Why N'Zogbia may be a very good buy, Pacheco may not come back and we need a RW. N'Zogbia, is a 24 year old French Left Winger/Midfielder. He played for Newcastle for 5 years, gathering 118 apps before moving to Wigan in 2009. So far this season he has scored 10 goals, and has 10 assists to his name in 37 appearances. Currently rated at ã8m, he would be a viable option for any club with ã8m to spare as Wigan are not in a position (currently at the foot of the table) to keep hold of him. Firstly, his stats - a combined 20 goals and assists this season. In comparison... Juan Mata has 9 goals and 18 assists; combined: 27. Ashley young has 9 goals and 12 assists; combined: 21. Arda Turan has 6 goals and 3 assists in 18 matches. So in comparison he is on a par with Ashley young, a winger so highly rated he's on the radar of Europe's top clubs. The big difference? The price. Mata would cost at the very least ã25m, Young would be atleast ã15, with the price rising due to him being English, and Turan would be closer to ã13m. At ã8m, N'Zogbia ensures great value for money. Secondly, his playing style and attitude. If you saw him play the other day you would have seen his wonder goal to keep Wigan out of certain relegation. Proving he can change games very quickly and pull out wonder strikes. Although there have been reports he has major attitude problems - the one thing Kenny has shown he can do is keep people with attitude problems under control such as Carroll (drinking habits), Suarez (apart from the Rafael incident) and even Flanagan to an extent (was never a penalty). In conclusion, N'Zogbia would make the perfect squad player. He's young, has the ability to pull off some magic moments, can play as a LM or out and out LW, has potential to improve further. I think whilst we should be looking at the likes of Mata etc.. N'Zogbia would be an ultimate value for money buy. Onto Pacheco... Many of you may have heard of his latest interview expressing his desire to break into the first team, and if he doesn't he's willing to stay at Norwich. With Norwich getting promoted they will surely be looking to bolster their options by signing some talent going to waste at big clubs with no opportunities. Pacheco may never break through into our first team at this rate, he is currently behind Suarez, Carroll, Kuyt and Ngog in the Forwards position and even with Ngog set to leave in the summer (predicting), it's possible another striker will move up the pecking order ahead of him. Therefore I think that this summer will be big for him. The 2 options are that Kenny explains he may or may not get first team football next season; so Pacheco then has to make a decision between the odd League/FA cup appearance or first team football for Norwich. Whilst he is still young, he is reaching an age where quality should start to be showing, and so we have to ask ourselves - if he doesn't get first team opportunities next season, then is he really that good? Finally... a RW. Currently we have been using Kuyt as a right winger. He's not a natural winger though, he doesn't cross the ball in and he isn't as pacy as a winger should be. Whilst I think he's a great player he should be kept to be used in the CF position, not on the wings. We should be looking at someone who can play wide and cross balls into the box. Gerrard won't play RM/RW anymore; he had his best season there but he no longer has the speed he did back then and I think it'd take him too long to adapt to that position once again. We could do with somebody like Alexandre Pato (16 goals, 4 assists) or Gervinho (17 goals, 10 assists). Both will score goals and set up plenty of assists especially with the likes of Suarez, Kuyt and Carroll lurking in the box. They would add definite width in a position we lack nearly as much as LW, as Suarez can currently play on the LW.
Pato width? I thought he was more of a pacy forward? Grvinho has been batted about and so has N'zog but riddle me this, would you take N'zog who has that prem league experience ( and homegrown I believe) over a Bosman Marveaux, who looks to be a similar player but a lot cheaper?
Yes because N'zogbia has got Premier league experience, he hasn't been out injured for months and each season he's been in the premier league he's improved immensely. Marveaux seems like a buy for the sake of buying, just because he's on a free doesn't mean we should automatically consider him. We did that with Joe cole, and that didn't turn out too well. Pato is a RW/Striker. He's commonly used as a striker at the moment, but I was thinking that if you could put Suarez on the LW, Carroll in the middle and Pato on the RW you could set up a very nice 4,3,3 or 3,4,3. The main problem is he'd cost the best part of ã35m.
I agree, just wanted your thoughts. Pato Suarez and Carroll would be absolutely incredible if that happened. I just feel though to get more out of carroll we need a player who can put balls into the box and do it well. Along with skinning people for fun that is!
I agree with the N'zogbia part of the article he is a player I would love at Liverpool and would be better value than some others mentioned. I beleive he is also able to play left wing back and can even play right wing. I would like to see Pacheco given a chance but i suppose we have to trust Kennys judgement. As far as the right wing goes i'm really unsure who is available and what money we have so I suppose it's wait and see. We also need a center back and left back so it really depends on how much money we have.
I would love to see Pacheco given a chance, though the skeptic in me believes he won't and we'll regret it in a few years. I think with player sales we should have enough for 2-3 quality signings, as a prediction.
It is frustrating at the moment as the money available is a complete mystery. We can guess all day it could be loads or it could be restrictive and depending on player sales Rome wasn't built in a day but surely 1 or 2 absolute quality players will come in with a couple of more clever budget signings added. We also have to give our youth a chance so we don't want to go nuts bringing in 7 or 8 players and disrupt the squad harmony.
Pacheco only signed a new contract recently and a perminent move to Norwich would be a step down in his career path - no offence but this kid is destined for the very top and if he doesn't get there with Liverpool then he will in Spain. Pacheco will really push for a 1st team place next season
I've heard a budget of ã50 million bandied around for you this summer. But with Milan having just won Serie A, Pato could cost that much on his own. And he hasn't made any noises about wanting to leave - I reckon he'd have to do a Ronaldo or Torres and put in a formal transfer request before they'd let him go, and they'd want a whole load of dosh for him! Imo you'd be better going for a straightforward winger like N'Zogbia rather that a superstar like Pato. If you do get Pato you'd risk creating the whole Torres situation all over again, where the team has to be changed to fit the strengths of one player. And you don't necessarily need another top player imo, you need someone who will do what Valencia does for United - bring quality in a specific role without the shape or team having to be changed for him.
I like the idea of a front 3 rather than out and out wingers. Basically just advanced wingers if you like. Imagine a front 3 of Suarez (left; I think he does his best work cutting in there) Carroll at the top as a target man and Hulk on the right (bit like Suarez, strong, good turn of pace). Nobody would bully them off the ball as they might with a more slender type like Mata, and there'd be plenty of finishing ability. But back to N'Zogbia. I've always thought he'd be a decent buy. A lot of people think because he's at Wigan he's below us (Valencia at Man U?) But for me he's like Scott Parker for West Ham. If neither of them played then their teams would've been relegated months ago.
Completely agree, when looking through some stats I checked the stats of Jarvis and Downing, who we're also linked with... Both have less than 15 goals and assists added together. Yet N'Zogbia is often overlooked because of where he is and the caliber that Wigan are used to attracting.
Plus in a team like Wigan you'd imagine there are times when he can't be ars*d with it if he's the only one making things happen. Whereas we already have players on a par with him, so he'd be more up for it. I'd certainly rather be among the best at a decent tean than the best (by a distance) of a bad bunch.
You'd hope this is Comolli's thinking too, considering he's big on his performance based stats. Often, however, the stats don't tell you everything (although in this case I think they do. N'zogbia is more productive than Jarvis and Downing..in a worse side at that.) Like assists, for instance, rely as much on the guy getting on the end of the pass as the one who makes it. If you were setting Adi Akinbiyi up all day long he'd probably only score one.
N'Zogbia would be a very good signing for us. He's similar to Antonio Valencia in that he's not a headline signing but he has the attributes to contribute to the team. And for ã8m, it seems like good value for money. I agree with early posts about having a 4-3-3 rather than having traditional wingers. Players liek Suarez are versatile and have the ability to drift inwards or stay out - either way, they can make things happen from different positions. N'Zogbia seems like the type of play who is not rigid and can play on left or right, stay wide or drift in.
Ashley Young fills more or less the same role as N'Zogbia (left wing or left forward) and I actually think N'Zogbia does the better work of the two. He's certainly trickier on the ball and his set pieces, particularly free kicks just outside the box, are decent.
We need a player that will dovetail between the centre and the wing,ie interchange with Suarez.In my opinion Ashley Young is the better option as he's more capable of playing the ''old John Barnes role''.Barnes started wide but never stayed there.He and Beardsley interchanged.Suarez is our Peter Beardsley.Andy Carroll is our John Aldridge(dependent on balls into the box from wide areas).
