TRon

Agreed 100%. Wanted the ball all the time, and put a couple of our midfielders to shame. Everything came from the left hand side today, him and Jonas put in a sterling shift, even if the end product was lacking sometimes.

First half turn and shot, but was a tame effort on his left foot, just rolled into Fulop's hands. he had a lot of shots blocked by defenders as well. Too slow to get the shot off sometimes.

Don't think he managed to get a shot on goal all game though he had plenty of efforts. Second half he did some decent wing play down the right, maybe trying to show Duff that it wasn't impossible. Full respect for taking that pen though. That took some courage.

Yeah...Duff really showed us how right it was to keep giving him the shirt ahead of Zog.

His most cowardly performance yet. The first half was a disgrace, I can only imagine he got a half time bollocking because at least he showed for the ball a bit more in the second.

M'Bia was playing for Rennes this weekend so I think that one was just a smokescreen. Donadel might be worth getting our hopes up over, but I've a feeling we won't be buying any more central midfielders.

Guthrie and Barton are far superior in technical ability, if Nolan didn't get a few goals he'd struggle to be a Championship player. I hope he scores the goals which will keep us up tbf but I think we've signed a turkey. Pretty ridiculous argument iyam. If Owen didn't score any goals he'd barely make the Championship, either. If Nolan's good at arriving late in the box, is a decent finisher, is decent at long-shots - just reasonable going forward in general, then he'll be a significant improvement on what we've got. Forget Barton and Guthrie like. I concede to not seeing the game today but it seems a tad early to judge the guy. One of the most important areas of the pitch is central midfield where the tempo of the game is set and from what I've seen of Nolan today just confirms what I've thought about him in the past. He's got very little ability and he's really slow. He'd have to score a good few goals to make up for the fact he's going to contribute to us getting out-played in this area of the pitch. I hope he improves, or maybe I've missed something but I think we're going backwards with these sort of signings. Wenger blueprint?

Agree with all of that. His crossing was disappointing but he was head and shoulders above the rest of the midfield.

Guthrie and Barton are far superior in technical ability, if Nolan didn't get a few goals he'd struggle to be a Championship player. I hope he scores the goals which will keep us up tbf but I think we've signed a turkey.

They had the better quality players while Cisse was on the pitch, we were saved by that penalty decision and sheer doggedness.

They'll pass him off the park I reckon. Just hope the other midfielders are up for it.

One of our better players today, much better at RB than in the middle.

He was shit tbh. One paced, gave the ball away, no vision and very slow. Did turn up in the box afew times which makes a nice change but otherwise I think we've wasted £4m.

I take it he can still shoot which is a plus if you look at our midfielder. I thought he was decent in the air as well, but I could be wrong.

Veloso and Barton would be tasty. The chances of having all those fit at once are very low. Butt and Gezza aint good enough. Guthrie isn't good enough either. Veloso, Nolan and Barton are the three you can say hand on heart would grace a decent premier league side. Guthrie isn't good enough yet. Don't write the kid off. I'm not, I just said he isn't good enough, he's got ability but isn't strong enough to play the holding role and doesn't get goals if he plays further forward.

Someone he could go down the pub with, which is why I don't think Veloso is coming here.

Veloso and Barton would be tasty. The chances of having all those fit at once are very low. Butt and Gezza aint good enough. Guthrie isn't good enough either. Veloso, Nolan and Barton are the three you can say hand on heart would grace a decent premier league side.

Veloso and Barton would be tasty.

He was extremely fast.. at doing fuck all. Strange that now he's gone we have two threads which keep refreshing to the top when we really should just let go if he was that bad.

Wigan aren't ambitious, they know their place and they are over-achieving. Bruce is partof that. N'zogbia is now also part of that in that he will be a first choice midfielder rather than on the bench behind Duff, Lovenkrands or whichever washed up darts player ends up here on the books.

i'm surprised he didn't.

Who are you talking about?

He won't like, he'll start well, within a year he'll look huffy and barely ever perform, then the "My agent tells me" shit will start. The kids a rotten egg and I honestly can't see that changing because he's moved to a small club who are performing above themselves at the moment. Bruce has already said that he's happy for Zog to use Wigan as a stepping stone to a bigger move. This is good man-management, I've doubted Bruce in the past but his buying and handling of players is making me think I mis-judged him.

I still think the final fee for Given will be between £8-9m. While we can wank on about him being worth £15m or £20m, no one else will pay as much as City are willing to so I'm happy if we get that as long as it is re-invested in the squad.

Agreed. Even if the interest from us is genuine, I doubt very much we will meet their valuation. I just can't see us splashing that sort of money on one player, especially a foreign one who Kinnear would probably leave out of the first 11 because he can't pronounce his name.