Amougou

[TRL]

Carey and Fontaine haven't really started the season well at all IMO, we've not kept a single clean sheet yet and most of the goals conceded were quite glaring errors.

It's no more conjecture (I heard it from Burnley fans) than what you've heard from Burnley fans. Which is why my opinion isn't based on it, but based on what I've seen myself.

I really not sure what to make of the guy. I'm not so sure if he is injury prone or just never a automatic choice. Throughout his career in England I'm not sure he has ever been a proper regular first choice, more a tango type choice, I.e. mid 20 appearances a season. I am presuming that is a managers opinion of him rather than as stated before injury issues.

[Ron]

Carey and Fontaine haven't really started the season well at all IMO, we've not kept a single clean sheet yet and most of the goals conceded were quite glaring errors.

It's no more conjecture (I heard it from Burnley fans) than what you've heard from Burnley fans. Which is why my opinion isn't based on it, but based on what I've seen myself.

Fontaine and Carey have been left woefully exposed on occasion, both the goals we've conceded away from home certainly, where they were overrun at Forest and no midfielder tracked Mellis at Barnsley. Palace, for all their inadequacy at the time, took over an hour to register a meaningful effort against us and Carey kept the undoubted talent of Zaha very quiet.

You don't need to base your opinion around Burnley fans to give some manner of credence to what they say. Amougou did look good for us at the back end of last season, but has only played 7 games for us and so using that alone to afford him some of the descriptions in this thread is jumping the gun.

[Nibor]

Fontaine and Carey have been left woefully exposed on occasion, both the goals we've conceded away from home certainly, where they were overrun at Forest and no midfielder tracked Mellis at Barnsley. Palace, for all their inadequacy at the time, took over an hour to register a meaningful effort against us and Carey kept the undoubted talent of Zaha very quiet.

We've played a pretty defensive central midfield pairing so I don't agree at all that the centre halves have been woefully exposed. There'll be times in any game where they are the last line of defence, that's what defenders are for. Both of them have made silly mistakes that have cost us goals and we've conceded two goals a game on average. I don't think anybody can really consider my comments harsh in that light, far from it.

You don't need to base your opinion around Burnley fans to give some manner of credence to what they say. Amougou did look good for us at the back end of last season, but has only played 7 games for us and so using that alone to afford him some of the descriptions in this thread is jumping the gun.

If I were to give credence to what you say Burnley fans say I'd also have to give credence to those Burnley fans who say they disliked him from day one because of the Blake incident. As I said, I've based my opinion on what I've seen of him on the pitch, both for us and Reading. I don't think there's any other reasonable way to assess a player than to watch them play myself. There was more than enough there to say that our defence would be markedly improved with Amougou in it, just as it was last season. If you disagree that's fine, but I'd love to hear exactly what you've seen that makes you think we wouldn't be a better team with him in it, rather than just fears based on hearsay.

[Ron]

If I were to give credence to what you say Burnley fans say I'd also have to give credence to those Burnley fans who say they disliked him from day one because of the Blake incident. As I said, I've based my opinion on what I've seen of him on the pitch, both for us and Reading. I don't think there's any other reasonable way to assess a player than to watch them play myself. There was more than enough there to say that our defence would be markedly improved with Amougou in it, just as it was last season. If you disagree that's fine, but I'd love to hear exactly what you've seen that makes you think we wouldn't be a better team with him in it, rather than just fears based on hearsay.

At no point have I said he wouldn't, I've said that the way he's been built up on the back of so little in a City shirt is over the top. If you're including his form at Reading that's a different matter, of course. I would still call into question how much we can tell about him on loan, on a personal level I'm happy to have faith in the judgement of someone I know personally and trust who knows a lot more about the player than I do, especially when he doesn't doubt Amougou's ability but more his attitude and motivation, which would certainly be in line with his sudden improvement in performance when on loan with us.

[Nibor]

At no point have I said he wouldn't, I've said that the way he's been built up on the back of so little in a City shirt is over the top. If you're including his form at Reading that's a different matter, of course. I would still call into question how much we can tell about him on loan, on a personal level I'm happy to have faith in the judgement of someone I know personally and trust who knows a lot more about the player than I do, especially when he doesn't doubt Amougou's ability but more his attitude and motivation, which would certainly be in line with his sudden improvement in performance when on loan with us.

I don't think he's been "built up" much at all. My nan would improve our defence at the moment.

You prefer to believe your mate over your own eyes that's fine, I don't, and I think Amougou is a player we would have benefited a lot from signing.

If Derek McInnes can find a better centre half I'll be very happy, but in the four months so far that we've had to do that it hasn't happened for whatever reason.