January transfer window...

[Choppers]

I'd say we'll be linked with centre backs until the inevitable happens with Cahill.

[Ianmooreslovechild]

Worth a punt?

Richard Dunne's Aston Villa career has hit a new low after being told he is now the club's fourth-choice centre-back.
Full story: Daily Mirror

I'd say yes,very solid gutsy player,makes mistakes but then any centre back we pick up will. Wasn't he the fans favourite at the massive

[thebish]

Wigan's hopes of signing Bolton goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi in a £2million deal are threatened by late interest from Manchester City and Aston Villa.

Oman international Al-Habsi, 28, is on loan until the end of the season and Roberto Martinez was considering a permanent deal in the summer, but may now have to make his move next month.

(Daily Mail)

ok - so that's £20 million then!

[wanderers_on_tour]

I'd say we'll be linked with centre backs until the inevitable happens with Cahill.

Chris Samba is to hand in a transfer request according to SSN so...

[Choppers]

Dunn wouldn't exactly help our "clean sheet" problem with his nack of scoring own goals.

Samba isn't our type of player either imho.

[boltonboris]

Dunn wouldn't exactly help our "clean sheet" problem with his nack of scoring own goals.

Samba isn't our type of player either imho.

A good defender? I reckon we could do with one!

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Wigan's hopes of signing Bolton goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi in a £2million deal are threatened by late interest from Manchester City and Aston Villa.

Oman international Al-Habsi, 28, is on loan until the end of the season and Roberto Martinez was considering a permanent deal in the summer, but may now have to make his move next month.

(Daily Mail)

ok - so that's £20 million then!

Kerchinggg!!!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

on current form, he (Charlie Adam) controls a game better than anything we have and is streets ahead, nay motorways ahead of Fab and Mavies.

...and if we played him in the middle of a 4-4-2, you'd have plenty of chance to get at Knight and Cahill. As would the rest of the division.

Signing Richard Dunne or Chris Samba wouldn't help. Having either of those paired with Knight would be potentially fearful. We need somebody with either the pace to rectify mistakes or the nous to stop them happening in the first place.

[chaddy_bwfc]

Dunn wouldn't exactly help our "clean sheet" problem with his nack of scoring own goals.

Samba isn't our type of player either imho.

A good defender? I reckon we could do with one!

I would welcome samba, and would feel safer at the back with him in there!

[boltonboris]

Well, he's an improvement on Knight.. That'll do for me.

[Choppers]

People really think Samba is a good defender?

We already have/had (can't remember if he's still with us) a big lump that can head half the pitch in Shittu.

Samba was Sam's secret weapon though, throw him up front if he runs out of ideas.

Not convinced Adam would be what we need either, or where he'd play...or who he'd oust!

[TKIZ!]

Bit gutted we missed out on that Ayovi character. Apparently was banging them in for fun. Samba is alright but definitely not better than what we've got

[chaddy_bwfc]

People really think Samba is a good defender?

We already have/had (can't remember if he's still with us) a big lump that can head half the pitch in Shittu.

Samba was Sam's secret weapon though, throw him up front if he runs out of ideas.

Not convinced Adam would be what we need either, or where he'd play...or who he'd oust!

Shittu left us in the summer. he's playing for millwall now.

samba is a hell of a better player than shittu ever will be, he's proved himself in the prem where as shittu will never play in the prem again for a good reason.

[TKIZ!]

I see your point to a certain degree, Chaddy but Samba is not the type of player we want. I'd take a punt on this young lad from Boro, Hines

[chaddy_bwfc]

I see your point to a certain degree, Chaddy but Samba is not the type of player we want. I'd take a punt on this young lad from Boro, Hines

ye i agree but i just think he would be a safer option at the back than zat knight perhaps. but im sure whoever coyle brings in will be a good addition to the squad and hopefully push the defense to perform better and keep a clean sheet!

[BWFC_Insane]

I'd take Samba and/or Dunne in a hearbeat.

Samba moreso than Dunne but still.

Not really sure why anyone wouldn't have Samba he'd walk into our side IMO. He and Dunne would be a good partnership IMO.

However, we'll sign neither.

[TKIZ!]

I'd take Samba and/or Dunne in a hearbeat.

Samba moreso than Dunne but still.

Not really sure why anyone wouldn't have Samba he'd walk into our side IMO. He and Dunne would be a good partnership IMO.

However, we'll sign neither.

I'm just not convinced that Samba would be better than Knight, that's just me though. Everyone has an opinion, this forum would be rubbish without people's opinions.

[jaffka]

samba is a big lump and needs someone vocal alongside him to tell him what to do

between dunne and samba, dunne for me, but in place of knight, so it aint gonna happen

[Tombwfc]

Charlie Adam is overrated and there's no obvious place for him in our midfield.

I'd also like someone to point out what he offers that Taylor doesn't, given that Matty is faster and works harder.

He's a better footballer.

In what position? Certainly not left wing. Central? Maybe, but he's still not fit to clean Holden, Muamba or Mavies' boots.
If we do want to spend £6mil on a third choice left winger/fourth choice central midfielder, by all means buy Adam.

He'd get torn apart at the Reebok after the 'ooh we've signed someone' honeymoon period ran out.

The same Charlie Adam who ran the game when Blackpool played us here, against Mavies and Muamba?

I'm all for the theory that he won't be good outside of Blackpool, players like that sometimes aren't. But on current form, he controls a game better than anything we have and is streets ahead, nay motorways ahead of Fab and Mavies.

No, the Charlie Adam that did little other than wandering around the centre circle and playing a few expansive passes. He was far less impressive than a lot of Blackpool players we wouldn't dream of signing. Only they've all got the stigma attached of being lower league players.

I have no idea how you think that he could play in Fabrice's role and improve us, or Mark Davies', given what both are expected to do in a game. Both require energy and workrate that is beyond Adam, regardless of his superior technical skill.

As for Samba, I suspect that if we all watched Samba every week we'd be able to pick out the same faults we see in our own centre halves. Blackburn have conceded more goals than us anyway, playing a more defensive style.

The biggest problem in our season so far (and I say problem, we're fecking seventh) has been the lack of clean sheets and generally the amount of goals we've conceded. I don't think if we jettisoned Knight for Samba and Muamba for Adam (at significant cost) we would in any way solve that issue.

Infact, the more I think about it the more I'm starting to agree with what DSB was talking about in another thread. Our lack of shut-outs being just an occupational hazard of playing the way we do. The day we play the kind of football we do under Coyle and mix it with the defensive capability of Bolton-era Sam Allardyce is probably when we win the European Cup.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying to improve our defending, but we're always going to concede goals and the actual personnel we currently have are about as good as we could hope to attract.

[Lord Kangana]

Samba - not really.

Dunne - on a free, with AOB leaving and not on ridiculous wages I could wear. Theres a hell of a lot of suns need to align there though.

Charlie Adam. Whats he bringing to the party that Muamba, Davies and Holden don't? If he was a Bosman, then game on. But we're talking a fee for a player who may be a step up from Cohen, but not much else. Money would be better spent elsewhere, or indeed remain in our pockets. If we're looking at midfield, I'd be looking at a loan of some sort (similar to the Wilshere business last year) or O'Hara from Spurs (loan or buy) or somesuch. That kind of deal is more where we're at I think.