HalfTimePost Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 4 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said: If he was 25 no chance he comes to us, at 22 we have a chance with anyone except guys like Mbappe unless he falls in love with Shelley from accounts who is a die hard Villa fan. Lol. G'warn Shelley, do it for the good of the club. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow1988 Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 9 minutes ago, pintpotvilla said: Same private jet that SG used to the cup final in Seville is leaving BHX at 10.15 to Marseille. Wonder who it will be bringing back? Flight tracking link or GTFO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Nigel Posted May 23, 2022 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted May 23, 2022 Tactical In every season of top-flight football, there are few stories more regular than utter turmoil going on at Olympique Marseille. In this season just gone – the 2020/21 campaign – André Villas-Boas, head coach since 2019, was sacked midway through the season after a debacle with the board over the signing of Olivier Ntcham – a player he was actively against signing. He offered his resignation, but Marseille decided to sack him in response to his comments where he stated ‘I don’t want anything from OM. I don’t want money’. Not exactly comfortable grounds for a player to thrive at. Boubacar Kamara, instead, has performed well consistently for the last three seasons, starting regularly since the age of 18. Now 21, Kamara has been coveted by Europe’s elite since he was a teenager, but till this point he has remained at Marseille, accumulating consistent gametime for a team battling at the top of Ligue 1. Teams within the Premier League are now calling for his signature, and in this scout report, we will break down why he has garnered so much interest. In this tactical analysis, we will cover his role at Marseille, his adaptability, and which team he might suit best in the English top flight. Player profile Since day dot, Kamara has been with Marseille, joining the club in 2005 and has stayed with them ever since. He has risen through the youth ranks at a rapid rate, moving from what is essentially kids football to the U19 squad aged 15 years old, a couple of years earlier than the typical trajectory. Only a year later did he make the move to the Marseille B team, Then, the year after that, Kamara made his first-team debut, in the Europa League versus Konyaspor, a match where Marseille would keep a clean sheet. He began his time in the senior squad filling in wherever he could gain meaningful gametime. That aforementioned match against Konyaspor was at central-midfield, the next game versus RB Salzburg would be in the deep-lying midfielder role, two games later he was featuring at left-back. It was the 2018/19 season where Kamara would embed himself as a first-choice starter as a centre-back. He played a pivotal role in Marseille building out from the back and was the shining light in a poor defence. Standing at 5’10” / 178cm, he was always more suited to that space ahead of the centre-backs and was never going to spend the long-term in a back four due to his relatively short height for a central defender. He is no slouch aerially, but he is less of a liability up against shorter attacking midfielders than tall target men inside the area. It was the latter half of the 2019/20 season where he would make that transition into defensive midfield, a position that brought the best out of his defensive skill set. Defensive duties first Principally, Kamara is focused first on defending and little else. Marseille are not a side who aimed to keep possession more than their opponent in every game, but sometimes their quality on the ball shined through to maintain the ball for the majority of the game. This culminated into a 52% average for possession per game, and as a result, Kamara’s defensive actions need little possession adjustment. With this taken into consideration, Kamara has a reasonably high From the radar above, we can understand that Kamara has defensive acumen. Even if he doesn’t produce an insane amount of defensive volume, the 21-year-old will come away with the ball more times than not. 67.86% of defensive duels won is a mammoth figure, and a testament to the growth he has made as a defender with Marseille. Not to say he doesn’t have his drawbacks defensively, but he is up there with some of the better defensive midfielders in Ligue 1 in this department. André Villas-Boas messed around with a few formations at the start of the season, but primarily he used a 4-2-3-1, where Kamara played as the left-sided midfielder in a double pivot with Valentin Roniger, but when the Portuguese coach utilised a single pivot formation (4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1), Kamara was the nominal pivot of choice. His defensive style remains the same in both systems, but his positioning is the biggest change. In a double-pivot, he can be slightly more aggressive in a formation that lends itself more to sparking quick counterattacks. Kamara tends to remain upright in his defensive duels, not looking to lunge in unnecessarily or concede needless fouls. If he can win the ball by nipping from under his opponent’s feet, then that’s ideal for Kamara. He enjoys winning the ball back and sparking measured attacking plays for his side. He can occasionally barrel into his opponent, conceding a foul that way, but for the most part, he guides his body well when looking to tackle the ball off of a ball carrier. Fundamentally, he can get ball-side of the attacker thanks to his solid defensive positioning and game sense. He has good awareness and is seen frequently scanning the pitch – something that he has improved significantly over the last two years – and this allows him to predict the opponent’s passes, and it helps him to deduce whether to step out or hold his line. He currently only completes 1.07 interceptions per 90, but at a club that requires more from him off the ball, this could easily rise. Overall, he is an excellent defensive-minded midfielder. His game sense has developed so much thanks to the plentiful amount of minutes he’s earned at the French club. He wins 42.4% of duels versus dribblers and completes 35.2% of his pressures too, both around the 90th percentile across Europe’s top five leagues, and these represent a defensive midfielder who is hard to get past, regardless of who you are. Abilities as a progressor On the ball, Kamara handles himself with aplomb, and he has demonstrated good passing range, vision, and ambition. He is central to Marseille’s build-up play, but this is part and parcel of being the central-most midfielder in the system. Jorge Sampaoli eventually switched to a 3-5-2, where Kamara plays like a #6, typically playing quick, zipped short passes between himself and the teammates around him. From the above radar, we can tell that Kamara is heavily involved in Marseille’s build-up – he is only second to Roniger within regular Marseille starters for passes made per 90 (55.09). We can also understand that Kamara looks to move the ball forwards as often as possible, he plays 18.1 forward passes per 90 at an 81.8% success rate. These can range from simple passes into midfield, or rangier efforts into the wide areas or straight into the centre-forward of choice. These direct balls into the forward line have become more prevalent with the introduction of Arkadiusz Milik from Napoli midway through the season. On top of scoring at a fairly prolific rate in his short time at Marseille, he has also been a useful towering presence upfront. For the most part, however, Kamara is playing short passes in midfield, as he seemingly has a strong understanding of when to pass the ball laterally or vertically, when to increase the tempo or decrease it. In possession, Kamara is very conscious of his surroundings, scanning all around him before receiving the ball if he can. When he collects the ball, he demonstrates a good first-touch, and occasionally he will smartly utilise his first-touch and momentum to drift into space to give himself more time on the ball. In this sense, he is quite a press-resistant midfielder, capable of evading pressure and laying off to a more progressive teammate is usually the port to call. Although, Kamara can produce positive forward passes over a long distance. Despite only completing 4.45 progressive passes per 90 (60th percentile for Europe’s top five leagues midfielder’s), he manages 281.2 yards when it comes to progressive distance (82nd percentile), which suggests that the progressive efforts he does pull off are covering a lot of ground. 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HalfTimePost Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 14 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said: Wouldn't surprise me if Sanson now goes the other way out on loan back to Marseille. I get what you mean but Marseille wouldn't have been any part of this deal as his contract was up. Boubacar could've signed for anybody since Jan. But yeah I think we'll see Sanson move. But I don't think it'll be just yet. I think we'll hang around and see what happens with Luiz & Carneys contract. If one or both sign, we'll move Sanson on. If neither sign we'll be forced to sell them this summer, at which point we should be keeping Sanson to understudy Ramsey/McGinn. I'm sure we'd sign somebody else if we sold those two but for consistency in the team and helping Boubacar settle in, it'd be good to hold onto Sanson if there are a lot of midfield moves forced on us this summer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpotvilla Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 2 minutes ago, sparrow1988 said: Flight tracking link or GTFO. Flight info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted May 23, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted May 23, 2022 33 minutes ago, tomav84 said: love how quick we're moving to get business done any reports on how much we're paying him? twelvete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 Unbelievable love it !! Welcome bobby!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustibrooks Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 Unveiling Boubs first thing on a Monday is an excellent start to the week 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post jim Posted May 23, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted May 23, 2022 Unbelievable get. We are signing players under this regime we could only dream about in the past. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 Might need to give him a bit of time to settle in though. He has spent his entire career in Marseille, his home town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 From this year Loooooong read Quote Boubacar Kamara: Europe’s most in-demand soon-to-be free agent Marseille’s Boubacar Kamara (184cm/6’0, 68kg/150lbs) is in one of the most interesting positions of any player as we approach the 2022 summer transfer window. The 22-year-old’s Marseille contract is set to expire at the end of June and I believe the player will, or at least should, be one of the most sought-after names on the market. The Marseille man most commonly plays as a holding midfielder, though he has also played plenty of games as a centre-back during his career and is very comfortable in that position too. I believe the holding midfield position is one of the most unique and perhaps demanding ones in the modern game, as well as being one of the most difficult positions to recruit players for due to its unique and demanding nature. However, I also believe that Kamara is someone who can operate in this position to the absolute highest standard, and with the 22-year-old on the verge of becoming a free agent, I think this should make him a priority target for many of Europe’s elite, with top players in this position few and far between. In this scout report and tactical analysis piece, I intend to provide some insight into the intricacies of Kamara’s game to explain why I feel he’s likely to be/should be so in-demand this summer. I’ll discuss some of the key strengths and weaknesses of his game as it pertains to what’s important regarding his ideal role in the team’s overall structure, strategy and tactics, while also providing analysis of the Marseille man from tactical, technical and physical perspectives. ... https://totalfootballanalysis.com/article/boubacar-kamara-202122-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 If he's as good as they say then this is the sort of player our team has been screaming out for. Coutinho and Kamara for a combined £17m? I think we all knew that the club were going to try and sign Coutinho permanently and go for an international class DM but figured that the bill would be somewhere closer to £100m, right? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Made In Aston Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 19 minutes ago, HalfTimePost said: £140k tops. No way we force Coutinho to come down to that and then immediately pay the next guy more than him just a week later. As much of a coup as it is, especially not a 22yr old DM from the French League I don't think he will be on anywhere near that figure. 70-90k max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted May 23, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted May 23, 2022 Well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted May 23, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted May 23, 2022 1 minute ago, sne said: From this year Loooooong read https://totalfootballanalysis.com/article/boubacar-kamara-202122-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics Even longer read when you are reading it again 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imavillan Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 Lots of excitement in here today, but the big question is. How many games/weeks will VT'ers give him before the ''he's crap, can't pass, he's slow and a shit Gerrard signing'' posts start? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted May 23, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted May 23, 2022 One of the best aspects of this signing is that he's young. Had a fear Gerrard was going to put short term success over any long term building. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevpants Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 This... mother of god this. Our midfielders are so bad at receiving the ball deep and breaking the first press. This guys seems to excel at that. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brummybloke Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 Great bit of business Only concern is we don't seem to be able to get our French players actually playing for one reason or another. Let's hope that changes as the ones we already have are all highly rated in france. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 44 minutes ago, Jareth said: Coutinho and Kamara for £15mill. If Carlsberg did transfer windows. Is this one of those Gerrard = Liverpool posts? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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