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BroadstairsR

Kei Kamara. Who?

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Now you see him, now you don''t.

 

The whole KK situation puzzles me to a certain extent. Presumably his eleven game spell was, in a way, a trial for him and as such I feel that it was a successful trial and that that he did enough to warrant an extended period at our Club. He became an instant hit at Carrow Road, both on and off the field and his attitude, skills and all-round contribution, to say nothing of his aerial ability, would surely all justify him being in the squad in readiness for the coming season. In sum, I feel that he showed enough in his time here and that the raw edges and Premiership naivety and possible fitness shortcomings that were at times obvious would disappear given time. 

 

Arguably, his instant impact during the Everton game was the turning point in our season and from then on it became noticeable that in one way or anther he was involved in many of our goals, from a subtle through ball here, to a header-on there, to the many free kicks he gained in dangerous areas. He was a niggling busy player, rather like Grant Holt in many ways.  

 

Kamara would not be expensive and we would know exactly what we are getting. 

 

There are many who will hold their hands up in dis-belief and with their heads turned by the Wolfswinkel signing will gasp in dismay saying that we should now seek better and should  look to improve with more of the class of an RVW or more of the potential goal threat of a Hooper. Yet  Hughton invariably preferred KK to Becchio (and Holt actually) who remains on the books. Blurred logic by the manager here for me, especially as he has exhibited a certain ruthlessness in this area with regards to Jams Vaughan. 

 

Becchio may have been unfortunate but he has not been totally devoid of opportunities and his impact was a fraction of Kamara''s.

 

This is not meant to be a Becchio bash but I, for one, would prefer to have Kei lurking in the squad as third fourth striker than Luciano, and by some distance. 

 

A strike force of RVW, A.N. Other, GH, KK would be perfect for me, with LB moving back to the level he excels in.  

 

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He was also, in my opinion, one of the worst players to ever play for NCFC in the premier league. Granted he had a few moments of impact, the rest of the time he looked like a headless chicken. Whenever he started it felt like we had 10 men.

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Real tough one for me. As a guy, a presence, yes he he was real and he had tons of energy and drive, and a great attitude on the pitch, and sometimes that alone is enough to turn a game. He shows some very good attributes in his short time but not quite enough. It''s to easy to be sentimental, and if I face up to what I really think, he was in fact not deserving of any more chances. Great guy, some great skills, no Idea of how to play in the prem week in week out.

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[quote user="Pabs"]He was also, in my opinion, one of the worst players to ever play for NCFC in the premier league. Granted he had a few moments of impact, the rest of the time he looked like a headless chicken. Whenever he started it felt like we had 10 men.[/quote]I think that''s pretty unfair.  He was instrumental in a number of goals during that dire February-March run where the whole team was hesitant and nervous.

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Two fair assessments. One rather harsh and one more reasoned, but none the less, fair.

 

The day might eventually come when NCFC can parade a squad of four forward options all of Â£8m+ players, but until that day comes I feel that KK has sufficient to offer to be included in it.

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Becchio was brought in via a swap deal with Morison. He is obviously a Morison replacement - a 3rd or 4th choice. As a proven goalscorer at Championship level, that is more than ok for a club our size. Morison also wanted away and was (rightly or wrongly) hated by a good chunk of fans, so the deal was a win-win for us really... worst case is Becchio never plays well for us, but that would be no different to Morison. Becchio (like Morison) is hard to accomodate in the team when we have Holt too, so didn''t really get a run in the side. However, when he has played he hasn''t let us down and has actually looked pretty good - his link up play with Howson for example has been great. I''d prefer him as an option on the bench than Morison... and he didn''t actually cost anything.

Kei obviously wasn''t our first choice in the January transfer window, but was available and he added something we desperately needed last season - pace. His enthusiasm at the start of his spell was great, but he soon showed that he wasn''t exactly the most skillful player ever. After the Everton game (where he was great), he started to show how he didn''t really have the skill or footballing mind of a Prem footballer... being enthusiaic and a nice guy doesn''t make you a great footballer sadly. We have ended up getting RvW (who was probably our first choice in January), so now have (I presume) the pace we need up front. I wouldn''t mind having Kei on the books as a 3rd/4th choice like Becchio, but unlike Becchio he''d cost £2m-ish. You may not think £2m is expensive, but it''s still £2m and as a player who isn''t getting any younger he''d have no resell value. We also really need to step up a level... our previous first choice of Holt should really be becoming to the 2nd/3rd choice. Personally I''d prefer to sign someone like Hooper rather than Kei at this point.

Finally, it''s not simply a matter of deciding who stays and who goes. Becchio has a contact, so naturally "remains on the books". You say Hoots has been ruthless with Vaughan (rightly so - crazy signing by Lambert), but he remains on the books too after playing for us 5 times in 2 years as he also has a contract. Even if Hoots did want to have Kei over Becchio, then he''d need to sell Becchio and then pay £2m for Kei. Would Hughton/the club really want to do that or would then prefer to keep the proven goalscorer over the guy that scored 1 goal for us and played his football in the MLS for his entire career?

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I love KK''s attitude - having said that, I do wonder whether he was a little too out of step with those around him. Understandably he’s tactically a bit naïve, but has plenty of potential as a ‘last 30’ impact player. I’d take him as a squad member as we’d easily meet his needs - and he’d do a fine in a ‘Wilbraham’ type role for us (and yes, I know we’ve moved on from those days, but the same principle applies).

 

KK would cost a lot less than say Kenwyne Jones who has similar attributes.

 

For Becchio, I doubted him. Then I saw the interchange between him & Howson for goal #4 against WBA & had a slight change of heart. Maybe that combination could be fruitful with Howson more advanced? Otherwise, I agree with Broadstairs - RVW, Holt, KK + Another would do for me.

 

Having said that, I guess we all hope we sign a high-calibre replacement for Simeon Jackson.

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He came I with no expectations and was out of season so not fully fit and he started ahead of holty and becchio. However he had attributes but he never showed anymore improvement after his first few games. He was good.

But not what we need if we stayed up, we have and we need better. We have to begin to move out of little norwich syndrome and now with rvw bring in another high calibre forward. If holt leaves we bring in another striker with pace, natural ability and I believe we will have a few strikers on our list if holty were to leave.

Kk is forgotten I am afraid much like Lamberts January loan forwards we picked up in January during our promotion seasons, with the exception of Pacheco and Lansbury.

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Nobody is really disputing that we need another high calibre forward and many, like me, would want us to hang onto GH for a while longer. Thus KK would have his place in the pecking order, possibly as No. 4 in line and I would not really consider that line-up as being ''Little Norwich.; especially considering that we started last season with Holt, Morison, Jackson and Kane. That''s some improvement.

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This might sound harsh, but Kamara was the striking equivalent of Paul Crichton.Clearly had a great impact on the lads and improved the atmosphere and mentality in the dressing room, but never had enough quality on the pitch to justify regular selection, and simply wasn''t up to this level.It should be telling that he was previously looked at before we tried him and rejected, then after the time we us, we didn''t choose to sign him either.If a number of managers doubt his ability at this level, especially coming from a relatively weak league in the MLS, then combined with what I saw on the pitch, I''m happy to believe we made the right choice from a playing perspective.

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Signing was a success in my opinion. Kei Kamara made a positive contribution to us staying in the Premier League, and his his first rate attitude not only enables him to make the best of his abilities, but importantly gave the rest of the squad & fans a lift at a key time. However, over the long term I don''t think he displayed the quality we should be looking for in a first team regular.

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Not the worst player to have worn the yellow and Green but certainly not up to the standard we need to progress as a clubHe''d bag you 15 goals in the championship and scare the sh!t out of defenders.. never going to do that against world class opposition.seemed a nice bloke and good luck to him.

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[quote user="Indy_Bones"]This might sound harsh, but Kamara was the striking equivalent of Paul Crichton.Clearly had a great impact on the lads and improved the atmosphere and mentality in the dressing room, but never had enough quality on the pitch to justify regular selection, and simply wasn''t up to this level.It should be telling that he was previously looked at before we tried him and rejected, then after the time we us, we didn''t choose to sign him either.If a number of managers doubt his ability at this level, especially coming from a relatively weak league in the MLS, then combined with what I saw on the pitch, I''m happy to believe we made the right choice from a playing perspective.[/quote]You''ve got it spot on for me Indy [Y]

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I have mixed feelings on this one. It may well be true that "Becchio is better than Kamara" but that has yet to be proved. In Holt and Becchio, city have two strikers without genuine pace. KK has that, and it made the opposition defences retreat deeper and deeper (the Everton game after his introduction was evidence of that). His headed goal turned a loss into a win, IMO, and without that City could well have been relegated. Yes, his game needs refinement (as did Demba Ba''s when he first arrived at Newcastle), but we will never know whether that would have taken place. City need four strikers, and if one is not forthcoming in the transfer window (as happened last summer) we could well regret not signing KK. I hope we don''t!

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he was involved in 10 goals in the time he was here. out of something like 13 scored (a noticeable pass to the assist credited player, an assist itself, a goal, getting free kicks leading to goals, shots turned to corners leading to goals.)

I think he did enough to justify his 1.5-2m transfer fee. he would be one hell of a squad player and one hell of an impact sub.

as for LB. if holt goes he will stay, if he doesn''t he will go. they are essentially the same player. while one is here the other won''t feature. and as holt has proved himself at this level, Becchio is, unfortunately for him, the one left out

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I liked Kamara, good attitude, fair ability and seemed a decent sort. Unfortunately for him we now need better than average and of a younger age than Kamara.Some people are finding it hard to comprehend that NCFC are now fishing in a much bigger pond and no longer have such a pressing need for speculative bargains.

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When all is said and done, he had a strike rate of 1 in 11. The same as Steve Morison last season (2 in 22). He just wasn''t good enough.  
I''m sure that we could just pluck a talented 21 year old out of League One or the Championship for a million or two who could do just as good a job at being a number four striker. Jose Baxter for example. 
Or we could give Southampton a couple of million for Billy Sharp or Brighton a couple of million for Ashley Barnes. There is no shortage of options for half decent strikers.

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""He was also, in my opinion, one of the worst players to ever play for NCFC""

''WHAT?''..........I just read that sentence on page 1, I can''t be @rsed to look back and see which cock actually said that but isn''t that a tad unfair ?

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JDT wrote - "he was involved in 10 goals in the time he was here. out of something like 13 scored (a noticeable pass to the assist credited player, an assist itself, a goal, getting free kicks leading to goals, shots turned to corners leading to goals.) "

That''s stretching "contribution" a bit far don''t you think? Besides your figure of 10 goals is way too high, we only scored 9 league goals whilst he was here.

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[quote user="Billabong"]""He was also, in my opinion, one of the worst players to ever play for NCFC""

''WHAT?''..........I just read that sentence on page 1, I can''t be @rsed to look back and see which cock actually said that but isn''t that a tad unfair ?[/quote]
It would be unfair if that was what he actually said. What he actually said was: "one of the worst players to ever play for NCFC in the premier league".
Perhaps still a tad unfair, but a huge difference between the actual quote and the snipped one that you presented, seeing as we have only had six full seasons in the Premier League. 
Sure there are some candidates from 94/95 and 04/05 for that list though, and Harry Kane definitely makes it. 

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