Mbwana ‘Ally’ Samatta

[Nicho]

15 hours ago, Adam2003 said:

I agree entirely but there were people on here even after he was playing great saying “no-one could possibly have predicted this”. Amazing how we all see things differently. 

I divide this subset of fans into ones who play FIFA and those who don’t. 
 

Expect some back lash for that

[briny_ear]

2 hours ago, tomav84 said:

samatta will score goals when confidence is up and the system suits him. it's very presumptuous to think he's going to 'sabotage' baggies. he's definitely not a hogan

i'm actually wondering about your final point. smith tends to keep the 'good guys' at the club (elmo, lansbury, taylor) and wondering why the need to shift samatta unless he's a nuisance

That last point is intriguing. Put it together with the fact that Samatta looked sparky when he first arrived but woefully anonymous during the crucial post-lockdown period, and it becomes plausible that there have been problems behind the scenes.

[Phil Silvers]

8 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

That last point is intriguing. Put it together with the fact that Samatta looked sparky when he first arrived but woefully anonymous during the crucial post-lockdown period, and it becomes plausible that there have been problems behind the scenes.

very interesting, hope not but something obviously changed, I posted earlier that I think its pressure

[tomav84]

12 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

very interesting, hope not but something obviously changed, I posted earlier that I think its pressure

i think that's probably more plausible. our relegation survival hopes (so we thought) rested on his shoulders

Edited September 18, 2020 by tomav84

[villa4europe]

6 hours ago, slowandlow said:

I thought he looked decent pre lockdown but was admittedly abysmal post lockdown. 

nail on the head for me and how I'll remember him, looked ok pre lockdown, I thought when he settles gets the old full preseason cliché in him he'll do well for us

post lockdown his fitness was shambolic, not sure if it was a proper fitness thing or a mental thing, not a clue how the clubs attempted to look after our players during lockdown and what could have been effectively months of isolation for some of our foreigners

there's a good player in there somewhere, wouldn't be surprised if he had some sort of sorloth or whatever is name is revival in the Turkish league

[Chindie]

After lockdown he looked absolutely broken. It's like his fitness just vanished. He looked like he had something about him after signing, but needed to settle obviously. Then lockdown happened and after the restart he just looked off entirely. Still working hard but looking knackered and struggling to do much of anything. Genuinely wondered if he'd been ill.

Really, really weird case. I do reckon there's a decent goalscorer in him, but in a particular kind of system and where he's settled properly, which looks like isn't going to be here. A shame. No ill will though - bloke tried, something just hadn't worked out.

Edited September 18, 2020 by Chindie

[AvfcRigo82]

I hope any loan out does him good and brings him up to scratch.

Ideally a PL team that will give him games.

[DakotaVilla]

5 hours ago, tomav84 said:

samatta will score goals when confidence is up and the system suits him. it's very presumptuous to think he's going to 'sabotage' baggies. he's definitely not a hogan

i'm actually wondering about your final point. smith tends to keep the 'good guys' at the club (elmo, lansbury, taylor) and wondering why the need to shift samatta unless he's a nuisance

Samatta will not score regular goals at this level- for anyone. Google “smarter scout” and their analysis on Samatta when we signed him and it will tell you everything you need to know.

I wish I could say that he did his job by keeping us up but he didn’t even do that. 

[Enda]

4 hours ago, DakotaVilla said:

Samatta will not score regular goals at this level- for anyone. Google “smarter scout” and their analysis on Samatta when we signed him and it will tell you everything you need to know.

I wish I could say that he did his job by keeping us up but he didn’t even do that. 

These boys said they’re 95% sure he’d score six or fewer goals in 1000 minutes.

So 95% sure... he won’t score 7 goals in 11 matches. That’s not much of an analysis.

[villan-scott]

Really don’t want him going to Baggies as he’d be a decent signing for them. If he’s in the move I’d rather it was abroad and not benefitting a potential rival. 

[Lord Willard]

I don't consider WBA a rival. Would be happy to get a fee for him and move on. Samatta isn't going to be enough to keep them up and send us down. 

[Delphinho123]

I’m all for Baggies signing Samatta. He’s shite. 

[MaVilla]

8 hours ago, Lord Willard said:

I don't consider WBA a rival. Would be happy to get a fee for him and move on. Samatta isn't going to be enough to keep them up and send us down. 

inb4 Samatta 15 goals for WBA.

[the_eristic]

Just now, MaVilla said:

inb4 Samatta 15 goals for WBA.

Yeah, sending him there is just tempting fate. If he's going, let it be to a different league.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

7 hours ago, Chindie said:

After lockdown he looked absolutely broken. It's like his fitness just vanished. He looked like he had something about him after signing, but needed to settle obviously. Then lockdown happened and after the restart he just looked off entirely. Still working hard but looking knackered and struggling to do much of anything. Genuinely wondered if he'd been ill.

Really, really weird case. I do reckon there's a decent goalscorer in him, but in a particular kind of system and where he's settled properly, which looks like isn't going to be here. A shame. No ill will though - bloke tried, something just hadn't worked out.

The real point which stood out to me, and made me realise something was wrong, was when he literally froze at one point with the ball, almost like he forgot he was playing, or zoned out.

In that same match he also had a recent Taylor moment, where Jack passed him the ball in front of him and he was still looking backwards for it.

Very strange. Maybe he just hasn't settled here at all.

It happens.

Sad because as you say, when he came in he DID show promise, despite what some are saying.

[Vive_La_Villa]

3 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

The real point which stood out to me, and made me realise something was wrong, was when he literally froze at one point with the ball, almost like he forgot he was playing, or zoned out.

In that same match he also had a recent Taylor moment, where Jack passed him the ball in front of him and he was still looking backwards for it.

Very strange. Maybe he just hasn't settled here at all.

It happens.

Sad because as you say, when he came in he DID show promise, despite what some are saying.

I remember some fans talking about how it’s great we finally had a decent striker and if only we had him all season instead of Wesley.

[Jas10]

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I remember some fans talking about how it’s great we finally had a decent striker and if only we had him all season instead of Wesley.

[Keener window-cleaner]

9 hours ago, Chindie said:

After lockdown he looked absolutely broken. It's like his fitness just vanished. He looked like he had something about him after signing, but needed to settle obviously. Then lockdown happened and after the restart he just looked off entirely. Still working hard but looking knackered and struggling to do much of anything. Genuinely wondered if he'd been ill.

Really, really weird case. I do reckon there's a decent goalscorer in him, but in a particular kind of system and where he's settled properly, which looks like isn't going to be here. A shame. No ill will though - bloke tried, something just hadn't worked out.

Not sure if it's that weird actually. The lockdown and the circumstances during that period affected people in differents ways. Could say it was a kind of massive psychological experiment, many coped fine, but some got mental problems from it. I guess just having arrived in a new country, trying to settle in, didn't help. Don't know if he had family with him or lives alone. I have absolutely no idea if the lockdown affected Samatta in any way, but he was sure worse afterwards. Could also be as easy as he lost his match fitness and didn't have proper opportunities to keep fit in the same way during the lockdown.

[villalad21]

8 hours ago, Keener window-cleaner said:

Not sure if it's that weird actually. The lockdown and the circumstances during that period affected people in differents ways. Could say it was a kind of massive psychological experiment, many coped fine, but some got mental problems from it. I guess just having arrived in a new country, trying to settle in, didn't help. Don't know if he had family with him or lives alone. I have absolutely no idea if the lockdown affected Samatta in any way, but he was sure worse afterwards. Could also be as easy as he lost his match fitness and didn't have proper opportunities to keep fit in the same way during the lockdown.

Sorry but we need players with a strong mentality if we want to progress.

Look at Bruno when he arrived at Man U. Mentality of steel, as simple as that.

That's the main difference from great players and bad players.

[Djemba_Villan]

Looking at his goal scoring stats prior to joining us, even if it’s proven a good idea to sell him, I think he was very much worth the ‘punt’.

he clearly doesn’t fit tactically, culturally or whatever. So moving on might be the right idea. I really hope it’s not to a rival though - just in case.

Anyone categorically writing him off after 14 (mostly strange) games has a very short memory. I think many top players would have struggled with the situation he was thrown into.