The unfair condemnation of Lukas Engel

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Morton94

Well-known member
Since Tuesday, not so much on here, I must've seen around 30 different posts varying in the degrees of 'Worst player to ever play for our club' to 'Not even a footballer'

I think it is incredibly harsh the way our fanbase has absolutely torn into the new recruits after 7 games but especially Lukas Engel. He's looked slow and off the pace and on Tuesday night he was given the run around by their right back who was then nullified by RVDB.

However what people have to realise is he's came from a league with a much lower abillity, he's settling into a new country and team and he's only played 4 games and had a bit of an injury.

It's not really been on this site to much, but this is a place to rant, it's been Facebook and X but I just feel so sorry him, I hope he doesn't go on socials because what ever fragile confidence he has will be gone now.
 
Morton94 said:
Since Tuesday, not so much on here, I must've seen around 30 different posts varying in the degrees of 'Worst player to ever play for our club' to 'Not even a footballer'

I think it is incredibly harsh the way our fanbase has absolutely torn into the new recruits after 7 games but especially Lukas Engel. He's looked slow and off the pace and on Tuesday night he was given the run around by their right back who was then nullified by RVDB.

However what people have to realise is he's came from a league with a much lower abillity, he's settling into a new country and team and he's only played 4 games and had a bit of an injury.

It's not really been on this site to much, but this is a place to rant, it's been Facebook and X but I just feel so sorry him, I hope he doesn't go on socials because what ever fragile confidence he has will be gone now.
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You could say the same for Sammy Silvera too.
 
He is a little slow and he wasn’t strong enough the other night, but his positioning wasn’t bad and he took up some good forward positions, his passing was fine and he put in at least one good cross (it seemed like the other players didn’t trust him and often turned away and looked for other options, he needs to gain that trust).

He kept showing the forward outside of him, which was a mistake because he was always going to lose the foot race, he should show them inside more, at least they will be running into other players that way.
 
What we are seeing is the result of his coaching from Silkeborg with a few weeks of Boro thrown in. He is young and can and will improve, what his ceiling will be, can not be predicted. He needs time, coaching and if he isn’t ready then he should not be thrown in the lions den except as a last resort. He has shown positives, but defensively his game needs much work. We need to remember he was originally a winger. If the clubs data was wrong, that is not the lads fault and hopefully fans direct the criticism appropriately.
 
He was sh*t on Tuesday. A solid 2/10 performance.

But the reaction to this has been well OTT. He was getting no help from McGree, and you could see none of his teammates wanted to give him the ball. Did he stay? Go forward? Most of the time he was just caught nowhere. But not all his fault. Being skinned the same way 4-5 times was on him though ......😬

Current assessment, he looks miles off it. But we have little option but to persevere, or we play a right footed CB LB which is almost as wonky.

Too early to write him off, but not looking good. But let's not throw him under the bus - he's still a Boro player and needs the fans to back him not boo him
 
h_m_boro said:
He was sh*t on Tuesday. A solid 2/10 performance.

But the reaction to this has been well OTT. He was getting no help from McGree, and you could see none of his teammates wanted to give him the ball. Did he stay? Go forward? Most of the time he was just caught nowhere. But not all his fault. Being skinned the same way 4-5 times was on him though ......😬

Current assessment, he looks miles off it. But we have little option but to persevere, or we play a right footed CB LB which is almost as wonky.

Too early to write him off, but not looking good. But let's not throw him under the bus - he's still a Boro player and needs the fans to back him not boo him
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Play him in the reserves to get his confidence up - if he keeps getting skinned by wide players then his confidence will be well and truly shot.
 
The thing is he wasn’t up against Cristiano Ronaldo here, he was up against a converted wing-back and he got skinned every time. Couple that with the abject performances in the other games he’s played where he gave a goal away. Fans are rightly concerned that when he’s in the side, he’s a liability. Because so far he’s proved to be.

If they part with their money to support their club, they have every right to voice their opinion however they see fit.

And don’t give me this ***** about ‘but it’ll destroy his confidence’. That’s not how the real world works. If I wasn’t doing my job, I’d be held accountable. And footballers are on far more money than most of us can dream of. So far, Lukas hasn’t been worth it.

I hope he comes good, but from what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think he’s any better than Hayden Coulson. And I think Carrick believes that too, which is why we went back for Bangura.
 
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Don't forget that it is the fans that pay the money that allows the club to spend the transfer fees and wages on these players so there is nothing wrong with fans questioning the way that money has been spent. If that is stating the obvious and saying somebody who is not good enough is not good enough then I don't have a problem with that. Everyone is capable of having a bad game so I wouldn't write someone off so quickly but there are signs when you watch a player and you can see they aren't good enough. Things like their first touch, their awareness and the way they track/mark attackers should be the same whether they are playing well or not.

I missed the 1st half the other day so I haven't commented on Engels but I was listening on the radio and they were mentioning that he was being tortured and Carrick obviously thought so too because he subbed him off. For some reason our scouting seems to be along the lines of spotting players that are playing well in their leagues via stats and then assuming they can do it in a much tougher league. Do we not do any analysis on player's actual abilities? Barlaser had a load of assists, Engels had a load of assists so we sign them but they clearly lack the ability to do it at the level we're playing at. I get goals and assists when I play football but I'd get none in the championship.
 
It was obvious after 15 minutes what was happening and it was only a matter of time before they got some joy down that side.
The management team were slow to react it's not the players fault.
As someone else said if you are beaten for pace you show the attacker inside, that didn't happen either...
Basic stuff !
 
h_m_boro said:
But the reaction to this has been well OTT. He was getting no help from McGree...............................................
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Is there any sort of expectation on the 2 wide players in the 3 behind the striker to track back when we don't have the ball? I'm not seeing any signs that there is, which is nuts. Its leaving us absolutely exposed when the opposition come forward. Reminds me of the time Bola was hung out to dry in a home hammering............by Sheff Wed ironically (the name of the manager at the time has been withheld to protect the innocent;)).
 
I'm not one to join a witch hunt, and I am always pretty level headed when it comes to Boro, but I must admit he was shocking, and has been between shocking and below average in the games I have seen him in.

He didnt know how to deal with the second rate Wednesday fullback. Even after multiple sprints past him, he didnt seem to be able to manage his own game to affect Valentin in any way. He allowed him on the outside every time. That is my big worry. You can be slower, but you should recognise that and adapt in some form. He didnt, it was head down and hope for the best.

He scared me. So in all honesty I'd be worried if he is close to a starting line up any time soon.
 
Bangura looks lively and pacey and not afraid to get forward. Perhaps he is the guy we should have got in initially with Coulson as backup. It's all hindsight though.

Perhaps we should add Engel to the long list of players who were written off over the last couple of years, who turned out to be solid in the end: Dijksteel, Bola, Akpom, Marvinho Johnson etc.
 
The issue is they are being thrown into deep end and it’s not really fair on them look latte lath I’ve already heard fans at the ground writing him off it’s madness.

The fact is 2 seasons ago these lads would be on the bench at most now they are regular starters.
 
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