Viktor Gyökeres

[dooderooni]

The club will be working on the problem, we're fretting about it.
We have no control over the situation so we just have to wait and see, however painful it is.
As the window doesn't close until September the 1st, we won't be the only club in this position.
As I've said before, we need the PL transfer merry-go-round to kick in so that players become surplus to requirements and clubs like ourselves can start picking up those players or the ones holding out for a nice to the PL.
Imagine you're a rising star in the Championship and you and your agent are waiting for a PL club to follow up on a link. If that interest doesn't appear (or the PL club goes out and buys better) then you start thinking about other offers. It'll all get up to speed soon, but until it does we'll need to be patient

 

[UgoAfro]

The club will be working on the problem, we're fretting about it.
We have no control over the situation so we just have to wait and see, however painful it is.
As the window doesn't close until September the 1st, we won't be the only club in this position.
As I've said before, we need the PL transfer merry-go-round to kick in so that players become surplus to requirements and clubs like ourselves can start picking up those players or the ones holding out for a nice to the PL.
Imagine you're a rising star in the Championship and you and your agent are waiting for a PL club to follow up on a link. If that interest doesn't appear (or the PL club goes out and buys better) then you start thinking about other offers. It'll all get up to speed soon, but until it does we'll need to be patient

Just like every year. If you're ambitious, the perfect transfer window doesn't exist unless you've got money to burn and we haven't.

 

[Lightweight]

I really think we are going to be in for a few signing soon ( glass half full). Not claiming to be ITK but was was told that Boyd Munce would be going on a 6 month loan to a London club soon.

 

[Middlesbrough123]

The squad is still pretty threadbare, so yes I would say there is a long way to go if we want to be contenders.

Agreed but we didn’t have a decent left winger or keeper last year now we do , we obviously need depth but when we wait so long for one decent winger I’m nit Gona moan too much say I now want 2 . Too many focus on what we don’t have and don’t appreciate what we do . The window is still wide open .

 

[Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret]

I'm pleased that we've managed to get in two quality goalkeepers, a top class left wingback and a very solid centre back. Hopefully we will be able to get 2 strikers in by this time next week, but it's unlikely given that the transfer window doesn't end until the end of August. That's just the way it is and has been for years. I do wish people would stop being such big babies about it. We are not the biggest fish in the sea any more. We have to wait for premier League teams to do their business first. And then we are behind the parachute teams and the big city teams.

The premier League tried to alter this by moving the deadline to the start of August. Unfortunately the club's in Europe didn't follow or lead so we are where we are.

The first xi is undoubtedly stronger as things stand, due to the new keeper and wingback. Having a big squad is vastly overrated. The best teams keep the same core 10 - 14 players throughout the season. They certainly won't be needed in the first couple of months.

The worst thing that could happen is we overpay for strikers and end up lumbered with overpaid donkeys up front and have to sell the good players to balance out books. This happened under Southgate and Monk. We cannot let it happen again. I would rather go through a season with kavanagh coburn and watmore than end up with yet another **** player we've overpaid for.

 

[Ash88]

Agreed but we didn’t have a decent left winger or keeper last year now we do , we obviously need depth but when we wait so long for one decent winger I’m nit Gona moan too much say I now want 2 . Too many focus on what we don’t have and don’t appreciate what we do . The window is still wide open .

Exactly. Too many are glass half empty and not enough are glass half full.

Best LWB (Giles) and RWB (Jones when in form) in the league in my opinion.
Fry, McNair and Lenihan are three of the best CBs in the league too, with Dijksteel not far behind.
Steffan is unproven, but he's got that Randolph-esk confidence about him - I think he'll do well.
We're not getting £10 mill+ offers for Tavernier for no reason, and Howson / Crooks are both solid top 6 championship players.

Spend £6-8 million on a striker, bring another striker in on loan, sign Tommy Smith and a couple of free agent squad fillers - and we're there.

 

[ThatFragranceGuy]

I will decide who and how I respond to.
We will leave it there.

As will I, you're on a message board not a PM system here.

 

[BoroMart]

I really think we are going to be in for a few signing soon ( glass half full). Not claiming to be ITK but was was told that Boyd Munce would be going on a 6 month loan to a London club soon.

Wouldn't be surprised, his career so far has been one foot in one foot out, but now that he has passed his Law degree he needs to put his foot down on the accelerator, get playing and make the most of his career

 

[indeedido]

Exactly. Too many are glass half empty and not enough are glass half full.

Best LWB (Giles) and RWB (Jones when in form) in the league in my opinion.
Fry, McNair and Lenihan are three of the best CBs in the league too, with Dijksteel not far behind.
Steffan is unproven, but he's got that Randolph-esk confidence about him - I think he'll do well.
We're not getting £10 mill+ offers for Tavernier for no reason, and Howson / Crooks are both solid top 6 championship players.

Spend £6-8 million on a striker, bring another striker in on loan, sign Tommy Smith and a couple of free agent squad fillers - and we're there.

No we would not be “there”. IMHO.
We have 4 central midfielders for 3 places.
We have 2 second string strikers for 2 places.
We are short on quantity in places and quality in the key positions.
The striker deficit through August could kill our season.

 

[Nano]

Exactly. Too many are glass half empty and not enough are glass half full.

Best LWB (Giles) and RWB (Jones when in form) in the league in my opinion.
Fry, McNair and Lenihan are three of the best CBs in the league too, with Dijksteel not far behind.
Steffan is unproven, but he's got that Randolph-esk confidence about him - I think he'll do well.
We're not getting £10 mill+ offers for Tavernier for no reason, and Howson / Crooks are both solid top 6 championship players.

Spend £6-8 million on a striker, bring another striker in on loan, sign Tommy Smith and a couple of free agent squad fillers - and we're there.

I am very happy with the signings we have made so far. I too am happy with 9/11 of our 1st 11, the strikers being an obvious weak point, but it is a squad game. We haven't replaced 3 of our strikers, our right back cover, our CB cover or our midfield cover.

We have lost Sporar, Connolly, Balogun, Peltier, Bamba, Hall & Payero (I'm not going to include Fischer & Ameobi who were technically in our squad at some point). We've replaced our keepers, added a LWB and 1 CB to cover the 3 departing. That's good business but still 6 players short minimum including 2 from the starting 11.

It's not my glass that is half empty, it's our squad.

I'm sure we'll get some players in but will it be in time? I'm not going to be confident playing the first 5 weeks of the season with the current squad as it is. That's nearly 1/6th of the season.

 

[anonn]

I dont think its glass half empty or being a bedwetter to see the issues with the current squad.

There is no doubting that the signings we have made improve our first XI and when all fully fit, our GK - Defence - Midfield is as good as anyone in the division.

BUT - We have McGree and Boyd-Munce as the only senior cover for 3 spots in the midfield and then no cover in the attack.

Some people might be ok with us 'just throwing the kids in' for August but in that time we play WBA, QPR, Sheff United, Watford, Swansea (+3 others and a cup game). Thats a lot of potential points to play for with a threadbare squad.

Again, people have said about youngsters wouldn't get a chance if you just filled the bench with randoms and never gave them a chance. I agree with this but there is a vast difference between blooding 1 or 2 youngsters into the team/relying on 3/4 youngsters to come on regularly with little to no senior experience.

 

[fassy]

Because we have more than 12 outfield players.

With Smith (who we've probably signed), there's 14 squad - Fry, McNair, Dijksteel, Lenihan, Giles, Bola, Jones, Smith, Howson, Tavernier, McGree, Crooks, Watmore, Coburn
Boyd-Munce will be included in the squad, he's been around the team since he came in, and rightly so - there's 15.
We have incorporated youth players in the squads before, how else are Fry, Tav, Jones, Coburn in the above list... I think Bilongo and Hackney are both comfortable additions - there's 17 players.

CBs - Dijksteel/McNair/Lenihan - Fry/Lenihan - McNair/Bilongo - Sorted (a left footed LCB would help, but I don't think it's something we're desperate for).
RWB - Jones/Smith - Cover can come from Dijksteel or Howson - Sorted
LWB - Giles/Bola - Cover can come from Tav or Bilongo - Sorted
CDM - Howson/Hackney - Cover can come from McNair or Crooks - Sorted (maybe slightly weak here, but again... we don't "need" anyone else here).
CM - Crooks, Tavernier, McGree, Boyd-Munce - Sorted

We NEED two strikers. Three would be perfect, but realistically, two is "enough".

14 outfield players have been given a squad number, 3 keepers.

No bilongo or Hackney.

 

[BoroMart]

BUT - We have McGree and Boyd-Munce as the only senior cover for 3 spots in the midfield and then no cover in the attack.

McNair?

 

[Ash88]

I am very happy with the signings we have made so far. I too am happy with 9/11 of our 1st 11, the strikers being an obvious weak point, but it is a squad game. We haven't replaced 3 of our strikers, our right back cover, our CB cover or our midfield cover.

We have lost Sporar, Connolly, Balogun, Peltier, Bamba, Hall & Payero (I'm not going to include Fischer & Ameobi who were technically in our squad at some point). We've replaced our keepers, added a LWB and 1 CB to cover the 3 departing. That's good business but still 6 players short minimum including 2 from the starting 11.

It's not my glass that is half empty, it's our squad.

I'm sure we'll get some players in but will it be in time? I'm not going to be confident playing the first 5 weeks of the season with the current squad as it is. That's nearly 1/6th of the season.

We want quality over quantity.

From the squad that started last season... In defense, We've lost Bamba, Peltier, Hall, Hernandez and Nathan Wood.

Bamba and Hall can be replaced with Lenihan 2 for 1.
Lenihan has hardly missed a single minute of football in 2-3 years, he played over 1,000 more minutes than Bamba+Hall combined last season.

Peliter can be replaced with Smith (assuming he's signing). Peltier played 1,700 minutes for us last season, Smith played 2,600 for Stoke.

Nathan Wood played in 2 cup games. I'd be more than happy to give Bilongo two cup games as his replacement...

Hernandez played 600 minutes as a LWB/RWB last season... He's been replaced with Ryan Giles, who played 2,400 minutes last season.
(Neil Taylor signed in January so he doesn't really count)

Lenihan + Smith + Giles minutes last season : 8,900 minutes.
Our departing defenders minutes last season (inc. Taylor) : 6,400 minutes - That's a total of 28 more 90 minute matches.

--------------

Midfield.... From the team that started last season... We've lost Payero, Lea Siliki, and Sam Morsy played 300 mins at the start of the season before being sold.
Shall we count Olusanya's 63 minutes of football too?

We've added Riley McGree since then (January), who played 700 minutes over the second half of last season. Assuming he'll be playing a few more minutes in the first half of this season?
We've also added Boyd Munce, who will be getting some minutes this season.
Can the mighty Olusanya be replaced with any of our youth players? It's 63 minutes...

Everyone seems too focused on having a player in the squad who's never going to see any game time, "just in case of an emergency"...

2-3 good championship strikers and we're there.

 

[Ash88]

14 outfield players have been given a squad number, 3 keepers.

No bilongo or Hackney.

Bilongo and Hackney are both under 21 so they don't need a squad number to be "in the squad".

 

[Nano]

We want quality over quantity.

From the squad that started last season... In defense, We've lost Bamba, Peltier, Hall, Hernandez and Nathan Wood.

Bamba and Hall can be replaced with Lenihan 2 for 1.
Lenihan has hardly missed a single minute of football in 2-3 years, he played over 1,000 more minutes than Bamba+Hall combined last season.

Peliter can be replaced with Smith (assuming he's signing). Peltier played 1,700 minutes for us last season, Smith played 2,600 for Stoke.

Nathan Wood played in 2 cup games. I'd be more than happy to give Bilongo two cup games as his replacement...

Hernandez played 600 minutes as a LWB/RWB last season... He's been replaced with Ryan Giles, who played 2,400 minutes last season.
(Neil Taylor signed in January so he doesn't really count)

Lenihan + Smith + Giles minutes last season : 8,900 minutes.
Our departing defenders minutes last season (inc. Taylor) : 6,400 minutes - That's a total of 28 more 90 minute matches.

--------------

Midfield.... From the team that started last season... We've lost Payero, Lea Siliki, and Sam Morsy played 300 mins at the start of the season before being sold.
Shall we count Olusanya's 63 minutes of football too?

We've added Riley McGree since then (January), who played 700 minutes over the second half of last season. Assuming he'll be playing a few more minutes in the first half of this season?
We've also added Boyd Munce, who will be getting some minutes this season.
Can the mighty Olusanya be replaced with any of our youth players? It's 63 minutes...

Everyone seems too focused on having a player in the squad who's never going to see any game time, "just in case of an emergency"...

2-3 good championship strikers and we're there.

We were short last season as well. Some dross signed that barely kicked a ball for us. The result was being knackered at the end of the season because there was no back-up.

 

[allied_assault]

We were short last season as well. Some dross signed that barely kicked a ball for us. The result was being knackered at the end of the season because there was no back-up.

I liked Hernandez - disappointed when we didn't continue with him.

 

[Ash88]

We were short last season as well. Some dross signed that barely kicked a ball for us. The result was being knackered at the end of the season because there was no back-up.

So why do the same again?... Lea Siliki is the perfect example. Played 327 minutes of football the entire season and took home £624,000!... 2 grand per minute.

Let 20 year old, Redcar-born, Hayden Hackney sit around and do nothing, playing for the kids and be an unused squad player "in case of an emergency" instead. Its literally just numbers.

 

[indeedido]

So why do the same again?... Lea Siliki is the perfect example. Played 327 minutes of football the entire season and took home £624,000!... 2 grand per minute.

Let 20 year old, Redcar-born, Hayden Hackney sit around and do nothing, playing for the kids and be an unused squad player "in case of an emergency" instead. Its literally just numbers.

You seem to miss the points.
1. We finished 7th and need to kick on, not stand still.
2. We trailed off from January last season quite badly. We finished the season badly with decent players on their knees.
3. We have a woefully thin strike force, which was in itself our Achilles heel last season.
There is still time to remedy our deficiencies in quality and quantity, but that time is slipping away quickly.

 

[Ash88]

1. We finished 7th and need to kick on, not stand still.

We've signed much better individual players (Steffan, Lenihan, Giles, hopefully Smith) than the players who have departed.

2. We trailed off from January last season quite badly. We finished the season badly with decent players on their knees.

We're comparing the start of last season vs. the start of this season. There's a window in January too.

3. We have a woefully thin strike force, which was in itself our Achilles heel last season.
There is still time to remedy our deficiencies in quality and quantity, but that time is slipping away quickly.

100% agree with strikers, we need at least 2, hopefully 3. My argument is that strikers are all we need.