We have made a lot of signings this window!

starplayer said:
In fairness there were more than 6 teams with a stronger squad than us last year who we finished above. WBA and Watford come to mind.
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Exactly, this isn’t a matter of picking the best players and you automatically win the league. It’s about building a culture and philosophy and getting the right motivation and tactics and a bit of luck
 
BoroMart said:
It was unlikely to be done again so would have needed replacing even if we kept him
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I don't see any injuries or lack of confidence so I don't see it being unlikely. He may have done worse, he may have done better. His ability to hold the ball and turn got us 30 yards up the pitch. And we wouldn't have seen Silvera spannering those tap ins over the bar as chuba would have got there before him. It's as big a loss as viduka.

Ah well. At least Rogers looks decent.
 
Davey_C said:
Where's the next Teemu Pukki what a free transfer that proved for Norwich although they never cashed in on his success ... Norwich fans must be asking the same question!
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Why would Norwich cash in though? He's a big reason why they've been a yo-yo team of late rather than one just meffing around midtable in the champo.
 
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Keanu_Reeves said:
The squad is weaker than the one that finished last season, and that's the reality. That we've signed quite a few players is neither here nor there - we're not as good a side now, on paper at least, as the one that finished fourth last season. If we can make the playoffs again with this squad Carrick will have very much over achieved with what he has at his disposal. Much will depend on what he can get out of a group of players who largely have yet to prove themselves at this level.
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I could go back and find the posts. But this is what people said at the beginning of last season. I remember the comments - Steffan I too small for the Championship no improvement on Lumley. why haven't we replaced Tavernier? We have no numbers in midfield and they're too slow and plodding! We don't have a goalscorer! No Promotion chasing team would have Chuba up front! Jones is a one season wonder, Giles can't defend, Forss isn't ready. We're a soft touch defensively and can't score goals! Too many projects! It was all the same sort of stuff we're saying now. Then we ended 4th. And everyone who said those things suddenly knew that we had a quality side last season, Chuba already looked a different player (in all 2 and half games he played before he was injured), you could always see that Forss had what it took, etc, etc.

It's a good job that everyone here can see whether or not our signings are going to make it, despite the majority of the fans having never seen most of them play before they joined us! The results haven't been great so far, but individually, every new player has shown glimpses of being capable at this level. So I'm more than willing to withhold any judgement as to whether this side can make a better or worse team than last season. And that's what matters, because Luton weren't one of the best 6 sides in the league last season if you went player for player, but they went up. Who knows if we can do the same.
 
Oh, and just to put things into perspective. Luton and Coventry won none of their first 4 games last season, Burnley and Sunderland only won one of them. And, truthfully, apart from Burnley, I don't think we'd look swap our sides now with their sides last season. I don't know if we're going to go on the kind of run that they, and we, went on last season. But maybe, I don't know, we should wait and see how the next few games go before we take make any judgements.
 
BoroMart said:
It’s way too early to make that judgement
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it’s not you know - and irs only my judgement - which Im happy to be wrong about.
We have got a guy from Leeds that they didn’t want and Coburn, who was bound for Plymouth is now staying.
Combine that with leaking goals - and thats where I get my judgement.

Feel free to remind me when we get into the play offs
 
1finny said:
it’s not you know
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It really is become the same people wrote off our play off chances and I'd guess similar happened at Coventry.

1finny said:
We have got a guy from Leeds that they didn’t want
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There is no relevance in this, most signings are because some other club didn't want them or didn't want them enough.

1finny said:
and Coburn, who was bound for Plymouth is now staying.
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the same Coburn that many on this board have been screaming to not send out on loan.

1finny said:
Combine that with leaking goals
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Yes, we are leaking goals, but that sample is a handful of games, not 46, we leaked goals at times last year, still made the play offs.

4 games is far too early, particularly with so much upheaval to the squad. Give it 10-12 games and we will know if it's feasible or not with more certainty than today. It isn't a race to be the first fan to make a claim, we've had a poor defensive start, but that's it, that can be turned around.
 
wilkos_perm said:
I don't think anyone said we weren't going to loan anyone. We had 5 or 6 last season, that's the difference
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That’s been the trope trotted out for the last few weeks! 😂

The gazette (admittedly not the greatest source) have posted consistently about how Boro are trying to move away from relying on loans.
 
Scrug said:
That’s been the trope trotted out for the last few weeks! 😂

The gazette (admittedly not the greatest source) have posted consistently about how Boro are trying to move away from relying on loans.
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Carrick was very clear and balanced when he spoke about loans, the gazette have run with it as some sort of definitive decision, despite Carrick not really saying that
 
Scrug said:
That’s been the trope trotted out for the last few weeks! 😂

The gazette (admittedly not the greatest source) have posted consistently about how Boro are trying to move away from relying on loans.
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Did you read what Carrick actually said? It was posted on here, it was filmed on the Boro website so you can listen to it there. He never once said that we weren't going to loan players. Carrick said we relied on too many loans last season - main striker - Archer , main creative outlet - Giles, main goalkeeper - Steffan. The way the team played and performed relied entirely on these players. Not wanting to be in that position again isn't the same as not wanting to use the loan market at all.

We have moved away from relying entirely on loans, neither O'Brien or Greenwood will be as integral to how the team works as the players had last year. Both will likely play regularly and will be important players, but losing them won't be as catastrophic as it was this season.
 
MVBoro said:
Once the window closes and the dust has settled, be interesting to hear from Scott about the strategy in play and why we signed the players we did and the loans late on. He normally does an interview post window. Will be good to hear from the horse's mouth so to speak. I'm sure we are still aiming for the play-offs at least. Only time will tell if we get there.
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He'll only say what's safe. That's what press conferences are all about. He'll work out a 'strategy' which ties in with the signings we made.

Will he say who the real targets were and why we didn't get them?
 
I think we are centre back signing away from a fantastic window. It will also be interesting to see who goes out today to balance the books / numbers? Some bright young fresh and talented lads brought in since the summer with stacks of potential. I can see us flying starting with a 3-0 on Saturday. UTB
 
Scrug said:
That’s been the trope trotted out for the last few weeks! 😂

The gazette (admittedly not the greatest source) have posted consistently about how Boro are trying to move away from relying on loans.
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It seems fairly clear that we’ve gone from Steffen, Giles, archer and Ramsey being starters to just O’btien and greenwood as a squad player
 
Hi, FatFrank here - just a timely reminder that as football fans, we know absolutely nothing regarding the ability, knowledge, skill or potential about any player that comes through our doors (barring Sammy Ameobi, we all knew).

The sheer pettiness of some individuals is frankly embarrassing. How about we leave the bloke who literally turned our season upside down to his own devices and see what comes of it, rather than thinking you're some form of multi-faceted football analyst because you listen to talkSport and play Footy Manager.

Put the energy of typing hot air posts into something productive.
 
rbmfc1985 said:
Did you read what Carrick actually said? It was posted on here, it was filmed on the Boro website so you can listen to it there. He never once said that we weren't going to loan players. Carrick said we relied on too many loans last season - main striker - Archer , main creative outlet - Giles, main goalkeeper - Steffan. The way the team played and performed relied entirely on these players. Not wanting to be in that position again isn't the same as not wanting to use the loan market at all.

We have moved away from relying entirely on loans, neither O'Brien or Greenwood will be as integral to how the team works as the players had last year. Both will likely play regularly and will be important players, but losing them won't be as catastrophic as it was this season.
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No I’d only read the gazette, fair enough 👍🏻
 
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