What next for Amartey?

[foxes21]

2 minutes ago, Webbo said:

Neither did Benny today. 

 

We're not going to know how good he can be until see him. CBs don't hit their peak until they're 26/27 +. He's still young, he can learn.

Very true. I think a loan would be best for all parties.

[Sionnach gorm]

Too early to get on him.  He has good games and bad ones.  He's capable and needs time.  Loaning him out would be a mistake.

[matty98]

He's a CB who can play in midfield or at RB as a last resort. He was great for Ghana playing CB at AFCON. Only thing he needs to do is bulk up a bit and he could be really good for us there.

[UPinCarolina]

Needs to be getting regular game time as a CB, somewhere. 

[VLC86]

His best hope is that we are deemed safe and we give him a chance to excel at CB otherwise I would loan him out next season.

 

I actually thought RB was meant to be his position but obviously not.

[The Floyd]

I think that truthfully, a lot of us wanted him to be better than he is so he could fill the Kante shaped void in our midfield. Especially early on in the season where he supposedly had a few outstanding games, I think looking back, he really wasn't that impressive.

 

Now that we have Ndidi, there's less of a need for us to want him to be good and as a result it's becoming increasingly more apparent to how limited he is. 

 

That isn't to say he can't grow as a player and I would love to be proved wrong, he just doesn't strike me as a comfortable footballer.

[VLC86]

6 minutes ago, The Floyd said:

I think that truthfully, a lot of us wanted him to be better than he is so he could fill the Kante shaped void in our midfield. Especially early on in the season where he supposedly had a few outstanding games, I think looking back, he really wasn't that impressive.

 

Now that we have Ndidi, there's less of a need for us to want him to be good and as a result it's becoming increasingly more apparent to how limited he is. 

 

That isn't to say he can't grow as a player and I would love to be proved wrong, he just doesn't strike me as a comfortable footballer.

He has 1 great game and then 4/5 awful ones.

[The Floyd]

1 minute ago, Costock_Fox said:

He has 1 great game and then 4/5 awful ones.

He's a strange one. He has many attributes going for him - height, speed and strength to name a few, but he just looks so timid on the ball.

[VLC86]

Just now, The Floyd said:

He's a strange one. He has many attributes going for him - height, speed and strength to name a few, but he just looks so timid on the ball.

He's also got a really squeaky voice.

[The Floyd]

1 minute ago, Costock_Fox said:

He's also got a really squeaky voice.

What he lacks in voice he more than makes up for with that lovely smile.

[boobagab]

Amartey is a good player but he doesn't have the decision making skills to be a midfielder. He passed well out of the RB position today because he had simple choices to make. Put him in the midfield and he struggles a bit. Ndidi is not a great passer, mostly due to execution, but his match intelligence is high. Ndidi does subtle things like switches play up from one end to the other. It also helps that Ndidi is confident on the ball and can go on a run if needed. 

[inckley fox]

19 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

His best hope is that we are deemed safe and we give him a chance to excel at CB otherwise I would loan him out next season.

 

I actually thought RB was meant to be his position but obviously not.

He's played his third or fourth full game as right back for the club, the first in the PL for around a year, and after most of the season in a different position. He's 21, 22 - a couple of years younger than Kante was when he arrived in CM, and six or seven years younger than Simpson when he arrived (with a fairly unspectacular CV) at right back.

 

For a fair part of the season, when we were looking poor, he was rightly keeping King and (for a short time) Mendy out of the side, and at times out-performing Drinkwater. You only have to glance back at our 'player ratings' on the History section to see that he was often one of our better performers. Yes, Kante and N'didi have done much better, but the poor form of other key players - whether it was down to muddled planning on the manager's part or not - had a far bigger part to play in our troubles than Amartey's shortcomings.

 

Today showed that we lack effective cover in a few areas. Left back was one, though I suspect Chilwell is in the process of learning the role. CB was another. In CM I thought King was woeful, lacking anything like the sort of application which a person of his capabilities needs to offer. And Slimani scored and put himself about but didn't - understandably, of course - provide the sort of link-up that Okazaki does at his best, and which is central to our game when we're playing well.

 

A shaky first five minutes aside, I don't think Amartey was anywhere near one of our bigger problems.

 

As such, if we're looking to add more in the way of effective cover for next season, and players who can grow into the side, learn and gradually replace some of our veterans, then loaning Amartey out would be a terrible move. He's the sort of player we have to continue to integrate into the side if we're serious about having a long-term plan.

 

And I continue to be surprised by how keen some people are to jump on the guy's back. I'd never claim for one minute that he looks like a world-beater, or even necessarily a world-beater in the making, but people have been wholly unreasonable where he's concerned. For years we used to talk about 23, 24 year olds like Stef Oakes as 'ones for the future', hanging on to forlorn hopes that they'd somehow make the step up. Why we're so impatient and dismissive with Amartey, I'm not sure. I hope it's not for the obvious reason that he was, in terms of the starting eleven, the initial replacement for Kante and, therefore, people have confused him being much worse than the world's best defensive midfielder for him being ****.

[VLC86]

Just now, inckley fox said:

He's played his third or fourth full game as right back for the club, the first in the PL for around a year, and after most of the season in a different position. He's 21, 22 - a couple of years younger than Kante was when he arrived in CM, and six or seven years younger than Simpson when he arrived (with a fairly unspectacular CV) at right back.

 

For a fair part of the season, when we were looking poor, he was rightly keeping King and (for a short time) Mendy out of the side, and at times out-performing Drinkwater. You only have to glance back at our 'player ratings' on the History section to see that he was often one of our better performers. Yes, Kante and N'didi have done much better, but the poor form of other key players - whether it was down to muddled planning on the manager's part or not - had a far bigger part to play in our troubles than Amartey's shortcomings.

 

Today showed that we lack effective cover in a few areas. Left back was one, though I suspect Chilwell is in the process of learning the role. CB was another. In CM I thought King was woeful, lacking anything like the sort of application which a person of his capabilities needs to offer. And Slimani scored and put himself about but didn't - understandably, of course - provide the sort of link-up that Okazaki does at his best, and which is central to our game when we're playing well.

 

A shaky first five minutes aside, I don't think Amartey was anywhere near one of our bigger problems.

 

As such, if we're looking to add more in the way of effective cover for next season, and players who can grow into the side, learn and gradually replace some of our veterans, then loaning Amartey out would be a terrible move. He's the sort of player we have to continue to integrate into the side if we're serious about having a long-term plan.

 

And I continue to be surprised by how keen some people are to jump on the guy's back. I'd never claim for one minute that he looks like a world-beater, or even necessarily a world-beater in the making, but people have been wholly unreasonable where he's concerned. For years we used to talk about 23, 24 year olds like Stef Oakes as 'ones for the future', hanging on to forlorn hopes that they'd somehow make the step up. Why we're so impatient and dismissive with Amartey, I'm not sure. I hope it's not for the obvious reason that he was, in terms of the starting eleven, the initial replacement for Kante and, therefore, people have confused him being much worse than the world's best defensive midfielder for him being ****.

Long post but I guess on the whole you agree with me?

[Kitchandro]

I just don't think he's very good. Not very convincing defensively (often well out of position, asleep, and then panicky when trying to recover) and he has nothing to offer in possession at all.

 

I can't see what anyone sees in him, apart from him being 'an athlete'.

 

I think if we have aspirations we need to be moving away from such limited players.

[inckley fox]

13 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Long post but I guess on the whole you agree with me?

I don't think so - I was explaining why I don't think he should be loaned out. I think you were saying the opposite!

[VLC86]

Just now, inckley fox said:

I don't think so - I was explaining why I don't think he should be loaned out. I think you were saying the opposite!

 i know, I did read it.

 

He deserves time yes that's why I don't think we should sell but next season should be about progress and the only way we do that is to be ruthless.

[fazzyfox]

Would like to see him play some League games at CB, other than that the best I've seen him was last season when he came on as sub on the right of midfield as a more defensive option to see out games. A few times today he made the ball look like a hot potato, on one occasion he took three touches to control it and it still ended up behind him, the opposite to being composed. It would just be good to see him in conditions that suit him so we can judge him fairly whether that's CB or a DM in a three and just be a bit more relaxed on the ball. But we do forget his age, if he had come through the academy and hadn't had European experience our tolerance and expectations would be likely to be different, noting what he does well not just being concerned at the flaws.

[inckley fox]

11 minutes ago, Kitchandro said:

I just don't think he's very good. Not very convincing defensively (often well out of position, asleep, and then panicky when trying to recover) and he has nothing to offer in possession at all.

 

I can't see what anyone sees in him, apart from him being 'an athlete'.

 

I think if we have aspirations we need to be moving away from such limited players.

I think a lot of our players are limited. Wasn't that what made our title win so spectacular? Lots of guys who played a perfect, precise part in a team unit, regardless of their apparent ability. He might have his limitations too, but he's held his own in the side at times this season, and he's seven years younger than the average age of our starting eleven. I think that requires some degree of patience.

 

I also don't believe that his performance today, when he was far from one of our worse performers and was playing only his second full league game in the right back slot, and in a weakened side, is a fair motive to use against him.

 

As for what he offers, well, his distribution stats all season long have stacked up favourably against King, Mendy and Drinkwater, including for forward passes. He's strong, he has good interception stats (if not anywhere near Kante or N'Didi levels), and would appear to be fairly versatile. His attitude is good too, which counts for something when you consider the questions which have been asked of some of our players this season.

 

If you're looking at our roll call of fringe players and wondering whether they can come in and do a job, or maybe more in the future, he compares positively with many of the others.

[inckley fox]

10 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

 i know, I did read it.

 

He deserves time yes that's why I don't think we should sell but next season should be about progress and the only way we do that is to be ruthless.

I see what you're saying, but is he the sort of person we need to be ruthless with?

 

If you clear out Wasilewski, Mendy, Musa, Kapustka, possibly Ulloa, perhaps even King and Slimani, and if you lose one or two others, then we'll be grateful for players who can continue to grow into the side while newcomers bed in (and others, as is always the case, don't).

 

Amartey, naturally for a 22 year-old playing his first full year at this level, is still learning. I think he's done enough to be allowed to continue to do so. As far as midfielders go, I remember Robbie Savage's first season was pretty unspectacular (when he was 23-24), as was Gary Mills' (at 27 or so), or even Gary McAllister's. And a lot of people thought we should get rid of Drinkwater for next to nothing just a couple of years ago. So Amartey may continue to progress, or maybe he won't, but I'd be happy if he were to remain part of our plans.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

He really wasn't that bad today you tarts. A position he's barely ever played in for us in a game literally nobody could seem to care less about and apparently he's "Sunday League standard."

 

Get over yourselves for Christ's sake.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

5 hours ago, Col city fan said:

I'm not contributing to this thread as I will be banned. It would happen. Make your own minds up ladies and gents. You know mine.

Congratulations on feeling some kind of vindication for constantly belittling a 22 year old no matter what he does, you must feel immeasurably proud.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

 

If you're looking in Daniel... https://careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_mcdonalds/crew/jobDetails.do?functionName=getJobDetail&jobPostId=183951&localeCode=en-us 

[Chiltern Fox]

6 hours ago, Royston. said:

I hate when amartey gets the ball. Sunday league standard.

His best position is probably a defensive midfield spoiler because he is simply scared of having the ball.

Couldn't agree more. He plays like me & I'm shit.

[Foxxed]

The chap needs confidence on the ball, something he's still not picked up - the ball approaches, then his first touch is a little poor and then he panics and punts it. 

 

I noticed in Drinky's mistake near the 85th minute mark, where he nearly gifts Everton a goal, Amartey was there to pass to, but Drinky doesn't bother. I wonder if that's because lack of trust.

 

You can almost see his frustration at times. Copenhagen away was the worst: he'd come back to a pitch where he excelled and nothing came right for him. If we had more midfield and full back cover, I'd join the loan him out chorus.

 

He wasn't worse than Chilwell to be fair who also had a poor match.

[STUHILL]

9 minutes ago, Foxxed said:

The chap needs confidence on the ball, something he's still not picked up - the ball approaches, then his first touch is a little poor and then he panics and punts it. 

 

I noticed in Drinky's mistake near the 85th minute mark, where he nearly gifts Everton a goal, Amartey was there to pass to, but Drinky doesn't bother. I wonder if that's because lack of trust.

 

You can almost see his frustration at times. Copenhagen away was the worst: he'd come back to a pitch where he excelled and nothing came right for him. If we had more midfield and full back cover, I'd join the loan him out chorus.

 

He wasn't worse than Chilwell to be fair who also had a poor match.

I thought Chilwell looked very composed on the ball and obviously loves to get forward, but he seems to lack any real defensive grit or ability. He has talent no doubt but I'm yet to see his strengths as a defender yet. We missed Fuchs for sure