Dimi.

Robbieboro said:
That final PL game where we played Liverpool and we were already relegated he should have played ! Valdes had already buggered off and about 2 games before that the clown Guzan, let 3 goals through his legs in one game in a 3-0 loss
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Guzan is without doubt the worst I’ve seen in a Boro shirt
 
Humpty said:
Steele would’ve been more than good enough to play in that defensive Karanka side. Dimi was extremely over rated. The style of play was the cause of those defensive records not Dimi.
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There is truth in that but it’s not fair on Dimi. Anyone who has played football will say a good keeper makes a big difference to a team. The defence feel much more confident and Dimi gave that to Boro.

Besides, he had brilliant moments in him too. I remember a save against Leeds away that kept the score 0-0. It was outstanding. That point ultimately the difference in promotion.
 
Humpty said:
Steele would’ve been more than good enough to play in that defensive Karanka side. Dimi was extremely over rated. The style of play was the cause of those defensive records not Dimi.
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Nah, not having that about Dimi. He *was* weak at dealing with shots from long range, bizarrely but when Boro's defence was breached in the 15/16 season he rarely let us down


(Excuse the goddawful music, not my video. I like Oasis but the chap who created this really could have done with normalizing the volume.)
 
Total embarrasment not giving him a game as Valdes was comfortably the worst first choice keeper in the league that year and Guzan was hardly any better once Valdes abbandoned ship towards the end. Could have given Agnew a slight bit of favour had he picked Dimi at home to Southampton and tone down some of the negativity. Instead Guzan was (unfairly imo) the target of much of the poison that day.
 
Where is all the Valdes revisionism coming from? He was an excellent goalkeeper for us after a short adjustment period (he wasn't used to being exposed so much) and it was only when Karanka went that he downed tools.

It was still seen as a big coup us signing him as he'd been training with Man Utd during the summer.
 
3 wins in 28 Boro appearances- truly shocking, could even be our worst ever wins-to-game ratio for a player playing over 25 games?
Fewer than 3 saves per game over the season too. Don't remember anyone even at the time saying he was playing well.
 
35to39 said:
3 wins in 28 Boro appearances- truly shocking, could even be our worst ever wins-to-game ratio for a player playing over 25 games?
Fewer than 3 saves per game over the season too. Don't remember anyone even at the time saying he was playing well.
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The whole team was awful, team spirit broken quite early. It's not the keeps fault we won 3 in 28. That boiled down to hardly anything going forward, fullbacks getting torn a new one, midfield struggling with the pace.
 
captain _boro said:
No, he wouldn't. He was a calamity for us.
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As was Dimi at times. The play of semi away at Brentford immediately springs to mind. There was a reason he didn’t play at Championship level prior to us or following us. Most keepers would have looked decent in that set up. Steele went on to thrive in the Premier League and has been touted for an England call up. Has he had one? Not actually sure to be honest.
 
Humpty said:
As was Dimi at times. The play of semi away at Brentford immediately springs to mind. There was a reason he didn’t play at Championship level prior to us or following us. Most keepers would have looked decent in that set up. Steele went on to thrive in the Premier League and has been touted for an England call up. Has he had one? Not actually sure to be honest.
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One thing that really annoyed me about Valdes was his song - he's won more than you. The irony of that being sung by Boro fans with some people not getting the reflective mickey taking was a bit worrying.
 
Yeah Valdes didn’t cover himself in glory whilst he was here did he? You could see he had the attributes to be a quality keeper he just never applied himself.
 
Humpty said:
Steele would’ve been more than good enough to play in that defensive Karanka side. Dimi was extremely over rated. The style of play was the cause of those defensive records not Dimi.
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He was absolutely shag 👍🏼

It was mistake after mistake with him. Fair enough he’s going the biz now but I’m not having this revisionism about how he was anything but a ghost between the sticks for us. No chance.
 
There was a huge agenda against Steele at the time. He made mistakes no doubting that but he clearly had potential that Karanka wasn’t willing to work with. Dimi was an experienced head that made just as many mistakes. Steele would’ve done just as good a job in that system if Karanka had persevered and invested some faith in Steele.
 
Humpty said:
As was Dimi at times. The play of semi away at Brentford immediately springs to mind. There was a reason he didn’t play at Championship level prior to us or following us. Most keepers would have looked decent i
Humpty said:
There was a huge agenda against Steele at the time. He made mistakes no doubting that but he clearly had potential that Karanka wasn’t willing to work with. Dimi was an experienced head that made just as many mistakes. Steele would’ve done just as good a job in that system if Karanka had persevered and invested some faith in Steele.
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No agenda against Steele from me at the time, he just wasn't very good (all beit better than Brad Jones, Guzan etal ). Proved in 2010/11 when we loaned Paul Smith from Forest and we improved defensively immediately, same the following season when we loaned Carl Ikelme from Wolves. Dimi was the more experienced at the time at Karaka and proved to be the right choice, play offs then promotion the following season.
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I might be missing something here but Steele as played only 31 premier games in 5 years not exactly thriving. As for Dimi think you are doing him a big disservice because imo he was fantastic for 2 seasons and should’ve been no.1 at the start of the Premiership season.
 
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