed it wrong. It's hard to bring in a foreign lad who doesn't know the language and expect him to hit the ground running.

If we don't go up, maybe we'll be able to replace Hackney to some degree and invest well for next year, so may still have a good window for Strelec etc. This is a good window now though (that we could have made more out of with a more ready striker). For next year, either in the champo or the prem we need confidence that we're going to make the most of the chances we get though, and a good no 9 is normally critical.

Will we be sure of that next year in the champo? Would you bank on it for the season?
We obviously couldn't bank on that for the prem.

There's probably a lot more evidence currently that he won't make it as a promotion ready striker than he would mind. Players starting off poorly are probably more likely to continue that trend, some will buck this trend of course. But for every Zan Vipotnik, there's probably 5 others who don't get anywhere near that.

He's got a decent touch, but how far will that get him? He's not that big and strong, not quick and doesn't look that fit etc, most strikers who do well at this level normally have one or two of these attributes at least. If they don't they really need to make up for that with an exceptional touch, or be an exceptional finisher, and that really is not common.
 
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