Summer transfer thread
- Thread starter king_dezeeuw06
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king_dezeeuw06
Vital Champions League
Adding to that if we see our future as wing backs the higher up the league's you go the more you need our left and right centre back to be comfortable on the ball and get involved in build up play. Santos would probably be ok as the centre of a back 3 but for left or right side in the Championship I think he's probably not a good fit.
To be fair I think we may find Tilt, Kerr and Watts may all struggle in that aspect if we go up. Those left and right centre back positions are evolving into being a bit more like a full back.
jeffs right
Vital Football Hero
How the hell has football got so complicated? We have wing backs that play like wingers. Centre Half's who now need to be left and right centre Half's.
Midfield players who are strikers.
Remember it being a team game where if a left back went on a run like Billy Sutherland or Leighton Baines then a midfield player would drop back or a central defender would slide over to cover. Now every position seems to have to be a specialist position. Look at this invented position nowadays IE the number 10 position. WTF is that all about.
I suppose the game moves on and gets more tactical and to a massive extent our squad this season do play all over the park and cover every manner of positions with our workmanlike style.
king_dezeeuw06
Vital Champions League
It's the attempt to get the numbers advantage in every area of the pitch by ensuring everyone can switch position depending on where the ball is. Once teams see a rival making it work everyone wants to try and replicate it.
I think managers would've always liked to have done more of this but in the past finding players to make it work especially outside the top flight was much harder. As the game has evolved players are fitter, more mobile and more comfortable on the ball to make it easier.
I think we should keep on doing what we're doing, picking up players from financially struggling Championship teams, and quality prospects from north of the border. I wouldn't be particularly keen on Byrne, he might be an upgrade on Darikwa but he was just about holding on when we were in the Championship, not someone with much upside.
While I agree that there's quite a big jump in quality from L1 to Championship, I actually think there's a lot more to come from this group of players and we'll have Wyke back hopefully, along with players with genuine quality who we've not seen a lot of like McGrath and Cousins, and then young talented players who've been injured including Thelo, Scotty Smith, and Pearce.
Only McClean and Amos are over 31 years old, so we have a lot of players coming into their prime. I don't look at anyone in the squad and think that next season they can't be a better player than they are this season. So keep the core of the squad together with their winning mentality, with one or two quality additions (RB, LCB, a very pacy attacker), is what I'd be looking to do.
Was looking at Watt's stats. Out of any of our regular (>20 starts) players, he's the one with the highest 'points per match'.
While I agree that there's quite a big jump in quality from L1 to Championship, I actually think there's a lot more to come from this group of players and we'll have Wyke back hopefully, along with players with genuine quality who we've not seen a lot of like McGrath and Cousins, and then young talented players who've been injured including Thelo, Scotty Smith, and Pearce.
Only McClean and Amos are over 31 years old, so we have a lot of players coming into their prime. I don't look at anyone in the squad and think that next season they can't be a better player than they are this season. So keep the core of the squad together with their winning mentality, with one or two quality additions (RB, LCB, a very pacy attacker), is what I'd be looking to do.
Was looking at Watt's stats. Out of any of our regular (>20 starts) players, he's the one with the highest 'points per match'.
HudWiganFan
Vital Reserves Team
Byrne’s brilliant piece of skill to set-up Derby’s winner against Fulham yesterday has further convinced me that he should be one of our top targets if they go down.
Noticed too that Kal Naismith also scored the winning penalty for a Luton team right in the promotion race. He has played virtually every game for them this season so it’s nice to be vindicated on his abilities after so many people insisted he was terrible and one of the worst players to pull on a Wigan shirt. The way he was treated here still makes me shake my head, the Reading game at home in particular. I hope now with the perspective of administration some of our fans are a little more patient and forgiving with new signings when they inevitably find it tough going at first in the Championship next season.
king_dezeeuw06
Vital Champions League
Not to condone how Naismith was treated but I do think that horrendous Reading game was the making off him.
Prior to that he was nowhere near as bad as some said but he was a bit up and down to say the least. But that game was rock bottom for him and he bounced back so much stronger. It seemed to really motivate him to push on and prove his worth and he was superb for both us and Luton after that. Showed huge character when most would've crumbled and never been seen again. I wouldn't wish it on any of our players but i do think that was arguably a painful blessing in disguise for him.
I'd love Naismith back and be more than happy with Byrne.
HudWiganFan
Vital Reserves Team
Players have bad games though, especially when they’re being played out of position (as was the case on that occasion). The point being Naismith was really no worse than anyone else but copped all the criticism because he’d been the designated scapegoat since the start of the season.
There’ll be a raft of new signings in the summer, most of them from League One presumably and some will take longer than others to adapt. Byrne, Naismith, Lowe, Moore etc. were all written off as not good enough for that level at first and now all are stalwarts of the Championship. I just hope we don’t write off whoever’s signed because we’re in the relegation zone in October is all!
king_dezeeuw06
Vital Champions League
The lad hasn't made any senior appearances or been out on loan so it looks like we are scouting academies looking for unearthed gems with this lad and the Blackburn link recently.
moonay
Vital Football Legend
king_dezeeuw06
Vital Champions League
Other one possibly the Blackburn winger.
Not surprised we're trying to sign under 23s for the academy, everytime I look we seem to be getting spanked. Feel for Gregor Rioch, who spent years building a golden generation of youngsters only to have it ripped away from underneath him by administration. He now has to start all over again.
Perhaps that our best plan.
Picking up lads aged 18/19 who could be that step closer to our 1st team.
As good a job our academy is doing we don't have that steady stream to the 1st team.
Obviously the ones we lost through administration we'll never know if they'd have made it.
TRUE BELIEVER
Vital Football Hero
Our academy has a very good reputation and these young lads who are being dropped by the larger clubs academies are well coached but have just not made the grade for the PL and Championship clubs first team squads.
They are ideal for us as they will have been used to working within a decent club structure and there is no doubt that one or two will be late developers who will make the grade for the mid to lower leagues and will bring in a bob or two when we sell them on without us having to invest as much in them if they had joined us as youth players.
They are ideal for us as they will have been used to working within a decent club structure and there is no doubt that one or two will be late developers who will make the grade for the mid to lower leagues and will bring in a bob or two when we sell them on without us having to invest as much in them if they had joined us as youth players.
Didn't Steve Bruce say a club like ours doesn't really need an academy. Their best bet is to do what we're trying to do now. Pick up 18/19 year olds released by clubs with better grade academy's.
Even though I agree with him i think our academy is important as it gives younger kids the chance to get to know the club and feel part of it.
Eventually becoming fans and bringing in revenue that way.
king_dezeeuw06
Vital Champions League
I think Brentford got rid of all the youth development and just have one u23 side made up of 18-21 year olds they scputed picked up after their release from other clubs. They said it's more effective for them to do it that way.
I guess it depends on how good your youth scouting and coaches are. We seem like we have some good ones.
I agree with him to a point as well and Brentford are the blueprint in terms of how to operate successfully without an academy and instead just operating with a B-Team.
But something worth thinking about, without an academy, we'd have never ended up getting the likes of Gelhardt, who joined us when he was about 11 did he not? More recently is Thelo, who joined us at 13/14. Without an academy, these kids don't wind up at Latics.
Yeah agree with this, it's about spotting those points when young prospects are often moving around. The churn tends to happen at 6-7 when mini-Messi's get everyone excited, and then things tend to stabilise U9s in the foundation stage until you get to around 12 when hormones/puberty etc kick in and you move into the youth development phase, and then there's clearly an opportunity for us to be looking at those youngsters who drop out of Everton, Liverpool, United etc. The reality is that running the earlier stages of the academies isn't hugely expensive relative to a Gelhardt transfer fee every few years, so while it might not necessarily be the foundation of the club's squad for years to come, it makes sense to be in the process.
