Everyone’s gone from one extreme to the other on Greaves, from him being a 15m centre half to a **** centre half. Can’t see we’d get the £7m we were offered in the summer for him now. And if we did, whoever paid it I would bet my house would not be paying that for him to play left back. He’s out the team because he’s not been very good there for a long time.
Not sure about any of that. We'll get big offers this summer, his valuation certainly won't have gone down this season. And he's only been out of the team, for the last couple of games, because others are playing very well. If he wasn't so adaptable he'd probably never have been moved from LCB and McLoughlin never would've got his chance. Prior to these last couple of games Greaves was an ever-present pick when fit, and I'm sure he'll be back in the 11 before long. With Greaves waiting in the wings, Elder is only ever one average performance away from being dropped.
It's a common scenario. Play somebody out of position and then drop them for not being very good being played out of position. I accept it's only happened for a couple of games after his injury but I hate to not use a good player if we possibly can - especially if we can turn it to an advantage in other areas.
No, it was complete nonsense, I don't know what game people watch sometimes. Centre halves being able to play at full back effectively is so rare. Even the likes of Chester, who was a phenomenal centre back couldn't play there. It's so hard and requires such a different skillset.
Why has LR not played Greaves at LB for the last two games? Was it because he was too good for the position? There must be some reason.
A sizeable chunk of posters on here have spent the season saying Greaves isn’t good enough at centre half after crying that £7m was nowhere near enough for him in the summer. I don’t know if you were one of them or not. It was a completely fact based post.
Clearly Boro don't agree otherwise they wouldn't have put £7m on the table for him. People post so much ****, it doesn't make it right. Centre halves take an age to develop, so he's still a baby at 22. Take McLoughlin and Alfie, they're starting to blossom, they're 25 and 26.
I agree but I think he’s already better there than both of them and should be playing and developing fully there as the intended backbone of the defence and team.
If they have the ability players can get a lot better over time I dont understand why McLoughlin was out of the team earlier in the season
Maybe they should try him in goal? If he can play that position it might add even more to his value. I think Middlesbrough need a goalkeeper.
Bloody hell. Because it's hard to fit two good players in the same position. I know you've suggested a way we could fit them both in, but clearly we've decided we don't want to change the shape of the entire team to enable us to fit two good players in who share a position. Sometimes this sort of thing happens. It's a positive to have multiple good options.
I agree. Not so good when it pisses them off and they think it's better for them if they leave. Changing shape to play with two strikers is a great idea.
It’s because Greaves got injured Elder was put in did a good job and any good manager would leave him there, it’s good man management , as soon as he fails Greaves is back in. If Greaves was so far ahead of him and so critical he might have got back in . That would send out a ‘ favourites’ message , plus a rest for him is good at this time of the season if you can over it . Maybe I’m totally right or totally wrong - ask Rosie
