Wigan latics fan in peace just here`d in our rumour mill that maybe one of our players Rodallega is coming to Fulham have you here`d anything this end and do you realy need him before the window close`s
I'm sure I can remember him appearing on the summer shopping wish lists of people on this board (or it's BBC predecessor) in the past few years - anyone want to own up to that and state a case for him? I had heard he wanted to leave Wigan, but I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other as to whether he'd be a good fit for us or not. Roscafre, you obviously have a strong opinion on the subject. Would you care to add any reasons for it?
There is a rumour from Sky that they turned down a £4m bid from QPR saying that they preferred cash plus a player adding that we had offered cash plus AJ. The problem is that AJ is not keen.
He's the guy I've wanted for so long ... I think he's great. I wouldn't say he's clinical in front of goal, but he's tenacious and FAST and I think he's a good replacement for AJ. He's still young enough - 26 or 27 I think - to have a nice long career with us and his pace will certainly stretch the defenses we play against. Yes for me.
The most worrying sentence in all the above posts is DR's remark about him not being clinical in front of goal - the one thing we don't need is another main striker who isn't an out and out goalscorer. That cutting edge is what we most need to add to the side. Yes, we need pace and someone who will fit Jol's system and stretch defences, but he's got to be someone with a high conversion rate when he gets clear chances. If Rodallega isn't that, I don't think he's the man we're looking for.
I started coveting Rodallega (and N'Zogbia) last year when we played Wigan. He was a complete pain in our defenders' backsides, constantly chasing and making diagonal runs that pulled out players out of position. As it stands now, we don't have anyone, really, who can consistently out-pace and/or get behind defenders and stretch the play. Johnson doesn't have the pace any longer, but Rodallega does, and I think we need that in our offense. I'm not saying he's the perfect candidate, but there's much to like about him, particularly if we can get him cheap. http://www.soccerclips.net/videos/wigan-1-0-fulham-rodallega
The thing is, my dear Captain, asking for a PL-quality striker with a high conversion rate is like asking for the moon on a stick. There aren't enough for all the teams in the PL!
And yet such players do turn up, and not necessarily for ridiculous money. Steven Fletcher of Wolves is precisely the kind of player that everyone turned their noses up at until recently, yet he's got a great chances to goals ratio. I'm all for aiming for the Moon on a Stick (great expression, by the way, one of my faves). We might not get it, but somebody will so why not us? And why not go for a Championship player with a good conversion rate at that level?
Quite right Captain, I'm just saying a striker with a good conversion rate is a rare and valuable commodity (look at Darren Bent!). I do wonder about Rodallega, I'd like to see what he could do in our team. That said, I'd rather take a punt on, say, Maynard or C58's mate Stokes from Celtic.
i think rangers will offer them d.j campbell in part ex, they will pay him more wages than us, so can see that one not happening, and rangers have left d.j and boothroyd out there squad it all adds up, plus them two players are championship players so wigan would be a good fit to bring them back up. if they go down
Not so sure about this one. He is an improvement on AJ that's for sure but how much of an improvement? No offense to Wigan, but how much quality service can he be getting from his teammates? If it's £2 million plus AJ then I'd shake hands.
The thing is you are talking about our defence and possibly away from home. Any other team and he doesn't look that good and that's the problem. We are so poor away that any striker can look good against us. He has only ever scored 24 goals for Wigan in 111 appearances. A conversion rate of 1 every 4.6 games - not good. This season he has scored just 2 goals from 17 games 1 every 8.5. AJ who is so maligned by some has a better conversion rate of 27 goals from 106 games or 1 every 3.9.
The easy measure of a striker is goals per games, and there's some value in that. What we need is someone with a high goals to clear-chances ratio, which is a different thing. Interestingly, for those who poo-poohed the idea a couple of weeks back, Odemwingie had one of last season's best goals to clear-chances ratio. I'm not saying we need him, but we need someone clinical like that, not just someone who is prolific. Mind you, if we found someone who wasted loads of chances but still scored more than a goal every other game, I'd settle for that!
Looks like AJ rejected the opportunity to join Wigan which meant we were unable to sign Rodallega which is a pity really. I though Rodallega would be a big step up from AJ. Oh well, our loss may well be Spurs' gain.
