Excellent transfer policy

[Bold Seagull]

McCourt - Fans favourite. Creative spark, why he is not starting is beyond me!? GOOD signing.

He's not starting because he should be playing out wide….but oh, he's not a full back

An excellent signing if Gus or Oscar were still in charge……poor signing for someone changing our style of play.

 

[Withdean11]

It's a very physical league, and we have not signed any physical players. This is why it is important to have a manager that knows the championship, and allow him to make signings. We've got it completely wrong!

 

[spanish flair]

Just shows how much blind faith we have in our club. What a turnip I am!

I don't think you are turnip Mr Giraffe, just been let down by the board in my view and if it helps, if you now think you are a turnip, then there are at least 22 others who gave you a thumbs up for the original post.

 

[symyjym]

It turns out it hasn't worked out because most of us believed we were putting structures in place within the club where an incoming manager would be hired on the fact he plays similar or identical football to the outgoing one so that our recruitment can remain consistent even if the manager changes (re: Southampton or Swansea).

What we've ended up with is a manager who has bought anew system to the club that is completely alien to everything the squad has been working on for the last 4 years - and it really shows.

The manager hasn't just failed to get the best out of new signings, he's also draining the confidence of existing players like Greer who is having to relearn his role. It's crap. It's just so blindingly obvious it is painful.

I tend to agree with most of this but not who is at fault. Bloom had always endorsed the Spanish passing style and I believed that this philosophy was to be the foundation of the Academy. It seems that there has been a complete U-Turn and this season we have taken a different approach. Maybe seeing the likes of Bournemouth doing well last season with their go for it mentality made Bloom change his mind on this, but have we given up too soon with the way we had been used to playing, and what style of football will the Academy adopt now, let alone who do we have to teach it.

At the end of the day it is TB who has changed his mind on the way we should play and he chose Sami to do this, so it’s not Sami who is dictating a new style, he is just here to enforce it. It is also the board’s job to make sure that we have the players who are up to the task.

Also to be fair to Sami, our poor results have been down to player errors and not taking advantage of their opportunities. Middlesbrough have lost 4 times this season and we have lost 5 so our biggest problem has been drawing.

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

The fact is we have too many lightweight players who are constantly being muscled off the ball. Tex is like a little boy lost just waiting for the next clatter to come in before he eventually limps off with his tail between his legs. Colunga is too small and is always eased off the ball. Likewise Bennett and JFC who both struggle with the physical side of the game.
Crofts is out for the season, so we've lost that element of aggression. Ince is being used sparingly and Toko and Agustien who could provide that muscle are both out in the cold.
Teams now realise that they can ' out muscle ' us very easily and apart from Greer and Dunk at the back and COG in a rather crude way upfront, we have no presence.
Its just pretty, ineffectual, lightweight football going nowhere. No drive, no power, no end product.

It's a very physical league, and we have not signed any physical players. This is why it is important to have a manager that knows the championship, and allow him to make signings. We've got it completely wrong!

Both good posts. We look terribly lightweight in a league that tends to favour bullies over beauty.
Both Gardner and Holla provide a bit of bite and, with Ince in the mix too, you'd think we be able to look after ourselves in the middle. It's the front line that is so weak and porous that the ball only stays that end of the pitch for the odd few moments.
I wouldn't want to play in midfield for us.

 

[Albion Dan]

At the time, many of these players looked like good signings. Sami looked like a good appointment. That wasn't based on **** all. It was based on actual, real world evidence. People were right to be optimistic based on the facts. Turns out, it hasn't worked out. That's football.

It was based on one good result and a load of signings wed hardly seen play. Unfortunately the season lasts till May and it was pretty clear by the end of Sept that the lauding of how well we'd done was ridiculously knee jerk. We are in a right old state both managerially and in quality attacking options.

 

[Bold Seagull]

At the end of the day it is TB who has changed his mind on the way we should play and he chose Sami to do this, so it’s not Sami who is dictating a new style, he is just here to enforce it. It is also the board’s job to make sure that we have the players who are up to the task.

Also to be fair to Sami, our poor results have been down to player errors and not taking advantage of their opportunities. Middlesbrough have lost 4 times this season and we have lost 5 so our biggest problem has been drawing.

You maybe right, but I find it hard to believe any manager takes a job and is told what style to play. I've always thought the whole interview process is based upon the manager showing the prospective club his methods, what he does in training, his tactics, flexibility etc. and they decide if that is for them. Some managers will say they play to the strengths of their players, others will have a rigid ideology on how they think football should be played.

Both with friends and on these boards I defended Oscar last season as I personally felt he was doing a good job with what he had, and despite us being dull at times, there was method and it always looked like the players were all pulling in the same direction.

M'Boro have lost 4 times, but they've also won 7. We've not looked like winning many of our draws if I'm brutally honest. As I said on another thread, we've come from behind in 3 of our draws, dramatically at home to Charlton, we've scrapped through a couple, and can we honestly say we've been dead unlucky not to win any of the others? I think the other teams could equally say the same. If it hadn't been for the superb scoring form of Dunk from the back, we'd be in the bottom 3.

Our biggest problem isn't drawing, that has actually been saving us because we simply haven't looked like winning, that is the biggest problem. Falling back on stats is really masking how bad it is on the pitch right now.

 

[symyjym]

You maybe right, but I find it hard to believe any manager takes a job and is told what style to play. I've always thought the whole interview process is based upon the manager showing the prospective club his methods, what he does in training, his tactics, flexibility etc. and they decide if that is for them. Some managers will say they play to the strengths of their players, others will have a rigid ideology on how they think football should be played.

Both with friends and on these boards I defended Oscar last season as I personally felt he was doing a good job with what he had, and despite us being dull at times, there was method and it always looked like the players were all pulling in the same direction.

M'Boro have lost 4 times, but they've also won 7. We've not looked like winning many of our draws if I'm brutally honest. As I said on another thread, we've come from behind in 3 of our draws, dramatically at home to Charlton, we've scrapped through a couple, and can we honestly say we've been dead unlucky not to win any of the others? I think the other teams could equally say the same. If it hadn't been for the superb scoring form of Dunk from the back, we'd be in the bottom 3.

Our biggest problem isn't drawing, that has actually been saving us because we simply haven't looked like winning, that is the biggest problem. Falling back on stats is really masking how bad it is on the pitch right now.

Yep, I sort of meant that Bloom chose Sami because he wanted a different approach, so not exactly dictating to him our style, more like authorising the change.

To a degree, on paper, it could be considered a wise move to change our philosophy given that the Spanish way has been put to bed by the German way, so Sami’s experience in Germany may have been a big factor to why he was chosen. All hypothetical of course.

I too felt Oscar did a great job with what we had and we were a few players away from exciting football. That said the first leg of the playoffs was an exciting game and there were other good moments last season where we had glimpses of what Oscar could do. Some fans blamed him for being boring but the bigger picture was the lack of quality and pace in the squad, so in that respect he played to the players strengths.

 

[Don Quixote]

'Now near impossible'. 10 points off the play-offs with 96 to play for. This is why you are stupid, with the constant stream of drivel you come out with. 10 points off the play-offs in April is near on impossible to make up, not in October.

The disaster appears to be the hiring of a manager who has no idea how to get the best out of a decent group of players. But as usual, you're too thick to see the bigger picture.

Fortunately, I don't think he'll be around much longer, and then I expect us to get someone in who can, and watch our fortunes turn around drastically. If they don't, then I will happily say I got it wrong. But I'll say it again, the players aren't the problem.

You trust them to bring in decent players, but have admitted they've made a mistake over the most important signing which is the manager. How do you know the players are good enough for the play offs? There has been nothing to suggest they are good enough. Sure the manager is useless, but it isn't all his fault.

 

[Commander]

You trust them to bring in decent players, but have admitted they've made a mistake over the most important signing which is the manager. How do you know the players are good enough for the play offs? There has been nothing to suggest they are good enough. Sure the manager is useless, but it isn't all his fault.

I don't know, it's my opinion. I don't think the squad is that bad. Maybe I'll be proved wrong, maybe I won't. Time will tell.

 

[JCL666]

It turns out it hasn't worked out because most of us believed we were putting structures in place within the club where an incoming manager would be hired on the fact he plays similar or identical football to the outgoing one so that our recruitment can remain consistent even if the manager changes (re: Southampton or Swansea).

What we've ended up with is a manager who has bought anew system to the club that is completely alien to everything the squad has been working on for the last 4 years - and it really shows.

The manager hasn't just failed to get the best out of new signings, he's also draining the confidence of existing players like Greer who is having to relearn his role. It's crap. It's just so blindingly obvious it is painful.

Great post.

I loved the style of football we had.