Amari'i Bell

LargeAddick said:

wmcf123 said:

fenaddick said:

Doesn’t matter hugely at the end of the day, both the club website and Braziliance have been wrong before, as we all have. 

Not convinced Bell is a guaranteed starter anyway 

I agree and I’m not sure why we’re not buying guaranteed starters .  

No one, in my opinion, should be a guaranteed starter.

Ramsay and Jones when fit and guaranteed starters regardless who we bring in I’d say.

Garrymanilow said:

Scoham said:

Gisappointed said:

Seems too short to be a LCB and too slow to be  a LWB. Having played in the Prem, wont be cheap wages. I'd prefer a LCB with pace who will put MG on bench. Fawemo would have been my preference, or spend some money.  

Manager Nathan Jones added: "Amari'i's someone I know well. I signed him at Luton and he did fantastically well for me. He knows how I want to play, he has Championship and Premier League experience, and he's a wonderful athlete with pace and power. He will add to the group and we're really delighted because left-sided centre-halves are very difficult to come by."

What makes you believe he’s lost the pace he had?

And why is 5 ft 11 too short to play LCB in a back 3? He’s played there for a few years now, if it was an issue it would have been a failed experiment and he’d have been moved back to LB/LWB. There will be more possession football in the Championship so I don’t see the need for all three CBs to be giants.

He’s spent 6 of the last 7 years in the Championship, with the other season being in the PL, so the question for me is he still capable of playing consistently well at that level, rather than being too short and too slow.

That Cesar Azpilicueta was only 5ft10 and what did he ever achieve playing at CB in a back 3? Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup, Super Cup, Club World Cup? Oh.

Not Cannavaro though. He was rubbish. 

Braziliance said:

fenaddick said:

Braziliance said:

fenaddick said:

Doesn’t matter hugely at the end of the day, both the club website and Braziliance have been wrong before, as we all have. 

Not convinced Bell is a guaranteed starter anyway 

Bizarre. 

You were the one who said what the site said and presented it as fact, I am telling you the site is wrong and so are your eyes. He is billed as 5'9/5'10 anywhere else. 

I said it before you said you’d stood next to him, I then took that as face value. Either you or the club is wrong, that’s an indisputable fact. It doesn’t matter too much to me because I don’t think his height is effecting his defending, or his attacking at corners for that matter. I was just trying to get the thread back on topic mainly 

I don't think his height impacts him either, that is why I mentioned him in the first place. 

Well I know I ain't wrong or lying about my height, and I know I am taller than him (not that that matters, I'd rather be a rich football player playing for Charlton) 

It's just funny with you and that Yann bloke having a bit of a dig over something that is a matter of fact. Instead I am "doubling down" (which has been incorrectly used here) or "we know he's sometimes wrong", instead of just saying fair enough, we are mistaken.

Or maybe, just maybe you’re wrong.

NJ describes Bell as pacy, but how many times has he watched him since 2022 or after his two absences with hamstring injuries?

https://youtu.be/t1WIt_-dfQ4?si=CxNrb1q0IHbwYdVx

One of the reasons I really want Burke to get fit….. as he’s another one you just know will be totally at home at this level.

fenaddick said:

DamoNorthStand said:

One of the reasons I really want Burke to get fit….. as he’s another one you just know will be totally at home at this level.

But who on earth does he replace?? 

It’s an occupational hazard for CB’s to pick up bookings or sending offs. That’s without considering injuries. Having Burke as a replacement is pure luxury. Really need him to get himself fit.

se9addick said:

I like him, and he’s an upgrade on Gilesphey, but he can be a little careless in possession. 

Statistically no more so than anyone else in our backline. I think he had the best pass completion percentage of our defence against Bristol City by some distance and then the second most yesterday (78% against 83% for Ramsay but attempted 10 more passes). He sees a lot of the ball and tries to make things happen with his passing so it's not like it's just simple sideways passes either. I think he just leaves it quite late to play the ball and that can make people think he's loose with it but I think that's just confidence on his part knowing he'll not get muscled off it.

Crispywood said:

Don’t understand this whole narrative that Bell is careless in possession he plays exactly the same way Ramsay does yet he always gets praised for the way he carries the ball out. I know stats don’t tell the whole story about a player and it looks risky on the eye but Bell is yet to get dispossessed and ranks 3rd for passing accuracy in our team 

I assume it was just based on his debut when he was shaky, flapped a bit and didn’t look as assured as Ramsay. Since then he’s been solid though.

I really like him. Been brilliant so far. 

sam3110 said:

Luton telling us his legs have gone, maybe it was more symptomatic of their squad, and mentality as a whole, because he's looked absolutely fine so far

Wonder how long it would take him to walk down North Greenwich 

wmcf123 said:

fenaddick said:

Doesn’t matter hugely at the end of the day, both the club website and Braziliance have been wrong before, as we all have. 

Not convinced Bell is a guaranteed starter anyway 

I agree and I’m not sure why we’re not buying guaranteed starters .  

As it turns out he is, and we did. He's definitely got that starting place on merit too, not just by being part of Jones’s "old boys club".

To be fair he's exceeded a lot of expectations, especially given some of the comments from Luton when he first signed.