The Woolster

Whilst his scouting network should be established, I'd have thought they would have been scouting at a different end of the market to us.

According to the OPTA stats I've got, he attempted 176 tackles, and he won 125. Mascherano attempted 178 and won 144. Always possible that the different firms that record these things define a tackle differently though. Here's an interesting stat from last season. 6'1" tall Diame attempted an arial duel every 72.5 minutes, of which he won 45.5%. 5'6" Spearing attempted an arial duel more often at 1 every 68.5 minutes, of which he won a higher % at 47.4%.

I am having a look at some stats now, might put something together. Would prob be on the MF though on the Lucas thread I started. Non-mumbers are missing some fantastic statistical analyses I am doing, worth signing up for alone...

I think Wilson signed a 3 year contract, so only a year left. We need to decide if we want to extend it or let him go now I think.

There were rumours in January as well. He had some kind of heart issue, but was cleared to continue playing by specialists. Has played just over 40 games in each of the last 2 seasons

Seeing as we are discussing players that we would like to see signed, I think Loic Remy from what I have seem (admittedly litlle) and read of him could fit in very well. I think he would suit playing on the right of a front three, and add some pace and directness that we are sometimes missing, and could also be used as the central striker if needed, killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Suarez, Carroll and Remy would have a bit of everything. A 1 in 2 striker who Spurs are looking at for £20m. Go get him Brendan!!

I'm not going to fully quote the list of transfers, because to be honest I found it hard to read, which might be because I've had a day in the sun, did a lot of driving, and have now had a few beers, but Bruce and Martinez did not work on similar budgets. But just going from your numbers, if I have read them right, Bruce had a net spend of about half a million, Martinez's net spend is negative £10m, how is that similar?!? Your numbers are confirmed by Swiss Ramble in his blog from last year, with the numbers taken from the annual reports, although it does not include last season. The Swiss Ramble: Wigan Athletic's Unlikely Survival This table shows the transfer spend, just look at the transfer income of £15m, and remind ourselves it was Martinez's first season. Yes the next season he spends more in one season than any other manager, but it is not even half of what he brought in the season before. I think it should also be pointed out that in Bruce's last season, his net spend was heavily affected by the January sales of Palacios and Heskey. From what I can gather Bruce's net spending the summer before that season was about £7m. At the end of Jan, after 24 games, Wigan were in 7th on 33 points. They then had a big net transfer income in January, but finished the season in 11th on 45 points. So 12 points from the 14 games before Martinez came in. Martinez did not get to spend the money that was brought in in January. The next thing to look at is wages, which is the biggest single predictor of final league position. This table shows that wages dropped by almost £3m after Martinez came in. Before anyone says its still more than Bruce got spend on wages in 2008, we need to remember its all relative, and that a new TV package for the Prem was signed from the 2009/10 season, which was 5% higher, so the other clubs were spending more on wages when Wigan were spending less. If we compare Wigan to the teams they compete against from 2009/10 to 2010/11 (taken from here Revealed: the financial health of the Premier League laid bare - Telegraph, last season's figures won't be available until next season), Wigan went from £39.4m to £39.9m, Wolves went from £30m to £38m, Blackburn from £47m to £50m, Bolton from £46m to £56m, Stoke from £45m to £47m, West Ham from £54m to £56m, Fulham from £49m to £58m. So Wigan have gone backwards on wages since Bruce left, whilst everyone else has been spending more, and Martinez has had a net transfer nicome of about £10m. So whether you think Martinez is good enough or not, lets at least stop with these comparisons with Bruce as they were simply not under the same conditions.

As a non member, you've unfortunately missed my excellent analysis of Lucas this season. It was worth the annual subs alone. Here's a snippet for you. This season in the Prem, 57% of all Lucas' passes were actually forwards and only 9% backwards. If you want to compare it to players in similar roles, Parker played only 40% of passes forwards and 13% backwards, Tiote played 43% forwards and 15% backwards, Mikel played 47% fowards and 10% backwards, and Barry 50% fowards and 10% backwards. When it comes to playing balls from outside in to the final third of the pitch, 17.8% of Lucas' balls were into the final third, compared to 10.1% of Parker's, 14.0% of Mikel's, 14.8% of Tiote's and 16.5% of Barry's. Stats don't prove everything, but they do prove that to say the he never plays the ball forwards is clearly bollocks, as the majority of passes are in fact forwards. If I get time, I'll look at a comparison against the other midfielders we have, although the comparison is only really valid compared to Spearing as the other play in a different area of the pitch.

Was reported yesterday with a slightly different emphasis Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt snubs interest from Feyenoord | Football | guardian.co.uk Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt snubs interest from Feyenoord • Liverpool forward believes move would be a step back • Kuyt is unwilling to dramatically lower his wages The Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt has ruled out a return to Feyenoord in the immediate future because he feels it would be a step back in his career. The 31-year-old Holland international is almost certain to leave Anfield this summer after struggling to hold down a first-team place under the manager Kenny Dalglish. Last month, Kuyt was seen having talks with the Feyenoord technical director Martin van Geel, prompting reports he would sign for the Rotterdam club. However, although the player admits he considered a move back to his former club, he believes he still has much to offer a top European side. "The fact I held talks with Feyenoord indicates I wanted to give it a serious chance," he told AD Sportwereld. "But in many ways the gap is too great at this moment in time. If I returned to Holland, I would have to take an 80% cut in my Liverpool wages. "If you are 35 or 36, you know your career is almost done. But I'm only 31 and in the prime of my life. I still have two or three years left at the top. I still have the ambition and fitness to play at the highest level, a club in a major competition or a big club with European ambitions." Translation from a Dutch report probably using Google translate would explain the poor English in his quotes from the other article

Coates was a curveball as well. In fact, Bellamy wasn't until pretty late in the day either

Holloway is always very respectful and complimentary about both Liverpool and Kenny, so Blackpool by a mile Also we seem to be building a good relationship with them, so we could loan them a couple of young players next season and they'd get Prem experience, someone like Flannagan or even Shelvey again if we get another CM

Beig revealed at midnight tonight according to the Offal

I like Dembele. I see him as an attacking midfielder/forward, but I wonder if he could play in CM alongside Lucas. He would add some skill and speed into the middle of the park, but I've never watched him for his defensive skills, so am not sure.

What are you on about, he started 7 games including a play off game and had 2 as a sub! We do need another midfielder who can play alongside Lucas and cover him if injured again, but Spearing is a squad player, one who will always do his best when called upon. Utd have been using similar types of players of similar quality who have come through their ranks for years, they've just had more quality alongside them.

With Aurelio's contract coming to an end, Robinson will be our number 2 LB next season, and with us being in the Europa there should be plenty of chances for him to get a game here. If he could get 10-15 games here next season, that would be pretty good for a 19 year old. If we let him go on loan, we would then need to get someone else in as cover for Enrique, which will cost a bit of money, be it transfer fee, signing on fee (so you'd probably be looking at a 2 year contract at least) or loan fee (can't see someone good enough coming to us on loan to sit on our bench though). So whilst it might be better for him personally to go on loan, I think in this situation, we need him here more. Be a good move for Flannagan though.

In the article linked above, and another I have also seen, it says Dollars, so $9m is about £5.6m at current rates.

I agree in general with what you are saying, but whats the point in buying both Hoilett and Moses when we have Sterling who needs to start getting games for his development? Perhaps its because you have forgotten Bellamy from your squad, as he would surely be one of the wide forwards. I also think we need someone like Rodwell, but he will be overpriced for how good he actually is, and there is probably much better value out there, even if they are more expensive such as M'vila or Martinez.

A few mentions for Moses, but he hasn't actually been that good this season, he has marginally stood out at a poor Wigan team, but nowhere near as much as either N'Zogbia or Valencia did, who both looked far better in the same role. He may be young with room for improvement, and may be cheap as well, but he is not good enough for what we need right now, and I don't think he will ever be. According to Soccernet he has 4 goals and 1 assist this season, last year N'zogbia got 10 and 5, the season before he got 7 and 7. We need someone with much more end product than that. I am not sure if Hoilett is good enough either, but at least he has 7 goals and 6 assists so far this season, and last year he got 6 and 1 from 28 games (21 starts). He would make much more sense. Even Matt Jarvis has far more end product, 5 goals and 4 assists this season and he has been quite poor compared to last year, when he got 5 and 8. I've mentioned Lee at Bolton in another thread recently, and last season he got 4 goals and 6 assists. I am not saying we should buy any of the last 3, but if we want (or need) a cheapie in that role, I think there are far better options than Moses. And to be honest, I don't know why we would want a cheapish squad player for that position when we will be promoting Sterling anyway, as they will just be taking games from him. We should either get someone top class and scrimp elsewhere if we have to, or not get anyone.

Used to go there as it was round the corner from my Uni, although I didn't really like it to be honest, was too narrow. closed down 4 or 5 years ago though I think. Last time I went past I think it was a Pret a Manger

This is a great pub for footy, especially on Champs League nights as it has 30 screens or something ridiculous like that in various different rooms, and shows all the games with updates from the landlord on each game through the speakers. It is a long way from Canary Wharf though

I do know Canary Wharf and Canada Water as I used to work round there, and it is shit for pubs in general, shitter for pubs showing footy, and especially shit at the weekends as it is dead. Whilst I have not been to Ruse to see a game, I know of it, and you can get there from Canary Wharf/Canada Water easily on the Jubilee line to London Bridge, then change for the Northern Line to Borough which is one stop. Or you could get off at London Bridge and walk it in no more than 7 or 8 minutes at a guess, just make sure you leave at the Borough High Street exit rather than the mainline station exit.

Won't everyone be drinking in Kilburn anyway?

I've heard it mentioned a few times that people think our youth team could be the best set of kids to come through at more or less the same time since Utds (Giggs et al), but I think that title already belongs to Villa. There have seen quite a few coming through this past season or 2 who I think are really good, players like Albrighton and Bannan, and Clarke and the younger Gardner look decent as well. They may not win them anything, but could save them (or earn them) a lot of money over the next few years. Maybe ours will be better eventually, but Villa's are a couple of years older than ours so have a head start. I remember watching this reserve fixture last season, and they bossed us. I think this year's reserves are better though, so hopefully we will put up a better showing. Probably a good idea for Doni to get a run out this evening though.

In the thread I mentioned thats on the MF, my other option for the CM role was Martinez, so I won't argue on that one. I'll hold my hands up and say I haven't really seen much of either to be honest, so I don't have an opinion of who is better, and have decided I really really really want one of them based on the odd game and what others have said about them. My hunch is though that Martinez would cost a little bit more as he seems a bit more talked about/ in demand (in this country), but that is just at the moment, it was M'Vila after England played France, and I can see M'Vila doing very well at the Euros and his price going up, so I think we would need to get in early if we go for him. My replacement for Maxi would be Sterling, but I'd sell Kuyt and replace him with a new striker/wide forward/winger (delete as appropriate)

And if he does only have 1 year left on his contract, then Schalke could have have the option of a good £5-7m profit as opposed to losing him for free in a year. Podolski is rumoured to be going to Arsenal for £11m, who has also had a good season, so I think that range isn't too far fetched. 2 behemoths have already had him, and it didn't work out. Bayern perhaps, but they are already well stocked up front. Apart from Spurs, I couldn't see any other English club being interested, Real and Milan won't go back for him, and Barca won't be interested, so of the other 'behemoth' teams that leaves who? Juve or Inter, anyone else? I think we'd have a decent chance.