Kamaldeen Sulemana

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, saintwbu said:

Think it actually hit Che who was offside 

Really? I find that hard to believe

[davefizzy14]

Sulemana has got quality and for me has been fine so far. He will only get better as his lightning pace and skill will destroy fullbacks. 

Edited 17 March, 2023 by davefizzy14

[Forester]

6 hours ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

My personal rule of thumb is I reckon that for any team if 50% of the transfers work out, then it's a decent transfer window.

Definition of 'work out' is going to vary hugely according to individual interpretation but 'doing a job for us' would do for me. Extra points if it meant a sale for profit but it's not really the sole aim, is it. If it means we need to sign a Billy Sharp for 6 months to get promoted but he barely features in the league above, the ends justify the means. Same as Danny Fox to cover the 12 months before we decided Luke Shaw was ready. What it definitely doesn't mean is 'Moi is still here after 5 years and used by many different managers, so he has been good for us as we slide down the league'.

As long as there are enough decent signings over a sustained time period, that is what gets teams through tough times and fallow periods. Our problem as others have pointed out many times already is that the recent substantial investment has followed an extended period of existing on a relative shoestring. The fact that we've relied so long on defenders who get nowhere near the matchday XI at our competitors (Vest, Bertrand, Bednarek; Stephens the only exception) supports this.

As I said before, perceptions may vary but if we were to look back over the last 20 years, I reckon most of us would be unanimous on the successful windows where we beat the 50% rule comfortably. At a guess, maybe 3 times... when Liebherr took over and we signed Lambert et al, again when we got promoted to the PL and signed J-Rod and Clyne and then when Koeman joined and we signed Pelle, Tadic and co. We did sign plenty of forgettable players in that time, but the sheer number of good signings carried us through for years. Since then, however, it's been a bit of a slide with the occasional individual bright signings like KWP or Ings being seen as good business rather than transfer windows as a whole.

Even Fergie made signings that didn't work out, but there was sufficient quality over the years that the Djemba-Djembas get forgotten about. And I only have to look at the transfer spend of Everton or Villa to know that however much they have splurged over the years, it's not really been working for them. A manager may be responsible for moulding a team out of individual players, but it is coherent recruitment away from the touchlines and press conferences that will really determine the fate of a football club and not very much else. Now it's easy to say this while we're bottom of the league, but I'm not sure we've been doing that recently.

Good post.  I think in addition a couple of general points:

- January is an awful window to bring in five players, you tend to have limited targets that are realistic and there is no pre-season to develop and prepare.  We all know why this happened, namely gross mismanagement last summer

- it is really difficult bedding in players new to the Premier League.  It takes time for almost all new signings.  But if you rock up to a team that is bottom of the league and really under pressure it’s even harder

[Toussaint]

On 16/03/2023 at 07:53, Saint Fan CaM said:

That’s because the coaching is not good enough. There’s some sort of policy clearly insisting on the same slow build up play, re-cycling the ball between the midfield and CB’s, hardly ever threading in a through ball or putting one over the top for Sulemana to run onto. It’s been like this for years and at least three managers. Why?

It’s the result of that god- forsaken playbook.

[Saint86]

21 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Fuckin hell it’s a Sadio Mane deja vu.

Early days ffs 

This. He's going to be a good player provided he doesn't get injured and saints don't ruin him. Some of the comments on here, it's literally like reading the mane threads all over again. 

Edited 17 March, 2023 by Saint86

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

This. He's going to be a good player provided he doesn't get injured and saints don't ruin him. Some of the comments on here, it's literally like reading the mane threads all over again. 

I also agree. He's already shown he has potential. There's an obsession with speed nowadays but most the speed merchants have zero ball control (with Lavia the ball is practically stuck to his feet). Sule's control is very average but he can get past people. His assists/shots need practice...keep on saying, can't the players take a football to the training ground??

[verlaine1979]

Doesn't seem to have the strength for this league at the moment. Schade, the 21 year old winger Brentford signed under similar circumstances in January (on loan, but with a record fee agreed for summer) is 6'1 and appears much better suited to the league. Several times he made trouble on our right wing because he was strong enough to hold off KWP while sprinting.

[Chez]

22 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Fuckin hell it’s a Sadio Mane deja vu.

Early days ffs 

Are you predicting he will be another `Mane' for us?

He's certainly got the pace.

[saintscottofthenortham]

He looked excellent against Wolves, told us after the game he can do better, and has been the definition of horseshit since.

[Bob76]

I think people's expectations of a 20 year old that had moved club and country are a bit weird. It's not his fault that he's not quite the finished article that our situation needed.

He deffo needs some work but has all the raw material needed. I know we don't have the time for that this year but again that's not his fault but at least he is prepared to try going past players, would be happy if some of the passess to him were into space behind the defence instead of behind him.

 

[Whitey Grandad]

7 minutes ago, Bob76 said:

I think people's expectations of a 20 year old that had moved club and country are a bit weird. It's not his fault that he's not quite the finished article that our situation needed.

He deffo needs some work but has all the raw material needed. I know we don't have the time for that this year but again that's not his fault but at least he is prepared to try going past players, would be happy if some of the passess to him were into space behind the defence instead of behind him.

 

No, not his fault, but is an inexperienced prospect what we really need in our situation?

[Bob76]

22 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

No, not his fault, but is an inexperienced prospect what we really need in our situation?

No that's what I said probably not what we needed, but getting that finished article is expensive and then not guaranteed to work.

Edited 17 March, 2023 by Bob76

[madge]

I seem to recall the majority wrote off Sadio Mane when he first arrived… lad needs time. He’s got some talent. 

[Dellman]

10 minutes ago, madge said:

I seem to recall the majority wrote off Sadio Mane when he first arrived… lad needs time. He’s got some talent. 

Abuse of Sadio continued till he left. Our 'fans' are cruel.
No wonder we have worst home record

[CB Fry]

34 minutes ago, Dellman said:

Abuse of Sadio continued till he left. Our 'fans' are cruel.
No wonder we have worst home record

Jesus wept.

[Saint Garrett]

I think this thread is pretty brutal tbh, a young lad, new league, mid season joining a completely disjointed club who is bottom…it’s not a big surprise. He’s got talent, no doubt about that. Not sure he was the right signing this January though….

[Dark Munster]

4 hours ago, Dellman said:

Abuse of Sadio continued till he left. Our 'fans' are cruel.
No wonder we have worst home record

I still remember the chorus of boos when he scored that fastest hat trick in PL history. My ears are still ringing. 

[Chez]

9 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

No, not his fault, but is an inexperienced prospect what we really need in our situation?

Like Orsic?

[SotonianWill]

9 hours ago, Dellman said:

Abuse of Sadio continued till he left. Our 'fans' are cruel.
No wonder we have worst home record

it’s a football game what do you expect, unless you believe that pompey myth we could be absolute shit every week and we’d still happy clap. maybe in one off games, but if you have been a shit for as long as we have what do you expect?

Mane got abuse for the first few appearances because he was pretty shit ie sheffield united away. the main one was pelle for continuously doing those flicks instead of heading the ball, due to not wanting to mess up his hair. as time passes we look down on this, but if someone did random flicks now instead of trying to get us forward for a much needed goal you’d still moan surely

Unless you’re at a club for a long time with good performances such as ward-prowse most fans moan at anyone. it isn’t specific to saints. 

[saintwbu]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

Like Orsic?

Exactly - the youngsters aren’t the problem at this club it’s the experienced players who everyone tells me are good by default, that have not delivered 

[AlexLaw76]

10 hours ago, Dellman said:

Abuse of Sadio continued till he left. Our 'fans' are cruel.
No wonder we have worst home record

🤣

[Charlie Wayman]

9 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

I think this thread is pretty brutal tbh, a young lad, new league, mid season joining a completely disjointed club who is bottom…it’s not a big surprise. He’s got talent, no doubt about that. 

Exactly this and thank goodness at least somebody on here has half a brain. These threads are sickening, one sh*t stirrer starts a slag and lo and behold and predictably half the forum cognoscenti chips in with the abuse, even some old stalwarts who should be above this sort of thing.

[Convict Colony]

I want our midfield or defenders to release him into space more often to run at them.

Happy with him so far giving the learning curve, needs to get goal and i think more will flow with his confidence up.

[Bob76]

10 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

I think this thread is pretty brutal tbh, a young lad, new league, mid season joining a completely disjointed club who is bottom…it’s not a big surprise. He’s got talent, no doubt about that. Not sure he was the right signing this January though….

Spot on.

[derry]

Use his pace, stop overlapping him. Give him the ball or through balls. Get Onuachu into the box, forget trying to get him pressing in the midfield. Get Alcaraz up with him. maybe play KWP in front of AMN. Forget as starters, Elyonoussie, Adams, Armstrong etc they won't get goals. If we are going to play Adams get him up alongside Onuachu and stay onside for once.

[Ed Rooney]

Spurs shat it when he got the ball today 

[Turkish]

Wrong thread 

Edited 18 March, 2023 by Turkish

[Saint Matty 76]

Completely changed the game when he came on.

Should never be left out for Elyounoussi again.

[West end Saints]

This thread is up there with one of the most ill-informed on here. 

The comparison with Mane is clear, both in the style of play and the way posters who have no idea about ability or potential write a player off. 

He is younger than Mane, and probably joined at a harder time and started better. 

He wasn't great in midweek, but in a bad team performance it was clear he had ability on the ball and did OK. 

I used to love the way Mane would run at defenders, then stop and wait, knowing he could burst past them. 

Enjoyed seeing that done again today. 

Posters complained that Mane was a waste of money and not up to the level. He clearly was, even from the start, at least a decent player. So is Sulemana. 

Too early to say how good he will be but definately a decent signing. 

[Nolan]

Worth remembering that Kamaldeen only played more than 45 minutes once this season for Stade Renais.

he only played 314 minutes in 14 games in Ligue 1.

We don't want to have a situation where we lose him for long periods.

 

 

[Badger]

5 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Worth remembering that Kamaldeen only played more than 45 minutes once this season for Stade Renais.

he only played 314 minutes in 14 games in Ligue 1.

We don't want to have a situation where we lose him for long periods.

 

 

And we paid how much for him ???

[West end Saints]

12 hours ago, Badger said:

And we paid how much for him ???

Bizarrely, when looking at other fees not much. 

 

£22 million.

 

Not in the top 100 fees for Premier league players. 

 

When you have other clubs paying 3 or 4 times that for players (Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man C, Man U, Spurs, Newcastle) he is not anywhere near a premier league luxury level player. 

 

Even lower in the league many clubs pay more, or in some cases a lot more (Villa 33m, Bournemouth 25m, Palace 27m, Everton 45m,  Fulham 27m, Leeds 36m, Leicester 35m, Nottingham F 43m, West ham 45m, Wolves 42m).

 

Clearly has decent potential and for his age, and natural pace doesn't seem over priced in the current market. 

 

 

[The Cat]

Once we've worked out how to get him into dangerous areas and then actually manage to give him the ball there he's going to be a massive threat.

Teams already aware of his pace so have been defending tight to him, denying space to turn. 

He's a young and relatively inexperienced player, although unfortunately we don't really have time to wait for him to really bed into the team and need him to perform now if we're going to stay up.

Another player who will be extremely important when we go down.

[saintscottofthenortham]

Just judging from the highlights, but he looked vastly improved on his recent performances.

As per West End's post, he is obviously going to be likened to Mane and he had plenty of critics when he was here, and not without reason. He could be unbelievable, but would often go missing. This lad hasn't gone missing in his bad perfromances, he has just been genuinely awful. His display at Old Trafford was desperate, which in a resoundingly solid team display, is some achievement.

Still very raw, obviously, and if we can nurture him in the right way he will be a right handful. His decision making needs vastly improving, though.

[Turkish]

3 hours ago, saintscottofthenortham said:

Just judging from the highlights, but he looked vastly improved on his recent performances.

As per West End's post, he is obviously going to be likened to Mane and he had plenty of critics when he was here, and not without reason. He could be unbelievable, but would often go missing. This lad hasn't gone missing in his bad perfromances, he has just been genuinely awful. His display at Old Trafford was desperate, which in a resoundingly solid team display, is some achievement.

Still very raw, obviously, and if we can nurture him in the right way he will be a right handful. His decision making needs vastly improving, though.

There is a challenge in itself. How many players have improved in the last 5 years? While we’re obsessed with signing YHGTIers not many actually seem to improve much. 

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Lot of comparisons to Mane, but aren't they fairly different in style/position?  Mane is most effective playing narrowly, alongside a striker as he was/is very good at finding pockets of space between the lines.  Isn't Sulemana more of classic winger?

Could be wrong, but if he is a classic winger, it might explain why he's not starting in the 4-2-2-2 now it's back.

[SambaMaverick]

In a season of crazily bad signings, this guy may just be the worst in terms of value.

Players like him are ten a penny in this league and yet SR saw fit to spunk 22m on someone with three career goals.

It's just staggering how bad Rasmus has been at his job.

[Harry_SFC]

Just now, SambaMaverick said:

In a season of crazily bad signings, this guy may just be the worst in terms of value.

Players like him are ten a penny in this league and yet SR saw fit to spunk 22m on someone with three career goals.

It's just staggering how bad Rasmus has been at his job.

Onuachu has been worse. Bloke looks nowhere near a premier league level player.

At least with Sulemena there has been flashes. Still looking like a lot of money spunked on not a lot. 

 

 

 

 

[SambaMaverick]

2 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Onuachu has been worse. Bloke looks nowhere near a premier league level player.

At least with Sulemena there has been flashes. Still looking like a lot of money spunked on not a lot. 

 

 

 

 

I think Onuachu will have some kind of resale value at least.

He has shown he can score lots of goals on the continent.

Meanwhile, Sulemana has shown he can... Run fast?

[Baird of the land]

4 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

In a season of crazily bad signings, this guy may just be the worst in terms of value.

Players like him are ten a penny in this league and yet SR saw fit to spunk 22m on someone with three career goals.

It's just staggering how bad Rasmus has been at his job.

Indeed. He may develop into something but to splunk that money rather than simply recall our own player was despicable.

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

8 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

In a season of crazily bad signings, this guy may just be the worst in terms of value.

Players like him are ten a penny in this league and yet SR saw fit to spunk 22m on someone with three career goals.

It's just staggering how bad Rasmus has been at his job.

Look on the bright side - we signed 2 useful croatians

[Lord Duckhunter]

Pound shop Saint-Maximin

[Whitey Grandad]

8 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Pound shop Saint-Maximin

Without the goals.

[Appy]

Would rather we’d given Redmond a new deal. 

[S-Clarke]

I still think it's too early to judge him too harshly, he has come into the most dysfunctional group of losers the PL has ever seen. Hard for anyone to make a huge impact, especially when they're young. 

I imagine he'll be with us next year and with some confidence I reckon he'll be a threat. Too early to give up on him, ditto Ounachu - although he is starting to have Carillo vibes about him.

Edited 15 April, 2023 by S-Clarke

[SotonianWill]

2 hours ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

Look on the bright side - we signed 2 useful croatians

nun are useful

[Pamplemousse]

He looked amazing initially. Think he will come good, probably not helped ultimately having to be the main creative player in this team which isn't creative. Probably more to do with the tactics than him.

[Archers Road Stand]

Absolute shite signing. 

[Yozzman]

It would be helpful if he could stay on his feet once in a while.  

[austsaint]

5 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

He looked amazing initially. Think he will come good, probably not helped ultimately having to be the main creative player in this team which isn't creative. Probably more to do with the tactics than him.

I like Sulemana - he's going to be a good player.  You have identified the problem though - in our current set up, he's the lone ranger running at the defence and showing a bit of creativity, with a bit of help from KWP.