By Daniel Ragusa
A typical Tony Pulis side is spearheaded by a 6ft+ target man and this means that the wide areas are crucial to creating chances.
From defending ruggedly one minute to putting in a Beckham-esque cross the next, Pulis is incredibly demanding of his wingers and expects them to be effective and committed all the way down their side of the field.
Since he took over in late December, Tony usually opted for a 4-5-1 when in defence and a 4-3-3 in attack. On the whole, this proved successful.
Adama Traore and Stewart Downing were selected as the wide men more often than not and quickly adopted to the manager’s style of play.
But with the new season quickly approaching, who deserves to be hugging the touchlines for Boro on August 4th?
Who should we keep? Who should we let go?
These are my thoughts...
Stewart Downing
One of our own and a victim to a moan, Boro’s number 19 has endured a mixed time since returning to Teesside in 2015.
He’s undoubtedly one of Middlesbrough’s best academy products and rightly earned 35 England caps during his career.
After stepping down from the Premier League to the Championship for a second spell at his boyhood club, Stewy struggled to hold down a central attacking midfield role under Aitor Karanka who preferred him out wide.
After promotion to the Premier League, Downing struggled to have any real impact and was reportedly told he could leave for Crystal Palace in January. However he allegedly wanted to stay with his boyhood club and chose to fight for his place.
Fast-forward to the Monk reign and Downing was once again deemed surplus to requirements. He chose to stay however, despite an offer from Harry Redknapp’s Birmingham City being on the table.
Under Pulis we started to see the Downing of old again: a player willing to work the channel, take on defenders and whip in crosses.
As well as this, he had also matured a defensive mind-set, which allowed George Friend the freedom to gallop forward as we know he likes to.
When the season begins, Downing will be 34 years old. Despite his age, I think that his experience and desire to play for Boro should earn him at least another season at the club.
There’s no doubt that you could see him in a coaching role in the future.
You can see his footballing knowledge improving game by game and this combined with his involvement with the MFC Foundation makes him a great role model for the club.
To see him passing on his experiences to Boro’s youngsters coming through the ranks would be brilliant to witness and very beneficial to the future of this club.
It’s vital to keep Stewy around.
My Outcome: Kept as a squad player.
Likely Outcome: First Team Starter.
Adama Traore
What else is there to say about this guy?
Tim Sherwood once described him as a mix between Messi and Ronaldo and after his spell at Aston Villa, you could understand why that comment was ridiculed.
Since coming to Boro in what was essentially a swap deal for fan favourite Albert Adomah, the Spaniard endured a fair amount of criticism.
His pace frightened the likes of Hector Bellerin, but his intelligence on the field was clearly lacking. This gave Aitor Karanka no option but to show him to his seat on the bench more often than not.
After relegation, no one really knew what to expect from Adama.
Was he too good for the Championship? Had he done enough to merit a move to a Premier League side?
Reports suggested that newly appointed Boro boss Garry Monk tried to sell him off to the Bundesliga and replace him with Marvin Johnson (looking back on that rumour now you can breathe a sigh of relief).
When Pulis took over every fan thought that was surely the end of the winger’s time on Teesside. He
didn’t fit the requirements for a ‘Pulis player’ as he couldn’t defend, his positioning was bad, his crossing was inconsistent, and his shooting was poor. How wrong we all were.
He was transformed into a player who ended the season as Boro’s Player of the Year, despite only cementing a regular place in the team from January onwards.
We’ve all seen how he can now create chances, score goals and get the fans on the edge of their seats. For a Pulis side, that’s gold dust.
Still being only 22 years old, Adama still has so much room to grow. I think the majority of Boro fans including myself are hoping that his growth takes place at the Riverside next season, but can you really blame him if he wants away should a big club come in for him?
My Outcome: Must Keep.
Likely Outcome: Hard to predict but could be sold for big money.
Marvin Johnson
Since signing from Oxford, it’s not been great for the 27 year old.
When Garry Monk splashed around £2.5m on him, Boro fans quickly searched his name up on YouTube, looked at his long-range screamers and thought we might have a hidden gem on our hands.
After a debut goal against Bolton and a thrilling 3-2 victory against QPR (in which he grabbed two assists and a man of the match award) we started to believe that he was going to be a crucial figure going forward. He showed pace, flair and an eye for a pass in that victory and we couldn’t wait to watch him again.
Unfortunately however, he became a forgotten man as the season went on.
Johnson made just 17 appearances in total and at the end of the campaign struggled to even make the bench.
During this transfer window he’s been linked with a reunion with Monk at Birmingham City, as well as interest from Hull City and Ipswich.
There’s not too much of an argument for keeping him around, unless he really impresses in early pre-season and shows signs of his QPR form
My Outcome: Sold around the same price we paid form him.
Likely Outcome: Either loaned out or sold for around £1m.
Marcus Tavernier
Tavernier, or Tav as everyone likes to call him, broke onto the scene last season after impressing in pre-season and being granted a start in a 3-0 League Cup win over Scunthorpe United.
He grasped that opportunity with both hands and went on to make another 5 appearances in the cup and league, scoring two goals. One was a very well taken finish against Bournemouth, whilst the other was a Tees-Wear derby day goal that sent the Mackems home miserable.
Shortly after his brief spell in the side he was loaned out to MK Dons to for further game time and to avoid the risk of him sinking back down the Boro ranks. However, after just 7 appearances for the Milton Keynes based club, Tav picked up an injury and his season was over.
Despite this setback, the 19 year old looks to still have a burning desire to succeed in him (judging by the pre-season photos from Austria anyway).
So what awaits the England under-19 international this season?
One thing for certain is that he needs game time, whether that’s here at Middlesbrough or on another loan spell.
If he doesn’t get a place in the first team squad however, he risks being played in Boro’s Under 23’s fixtures. Despite the standard of those fixtures improving, Tav would gain a lot more experience from playing against EFL first team players.
My Outcome: Loaned out to a League 1 club.
Likely Outcome: Loaned out to either League 1 or 2.
Harry Chapman
The 20 year old winger seems to have been around forever. He’s repeatedly been brandished as one of Boro’s next big things out of the academy but hasn’t yet had a sniff in the first team.
Chapman has been loaned out three times (to Barnsley, Sheffield United and Blackburn in consecutive seasons) and seems to have left a good impression everywhere he’s been.
In his recent loan spell at Ewood Park, he left that great an impression on the Rovers fans that they’ve been begging him to return ever since. The club themselves are also said to be keen on bringing him back to Ewood Park on either a permanent or temporary basis.
Before an unfortunate hamstring injury suffered in November, Chapman developed a great understanding both on and off the pitch with the highly rated Bradley Dack.
He’s since returned to Teesside and is currently on pre-season training out in Austria as he continues on his road back to full fitness.
Harry’s best traits are his skill and technique but with just 35 senior appearances in the English Football League since 2015, question marks remain over whether he’s ready to step up to the plate for Boro’s first team.
Is he ready to make an impact on a Boro promotion push? I’d like to think that he’d stay with a point to prove, and to live up to all of the hype he’s generated.
Giving him a chance is minimal risk and could prove to be one of the best decisions we make this season.
My Outcome: Give him a chance around the first team until January.
Likely Outcome: Loaned/Sold to Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn Rovers.
Martin Braithwaite
Yes, the Dane is still on Boro’s books.
Braithwaite is a player who came with so much desire and promise, but then faded out when we needed him most.
He started the season fairly well under Monk after signing for a hefty £11m figure from Toulouse as he proved to be a pretty creative influence all over the pitch. His versatility was a key aspect in his game as he played in all three attacking midfield positions, as well as having the capabilities to play up front.
However, after Pulis took charge in December, Braithwaite was quickly shipped back out to France on loan to Bordeaux.
This could have been down to two main reasons. The first being that Martin didn’t suit Tony’s style of play, the second being that he may have needed guaranteed game time ahead of the World Cup.
In fairness to him, he secured his spot on Denmark’s plane to the World Cup and impressed at times in Russia before his nation was knocked out by Croatia on penalties.
This may potentially add more to his overall valuation if the club looks to sell him permanently and so the loan move may have worked out well for all parties after all.
Martin will be one of the highest earners at the club, and is also worth a decent amount of money.
Selling him should generate enough funds to cover both the McNair and Flint deals which would prove to be great business by Boro.
On the other hand Martin does offer some flair to the side and if he wants to stay and fight for his place, I don’t think there would be too many complaints from the Boro faithful.
My Outcome: Sold for at least £12m.
Likely Outcome: Sold for around the same figure we paid for him.
If my outcome became a reality, Boro would be left with three wingers (Downing, Adama and Chapman) come the start of the new season.
This would leave room for one new signing to come in and fight for their place on the Riverside flanks.
Who would this winger be? I’ll be exploring this subject in my next post.
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