Mbwana ‘Ally’ Samatta

[AV82]

I'm certain if he improves on what we saw today he'll be a fantastic player for us.  He showed some fantastic movement and could've bagged 2 goals on his debut against a formidable Leicester side.

That was a far cry from Wesley's first few outings where he hardly, if ever, touched the ball in the opponents box.

[sidcow]

Looked great, such a shame he didn't score, but he got there and will score next time.

[HanoiVillan]

I said when we signed him that the thing I liked best about his highlights video was that he got in the **** box. He did get in the box, in a couple of great positions. As others have said, he won't miss those every time.

I thought it was a promising debut, considering the stage he was thrust on, his lack of recent game time, and the pressure he must be feeling from home.

[Kiwivillan]

The best games for a new player to miss a sitter are the ones you end up winning anyway

[Kiwivillan]

16 touches in 66 mins. Davis 15 touches in 24 mins. Hmm that's a bit concerning

[Villan_of_oz]

46 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

16 touches in 66 mins. Davis 15 touches in 24 mins. Hmm that's a bit concerning

That stat might be deceiving as Davis is more of a target man and (I only got to listen to the 2nd half) but maybe a few more balls were lumped up to him hence so many touches in a shirt period of time.

Samatta didn't touch the ball much in the first but was continually in good positions when balls went in the box.

I was very impressed with what I saw, I like what you said earlier .... If he misses two chances and we win then that's two misses we can live with. I hope by the end of the season he is being hailed for scoring at least a couple of winning goals.

[TheAuthority]

I also saw him hold the ball up well when it was played into his feet and he was able to retain possession and lay it off.

That alone is an upgrade on when El Ghazi has played there.

[Hornso]

I think it was Danny Webber who was doing special comments on the feed I was watching. I believe his final verdict on Samatta was 'Doesn't look Premier League standard to me I'm afraid'. Thanks Danny.

Edited January 29, 2020 by Hornso

[KenjiOgiwara]

Thought he got involved. He wanted the ball and he did what I wanted to see. He harried, pressured, fought , got into the box.

I don't even agree his two misses were that bad, cause they were at very high pace angled. Though it looked like me his "injury" when coming off, was more a confidence hit than anything else, after fumbling the great ball from Jack. He'll be fit right away. 

His hold up play was a bit meh though, but I like what I saw. 

He already got into scoring positions where Wesley would have been 30 yards behind.

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by KenjiOgiwara

[Thug]

1 hour ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Thought he got involved. He wanted the ball and he did what I wanted to see. He harried, pressured, fought , got into the box.

I don't even agree his two misses were that bad, cause they were at very high pace angled. Though it looked like me his "injury" when coming off, was more a confidence hit than anything else, after fumbling the great ball from Jack. He'll be fit right away. 

His hold up play was a bit meh though, but I like what I saw. 

He already got into scoring positions where Wesley would have been 30 yards behind.

 

They were awful.

not the problem of not scoring, but he played at thin air for both of them.  The first he went for with his left, missed it completely and it hit his right.  The second was painful to watch.

I do however like how he was in those positions, and he looks pretty mobile too and won the ball that led to our first.

It was his first appearance, clearly will need to get up to speed. 
 

[Lerner's Driver]

1 hour ago, Hornso said:

I think it was Danny Webber who was doing special comments on the feed I was watching. I believe his final verdict on Samatta was 'Doesn't look Premier League standard to me I'm afraid'. Thanks Danny.

Who?

[It's Your Round]

Decent debut, should’ve scored but that aside, he looked lively and got into some good positions. Long balls up to his head won’t help him, but once he’s up to speed and the team know his movement, he’ll be an asset for us. 
 

Hope he gets off the mark against Bournemouth. 

[mikeyp102]

Promising debut, was stretching the defence. He picked up good positions, linked well with others around him and showed good movement. Miss is unfortunate.

[KenjiOgiwara]

35 minutes ago, Thug said:

They were awful.

not the problem of not scoring, but he played at thin air for both of them.  The first he went for with his left, missed it completely and it hit his right.  The second was painful to watch.

I do however like how he was in those positions, and he looks pretty mobile too and won the ball that led to our first.

It was his first appearance, clearly will need to get up to speed. 
 

The first one were basically a shot as a pass when he came running at it. His vision was blocked at the start of the pass which means it's even more difficult at high speed. If you think that's an easy goal it's beyond me. I've played enough competitive football to know exactly how impossible that can be.

The second one is much worse, but he came at speed with the pass coming in front of him and he basically had to throw himself at it. Not exactly straight forward either. 

Ultimately for me, if you think they're easy or not, he got into scoring positions in the box and that's what I wanted to see. 

It's pretty normal with strikers that are very keen to impress to either snatch at chances or just fumble it. You can just look back at strikers in the PL the last 20 years that it often takes a bit of time to lower the shoulders and get into the flow of scoring. 

I was very happy with what I saw. My only negative was that he seemed pretty overwhelmed about the physicality and urgency needed for hold-up play. 

Generally was a good striker evening. Davis impressed me as well. 

[sidcow]

3 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

16 touches in 66 mins. Davis 15 touches in 24 mins. Hmm that's a bit concerning

There was absolutely nothing concerning about Samatta last night. 

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

The focus on him missing these ‘sitters’:

 

a) ignores the fact that neither effort was a glaring miss but was more a case of him being a half second late to the ball or getting into a position where the finish was far from straightforward 

b) ignores how he showed a remarkable level of assurance for a player playing for the first time in an incredible atmosphere at VP and for the first time with team mates

c) overlooks how his link up play and general willingness to get on the ball provided another outlet for the team and opportunities for his teammates to play into space 

d) the man hasn’t played a competitive game since Boxing Day

 

The focus on Davis’s number of touches similarly overlooks:

 

a) the game was increasingly stretched And Leicester’s defensive line had pushed forwards

b) the positions in which Davis picked up the ball were much deeper than most of the areas where Ally was active. Davis likes to play with his back to goal (with the exception of those lovely aggressive turns he did)

c) This doesn’t have to be a matter of Samatta vs Davis. The latter looked tidy and I’m pleased both of them had a decent match. That’s win win for the club 

[thunderball]

The whole set up felt better for having a busy forward up top.We on really played to him once or twice, as a team we just don’t play a style which exploits the strikers offensive movement, it’s mainly to our striker with his back to goal. But we can do it and we showed it last season with Tammy.

He will be sick he didn’t score the great Grealish chance, he was probably a tired by the frantic PL high tension semi-final pace and that can take the edge off your legs, but it’s a debut and there will be much more to come, he looks like he has a good work ethic and will succeed, and at that price the expectation in reality isn’t huge, even if the fans might be.

Incidentally, if Wesley has missed that opportunity, there are plenty on here who would have been mercilessly on his case. It happens, we need to create more as you won’t convert everything. Would love to see them both in the team together.

Edited January 29, 2020 by thunderball

[ozvillafan]

Would like to see him up front partnering Wesley with Grealish behind in a free role. Width from Target + Guilbert.

[Delphinho123]

5 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

Would like to see him up front partnering Wesley with Grealish behind in a free role. Width from Target + Guilbert.

Would prefer him up front with Davis tbh. 

[sir_gary_cahill]

I thought it was a promising debut from Samatta this evening, he was a nuisance to the 2 Leicester centre backs. He worked hard  for us and played his part in the victory. Considering it was his debut for us and he’d only been in the country for a few days, I thought he did well. He had a couple of half chances, the sharpness will come