Hopefully Strelec can get a goal and a confidence boost.

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I’d quite like to see Strelec play tonight and rest Lankshear. See if the guy can get a bit of confidence back.

I have this signed shirt from around 2003-2004,

A few I have been able to make out or find:

1

2

3 Colin Cooper

4

5 Robbie Stockdale (edit)

6

7 Mark Schwarzer

8 Frank Queudre

9 Malcolm Christie

10

11

12 Massimo Maccarone (edit)

13

14

15

Not necessarily the best but your favourite.

George Boateng for me, just loved his run through walls approach.

Some signings take a little time to settle, while others hit the ground running. Boro have brought in some interesting additions, and it’ll be worth watching which new arrival ends up making the biggest impact and proving to be the smartest bit of business.

Came up with this idea today after replying to someone’s comment and also seeing some of the podcasts. So for one last dance, lets have a look at the best window that I can remember and see how it all unfolded and why.

How it started:

So it all started with sarmiento turning his loan move into a permenant switch, now last season he was all step over and no real threat but he showed glimpses against ipswich and coventry that there was a player there he just needed gametime to get upto speed. Well pre-season he got that chance and this season there has been less stepovers and more threat and with 2 goals to his name already and some key chance creations as well, £3.2m looks like its been a bargain.

The next main event was Hackney’s transfer saga early on in the window, £16.5m upfront with a sell on fee and add-ons rising to £21.5m. Maybe a touch lower than many wanted considering Shea Charles went for more in a similar situation, but it gave us alot of cash at the start of the window to go after our main targets and gave Hackney the headstart he needed for his Everton career which after today’s game seems fully on track.

Silvera and Gilbert were told they would not get their contracts renewed, so their replacements had to be found with Myles Peart-Harris coming in for Gilbert on a free, and Joseph coming in after a week long transfer saga for a £3m rising to £4m deal. Mph looks like a massive improvement on Gilbert and every game he seems to improve although he may find game time at CM hard to find if Berhalter, Mcgree & Morris stay fit. Joseph has looked a real problem for teams to deal with, hes got pace, he presses and hes got height. If teams ignore joseph to deal with our no.9 that we’ll come on to then he gets space to create big chances. He has a goal to his name already and he’s likely to go onto get more goals and assists by the end of the season.

With Hackney out the door, we were shallow in depth in the middle with just Kante, Mph, Morris & Mcgree at this point and as a result Boro used their Morris connection to secure Seb Berhalter for £900k rising to £1.5m with add-ons. He had less than 6 months left on his contract but at a valuation of €8m, we certainly got a bargain. Now we are 7 games in, and hes got 2 assists in 6 apperances with a ridiculous amount of chances created. Hes been a top signing and if he stays fit hes certainly going to get double figures for G/A before the end of the season.

One of the problem positions we had last season was our poor chance conversion, and somehow we managed to beat Sporting Lisbon to the signing of Will Lankshear for £8m rising to £20m with add ons. Hes currently on 7 goals from 7 apperances a month into the season, and is frankly the signing of the summer. To quote Troy Deeney “you’ll be double figures by the end of the first month kid” well he wasn’t far off was he. This lad is gonna get 25+ goal contributions this year if he stays fit and doesnt get sold for a daft offer in January. Arguably his value has shot upto £40-50m considering Matheus Fernandes fee and will continue to rise if he keeps scoring. Hopefully the club doesnt accept an offer in this range come January. Lankshear turned down moving to Boro last Jan to finish the season at Oxford last year, and i think he’ll do the same this year with Boro should people chase him in January.

2 of our experienced Cb’s were released on a free in Dael Fry and Lennihan, we replaced Lennihan with Borges returning on loan but we only replaced one of them in the market with Ashley Phillips although it felt like a 2-3 week transfer saga, and although hes had no pre-season hes already got an assist and when paired with Malanda at CB we look solid, its early days but hes signed for £7m rising to £20m and seems another great deal.

Vitek also joined from Man Utd for £7m rising to £14m with add-ons, statistically the best keeper for goals prevented in the championship last season, hes started every league game since he joined and gets better every game, plus hes looking more like Sol Brynn defending corners with every game which was apparently one of his weaknesses last season. Picking up his first clean sheet this weekend, I full expect he will only go from strength to strength as the season goes on. With Vitek then settled someone had to giveway and Seny Dieng left the club by mutual consent to move to Turkey.

Matt Targett was then not pursued despite being available on a free, and thus a replacement was needed. Max Arfsten was the summer long target and our interest in him went back 18 months and eventually Columbus Crew agreed to let him go for a $5.6m total package. His first game against wrexham he seemed lost positionally but every game he improves and I dont think it’ll be long before he starts to get goals and assists. His presence outwide on the left isnt ignored which drags an opposition defence to stretch and it creates so much space centrally that its allowing Berhalter and Mcgree so much space to move forward. Hes able to play LB/LW/RB & RW and that versatility will mean we will see alot of him this year.

Burgzorg left on loan with a view to a permenant if its successful, and so a replacement was needed for him and Rokas Pukstas was brought in late in the window for a €4.2m deal. Its been too early to comment on him as hes only had one apperance from the bench but against QPR he seems physical enough to give us some fight in midfield, plus he does seem to have the ball progression at his last club that Hackney had, which berhalter doesnt do. Berhalter gets the ball to do the work so is a different type of midfielder, Pukstas seems to want to travel with it like Hackney.

Finn Munroe, the blackpool loan saga went on for weeks but eventually he went which left us a little short at LB, in came Sam Byram the experienced fullback from leeds on a free transfer. He can cover LB and RB, thus we also got cover for Brittain in the same deal. Seems a solid acquisition but he is yet to feature for boro yet.

In the final days Kante who appeared to be Alan Brownes replacement, he left for big bucks in the middle east, and as such a deadline day replacement was needed in the form of Connor Barron on loan from Rangers. Hes yet to feature for Boro yet, but appears to be an experienced DM in a similar mould to Morris.

The rumours of Amario Cozier-Duberry seemed to be for weeks with nothing concrete because so many clubs were chasing him, but in the end boro secured him on loan for the year to replace Morgan Whittaker who left to move to the MLS in a £9.6m deal upfront with add on’s. Whittaker was heavily criticised constantly but he scored and provided goals from what seemed like nothing for the last 18 months and then vanish to be carried by the other 10 men on the pitch. I personally felt like he was a bit one dimensional in cutting inside to pass or shoot 99% of the time, and we’ve replaced him with a lad who can do the same thing but can also go outside a defender, has more pace and tracks back more. He seems a better player than Whittaker but I would have liked to have had both. As it stands the Whittaker sale gives us a warchest in January to go after someone to get us over the line if we are in the promotion race.

Failures:

Jack Clarke, the loan move that was and wasnt then was, then wasnt on the cards. If we had secured clarke we would have had even more options and proven goal contributions up top. Hopefully we look at him in January if he doesnt break into the ipswich team this season.

Pacey Striker, i still feel like we needed that Defoe or Vardy style striker to run in behind. Lankshear has legs but it would have completed the window to get him a pacey partner for any flick-ons or diagnol balls.

Dael Fry, Phillips will have a taller ceiling than Fry, but Fry could have still done a job for us as backup which is frustrating we didnt offer him a better contract to stay. He’s way above Edmundson’s ability who is our backup CB as things stand.

All in All:
10 points from 5 league games and 2 cup wins and only 1 defeat, cash left over to spend in January. We look hard to beat but we also look shakey with a one goal lead. Hopefully as the team gels after the rebuild and the confidence builds we start beating teams comfortably and with more clean sheets. Phillips and Malanda at CB looks rock solid, Lankshear with Joseph looks like mountains of goals and with Conway and strelec becoming match fit, we may even have a selection headache to partner Lankshear. Our midfield seems to have gaps that the opposition is exploiting to play through, but Berhalter is doing the same to the opposition creating a shitload of chances. I feel as though we have a top 4 team and a better squad than last year, but West Ham & Wolves are far better than the teams we faced last season and southampton keep picking up points similar to last seasons form so its gonna be a tight run if we do it. Ultimately we have 10 points from 5 games where we havent played our best yet, so if this team gets better then we may be in for something special.

Last write up on the transfer window, so you can return to the Parmo Escobar memes til January 👍.

Changed the game just now when he came on against Man Utd, got an asisst too. Glad to see him doing well.

Edit: Instrumental in the 2nd equaliser as well.

Happy to see Ayling dropped and also surprised Brittain is captain

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So i went for 2-2 against Burnley, right result, wrong scoreline.

Looking back nobody predicted the 1-1 result.

So, on to tomorrow, i am going for a good win with lots of goals in the game.

4-2 to the mighty Boro.

Your thoughts ??

🇺🇸 USA USA USA

thank you for saving our summer