January Silly Season 2014

West Ham United are set to sign AC Milan centre midfielder Antonio Nocerino on loan, per Sky Sports, so here is a scouting report on the 28-year-old Italian international.



Nocerino's Form

West Ham supporters need to be aware Nocerino is playing the worst football of his career and his performances have sloped to Djamel Mesbah-territory.

To put that in West Ham context: Minus Nocerino's first season, he has been to Milan what Kieron Dyer was to West Ham—a liability.


Nocerino is awkward in possession as Meytar Zeevi at Rossoneri Blog illustrated in a GIF when Nocerino dribbled backwards and was stripped off the ball against Udinese.

Nocerino goes missing for stretches of the game, hence why his passes per game (21.9) is comparable with Napoli's Liverpool loanee Pepe Reina (20.1), a goalkeeper.

Nocerino will generally look to play the conservative pass rather than the vital pass.

This was evident during a 4-2 win over Torino last season in a moment of the game when he received the ball.


Instead of turning, weighing up his options and making a calculated pass, Nocerino's first instinct was to play the ball backwards—it was the "safe" option.

Unbeknownst to him, Philippe Mexes was on the right and to Nocerino's left was Mario Yepes—neither of the Milan centre-backs were behind Nocerino, so his lack of awareness was on show in that particular play.

He inadvertently provided the incisive pass for then-Torino left winger Mario Santana, who raced through on goal, skipped past Milan goalkeeper Marco Amelia and scored.



Did Sam Allardyce Evaluate Nocerino's Statistics?

Allardyce, West Ham's manager (for now), is a statistics-based coach, which was chronicled at his former club Bolton Wanderers, per Zach Slaton at Forbes.

Allardyce talks a good game about incorporating statistics into football.

"Accumulating the data is one thing but you then have to decide how you want to use it and what decisions you want to make to help you progress and move forward," Allardyce said, per The Footballers' Football Show on Sky Sports. "Plus, data also helps you and your scouts recruit players."

Source: Squawka
Well, signing Nocerino goes against Allardyce's philosophy.

Every time Nocerino dribbles, he has a 90 percent chance of losing the ball.
His tackle success percentage is below 50 (48).
He loses out in 75 percent of aerial contests.
When he shoots, there is a 75 percent chance it will miss the target.
His chances created per game output has been 0.6, 0.8 and 1.4 in his three seasons, respectively, at Milan (Modibo Maiga's current CCPG is 0.9).
Another fault in Nocerino's game is not being Gennaro Gattuso-like in midfield.

The only similarity between the two is Gattuso's nickname, Rino, is the last four letters of Nocerino's surname.

If you compared Nocerino's current tackles per game (1.5) to Premier League footballers, there would be 119 players ahead of him. Players such as Chelsea wide attacking midfielder Willian (1.8) and Crystal Palace centre-forward Marouane Chamakh (1.6).

Nocerino's tackle success percentage, 48, is unacceptable. His nothing tackle on Bologna centre attacking midfielder Alessandro Diamanti last season, which gave away a penalty, sums up Nocerino's defensive nous.


Allardyce's Hoof And Hope

"The music world has one-hit wonders and the [FIFA] World Cup has Salvatore ["Toto"] Schillaci," per Clemente Angelo Lisi's book A History of the World Cup, 1930-2010.


Nocerino's thumping volley against Parma and him going George Weah on Siena had a tinge of Schillaci: "Is this a dream?"



In reality, Nocerino was overly reliant on then-teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic.


Not only is Ibrahimovic a goal-threat and a creative outlet, he holds the ball up and drags opposing players out of position.

Nocerino would consistently ghost into advantageous goalscoring positions unmarked, smartly using 6'5" Ibrahimovic as a decoy.

One example of this was in a 3-0 win over Cagliari when Ibrahimovic nonchalantly diverted the ball with his chest into the path of an onrushing Nocerino, who promptly finished past Cagliari keeper Michael Agazzi.

The departure of Ibrahimovic has coincided with Nocerino's fall from grace, but a valid explanation is opposing teams figured him out.


He had never scored 10 goals in a season and he was not a reputed goalscorer, so the surprise factor helped him briefly scale the heights of the Serie A goalscoring charts.

Allardyce may feel Nocerino can emulate his first season for Milan in the Premier League as West Ham have 6'3" No. 9s in Carlton Cole and Andy Carroll

Nocerino is a hoof and hope signing.


@allanjianga

+allanjiang

Statistics via WhoScored, FFT Stats Zone, Squawka and Transfermarkt.

Marco Borriello's career in Italy could be defined by one word—inconsistency.

From long dry patches without a goal to being near the Capocannoniere title with a flurry of hat-tricks and braces, Borriello was never able to cement a place with a squad for more than a few years.

It's perhaps this nomadic type of career that never really allowed him to reach his full potential.

Andrew Medichini/Associated Press
A rare appearance for Borriello under Rudi Garcia
The latest rumors are certain that he will be joining English club West Ham United over the weekend, ending his time on Roma's desolate bench.

Perhaps West Ham is just the type of situation Borriello needs to reignite a promising career despite being 31 years old.

The Italian striker has plenty of talent and can be a serviceable No. 9 in the right system. He works well in a 4-3-3 when the wing players provide him with a steady stream of crosses which he's able to feast on. Borriello is surprisingly technical despite his lumbering appearance, and thrives on bizarre left-footed volleys and headers.

While he isn't a natural finisher, he has plenty of power in his left foot and can score from outside the box as well.

ANTONIO CALANNI/Associated Press
Borriello scoring a left-footed volley
His best year came in the 2007-08 season with Genoa, when the recently promoted squad took a chance on Milan's misfiring striker. Borriello repaid their confidence by scoring an astounding 19 goals domestically, leading Genoa to a comfortable mid-table position.

Two seasons later, he finally had his chance with Milan and scored 14 goals in Serie A—a respectable tally, but ultimately he wasn't deemed to be the true difference maker that could lift the club in the Champions League.

He has since bounced around Serie A. Two more seasons with double-digit goal tallies would ensue, but he once again found a spot on the bench waiting for him at Roma, a club that has deemed him as surplus under new coach Rudi Garcia.


Would Borriello be a good signing for West Ham United?
No, he's overrated and will end up on the bench.
Yes, it's the perfect opportunity for him to get back on track.
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West Ham are in a far different situation than Roma, as they are fully entrenched in a relegation battle after starting the season poorly. Coach Sam Allardyce can expect Borriello to give him a bit more than someone like Andy Carroll, and the Italian could really thrive from the right service on the wings if the London outfit play to his strengths.

In the end, Borriello will be looking for more playing time as he approaches the twilight of his career. While he has had his moments, he will go down as another unfulfilled promise considering his potential.

Campo wrote:Tonight's treats

Roma striker Marco Boriello - Loan
Joleon Lescott - Loan
Antonio Nocerino from Milan - Loan

2 out of 3 signed today
HH ignore sky sports mate, they had no clue over these two

True, true, they were way off the mark.

Given our previous form in the transfer market under the current decision makers can't really have any confidence but hey, innocent until proven guilty and can only hope that along with our key players back from injury these new boys have the Hartson and Kitson effect and it'll either be
SOS (Save Our Season or Sod Off Sam !!)

Least they are on loan if useless.

COYIs

Hungry Hammer 66 wrote:In reality, Nocerino was overly reliant on then-teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Not only is Ibrahimovic a goal-threat and a creative outlet, he holds the ball up and drags opposing players out of position. Nocerino would consistently ghost into advantageous goalscoring positions unmarked, smartly using 6'5" Ibrahimovic as a decoy.

Allardyce may feel Nocerino can emulate his first season for Milan in the Premier League as West Ham have 6'3" No. 9s in Carlton Cole and Andy Carroll

Hopefully this will work then, preferably with Carroll, although Cole is not so bad at holding the ball up ..... 

Hungry Hammer 66 wrote:The Italian striker has plenty of talent and can be a serviceable No. 9 in the right system. He works well in a 4-3-3 when the wing players provide him with a steady stream of crosses which he's able to feast on. Borriello is surprisingly technical despite his lumbering appearance, and thrives on bizarre left-footed volleys and headers.

While he isn't a natural finisher, he has plenty of power in his left foot and can score from outside the box as well.

Coach Sam Allardyce can expect Borriello to give him a bit more than someone like Andy Carroll, and the Italian could really thrive from the right service on the wings if the London outfit play to his strengths.

 
Again, looking on the positives.  If he can offer a bit more than someone like Carroll, it's a shame we didn't sign him in the summer.  Competition for Carroll ..... got to be a good thing.

Can't say i know anything about Boriello
from what i can remember from Nocerino he aint a bad player, good good signing, he will give a bit of backbone the the middle, has to take Nolan place
and i would be glad of that, Remove the armband from Nolan, and give it to Winston

I've never heard of either, I don't get time to watch foreign football leagues.

I can never see Sam taking the armband from Nolan ...... I reckon it was part of the sweetener to get him here

Stoke City fans are ready for Transfer Deadline day

omfg!

Todays rumours:
out:
Diarra and Maiga close to being shipped out
Collison and Rat are available to be sold/ moved on
Johnson loan could possibly be cut short and him shipped back

Ins:
looking for a left back if Rat out[/font][/color]
and Gradel is a target (I think we were after him when he was at Leeds)

Diarra/Gradel swap deal being suggested

Left back Pablo Armero on loan from Napoli too

The Sun paper today are saying that will sell Diame to QPR make funds to buy Konstantinos Mitroglou from Olympiakos for £12m ,

I really fupping hope we do not sell Diame at any price !!!

"BREAKING: David Villa signs for Villa, Antonio Valencia signs for Valencia, Nile Ranger signs for Rangers, Danny Shittu signs for Tottenham"

Rat has been paid to find another club, released




now confirmed by young jack

Maiga to qpr

Wooooop Wooooop!!

now pretty much confirmed by jack

Arran H wrote:The Sun paper today are saying that will sell Diame to QPR make funds to buy Konstantinos Mitroglou from Olympiakos for £12m ,

I really fupping hope we do not sell Diame at any price !!!

Why not?

To be fair the way Diame has performed of late I would have taken £3M
the bloke clearly does not want to be here

Jack Sullivan ‏@jsullivanwhu 3m
MAIGA DONE