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Daniel Amartey

You probably knew this article was coming, but would love to get some debate going about Amartey and how Puel sees him after Fridays performance.

In my mind, his performance against Man United was an absolute car crash. A defensive horror show pretty similar to the last time we were at old Trafford where he managed to get himself sent off within 10 mins of coming off the bench. I lost count of the amount of times he gave the ball away. The dragback near the corner flag almost gave United a chance to make it 2-0 and of course his handball was lazy and inexcusable.

As if that wasn’t bad enough he picked up his token yellow card and showed no signs of understanding that another yellow would see him sent off. It was a terrible defensive performance and directly contributed to us dropping points.

Now I know he has his positives - he is comfortable on the ball generally, which is all puel seems to care about, but with Ricardo playing right wing and Simpson out of favour, it looks to me as if Amartey is our first choice right back. If that’s the case then Puel is making a decision which could be the undoing of him as manager - that’s how much the guy terrifies me.

I know Simpson is a limited full back, championship standard nowadays, but the guy can defend and isn’t that what we need first and foremost?

posted on 12/8/18

comment by Nevsaysagoal2city (U5194)
posted 45 minutes ago
BS my mate is not a scapegoat he's just not good enough only in my opinion which means knowt Note no big clubs came in for him after the world cup


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And I think exactly the same about Amartey. Not good enough. If you don’t think Kasper is good enough then you can’t pick someone up if they think the same about another player.

comment by Jobyfox (U4183)

posted on 12/8/18

It's really frustrating that after we finally get a new RB in to compete with Simpson that we jettison him, don't pick the new boy, and pick Amartey instead. If Simpson is now surplus to requirements then we still need a RB - to compete with Pereira. Amartey is not a player who should be starting games at RB for a club with our aspirations. He's no more than a useful squad player, to cover a number of positions, from what I've seen so far.

There are others that still have much to prove. I thought that Gray and Chilwell were great at OT, but it will be interesting to see whether they continue on an upwards trajectory. Chilwell seemed to have been given the confidence to cross the ball finally, but still needs to work on his quality of delivery. Gray's work rate was the really notable change in his play, but he too needs to hurt teams more often in the final third.

Encouraging signs from most of the players that have been the most criticised, but I'm afraid I've still not seen anything from Amartey that suggests he should be given a run as a starter.

posted on 12/8/18

I think it's clear that the right back question isn't going to go away any time soon.

As far as I see it, there are three options with differing abilities, both positive and negative:

Describing Simpson as Championship standard is unfair as he can surely still do a job in this league. He's a proven defender and knows his position well as a defensive full back. What he can't do is provide anything useful in an attacking sense. The way that Puel wants to play, I can understand why he's out of favour but he could still either be a useful, reliable backup (if he and the club want this) or he'd be a capable, experienced player for a lower Prem team playing a style that suits him.

Ricardo showed that he's capable in the style that Pull wants - he looks comfortable on the ball and confident to attack the opposition. It was his cross that led to the goal. However, his defending was highly questionable. When he was on the right wing opponents took him out of the game when he was caught flat-footed. When he moved to right back he continued making mistakes and was again caught flat-footed when Shaw scored. I'm convinced he was bought as a right back but it looks like Puel and the team have similar concerns about his defending.

Amartey does tick some boxes - he has recovery pace, he's quite agile, he's difficult for opposition wingers to beat and he has experience playing in other positions. The problems are obvious though - he makes mistakes and never looks comfortable on the ball. I don't know what to do with him to be honest. It feels like there are some raw abilities there and I've always found his attitude to be spot on, but will his skills ever come up to scratch? Is it a confidence thing? It's hard to tell without seeing him in training but I can see why BS would happily see the back of him because he's been here for a while now and still looks like much the same player he was when he arrived.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Albrighton come up as an option again in the weeks to come. Whether that could work, I don't know - we're talking about a change in position there. There is a certain attraction to thinking that he and Ricardo could alternate on the right hand side and give the opposition two different challenges, but that probably doesn't help a defensive unit know its responsibilities thoroughly.


Either way, pros and cons. But yes, it does look like Puel has a problem here if he's determined to have Simpson jettisoned.

posted on 12/8/18

Dunge - if there's anything that would fill me with dread as a long term solution (or short or medium term solution for that matter) for RB more than Amartey being there, it's thinking that Albrighton has the slightest clue of how to do the role .

posted on 12/8/18

Exactly Nuneaton. It is rather a worry that after a summer of recruitment, Albeighton still looks like our best right back 😳

posted on 12/8/18

Amartey bashing aside.
We have in Simpson a premier lge winning right back
We have brought in Pereira as a replacement
Then we play Amartey at Right Back who under several other managers cant hold down a regular place and as a history of issues in this position, and against a top 4 team away.
Dear me CP sort it out or you will be out.

posted on 12/8/18

Would appreciate someone explaining why Simpson and Slimani have squad numbers if reporte
comments from Puel are accurate.
Also, need to give credit to Andy King on his generous comments to Maddison on relinquishing the number 10 shirt. Good lad.

comment by (U21907)

posted on 13/8/18

I’d agree 100% with this article, I went on Friday and I have to say Amartey was awful, letting the ball bounce in dangerous areas, you could tell Man U were targeting him to put pressure on him and it worked. I don’t know what’s happening with Simpson but I do feel he could be better than Amartey. I could be wrong.

posted on 13/8/18

Bowstring - I'd say that the reason they have squad numbers is because it gives the manager the chance to change his mind. Or any new manager the chance to bring them back in.
No point in burning your bridges, essentially.

posted on 13/8/18

Has,nt Simpson been injured. Was he fit enough for selection on Friday. Has he played in any psf's ? ( don't know) .

and I was there when Armartey got sent off as sub last season and I didn't go to Old Trafford. Think you will find it was at the KP.

UTF

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