Let’s go again! What will another season on the roller-coaster bring?

The Wrexham Angle

The tour was a success, both on and off the pitch. We looked well-grooved, the youngsters stepped up to the plate impressively, and new signing Danny Imray made an excellent first impression. Still, it’s almost impossible to second guess Phil Parkinson’s plans for this match after he suggested the change to the schedule, pushing the EFL Cup ahead of the opening weekend of the league season, meant he’d essentially look at this game as an extension of pre-season.

Putting to one side the big question – were the EFL really not aware that making this alteration would damage their own competition, as plenty of managers were likely to view the first round as less important than what comes behind – let’s at least try to put two and two together and work out what Parkinson might have in store at The Riverside.

The Friday game is the Carabao Cup but the Wigan game has got a lot of importance as well because we need to make sure as we go into the week of the Cardiff game, we’ve got another real block of minutes in the lads’ legs.

Friday’s match is a cup match and we’ll be going all out to win it. It’s a game where we’ve got to give as many players minutes as we can and have everyone near 90 minutes by the following week’s Monday match.

• Phil Parkinson talking to The Leader

Parkinson wants to get as many of his squad up and running as possible across the Middlesbrough match and Monday’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Monday. While it has been suggested he will treat both games as non-competitive, his words don’t really suggest that, even if he does prioritise the preparedness of his playing staff for the trip to Cardiff. Surely the players he’s considering as potential starters in South Wales are more likely to start on Friday, so they have an extra two days’ break compared to Monday’s starters?

A number of places are up for grabs, but Parkinson has been using Zak Vyner, Dom Hyam and Callum Doyle as a back three regularly, with Max Cleworth, Dan Scarr and Lewis Brunt also tending to be used together. I’d suggest that means he’s likely to start one or other unit together, with the first three a likely trio to kick the season off.

Danny Imray looked good in Philadelphia and surely continues his assimilation by starting, and the same logic applies to Ben Whiteman, who has had a full pre-season and should be ready. Matty James has been in imperious form, so why bother with putting him through a friendly when he can influence a competitive match? The same could be argued about Ollie Rathbone, who wore the armband with pride stateside. Parkinson implied George Dobson is more likely to get time on Monday than Friday, not because he’s liable to move on (Dobson is not looking for a move and Parkinson has confirmed no offer has been received anyway), but because a knock he took in pre-season means he probably needs to accumulate minutes against Wigan.

Goalkeeper, left wing-back and centre forward feel like 50/50 calls, which leaves the right ten. Josh Windass won’t be ready for Friday, so who gets the nod? For me, Bailey Cadamarteri has really impressed in that role in pre-season, and would add attacking thrust to a side with a solid trio already in midfield. Other options include using the equally impressive Davis Keillor-Dunn or Nathan Broadhead on the opposite side to where they are usually used.

Injuries: Ben Sheaf, Elliot Lee, Josh Windass, Ryan Hardie

Possible debuts: Danny Imray, Ben Whiteman

Possible Milestone: Ryan Barnett’s 275th career match

The Other Side of the Coin

I’ve already written about the remarkable end to Middlesbrough’s season – and the effect on us – in the club’s preview. Boro were given too difficult a task in the final after Southampton’s brazen behaviour made a mockery of their semi-final, and were defeated by a Hull City side which only qualified for the post-season because Kim Hellberg’s side were able to resist our late surge in search of a winner when they visited the Racecourse in the final game of the season!

Since then, Boro have lost two massively important players. Hayden Hackney’s absence through injury cost them dear in the run-in, to the extent that perhaps they might have held onto second place if he’d been available. Having failed to reach the Premier League, his departure seemed inevitable and he eventually moved to Everton. At least that transfer added £16.5m to the Riverside warchest, and that was supplemented by a handy £20m bonus in the form of a sell-on clause in Morgan Rogers’ contract activated when he made his nine-figure move to Chelsea. Less lucrative was the departure of skipper and defensive mainstay Dael Fry, but there was nothing they could do as he ran down his contract and signed for Birmingham City.

“The nature of the game means not taking any unnecessary risks with any players. That’s the balance. We will try to do everything we can to try to win the game, but you also need to balance some things and maybe don’t take a risk that you might have taken if it was a week further down the line.”

-Kim Hellberg to TeessideLive

Boro appear to have spent their windfalls well. Will Lankshear was a hot property in the Summer after Spurs decided he wasn’t part of their plans: he spent a successful season on loan at Oxford last season, reaching double figures despite United’s doomed fight against relegation. Middlesbrough fought off the competition to land the forward in a deal which could rise in value to £20m. Myles Peart-Harris also arrived from the Kassam Stadium, and Kyle Joseph signed from Hull, the side which denied Boro at Wembley.

However, the most striking signings have come in the last week with the arrival of two members of the USA’s successful World Cup squad. Sebastian Berhalter and Max Arfsten both made regular appearances off the bench for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, the former being an impressive all-round midfielder with good vision, the latter a dangerous wide attacker whose versatility attracted Hellberg – he can play at left back, left wing-back, left winger or right winger. Boro have been tracking him since they first spotted him a couple of years ago, when scouting fellow USMNT player and key midfielder, Aiden Morris.

Berhalter made a superb first impression in Boro’s 3-3 draw against Espanyol last Saturday, starring in an impressive performance against the La Liga side, and has the potential to take Hackney’s mantle as the best midfielder in the division.

More players are expected before next weekend as Hellberg accumulates a formidable squad, and if TeessideLive’s reports of two new signings having medicals yesterday are accurate, we could see them in action tonight. One of the new additions is Ashley Phillips, a highly-rated young centre back arriving from Tottenham on a similar £7m fee plus add-ons deal as Lanksher. The other is giant goalkeeper Radek Vitek, who was outstanding on loan to Bristol City last season, preventing over 8 goals according to xG, appears to be a done deal. He looked solid against us in Helsinki when he played what appears to be one of his final games for Manchester United. However, if he doesn’t arrive in time to play in this match Sol Brynn, a talented local keeper whose unfortunate error led to the only goal in last season’s play-off final, is likely be in goal.

Injuries have hampered pre-season, though, and will bite into Hellberg’s options for the game. Scotland international Tommy Conway, who made a huge impact off the bench when Wrexham visited the Riverside last season, is definitely out, and new man Joseph also appears to be ruled out alongside key men Alfie Jones and Riley McGree. David Stelec and Peart-Harris also missed the Espanyol game, and are more likely to be held back for the opening game of the league season next weekend.

Before that, Middlesbrough also impressed at Parkhead, drawing at the home of Scottish champions Celtic.

Last Time We Played There

Transfer Business

IN	OUT
Max Arfsten (Colombus Crew)	Sold
Sebastien Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps)	Hayden Hackney (Everton)
Kyle Joseph (Hull City)	Archie Baptiste (Harrogate Town)
Will Lankshear (Spurs)	Left on Free Transfer
Myles Peart-Harris (Oxford United)	Dael Fry (Birmingham City)
Signed at End of Loan	Returned to Parent Club
Jeremy Sarmiento (Brighton and Hove Albion)	Alan Browne (Sunderland)
	Matt Targett (Newcastle United)
	Joe Wildsmith (West Bromwich Albion)
	Released
	Dan Barlaser
	Marcus Forss
	Alex Gilbert
	Darragh Leniham
	Jon McLaughlin
	Sammy Silvera

Injuries: Kyle Joseph, Tommy Conway, Myles Peart-Harris, Alfie Jones, Riley McGree, Alex Bangura, David Strelec.