First things first....
The Team have done absolutely brilliant so far this season, not just in terms of points tally, but their togetherness and never say die attitude....so well done lads (and of course JM!)
It may therefore seem churlish to be critical about anything, however....
Even before today's game against Carlisle, I hadn't been a fan of Kamara....and this afternoon I thought he had an absolute shocker!
It isn't that he get's knocked off the ball so easily, or that he is unable to beat his defender....nope, the thing that concerns me the most is his attitude.....especially second half, when he seemed completely disinterested and unwilling to put in a shift.
I wonder if the lad has lost his self confidence, in which case he needs to be taken out of the Team for a while so that JM and his staff can help him re-set and come back a more determined player.....something which I'd love to see.
Not caring would not be a player who tracked back the length of the pitch, tackled and won the ball back after losing it.
I think he is losing confidence and after playing every game at 19 needs a few games rest. And of course every winger ever,at this level, has good and bad games.
Sitting in the South today, I thought that Sparkes did the opposite of helping him. From the off in the second half he was shouting at him and criticising him.
Good wingers almost always have a good relationship with the full back behind them from teams I've run and watched over too many years. I suspect Ogilvie is a much better help to a young player.
Sparkes is an outstanding crosser and corner deliverer. From what I saw today, he is not quite as good a passer, he also looked to run out of puff about 70 mins.
I'd put Ogilvie back in, move Sparkes up the pitch and give Kamara a match or three on the bench.
Most of all, I'd remember just how young he is and that as a fan base in the ground we really need to make an effort to keep off his back. Actively support him, or shut up.
I agree he needs to come out for a while and I imagine Whyte will be back Tuesday. He seems to run straight into the first defender time and time again but he’s young and needs to be looked after which I would expect JM etc to do well.
In general, I wouldn't disagree with your comments Hammie....as I said in my last sentence, I'd love to see him do well.....just think the lad has lost it a bit and needs to have the pressure taken off him for a few games.....and then come back stronger
He's faded in recent game but still produced the odd assist.
Today he was woeful.
Needs to take a few games out.
(21-10-2023, 08:19 PM)Mostlysunny Wrote: [ -> ]In general, I wouldn't disagree with your comments Hammie....as I said in my last sentence, I'd love to see him do well.....just think the lad has lost it a bit and needs to have the pressure taken off him for a few games.....and then come back stronger
We were chatting at the game, our first line wingers have rather disappeared, leaving the back up wingers to carry the season so far.
Kamara has done pretty well so far and Lane has done brilliantly but probably cannot keep that going for the entire season.
Whyte is starting to look a bit better and has a pretty good return of assists (actually so have both Kamara and Lane) Scully looked amazing for a half against Exeter and has apparently been playing with an injury.
I'd happily sign up Curtis when fit to give us an extra body that we know can do the job at Fratton.
I guess we should also all remember the other wingers of the last few years and compare to the assists produced this season already.
I was concerned by the reaction from quite a lot of the crowd when Camara opted not to shoot. If we collectively destroy his confidence he will end up like Michael Smith and so many others who have gone on to higher things after we wrote them off.
Probably needs a game or two out of the starting XI. We've also got to remember that he probably wasn't meant to be a regular starter this early on in the season. Whyte has been a bit patchy and Scully has got injured meaning Kamara has been ever present lately. There's a player in there though.
Out wide is somewhere we will need to strengthen in January I suspect. It is our weakest area especially as Paddy in the last few games hasn't quite hit the heights of the Barnsley and Wigan games.
With josh Martin still training with us a short term deal would really boast cover.
He fell over too often, did he have any studs in his boots ?
(22-10-2023, 09:31 AM)Northstander Wrote: [ -> ]He fell over too often, did he have any studs in his boots ?
Most of our team did.
Before kick off we had the sprinklers going for about ten minutes, which seemed ridiculous given the forecast.
He’s not consistent enough- yet. I think his off the ball play is what let’s him down, he hides on the wing whereas Saydee goes looking for the ball.
(21-10-2023, 08:13 PM)Hammie Wrote: [ -> ]Not caring would not be a player who tracked back the length of the pitch, tackled and won the ball back after losing it.
I think he is losing confidence and after playing every game at 19 needs a few games rest. And of course every winger ever,at this level, has good and bad games.
Sitting in the South today, I thought that Sparkes did the opposite of helping him. From the off in the second half he was shouting at him and criticising him.
Good wingers almost always have a good relationship with the full back behind them from teams I've run and watched over too many years. I suspect Ogilvie is a much better help to a young player.
Sparkes is an outstanding crosser and corner deliverer. From what I saw today, he is not quite as good a passer, he also looked to run out of puff about 70 mins.
I'd put Ogilvie back in, move Sparkes up the pitch and give Kamara a match or three on the bench.
Most of all, I'd remember just how young he is and that as a fan base in the ground we really need to make an effort to keep off his back. Actively support him, or shut up.
I agree they’re not on the same page some of the time. Kamara was pretty tightly marked for a lot of the game. This actually created a lot of room for Sparkes to run in to when receiving the ball deep but he almost always looked to make a pass inside immediately he got the ball. Lost count of the times (especially second half) he failed to dribble forward into the space which would have created a chance for him to put in an earlier cross or freed up Kamara when the full back inevitably moved off him and on to Sparkes. Saying that I still felt he was one of our best players yesterday. Left back is becoming another position where Mousinho is spoilt for choice.
I think the problem with Kamara is that he is not really a left-winger, but is being asked to play there because of the injury to Scully. When he arrived he was described as someone who could play anywhere across the front line, in other words a player who has not found his best position yet.