Well George has finally gone. So as I said previously, good luck to him.
Was he worth a 2 year contract and a one year option to the Boro. For me, definitely a NO.
Pedro
Personally, I’m sad to see George depart. It is, as others have said, the end of an era. I said a while ago that his legs had gone, but he was still the best left back on our books. However, where I think Boro might have missed a trick is that he was apparently very influential in the dressing room. He has clearly been a great ambassador for the club off the field as well as on it. I think he would have made a brilliant addition to the coaching staff.
Pedro
Personally, I’m sad to see George depart. It is, as others have said, the end of an era. I said a while ago that his legs had gone, but he was still the best left back on our books. However, where I think Boro might have missed a trick is that he was apparently very influential in the dressing room. He has clearly been a great ambassador for the club off the field as well as on it. I think he would have made a brilliant addition to the coaching staff.
I'd agree with you there Clive
We are now being linked with Joe Williams from Wigan. An ex Bolton and Barnsley 23 year old midfielder who West Brom were linked with last week and now Bristol and us are supposedly jostling for his signature. Right footed with one goal and four assists last season.
Pedro
Personally, I’m sad to see George depart. It is, as others have said, the end of an era. I said a while ago that his legs had gone, but he was still the best left back on our books. However, where I think Boro might have missed a trick is that he was apparently very influential in the dressing room. He has clearly been a great ambassador for the club off the field as well as on it. I think he would have made a brilliant addition to the coaching staff.
I'd agree with you there Clive
I second to that, too.
I wish Friend had stayed but mainly because we needed some continuity. Now we still need to sign about four new defenders alone! Too much during one window as we need to add elsewhere in the squad, too.
But like Clayton, I think his peak was well behind but he would have been an excellent squad player. And an important player off the field, too. Up the Boro!
Stoke City are set to sign former Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi on a one-year deal accoding to the BBC.
We would need a defensive midfielder, too. But like with Clayton, we should look for a younger player in there. Up the Boro!
Stoke City are set to sign former Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi on a one-year deal accoding to the BBC.
We would need a defensive midfielder, too. But like with Clayton, we should look for a younger player in there. Up the Boro!
Its now looking very much that Stoke are a spent force and are now shaping up like ourselves as a middling to upper Championship side for some time to come, living in hope more than expectation. Incredible how some clubs squander their Parachute payments up a wall.
@ken I'm sorry but anything that takes 5 days to complete and can still end in a draw doesn't sound like Sport to me. I've never had even a remote interest in Cricket, in school I could wallop the ball almost Baseball style for a six but still wouldn't play for the school as even playing it bored me. My "walloping" of the ball was in frustration rather than enjoyment. I guess it's an acquired taste.
Each to his own. But the one day game can throw up some wonderful excitement. As a statistical nut it produces more information than any other sport. I know, it’s a boring life I live but for someone whose favourite school subject was mathematics says it all really.
@ken I'm sorry but anything that takes 5 days to complete and can still end in a draw doesn't sound like Sport to me. I've never had even a remote interest in Cricket, in school I could wallop the ball almost Baseball style for a six but still wouldn't play for the school as even playing it bored me. My "walloping" of the ball was in frustration rather than enjoyment. I guess it's an acquired taste.
Each to his own. But the one day game can throw up some wonderful excitement. As a statistical nut it produces more information than any other sport. I know, it’s a boring life I live but for someone whose favourite school subject was mathematics says it all really.
Hope you enjoy it Ken, it wouldn't do for us all to be the same. I have a few mates who are probably more into their Cricket than Football.
We are now being linked with Joe Williams from Wigan. An ex Bolton and Barnsley 23 year old midfielder who West Brom were linked with last week and now Bristol and us are supposedly jostling for his signature. Right footed with one goal and four assists last season.
A midfielder who scored one goal last season should fit in well at MFC! In fact based on Clayton’s goal scoring record he is probably an upgrade! 😂😎
We are now being linked with Joe Williams from Wigan. An ex Bolton and Barnsley 23 year old midfielder who West Brom were linked with last week and now Bristol and us are supposedly jostling for his signature. Right footed with one goal and four assists last season.
A midfielder who scored one goal last season should fit in well at MFC! In fact based on Clayton’s goal scoring record he is probably an upgrade! 😂😎
According to AV he is a box to box midfielder, might just be me but wasn't that what Saville was supposed to be except that he scored goals before coming here?
@redcarred. I wonder how much of this is just paper talk. NW has made the point that we do not have defenders who can defend and appears to have stalled on buying a central defender for c. £1M but are allegedly chasing a midfielder who will cost c. £2.5M. To me it doesn't make sense but what do I know. 😎
I really hope that this is mostly paper talk because it doesn't make an awful lot of sense to buy yet more central midfielders. Our squad
Goalkeepers: Dejan, Pears and Meijas
Right and left backs: none (I don't count Bola and I think Dijksteel is really a defensive midfielder)
Centre-backs: Fry, Hall, (Stubbs, maybe)
Centre midfielders: Howson, Saville, McNair, Wing, Dijksteel
Wide/attacking midfielders: Tav, Spence, Coulson, Johnson, (Browne maybe)
Forwards: Britt, Fletcher
Buying yet another central midfielder just because we can seems utterly pointless. We urgently need quality experienced right and left backs and another central defender. We will need another striker if we sell one. The rest looks to me like a squad that needs proper management and coaching. I mean Wing scored 7 and made 2 goals from midfield in the lowest scoring team in the league despite having a "bad" season.
@clive-hurren Yes Clive, and possibly a route to the future in management, unless he really wants to go down the media road.
@redcarred RR, you are probably correct there, and with it, our chance of moving McNair on at a reasonable fee.
We are the go to club for trying to start a bidding war over some nonentity player. Known idiots, check. Have a few Bob, check. A track record to be proud of in the signing of dross, check. Have the record to prove that last statement, check. We should not even be trying to sign players who have failed at several levels. Our targets should be players who are observably playing better than their current level, and are (obviously) longing to play at a higher level, this is classic football life as it always was, and still is, until your club gets above itself and thinks anyone it wishes to sign must be in talks with at least three other clubs. Ring any bells?
The Mighty Boro couldn’t beat Seville, ergo, Manchester United had no chance.QED.....
@ken - my favourite subject was maths too, thats why I love my relegation projector charts,
@deleriad yes, you are right. No need of central midfielders other than a back up for Howson, perhaps. But Saville could do.
So we need an awful lot of defenders, especially full backs. Even if we would count Dijksteel as one. And we need a centre back or two.
And one striker more.
And quickly. I think we start training today and the defence would need some time to gell. I am worried. Quie a lot. Up the Boro!
Pedro
Personally, I’m sad to see George depart. It is, as others have said, the end of an era. I said a while ago that his legs had gone, but he was still the best left back on our books. However, where I think Boro might have missed a trick is that he was apparently very influential in the dressing room. He has clearly been a great ambassador for the club off the field as well as on it. I think he would have made a brilliant addition to the coaching staff.
I wonder if he can act. If so, he would wow the female population with his good looks and charisma. Could be the next David Niven.
92 members now on Diasboro.club, same as the number of League clubs in England. Not all contributors of course, but that doesn’t matter as it shows a loving interest in our club. Sad though that Ian Gill is in self imposed exile. Hope you’re well mate, miss your contributions.
@jarkko on the strikers front.
Been meaning for a while to go and check how Bamford did compared to our strikers. Given that Bamford was playing in a high-scoring promoted team while Fletcher and Britt were the lowest scoring team in the league and almost relegated you have to say that Bamford's record is pretty poor or, Britt and Fletcher actually out-performed the rest of the team. I know Bielsa is looking for a forward who creates as much as scores but, looking at the stats, Fletcher would probably have done significantly better for Leeds in that role than Bamford did.
My point here is that there's actually nothing wrong with our strikers. We overpaid for them but the only reason to sell either of them is financial. That all said, as I understand it, most Leeds fans don't actually rate Bamford and if you compare them to someone like Lyle Taylor then things don't look so good.
| Name | Goals | Assists | Games Played | Goals per 90 | Mins per Goal | Total Shots | Goal Conversion | Shot Accuracy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick | 16 | 2 | 47 | 0.40 | 223 | 131 | 12% | 44% |
| Name | Goals | Assists | Games Played | Goals per 90 | Mins per Goal | Total Shots | Goal Conversion | Shot Accuracy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ashley Fletcher
|
13 | 7 | 46 | 0.34 | 264 | 66 | 20% | 48% | |
|
Britt Assombalonga
|
11 | 2 | 36 | 0.39 | 232 | 50 | 22% | 48% |
We are now being linked with Joe Williams from Wigan. An ex Bolton and Barnsley 23 year old midfielder who West Brom were linked with last week and now Bristol and us are supposedly jostling for his signature. Right footed with one goal and four assists last season.
A midfielder who scored one goal last season should fit in well at MFC! In fact based on Clayton’s goal scoring record he is probably an upgrade! 😂😎
According to AV he is a box to box midfielder, might just be me but wasn't that what Saville was supposed to be except that he scored goals before coming here?
Just wondering how close together these two boxes are, comparing to Clayton, 1 goal last season is prolific.
@deleriad would you swap Bamford for Britt?
Also hearing Lyle Taylor to Forest
@deleriad would you swap Bamford for Britt?
Also hearing Lyle Taylor to Forest
No. He's too similar to Fletcher and he misses too often. I would probably swap him for Fletcher but there's not much in it. I thought Taylor had already signed for Forest?
I think Britt's probably one of the best instinctive strikers in the Championship but he's very inconsistent. So far only Warnock has set up a team to work well with him. I know it sounds mad but I think we have everything we need to score goals. Since Warnock took over our record is played 8 scored 11. This makes us (checking the form table) equal 11th in the Championship for scoring goals. We are also 11th in the table on last 8 games.
Basically, since Warnock has taken over he has instantly made us exactly what we are: an average, mid-table team scoring an average number of goals.
I would sell Britt and one of Saville or McNair for financial reasons but if we do, we have to replace Britt. I think we can easily lose one of Saville or McNair. without replacing them. The really desperate need is for two full backs and a centre back. To be honest I would like us to play with Spence and Coulson as wing backs but I get the impression that Warnock won't go down that route.
Not a surprise.
Come on BORO.
@deleriad i am hoping both Fletcher and Assombalonga stay with us. All I meant that we need another one as I would be afraid to go for a season with just TWO recognised frontman. We will have two matches per week (Pulis would say three matches per week - only god knows how many that would make in total for a season!) In a longish season. Or one injury and then ...
So one squad striker is needed. And no, I wouldn't swap neither of our strikers for Bamford now. For the same reasons as Deleriad said above.
Up the Boro!
Not a surprise.
Come on BORO.
Now that Friend has left, we desperately need a left footed centre back. Who could fit the mould?
Somehow I have a feeling that Ben could end up at Riverside rather than at Forest. I even can see him ending up at Norwich rather than Forest as the former have money from their parachute mechanism.
But if Ben is coming down to the Champioship there is only one address for him, me thinks. The team play in red but are not Forest.
But I think that desision goes to the end of September as I am sure Burnley would like to sell BG rather than loan him again. If a sale is not possible, I am sure a way will be found for his return at Boro.
I was travelling two hours (one way) to visit a custoner today and I listened to Radio Tees in my car. Ben was interviewed about George Friend. Ben sounded like he was representing Boro again. For those of you who do not know me, I wasn't travelling in the UK 😉.
Up the Boro!
It looks as if everyone looking for players is hanging on to their money in the hope that selling clubs will realise how much the new economic circumstances have impacted the level of fees. In response, selling clubs are holding out and waiting for ‘last day panic’ to drive up fees a bit. It’s going to be a nervy few weeks.
With all this in mind, I was Interested to see that a closed door fixture has been set up this week for Boro U-23s against Harrogate. With so many young players coming through and plenty of spaces in the first team squad, this seems to me to be a clear trial game for the kids to stake their claim to NW for a place in the squad for Cornwall and, from there, the Championship.
it could be quite a tasty game.
UTB