Early days but it appears Pickering is not looking great at left back.

Decent point that. Millwall have been a solid Champ team.

Not to mention the quality to come off the bench and effect the game.

Just offers the radio options. I'll save my brass.

Booo

I'm in Spain and don't get the option of a live stream 🤷🏻‍♂️

It was.

Seems a much more logical move all round.

Yeah I get that...but 6 from one club seems a bit excessive. Only the first season from Smallwood and half a first season from Downing is the only value we've had from that lot. Piss poor really. Pretty much all the players you mentioned above (except for soft lad Ferguson) ranged from decent to exceptional. Difference in calibre of manager I suppose.

Smallwood Pears Ayala Downing Chapman Leutweiler Anyone I've missed that has Boro links?

Why would head of recruitment be scouting opponents? Can't possibly be in his remit.

The whole thing seems bizzarre now. According to all reports a fee for Obafemi has been agreed for a while. That means we have permission to talk to the player. TM said yesterday he hadn't spoken to the lad. Why not? Obafemi clearly isn't interested in coming this way or the deal would have been done days ago

And that alone should set alarm bells ringing. We are far to cosy with Boro.

The weird thing with Mowbray is it's the defensive players that don't seem to improve. Crazy considering what a good centreback he was back in the day.

I'm not arguing Dack and Armstrong. How have Brereton, Nyambe and Lennihan improved under Mowbray? Nyambe and Lennihan were around the first team when he came. They've had plenty of game time but have they fulfilled the talent that got them in the first team at a young age? Travis started brightly when he arrived in the first team - following Damien Johnson's input. Again, has he improved since making his breakthrough?

Just about every link to a player always has a Middlesbrough interest. That can't be pure coincidence.

Nyambe, Bell, Lenihan, Gallagher, Brereton, Rothwell. I'd argue that none of those have improved under Mowbray.

So Mowbray's new plan (Lancs Telegraph) is for the whole team to contribute goals. He wants more goals from midfield but apparently we don't have those players at the club so he needs to bring them in. Defence need to weigh in with more goals from set pieces. Except he doesn't practise set pieces.🤦🏻‍♂️ Anyway for me, I still think we need a strapping CB and a big physical midfielder so we can compete physically. - before we think about adding more goals.

Biggest give away was one being a winger 🤣. Or if genuine, the Brighton crock returning may work in out favour, now we have the Armstrong money.

We've bought the player who was allegedly Crewe's best player. Jury is out on whether he will make the step up to the Championship. We don't need any more league one players.

He's trying them all so that when he knows which players are coming, he can narrow it down to 5.

Tinker tinker all the bloody time.

Don't know much about Obafemi but there is enough about him that most Championship clubs would take a punt on the player - especially on a free in 12 months. Also possible that some would be willing to pay a decent fee for him now. I doubt we would be able to beat off other suitors if he was on a free, so getting him now would be reasonably shrewd. In my humble opinion. I'd be surprised if he wanted to come here though.

Aye. Don't disagree on Dack. Would only play him off the bench this season. He'll be very lucky to come back from doing both knees. We've almost always been willing to take a punt on injury plagued players. Probably just the market we operate in. Very hit and miss. Santa Cruz was made of glass but what a season and profit we got out of him. Then his injuries kicked in again. Martin Dahlin never worked out. Sometimes the younger lads struggle with hamstrings etc as they develop through their late teens. Josh King is a prime example. Rapid but lots of niggles. As he got towards mid twenties, his injury record improved considerably. Still worth taking a punt on some of these players, High risk, high reward.

The first 11 on Saturday was respectable -with plenty of players capable of room to improve over a season. We have players to return from injury: JRC, Wharton, Johnson, Chapman, Dack. All of whom would be expected to be in the bench at least when fit. We have lads such as Butterworth, McBride, Garret, Cirino, Pike, Carter that could slot in for the odd game or cover the bench. We have a million keepers. 3 signings that can go straight into the first team are all that's needed at this point of time IMO. A CB, CM and striker. Not a problem if If we take a punt on a talented kid (from an elite club) on top of that but not essential. Don't get me wrong, it's not a group dripping with quality but the less players we have, the less Tony can tinker which may actually make us more consistent.