Kamaldeen Sulemana

[Charlie Wayman]

39 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Exactly the sort of player I've wanted us to sign for years, very Allan Saint-Maximin-esque.

More Mane-esque. Very high potential.

[Bakovnetski]

Pity him for having to do a "mea cupla" on behalf of the players after the match instead of saying what a bell-end the manager was.

[SambaMaverick]

Talented but not an ounce of end product in him from what I've watched at Rennes and now here - so far.

Edozie was already huffing and puffing on the wing before him, what we need is goals and quality delivery - that would make him more like Mane rather than Allan Saint-Maximin.

[Archers Road Stand]

He looks well worth the club record fee... 🙄

[Wade Garrett]

It is fucking retarded playing him as a centre forward.  He’s a winger all day long.

[Suhari]

19 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

It is fucking retarded playing him as a centre forward.  He’s a winger all day long.

This.

I get the big man/speedy fella combo upfront, but Sully's wasted there. Get him wide, running at the full backs; chucking in crosses and winning free kicks.

[Saint Matty 76]

22 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

It is fucking retarded playing him as a centre forward.  He’s a winger all day long.

Definitely isn’t working.

Think he should either play as one of the 10s if we’re sticking with this system, or we should have him & somebody like Edozie either side of Onuachu.

[egg]

37 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

It is fucking retarded playing him as a centre forward.  He’s a winger all day long.

Yep, but he's too lazy to play as a 10 in this formation imo. I think he'd work in a 433 drifting in and out. 

[Harry_SFC]

17 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep, but he's too lazy to play as a 10 in this formation imo. I think he'd work in a 433 drifting in and out. 

I still think the 4-3-3 is best suited to the players we have. 

[davefizzy14]

3 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

I still think the 4-3-3 is best suited to the players we have. 

Agreed, I think it is. 

[SotonianWill]

1 hour ago, Archers Road Stand said:

He looks well worth the club record fee... 🙄

tbf he looks like a 20 million pound player, has bright spells and other games when he’s shit. the thing is time and prices have moved on, he’s worthy of the record fee as that’s how much an alright player costs now. 20 million isn’t an amazing player. 

[The Kraken]

26 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

I still think the 4-3-3 is best suited to the players we have. 

It probably is. Tge problem is, if our lot put in that sort of performance again, it won’t matter a jot what formation we play. None of our lot were on it today, sub-par performances from pretty much everyone. As Selles said in his post match interview; lazy in pressure situations and lazy going forward, we lost our identity. Formation and team selection is of course important but so is player application, and just about all of them failed in that today.

[Saint_clark]

Looked at his best wide right or left, today he played through the centre and when it wasn't working he kept dropping into CM to pick up the ball? 

[Saint Matty 76]

Strangely underutilised by Selles and a real glimpse of what he can do, albeit far too late for it to really matter.

4 years left on his deal and the player must have been aware when he joined that we had (at best) maybe a 50/50 chance of staying up. Rumours of us loaning him out seem absolutely baffling, and you can't really see another team recuperating what we paid based on what we've seen so far. Unless his agent managed to sneak in a relegation clause of £15m~, you'd really hope we're able to hold on here. 

Swansea's best run at the end of the season consisted of them largely playing a 4231. If the club are able to show a bit of backbone we could end up with Sulemana, Alcaraz and Tella playing behind Piroe/Armstrong. There should be plenty of money generated from player sales elsewhere and these 3 players all have enough time on their contracts to justify holding on in the hope of immediate promotion. 

 

[Jeremy Corbyn]

22 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

Strangely underutilised by Selles and a real glimpse of what he can do, albeit far too late for it to really matter.

4 years left on his deal and the player must have been aware when he joined that we had (at best) maybe a 50/50 chance of staying up. Rumours of us loaning him out seem absolutely baffling, and you can't really see another team recuperating what we paid based on what we've seen so far. Unless his agent managed to sneak in a relegation clause of £15m~, you'd really hope we're able to hold on here. 

Swansea's best run at the end of the season consisted of them largely playing a 4231. If the club are able to show a bit of backbone we could end up with Sulemana, Alcaraz and Tella playing behind Piroe/Armstrong. There should be plenty of money generated from player sales elsewhere and these 3 players all have enough time on their contracts to justify holding on in the hope of immediate promotion. 

 

If we start next season with attacking midfield trio of Sulemana, Alcaraz and Tella it would be bonkers.

[spyinthesky]

3 minutes ago, Jeremy Corbyn said:

If we start next season with attacking midfield trio of Sulemana, Alcaraz and Tella it would be bonkers.

Sort of agree with you but Watford went down and kept hold off one or two decent forwards but the team as a whole didnt pull up any trees.

Unfortunately there needs to be a bit of bulk and grit throughout the team in the Championship to compete successfully.

[Saint Matty 76]

2 minutes ago, Jeremy Corbyn said:

If we start next season with attacking midfield trio of Sulemana, Alcaraz and Tella it would be bonkers.

It really would, and it does seem somewhat plausible. Sulemana and Alcaraz both joined very recently, when relegation was already pretty likely, so unless clauses were worked in you'd assume they knew this could've been the case when they signed four year deals with us. Tella is fully dependant on how hard Burnley push, but in either case I think Edozie will have a great year in the Championship as well.

Sulemana/Edozie - Alcaraz/Smallbone - Tella/Djenepo

The massive worry currently is the 2 players sitting behind those 3.

[S-Clarke]

13 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

It really would, and it does seem somewhat plausible. Sulemana and Alcaraz both joined very recently, when relegation was already pretty likely, so unless clauses were worked in you'd assume they knew this could've been the case when they signed four year deals with us. Tella is fully dependant on how hard Burnley push, but in either case I think Edozie will have a great year in the Championship as well.

Sulemana/Edozie - Alcaraz/Smallbone - Tella/Djenepo

The massive worry currently is the 2 players sitting behind those 3.

Yeah exactly that, those guys will be totally ineffective if the bones behind them aren't there. I'm looking for more Dean Hammonds, Jose Fontes, Davis, Butterfield, Chaplow etc - those sorts to mix in and around the attacking 'playmakers'.

Even when we had our playoff push in 2006 we had a decent defence with Claus and Baird, we should have been able to build from that - but we did 100% lack in midfield that year in my opinion. That team in 06 was much better than Derby's on paper in attack and wide, but Derby had some nasty bastards in their side - esp. in CM/up front. (howard)

Edited 30 May, 2023 by S-Clarke

[Master Bates]

Called up to the Black Meteors squad for the 2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations

[Saint Matty 76]

More quotes today -

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

21 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

More quotes today -

 

Not exactly giving off “I want to stay” vibes is he? 

[Midfield_General]

To be honest, can you blame him?

Brought into a shite side for a decent fee expecting to play and then has to sit on the bench while dross like Ely and the rest of the proven failures still got game time ahead of him week after week. 

I hope he stays but I wouldn’t blame him if he got a better offer and bailed - If I was him I’d be pretty pissed off with that too. 

Sounds to me from those quotes like he wants to feel a bit of love and for someone to tell him he’s wanted here. Hopefully we can get a manager in quickly who can put an arm around his shoulders and make him feel part of something before he gives it up as a bad job. 

Edited 1 June, 2023 by Midfield_General

[hypochondriac]

He's off then clearly. Should hopefully get our money back though or close to it I would have thought. 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

More quotes today -

 

When you think Elyanoussi was preferred to him. He did more in the Liverpool fame than Elyanoussi did all season 

[Saint Matty 76]

52 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Not exactly giving off “I want to stay” vibes is he? 

He'd be a bit silly to do so to be fair if teams like Juventus who were linked yesterday are actually sniffing around. 

 

11 minutes ago, Turkish said:

When you think Elyanoussi was preferred to him. He did more in the Liverpool fame than Elyanoussi did all season 

and for this reason alone I don't blame him one bit. Probably couldn't believe the players that were getting starts over him.

Does sound like he won't kick up a fuss if we do put our foot down, so hopefully the board intend on doing that with him and Alcaraz given the contracts.

[SaintsFan86]

3 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

He'd be a bit silly to do so to be fair if teams like Juventus who were linked yesterday are actually sniffing around. 

 

and for this reason alone I don't blame him one bit. Probably couldn't believe the players that were getting starts over him.

Does sound like he won't kick up a fuss if we do put our foot down, so hopefully the board intend on doing that with him and Alcaraz given the contracts.

I think the lad is just frustrated by the lack of starts... Its more a message of.. Play me every game and I'll be okay to stay. 

I mean clearly one of our best attacking threats and easily good enough to play week in week out in the premier league.

 

Get Kamaldeen and Charly in the team every game next season and we will piss the league.

[Convict Colony]

Juventus being linked with you and people think he should swear his undying loyalty to a team of 5 months who hardly played him then got relegated.

If I was him I'd be down to tango in the championship as his wages will still be much better than he had in France but if someone was interested in the window whose a great opportunity and the club accept it then I'd defo give it a look.

Think that's what he means it's out of his hands, if saints accept a bid then he'll look but I  don't think he's going to agitate for a move tho.

[SaintsFan86]

1 minute ago, Convict Colony said:

Juventus being linked with you and people think he should swear his undying loyalty to a team of 5 months who hardly played him then got relegated.

If I was him I'd be down to tango in the championship as his wages will still be much better than he had in France but if someone was interested in the window whose a great opportunity and the club accept it then I'd defo give it a look.

Think that's what he means it's out of his hands, if saints accept a bid then he'll look but I  don't think he's going to agitate for a move tho.

That's the way I see it too, Don't think many fans would complain either if Juventus bought him either.

[CB Fry]

This is one of those deadline day risks.

Seriously doubt he is top of the list for Juventus or anyone but come August 31st he's a solid panic buy.

 

[Convict Colony]

3 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

This is one of those deadline day risks.

Seriously doubt he is top of the list for Juventus or anyone but come August 31st he's a solid panic buy.

 

Lets hope someone thinks the same for tall Paul 

[West end Saints]

I think he will probably be with us next season and get a lot of game time

[Lee On Solent Saint]

18 minutes ago, SaintsFan86 said:

That's the way I see it too, Don't think many fans would complain either if Juventus bought him either.

I know Juventus are a bit of a mess at the moment, but is he seriously going to get much game time there?

[Convict Colony]

1 minute ago, West end Saints said:

I think he will probably be with us next season and get a lot of game time

Yeah I think next season is the one where his potential goalscoring can turn into goalscoring - refine him as a better footballer away from the EPL

[Convict Colony]

2 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I know Juventus are a bit of a mess at the moment, but is he seriously going to get much game time there?

Think game time mattered when he was moving to us basically a sideways move. 

Moving to Juventus tho that is a different level and I don't think any player can expect to play a lot. I know they have that young eng guy there and he got decent minutes last year, maybe he's off and they want a replacement?

[Roo1976]

11 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Lets hope someone thinks the same for tall Paul 

What a fucking panic buy he was(still is)

[Convict Colony]

13 minutes ago, Roo1976 said:

What a fucking panic buy he was(still is)

The real tragedy is he was the exact sort of profile who Jones wanted but the manager the following week wanted a different type of forward.

Not the players fault just incompetent decision making from the board.

[Wade Garrett]

He was criminally managed by that fucking idiot Selles.

That said, he’s under contract.  I would keep him.  He’ll be a major asset in the Championship.

[SotonianWill]

that last game against liverpool shows exactly why he should get out of our club. f*cking idiot. we don’t do that round here. 

[Farmer Saint]

So he wants more game time. We can give him that next season. 

[Ex Lion Tamer]

1 hour ago, Convict Colony said:

Think game time mattered when he was moving to us basically a sideways move. 

Moving to Juventus tho that is a different level and I don't think any player can expect to play a lot. I know they have that young eng guy there and he got decent minutes last year, maybe he's off and they want a replacement?

He wasn't getting game time for Rennes either. He only got one start all season. We actually vastly increased his game time. He'll be so far from the first team at Juve, it would be a really bad move. 

Edited 1 June, 2023 by Ex Lion Tamer

[Ex Lion Tamer]

52 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

He was criminally managed by that fucking idiot Selles.

2 hours ago, SaintsFan86 said:

I mean clearly one of our best attacking threats and easily good enough to play week in week out in the premier league.

Not sure what Selles did wrong. Liverpool game aside, he didn't do enough to play every week. There's no doubt he has potential to play at the top level but his end product is so far away from where it needed to be, even for us. 

Agree he'll do well in the champ if he stays though, and it would be good for him

[Chez]

sounds like he has told SFC he wants out, and they have told him he can go if they get £Xm. 

Edited 2 June, 2023 by Chez

[Wade Garrett]

18 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Not sure what Selles did wrong. Liverpool game aside, he didn't do enough to play every week. 

Played Elyounoussi every fucking week for a start.

[saintwbu]

I wonder if he has the confidence to score that second goal if he didn’t score the first, had he got off the mark a bit earlier in his time here maybe we’d have seen a different player. Clearly has all the ingredients to be very good, lack of end product thus far is why he plays for us, but you could see what he could do once the confidence was flowing after that first goal. It would be very exciting if him and Alcaraz were still here next season. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

If Saints are following their imitation of Dortmund or Brighton, every player, at each stage of their contract, will have a figure attached to him. The model is to get a substantial return on investement with players. There will also be an optimal time, varying for each player and sometimes as part of their signing in the first place, where the club will be happy to move him on.

So, it's not impossible that he will leave. But at this stage in his contract, that will be at a premium price. Those other clubs, have succession plans in place, where there are incoming players who they hope will fill those positions. We are all over the place, so it's not a good time to be moving on someone who could well be a key player for us next year, and where neither party would realistically would have been expecting him to be going anyway.

If he applies himself, the new manager should have little trouble in picking him ahead of other options. He'll get the game time he wants, at a (hopefully) successful team that gets promotion. Next summer, that price will have changed, and with a good season under his belt, he'll be attractive to other clubs then.

The same would apply to Alcaraz. A caveat would be if players we've bought, don't fit any new system the club become obsessed with, in which case getting back what we paid would be the plan.

[Hodgey]

If any of our talented players are off, I don’t want any loan dealings with Italian sides - they’ve got our number. Has happened so many times ‘we’ll loan them for a season and then pay £50m to buy’ only to then send them back after barely playing or only offer £10m. Cash deal only please.

All that said the jury is still out on Sulimana, he had a decent amount of game time and only occasionally showed any real attacking talent, he probably needs a season in the championship for his own development although not sure he’ll suit a possession based game. Juventus won’t tolerate many poor performances that’s for sure.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

Played Elyounoussi every fucking week for a start.

If you've got two players with no end product then you might as well play the one who's good off the ball

[Disco Stu]

8 hours ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

If you've got two players with no end product then you might as well play the one who's good off the ball

Elyounoussi isnt good against the ball. His stats in that area don't stand out at all. Given he has the worst pass completion rate of any of our midfielders, he would be unlikely to do anything with it if he won it back anyway.

I'd rather we chose a player that might inject a bit of pace and flair into our attack. Even if they can't finish, they might force an opposing full-back to stay deeper and make us more effective on the transition for counter-attacks.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

35 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Elyounoussi isnt good against the ball. His stats in that area don't stand out at all. Given he has the worst pass completion rate of any of our midfielders, he would be unlikely to do anything with it if he won it back anyway.

I'd rather we chose a player that might inject a bit of pace and flair into our attack. Even if they can't finish, they might force an opposing full-back to stay deeper and make us more effective on the transition for counter-attacks.

I'd suggest it's more about positional sense, keeping the shape and making life difficult for the opposition without actually making tackles or anything that can be measured in stats.

I'm not saying Ely is an amazing player but this is why he was in the team

[Whitey Grandad]

39 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

I'd suggest it's more about positional sense, keeping the shape and making life difficult for the opposition without actually making tackles or anything that can be measured in stats.

I'm not saying Ely is an amazing player but this is why he was in the team

And just look at the results!