Pulis misses out on targets

TONY PULIS claims the Middlesbrough side facing Birmingham today is weaker than the one which lost in the play-offs in May.

Boro face ex-manager Garry Monk’s side at the Riverside topping the table, having picked up four points out of six.

But after a transfer deadline day when the club missed out on all eight of his targets, Pulis was pulling no punches about the squad he’s been left with.

And not only does he fear they aren’t good enough to win promotion, he believes they will struggle to match last season’s top-six finish.

He said: “The team will not be as strong as the team which started against Aston Villa (in the play-off semi-finals). I think that’s obvious if you take out Gibson, Bamford, Traore, Besic and Ayala.

“There’s five of them. It’s quite easy to see. It’s not difficult.”

Of those, three left for a combined £42m, Daniel Ayala is injured, while Boro failed to secure the permanent signing of midfielder Mo Besic despite agreeing a £6m fee with Everton.

Pulis is irked by the club’s failure to land any of their targets.

Striker Jordan Hugill arrived on loan from West Ham but injury will delay his debut until next month.

“I’m disappointed like everyone else as we had quite a few targets and have not been able to get anyone,” he said. “Quite a lot of money has come into this football club through sales so we were looking forward to bringing in some quality.

“Last year, we missed out on the play-off final because we lacked that little bit of quality.

“We’ve not addressed that yet. The fact is we’ve not brought in the players we wanted to. You just have to get on with it.”

A second home win inside a week will keep Boro at the top of the pile. But Pulis, who will now look at the loan market, said: “The squad isn’t good enough to win promotion. Fans are having a go at Besic or his deal in particular but that’s wrong.

“We went after seven or eight players and didn’t get any of them so you can’t isolate one.”