Razza Camara

[SaintRam]

Time to start a Camara thread here now he's ours I suppose. Let's start with this article by Andrew Gibney who was interviewed by OB last night:

Quote

Under the bright lights of the Stade de France in 2008, a young Stade Rennais side beat Girondins de Bordeaux 3-0 to lift the prestigious Coupe Gambardella. Coming off the bench that day was Derby County’s new signing, Abdoul Camara – however, his journey from youth team to Pride Park has not been a smooth ride.

Every year, before the Coupe de France final, fans are treated to a match between two of the best under-19 sides in the country. The quality in that Rennes team, seven years on, is clear to see. Sunderland’s Yann M’Vila, former Cardiff City defender Kevin Théophile-Catherine and FC Porto’s Yacine Brahimi started for Rennes – Grezgorz Krychowiak, Henri Saivet and Gabriel Obertan lined up for the opposition.

Rennes won 3-0, with Camara coming off the bench in the 64^th minute. As with most youth teams, many of the names from that day have not amounted to anything, and for a while it looked like the young Camara would follow the same path.

He made his debut for the Breton side against Marseille in 2009, but it took a season on loan for Vannes OC in Ligue 2 before he would get his chance in the first team. Over two seasons he only featured 26 times in Ligue 1 before FC Sochaux paid around £1 million to sign the 21-year-old.

Despite his obvious raw abilities, Camara struggled to hold down a regular starting spot – lining up in the first XI for only half of his appearances. After his first goal against Montpellier he went 29 games without finding the net or picking up an assist.

Another loan spell to Greece followed, playing for PAOK before returning to Sochaux, but it wasn’t until he left on a free to SCO Angers that his career really started to gain traction. Camara joined forces with Jonathan Kodjia and Sofiane Boufal to form a dangerous three-man attack that would finish third in Ligue 2 and help SCO win promotion.

Boufal moved to Lille last January and Kodjia signed with Bristol City in the summer, and it’s no surprise that Derby County and other English clubs were keeping tabs on the 25-year-old. With six goals and two assists, he didn’t quite have the same impact as the other two, but his speed, hard work and direct style definitely played a role in helping Stephane Moulin’s team reach the heights of Ligue 1.

Going into the winter break, Angers sat third in the French top division and are undoubtedly one of the stories of the season around Europe. SCO’s success has been built on a strong defence, only conceding 11 goals in 19 games.

In attack, it’s not been as impressive; only four clubs have scored less than Angers’ 17 goals this season. Where they have been good is on the counter-attack, with Camara at the forefront. He has been reported as being one of the fastest players in the league – which is hard to dispute – and it’s that speed that has made him a great outlet as Angers try and hit on the break.

Camara is not a traditional centre-forward, although he can play across the front line. Most comfortable when he is on the left, he combines his pace with a persistent, direct style, looking to commit defenders to create opportunities.

Although Angers line up playing 4-3-3, it more closely resembles a 4-5-1 when they don’t have the ball, relying on the wide players to help protect the full-backs, before bursting forward. Former Derby County man Gilles Sunu has played on the opposite side from Camara and as he doesn’t have the same speed, most of their counter-attacks come down the left.

Traditionally, wingers who develop in France don’t tend to enjoy – when they are asked to – tracking back. Camara is more of a left-midfielder than an old-fashioned winger, so he takes his defensive responsibilities seriously, something that will be needed in the Championship – and more so in the Premier League if Derby can win promotion.

Camara’s biggest weakness going forward has to be his distribution. For someone who plays in attack, he doesn’t notch up enough assists to really take his game to the next level. He had just two assists in Ligue 2, and hasn’t managed any this season. That will need to improve if he wants to make an impact in England.

What he does give you is a relentless threat down the channels. When on the right, he loves to take on his marker and look to shoot on his left foot. Blessed with quick feet and an eye for goal, his non-stop running style will prove a constant menace to full-backs up and down the country.

Out of contract in the summer, it was always likely that Angers would cash in, rather than see Camara leave for free. Paying around £1.2 million, Derby are picking up a great deal this winter.

A late developer, there is nothing to say that the 25-year-old has reached his peak just yet. Derby will be hoping he can find a few more gears…he certainly has the raw attributes to excite and delight the Pride Park faithful.

http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2016/01/05/abdoul-camara-derby-countys-ram-raiding-speedster/

 

[Webram]

The only question for me is where will he play? Does it mean we've seen the end of Russell? Maybe pushing Ince behind Martin, but where does that leave Weiman and Bent? For me, this raises more questions than answers. I hope, after Boro, we don't panic buy and bring players in for the sake of it. We are nearly there as a team to get out this division. good luck to Razza though. I'm surprised we are not looking at a full back. I think we are overloaded in the forward areas or is it just me. That's not to say we can't add with one eye on the prem. But with Weiman, bent, Martin, Ince, Russell and Razza we have the option to change it around should we need to.

[SaintRam]

I would expect Camara to rotate in and out. He's only cost us just over a mil, let's not be expecting the world of him. 

[YouRams]

4 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

I would expect Camara to rotate in and out. He's only cost us just over a mil, let's not be expecting the world of him. 

Mahrez cost 400k, if Camara is rubbish Clement out!

[SaintRam]

1 minute ago, YouRams said:

Mahrez cost 400k, if Camara is rubbish Clement out!

Well then you'll have to give Camara a season and a half to get up to the pace. Mahrez first season with Leicester (also signed in January) saw him play 19 games (mixed starts and bench) scoring 3 goals and getting 5 assists. Next season (in the prem) he played 30 games with 4 goals and 3 assists. 

Using Mahrez as a comparison is quite useful as it's a similar situation in which Camara has been signed, although it is dangerous as it's very rare for a deal like this to turn out as Mahrez's did. I hope it will though, obviously.

[StockholmRam]

16 minutes ago, Webram said:

The only question for me is where will he play? Does it mean we've seen the end of Russell? Maybe pushing Ince behind Martin, but where does that leave Weiman and Bent? For me, this raises more questions than answers. I hope, after Boro, we don't panic buy and bring players in for the sake of it. We are nearly there as a team to get out this division. good luck to Razza though. I'm surprised we are not looking at a full back. I think we are overloaded in the forward areas or is it just me. That's not to say we can't add with one eye on the prem. But with Weiman, bent, Martin, Ince, Russell and Razza we have the option to change it around should we need to.

How do you know we are not looking for a fullback? I would expect our scouting team is looking for/ at players in all positions for long term improvement of the squad. For a club looking to be a permanent part of the premier league I don't see that any one player currently in our squad has a position not under threat if we can improve on them. 

[SaintRam]

 

[Chris Mills]

I see people talking about us being "overloaded in forward areas", but is that really the case?

Lets ask, who are our senior forwards?

Strikers: Martin, Bent

Wingers: Ince, Russell, Weimann, Dawkins (Pretty much gone)

So that is 2 strikers and 3 wingers. 

Compared to lets say:

CM: Hughes, Johnson, Butterfield, Hanson, Thorne, Bryson, Hendrick

CB: Keogh, Shackell, Pearce, Shotton, Buxton

 

So discounting Dawkins we only have 3 Wingers (4 now with Razza). I'd say that's far from overloaded. Only 2 strikers is even worse (You can argue Russell and Weimann can play there but I'm talking where we consistently play them.) If we play 442 that leaves us with 0 strikers to cover injuries or subs, or even with 1 up top as we play if we get an injury we are left with just 1 striker.

Do we have a strong front line? yes. Do we have a front line "overload"? I'd argue that we're lacking.

[Webram]

Point taken, Chris. But I wouldn't class Ince and Weiman as wingers, more central suits them more. Derby have been playing them wide, granted. For example, many argue bradders should be on the left of midfield (not a winger for sure) but part of a 433 with CM and two wide players in the upper three. So for the centre forward role we have 4 possible candidates depending whether you want a centre forward to hold up for others bombing on or playing off the shoulder or behind the back line: Ince, Weiman, or bent. To me we are overloaded centrally, but not with wide players (out and out wingers necessarily). You could add Russell into the mix also because I don't class him as a winger and neither did Dundee.

[Alph]

You know with Ince, he claims he enjoys central more and people say that he's better there (He was good v Bristol tbf) but hasn't he always been on the wing. He played on the opposite wing to Phillips at Blackpool. 

 

[LesterRam]

god they all look pale, they could do with a fortnight in magaluf

[Gary Teale]

22 minutes ago, Alpha said:

You know with Ince, he claims he enjoys central more and people say that he's better there (He was good v Bristol tbf) but hasn't he always been on the wing. He played on the opposite wing to Phillips at Blackpool. 

 

Doesn't pretty much every player like to play central as they are more involved? Especially in the free role behind the forward, who wouldn't want to play there.

[Inverurie Ram]

 

[Howard Canitbé]

9 hours ago, SaintRam said:

Well then you'll have to give Camara a season and a half to get up to the pace. Mahrez first season with Leicester (also signed in January) saw him play 19 games (mixed starts and bench) scoring 3 goals and getting 5 assists. Next season (in the prem) he played 30 games with 4 goals and 3 assists. 

Using Mahrez as a comparison is quite useful as it's a similar situation in which Camara has been signed, although it is dangerous as it's very rare for a deal like this to turn out as Mahrez's did. I hope it will though, obviously.

Is it possible that Mahrez's marked improvement this season is due to the change in management getting the best out of him? Leicester 2nd in the Prem this season there are a lot of the same players in that squad as the one that was bottom this time last year as far as I can see. I'm aware they've made a few additions but I don't follow them all that closely. 

 

Just goes to show that past records aren't always the most reliable way to judge a player, see Martin, Mahrez (and hopefully Camara and Blackman. 

[Stedcfc]

We've been crying out for pace in a couple of games recently (Boro being one) and this guy has bags of it. His end product seems patchy based on what a few French reporters have said and from watching a few youtube videos (I know!).

Certainly could make an impact off the bench. No full back is going to want to have him coming on with 20 minutes to go after chasing Russell or Ince around.

McLaren made a point of making the wingers run themselves ragged and almost always sub both of them which worked well. I don't think we've seen the best of our wingers yet so far and a few different options might help.

[plymouthram]

6 minutes ago, Stedcfc said:

We've been crying out for pace in a couple of games recently (Boro being one) and this guy has bags of it. His end product seems patchy based on what a few French reporters have said and from watching a few youtube videos (I know!).

Certainly could make an impact off the bench. No full back is going to want to have him coming on with 20 minutes to go after chasing Russell or Ince around.

McLaren made a point of making the wingers run themselves ragged and almost always sub both of them which worked well. I don't think we've seen the best of our wingers yet so far and a few different options might help.

Stating pace is an understatement, he as been described the quickest player in the French league

[Stedcfc]

3 minutes ago, plymouthram said:

Stating pace is an understatement, he as been described the quickest player in the French league

I did say he has bags of it! On the youtube vids his feet look too quick for his own legs!

He will definitely cause problems in the tight games we are struggling to break through. 

[WorksopRam]

I think it's possible to have too many "footballers" at this level. Too much dilly dallying around sometimes. Some games I'm just gagging for someone to get the ball and charge forward as fast as they can at anyone, causing some havoc. 

He could be the one for it. 

[HeyHudson]

8 hours ago, WorksopRam said:

I think it's possible to have too many "footballers" at this level. Too much dilly dallying around sometimes. Some games I'm just gagging for someone to get the ball and charge forward as fast as they can at anyone, causing some havoc. 

He could be the one for it. 

Agree to some extent. One of the things I found refreshing about Jordon Ibe's time with us was the fact that his first instinct was to just charge forward with the ball and head for the by-line.

Granted, his end product wasn't quite polished when he got there, but that initial burst not only immediately puts defenders on the back foot, but also pins back the more attacking full backs as they don't want to leave too much space behind them, potentially restricting an outlet for the opposition.

[Van der MoodHoover]

Could be the one that makes runs  beyond Martin for his lay offs.