FlyBritishMidland

We could sign a couple of strikers, a LWB, creative midfielder and pacey CB, and Middlesbrough would still be favourites to beat us next time we meet, because they've had years at championship level to build the current squad, using Gibson's largesse and funds from multi-million pound sales. So park the concerns about how we did it, just be happy that we've picked up a surprise 3 points to make up for last week's disappointing loss. 
We're playing Watford next week, who have a 100% record so far. If we do them 1-0 after a similar performance, I'll be absolutely delighted.

Don’t feel like this is respected enough.
We’re not a club that went down, retained our squad and bounced straight back up after one season.
We was stripped bare, had to rebuild the entire squad to come back up. 
20 odd years in the Championship prior means absolutely nothing, we’re a newly promoted side and our expectations going into these games must reflect that.
Boro had better players all over the pitch, we did what we needed to do, that’s the goal for the season. Just stay here and gradually build to where we can go out there and match the likes of Boro and dictate the game.

Reminded me of Santos from Bolton at our place last year. Looked pretty clueless. Collo only pressed Boro’s right centre half with the ball. Not a surprise that Clarke registered the joint 2nd most accurate passes. They either went 10 yards sideways, forwards, or diagonally out to an unmarked right winger. A definite ploy. He noticeably played further up the pitch 2nd half as we sat in the low block, but never did anything of threat.

In the second half, some folk around me were screaming out as to why their left winger (or whatever the current title is) was being left wide open with acres of space to attack down the flank. Being the expert analyst that I am (not), I suggested it was possibly a deliberate ploy. We’d probably find it easier to defend crosses coming in from out wide than allowing them driving down the middle (which they still did but they might have done more of if we’d put a man marking their wide player). 
 
As you say, you have to adapt your game to counter the oppositions strengths. The theory that you should just set up and play to your own strengths and not worry about the opposition has only limited validity.

3 points are not a short term benefit. 3 points are the first prize in any given football match. We won them and they will add to our total at the end of the season. They are a permanent contribution to our stated goal of establishing ourselves in this league, which is part of the plan. 

To be talking about promotion is absurd, getting the points to avoid going back where we have just been is THE goal for this season

maybe I am a bit odd, but I didn’t find it a hard watch. It was a nerve wracking but interesting game. We got pushed back because they had some very slick and able players. All from resources we don’t have. Yet, our guys played a team game, worked for each other, defended well, tried to create. It wasn’t meek surrender it was a game and we were in it .. Oh and WE took our chance thus winning it. There will be more exciting, evenly balanced games as you say. (And I know you recognise it won’t always be like today ) not being awkward or wanting a spat but it was fascinating to me .. watching the tide coming in and our boys building castles and walls .. it’s part of the game and they didn’t breach the barriers. 

It does make me laugh that people just think it’s ‘park the bus’ and it’s as easy as that. The amount of work that must go in to ensure the gaps between players isn’t there and manipulating the opposition from creating good chances is roughly 80% of tactical work that most managers focus on. 
Middlesbrough were a poor matchup for us, physically and technically. They are what I imagine Warne strives for us to be, quite simply we were outmatched and the off-the-ball work has been the difference. We had a better xG from open play than Boro today. Tactically, it was an excellently, well executed game plan. Huge credit to the coaching staff. 

I think we're all in agreement on here that we aren't in a position to spend £4m a piece on 2 strikers like Boro have done.  Coming up from Lg1 also meant that we needed 12 players (as PW stated) rather than 4 or 5 like other Championship clubs - which means if our budget was comparable it had to be stretched much thinner. 
PW has also stated that he wants to bring in 1st team starters, which is admirable as we don't want to fill the squad with players of similar/lesser quality than we have already just for the sake of it.  Finding players that will come for both a sensible transfer fee and wage is obviously proving difficult and you can see the frustration in PWs face when asked about any potential incomings.
I personally think a bit of realism is needed from the fanbase, investing in the academy and scouting dept is low risk compared to dropping £millions on players with potentially glass knees, but obviously much longer term.  If we can survive with loans and older freebies until we fill the squad out with younger Championship quality players thats a long term plan I can get behind - I don't see that as a binary choice, more long term evolution of the squad given our budget.
And talking of budget, did DC know about any potential sell on clauses?  I would imagine so.  Still doesn't mean you can bring the right players in for the right fee and right wage.  Hopefully, it does mean that we have cash in the bank to be able to move when one does become available.

I think @NottsRam77 might disagree with you about that 😉 but of course it's generally true. I would have thought that the continued support that Clowes is giving to the Academy was evidence of substantial investment in creating value. Had Administration not forced the sale of some of our most promising talent, we'd possibly already have a substantial transfer fund building from the annual £5m-ish investment. Even the realisation of resale add-ons is now boosting the club's funds. Given the apparent pool of talent we now have coming through, that investment could yield huge benefits. That is real investment. I just don't think we're likely to see Clowes being a gambler over and above what he and his family are currently funding.

Yh true Ebou Adams was absolutely useless after coming in last January. CBT also was essentially a permanent we signed last January was a loan that had to turn permanent. 

Staggering that some seem to have expected us to transition to their idea of a Championship side in a single window. Clowes is a great chairman, but he's not a billionaire and we simply can't compete with clubs whose owners are. This season will be about consolidation and building a platform, yet some seem to think we should already be playing like teams who cost 5 times as much as ours. I'd have thought yesterday might have illustrated the class gap, if nothing else, but clearly not.

It's not "simple economics" though in football. "Speculate to accumulate " is what got us to the position of avoiding liquidation by our finger-nails, and is the reason we have to build a new squad every season, for a few years at least. 
I suspect that Clowes is fully aware of the pitfalls of football investment and is unlikely to go down that route just yet, no matter how many entreaties from the fans he gets. It's great if you can do it with the certainty of a Brentford or a Brighton - perhaps that's why Clowes is investing in bringing expertise into the club to help the club make better transfer decisions in the future?

As we stand today.  You’re assuming that we won’t sign anyone permanently in January.  And that we won’t extend the contracts of players like Wilson or Nyambe.  I posted last week that it’s about getting the best out of the budget and focusing on specific areas of the team, where we may be light in numbers.  Loans also keep the path open for our own prospects to develop and come through, rather blocking it with a permanent signing.
Squads continually change and evolve and we’re still in the recovery phase from admin and, effectively, building our 3rd squad in 3 years due to promotion.  It’s having lots of players on longer term contracts that got us in the mess.

As we stand today.  You’re assuming that we won’t sign anyone permanently in January.  And that we won’t extend the contracts of players like Wilson or Nyambe.  I posted last week that it’s about getting the best out of the budget and focusing on specific areas of the team, where we may be light in numbers.  Loans also keep the path open for our own prospects to develop and come through, rather blocking it with a permanent signing.
Squads continually change and evolve and we’re still in the recovery phase from admin and, effectively, building our 3rd squad in 3 years due to promotion.  It’s having lots of players on longer term contracts that got us in the mess.

Spot on summary.  I thought we had excellent game management, something we didn’t always have last season.  Warne has talked about high press but yesterday we were comfortable in letting them have the ball until they got in our half.  Everyone knew their jobs and did them well.  Good point about the midfield, it looks so much more mobile and we still had good options like Adams and Thompson off the bench.
Bradley was superb when he came on and make few important blocks.  Other than the offside goal, they never got through and we kept them to long range shots.
We’ll have a few games like that this season against teams like Burnley, Norwich, Leeds, etc who are going to be in and around the top 6.  We showed we can play in different ways.

I suspect it will be another two in January, and similar next season if we stay up. 
Mix in emerging academy players and it will be a gradual build up of the squad.
We just haven't got the money to splash the cash all at once.
By comparison, Middlesbrough owed Gibson £150million before he recently wrote off over £100 million of that debt. The sums are mind-boggling, they still haven't been promoted! 

I think the club probably know this? In an ideal world we’d be spending money on lots of players between 22 and 26 that are good enough to be around the first team but with high ceilings to improve. However we clearly don’t have the finances frustratingly to facilitate that so instead the club have taken a slightly less satisfying route that they believe still helps them build a competitive squad. 
 
If we take this summer as a model: 
Players signed for good money in key positions before they hit their prime years in Kenzo and JWZ.
 
Proven championship quality and experience in Jackson and Osborn.
 
Younger players developed another year Wilson and Thommo (hopefully Brown and Robinson this season). 
 
Loans to bring in higher quality than we can afford to buy - it’s less satisfying but ultimately there’s always going to be a huge loan market as top clubs sweep up all the talent and need somewhere for them to develop. Key loan signings will be necessary for us every season. 

I could be wrong but it sounds suspiciously like a 5-year sustainable plan? Someone should let DC and PW know!

Kenzo, JWZ, Nyambe, Ebou, CBT, Osborn, Vickers, Jackson, Brown, Elder, NML, Ward, Rooney, Robinson, Cashin 
are all players contracted to start the 25/26 season with us. 
 
I share your concern about not building long term for the future but - maybe in 12 months we have 1/2 more academy products stepping up to first team training, you assume Wilson, Thommo and Nelson might be offered extensions. 
 
That to me sees a slightly smaller rebuild needed next summer. And then if the summer after requires a smaller rebuild we eventually end up at a point where we are freshening up a core squad each transfer window rather than making wholesale changes. 
 
 

Last week I said it’s going to be really important to be compact , organised and not make silly mistakes as they will be punished at this level , how nice to see yesterday that it also applies to the teams playing against us as perhaps we have a bit more quality than last season too with perhaps a bit more to come in before the window closes , Jackson is rapid as duck and how composed and clinical was the finish 💪, looking at Blackburn and boro games I reckon warne can do a job and get us established this season with a fair wind

Spot on Mackworth. I also think a good few have overlooked the fact that for the thick end of 25 minutes, we were right in the game. Both sides were looking dangerous going forward and Boro's edge on possession was under 10%. Losing Cash and pretty much immediately after that, young Kane WIlson too, completely changed the manner in which we were able to play, as while Bradley is a solid enough CB and was defensively very good, he has nothing like the passing range or vision of Eiran and Ryan is a fullback, not a wingback, albeit a very good one. We set up with a 4, but played two WBs on the flanks!!! Ballsy AF, especially given PW tried that at Blackburn and got handed his arris for his troubles.
As it was, in losing those two, we were effectively forced to revert to a more conventional, flat back 4 and that suited the Smoggies down to the ground. I actually thought the starting line up might be too gung ho, but until the injuries it was working brilliantly. After the changes in personnel, we were always going to be under the cosh a bit, because hateful as it is, Boro are a really good side, the best I've seen from SMogtown in a long time. Even ignoring all of this, folk who believe we should play champagne football against the top teams are either kidding themselves, or simply looking to mark down Warne and his players. 

Boro are better than probably 19 teams in this league. There will be many home games where we can go toe to toe but there will also be another 5 or so like that. We did the smart thing yesterday - and we will need to do so again a lot this season. 
 
Warne said in his post match that we will need to adapt and that won’t be how we play every week. 

That’s it for me, I saw elements of play against Blackburn where for 20-25 mins we were the better side and played with some good intent, scored the equaliser and looked in the ascendancy, then shot ourselves in the foot and went to pieces. Osborn gave a brief but accurate and honest account of that in his post match chat with Radio Derby yesterday.
Then yesterday by all accounts we were solid in defence and looked to play on the counter. Something you have to do at times, and it resulted in a win. If Warne can get the team playing well against certain times for a longer period than we managed against Blackburn, and grind out results against other times like we did against Middlesbrough I’m confident we’ll continue to pick up points.
Yates back from suspension now. Rooney, CBT and others to return from injury. New additions allegedly being pursued. We should have a bit more strength in depth, and in time the team will gel and build those patterns and relationships. Ozoh is 19 and learning the game, he’ll improve. Kenzo will get used to the pace and bring his quality. JWZ will make opposition attackers swoon into mistakes the handsome swine.
 
Some people are concerned because of what they’ve seen and Warne’s history at this level. I’m optimistic because I think there’s a lot to be said for hard work, unity, and patience as we saw last season (and yes I know that was league one, and our budget was humongous, and our players were levels above, and we’re massive everywhere we go, and NML has a big wang etc etc). Just think it’s possible to say there’ll be ups and downs this season, but we’ve seen in two games that we can mix it in part at this level and with time that can get better. 

I’m no huge Warne fan by any means but don’t really know what anyone would have expected yesterday?
Boro have some real quality. Latte Lath cost £5m, would probably fetch more than double that now. Conway and Hamilton off the bench another £9m or so between them. They chucked Coburn on as a last throw of the dice and we’re talking about him being on our wish list to start every single week. And that’s just their forwards.
I thought we were really naive at 1-1 against Blackburn and that was with them bringing Weimann off the bench. If we had gone toe to toe with Boro and thrown bodies forward we’d have been picked off.