Newty82

Ive still got likes...can we transfer likes??? At least then something will be getting transfered!!!

BREAKING NEWS... Theres a limit on likes on Toffetalk...this gets more bizzare!!!

Yeah....but we wont have all the fellaini money upfront. Stay calm fellow toffees...theres time yet...still an hour... Kettle goin on again...

Its shit luck boys...but c'mon...wait until 11pm before the dramatics start... It looks like its goin tits up just now...but wait...

Starting to worry now...McCarthy off??? Anichebe at WBA...and Lukaku choosing WBA??? Oh no...Im getting nervous now! Scared...worried... Pass the dutch again...

Bloody hell!!! Whelan is bein hard faced...still got it in him even at 106 year old. This will happen I reckon.

This is freakin crazy. Pass the dutch...

Would prefer it to be lukaku! Doc...get sky sports news on!!!

6m would be an immense fee!!!

Problem is you dont wanna be left with a sulk arse player!!!

SSN say he left at speed!!!

Im up for him going. Hope he does well at WBA, think he will. But clearly not in RM's plans.

Fair enough. But Jose wouldnt let him go last month because he had him in his plans. Really hope we get him...just what we need!!!

I find it hard to believe this one.... But I would love it!!!!

Top stuff there Steve_E....I havent read it all but I will. As I have said, I aint into all the stats...only just looked thid weekend. And, this is important for people to remember, the only reason I did dive into some stats was that there has been a clear misconception amongsta growing number of fans about how we have been playing...and a couple of lazy pundits too. And not just on this forum, but on things like facebook. All I am trying to show is that we have done a hell of a lot of things right. I aint no stat expert!!!

Cheers buddy. A good site I've come across actually shows that Barkley has taken most shots on average per game for us...4.3 shots per game. Which is really surprising as we are all singing his praises yet lambasting Jelavic, Kone and Mirallas for wasting chances...as I have said, all is not as it seems due to our own prejudice. However, its likely he is hitting them more from a distance, whereas Jelly maybe missing chances we view as 'being on a plate'. I have an app on my phone...'Football App'...every league, player, club in the world. There is also a great website...whoscored.com...brilliant stats on all sorts in world football. Gotta be honest, until this weekend I hadnt been bothered, but it really irks me that people say things without substance...not just in football, but in general...its just lazy and an easy get out to say the same old same. Some other things to think about now that a load of leagues have kicked off..... 9th in Europe for shots per game, 6th for possession, 12th pass success, And impressively, we are 1st with least amount of shots against. Good stuff.

There was also a notion that most of our passes are needless ones across the back line...unfortunately thats not true.... Only 25% of our touches are in the defensive third, 42% are in the middle, and 33% are in the attacking third. I was surprised at that too! Attack wise? Not enough through the middle? Shots wise, 20% from the right, 22% from the left and 58% through the middle. While we do pass it around at the back, it seems we spend less time than we think, inc. Me, with it in the defensive 3rd. We are quite nifty at moving the ball forward, into the attacking 3rd. We do use the wings a fair bit, mainly the left (46%)...then work it back into the middle...where we are supposed to finish it off!!! But I watched closely today the 'top' teams playing...they also work it at the back, move the ball forward, hit the wings, and come back in again. Also, if you are of the school of thought that we need to play more long balls...we are actually in the bracket with the typical top clubs plus the 'known' passers who all play 80-90% short passes and only around 10% long passes. The rest is made up of crosses, which we have quite a heavy use of. Very few teams in the premiership are now doing less than 80% short passes. I tried to find a player shot analysis...I found one...but the total shots dont add up to the shots we have had... Not surprising, Mirallas has been most wasteful...but then closely followed by Barkley...then Jelavic...surprising. As always, what we perceive to be true, isnt always and is actually influenced by our own prejudice. Now I must get my life back......!!!!

I agree here, he is doing fine. I just think that if he was 100% into it, he'd be doing great. Nothing against him, glad to have had him here, but cant blame him for wanting to go to the next level. Matt...I also want to have the goals and brill gameplay. That will come. I think we have played this way because of how the opposition had set out, as in WBA and Cardiff, who's managers have pretty much admitted what their intention and/or priority has been. It will click into place properly once this lunacy that is the transfer window closes and RM knows for sure what he has at his dispossal...at the moment he is putting some good energy into man managing fellaini and baines, keeping them focused etc...which must be tricky with all the rumours. Once it closes, another new era begins....

Cheers for that Mike, I dont post much to be honest. Matt...fair point about the goals thing. But remember that, like any competitive sport, its about winning, and definately not losing. Your right that spain didnt look at their best, only 8 goals etc...if I remember right, they played with no striker at times? But they won. The opposition cant do much without the ball. Id rather win this way than do a Wimbledon!!! And as far as scoring goes, it will come. Kone will get match fit. And fitness does come into it...fitness doesnt just effect how long you can run both distance and time wise, it also affects your mental sharpness...a 1% drop isnt much for the average fan who lives on beer n pies, but for a top level athlete it is a hell of a lot. Jelavic I cant explain...but confidence, or lack of, can be a bad thing in a normal walk of life, god knows what its like when your being scrutinised by thousands of people who know everything about being a pro' footballer....!!!

@ DK....thanks for the grammar thing. To be honest...I write on my phone and/or tablet...its tricky whacking in every ''' so I dont bother, too keen to get my thoughts out see. I also fall into the trap of typing how I speak...so as a true northerner, I dont say 'arent'...I say 'aint'...we dont all speak the Queens language fluently. Also, it may be seem like a duplicate thread, but it isnt. I read a few threads that seem to go off on a tangent (dont they all?!!) and tried to pull it all together with my own thoughts rather than leaving a little snippet here, little snippet there. I havent read a thread yet with all the stats...just a load of wayward opinions with no back up. Avin...I know what you mean. But is Fellaini really 100% interested? Can he really contribute as much with the ball being played to his feet more than his chest? I think he could for sure, if he was 100% interested. So its no good getting in extra players if losing one estabilished player? Well I guess Spurs are going to find it hard this season

Cheers, and yeah, I get that. And as said, we are struggling with that. But we are creating the chances, some, including pro pundits, are saying the passing is leading to nothing...well it is, clearly it is. But it is frustrating that the players are doing the hard bit, then just cant quite finish it off....at the moment! But it will come. Dont forget though, we aint conceding either...because the opposition aint getting many chances...thats a good thing too. Its a balanced view, and we'll all have our own. We can argue with each other...but you cant argue with the numbers.

....the amount of bollocks being spoken about our first few league games, both by a portion of our 'fans' and both sky and bbc 'experts'. Lets look at some of the kind of quotes we have so far.... 'Passing for no reason....' 'Passing too slow...' 'Not penetrating enough...' 'Not creating chances...' etc etc. You get what I mean, and know what I am on about. I dont agree with any of these statements or anything like them. But I thought to myself 'Dave, you have to wear glasses to see your 50inch TV, maybe your short sighted by nature aswell as physically....'. So, I look up the stats for our first 3 league games...and my view has not changed. Now my view of keeping the ball is that 1) the opposition can do naff all without it, 2) its more tiring if you have to chase the ball and 3) with the ball, you control the game. I coach youth football and its bloody hard work drilling this in...as come game day, the call from the sidelines is 'clear it'....'get rid'...blah blah. In this country, we are shit at the game we invented because we cant grasp the idea of good calm patient football. Barcelona keep the ball for fun, Spains national team is made up of mainly Barcelona players, kind of hard to disagree with what they do. Martinez is made from this very same modern way of thinking. A lot of us english fans simply are not. So we have to hoof it if its nil nil after a few minutes. I cant back this up on my own...so the stats.... Vs Norwich (a)...67% possession, 20 shots (vs.8), Shot accuracy 35% (vs.25%), 564 passes (vs.258), Pass Acc. 88% (vs.76%) Vs WBA (h)...62% possession, 22 shots (vs.7), Shot accuracy 36% (vs.29%), 478 passes (vs.298), Pass acc. 83% (vs.70%) Vs Cardiff (a)...63% possession, 13 shots (vs.4), shot accuracy 23% (vs.25%), 513 passes (vs.299), Pass acc. 86% (vs.76%) The stats show that the type of football being played is doing its job...that is limiting the oppositions opportunity to use the ball, limiting their chances, and far from what is being said, this style of football is enabling us to create chances. Plenty of them. Our shot accuracy is far from poor. Also, we are passing the ball with great accuracy. The only problem is we cant convert our chances just now, but that is not the fault of our style or any single player...it just aint happening just now. But it will. Its hard to see that when keeping the ball so much, creating so many chances etc it aint eventually going to go our way. It is frustrating to have not won these games, but it is surely pleasing that we are doing almost everything right?!!! The other moan is about Kone. Give the bloke a chance to get match fit, he's finding his fitness after fasting...that would zap the energy and therfore fitness out of any top athlete. The bloke will get us around 15 goals this season. Its totally unfair to label the £6 or so million spent on him as a waste. After a few sub appearances? Behave. So, some say we should have spent the money on someone else, who? Overall, this is good stuff. I am sceptical though...I have to admit...about the amount of staff brought in from wigan and also the number of players we have or are linked to from wigan. We have signed 3...linked with 2 others. That does make me feel a bit nervy. I am a bit dissapointed....that we have spent a minimum amount of money on transfers, especially after all the hoo-haa about new tv money etc. Now Martinez says we dont need to sell financially. This seems to be true and only means the banks arent making silly demands, neither is any loan shark. Great. However, clearly we have to sell if we want to buy. I am confident that we have 4/5 quality players lined up should Baines and Fellaini go, definately. Ideally we'll keep Baines...I dont mind us selling Fellaini, I think he really wants to go, and we'll bring in 3/4 players if that happens. But...its a shame we have to sell to buy. Clearly, what we have is what we have squad wise. Its clear that we need more depth, quality depth I mean. I think more players will get a chance this season, it will be good to see who cuts it. Hopefully all of them, but when does that ever happen? We'll still be up battling a top 6 place, but what happens between now and 11pm Monday will influence that a lot. To finish...I reckon this years derby games will see some of the best pure football played for years between us.

When this first started months ago...I thought we should buy back finch farm. Then we save on daft rents and have a solid physical asset, which is good to have when you are supposed to be selling the club. Since the council snapped it up...that idea has gone. I also thought we could invest a little in cranking our scouting network up a few notches...I have no idea how our scouting works or where we are...but I like the idea of having an ultimate scouting network does it for me for the future. So...only one thing for it...pure squad investment. Players that will improve our squad now and for a few years...be it McCarthy, Shaw, Moses, Ince...just make the right investment. Or wax the lot on a striker? Now theres a thought.....

Havent really read this thread but get the jist of the last few posts... The way I see it...he scored 11 league goals for a relegation fodder team. I still think he'll get around 15 for us this season. Yes, its frustrating when the strikers miss so many opportunaties. But I am sure thats not his normal way. Also...the team as a whole are missing opportunaties, think about norwich and wba...

Barkley...looked nice and sharp on the ball...and in chasing it too! Big mention to Distin and Coleman too.