Eagleman13
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- Location
- On The Road To Hell & Alicante
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Bermuda
Talking of 'setting up' watching our U21's v Boro 0-0 ht, but they are set up 4-2-3-1.
Our present squad
- Topic starter DANGERCLOSE
- Start date
No great surprise. He will probably go wherever Glasner next ends up. One of those players who rarely catches the eye but clearly makes the midfield tick. We look a much worse team when he doesn’t play and the likes of Wharton have dropped a level without him playing alongside.
No big loss at all. Thanks for the two-and-a-half decent games you had for us. We've got and will go and find so much better.
Thanks for the detailed tactical analysis. I’ll look at the facts and the results if it’s all the same.
Haha, fair enough. I was a bit blunt. I've analysed it up the wazoo in other threads, so am tired of repeating myself, that's all. Apologies.
Hughes is far, far defensively superior to Daichi.
Daichi is marginally superior offensively.
Wharton is more of an offensive player.
Hughes offers the defensively solidity we need, as evidenced by recent clean sheets.
Wharton and Hughes is the best and most balanced combination.
Although I should add, I'm glad to have Kamada has an option off the bench for added offensive impetus, should we be chasing a game.
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Stats dont show that though bud. Hughes just looks busier.
What the 1 clean sheet vs Brighton! Great evidence there.
MonsterMunch
Member
- Location
- Cambridge
- Country
England
Certainly improved, the bar started pretty low though. Tidy but doesnt effect the game enough for me, like all our MF. I feel we can find better
A fair assessment and I agree I would not break the bank to keep him. However we don't know why he wont sign maybe money isn't the issue maybe it is.
I would be happy to keep him but as always if we can improve with another player then great.
There is no sentiment in football.
Midlands Eagle
Member
- Country
-
England
We don't really know that he won't sign an extension as it was just one clickbait article that claimed that he wouldn't and that was from Sky who aren't renowned for their accuracy
TheBigToePunt
Member
- Country
-
England
In terms of Kamada staying next year, one problem might be that he is apparently on big wages.
I can sort of understand why that happened, as its not uncommon to go big on salary when signing a decent free transfer player (for which, see Lerma).
Thing is, even those who rate Kamada must surely accept that he hasn't justified being on £105k pw? Plus, how does it sit with all those players who are contributing every bit as much or more for half the wage?
If he wants to stay then he will surely have to take a huge pay cut, which I doubt he will want to do.
How accurate this thing is I couldn't say, but a few different sources say something similar:
www.capology.com
Personally I think Kamada lacks the match-winning quality to play No10, and lacks the physicality to play centre mid, although he has improved in that position over time. Whilst he makes himself available for the ball, he also often seems to take a fraction too long to play a pass, undermining attacking moves as much as he helps them. He contributes little at set plays, and rarely scores in open play. His loss would not be irrelevant, but nor would it be too much of a problem. I am the first one to say that you can't just give kids a chance, and that the step up to the first team is huge, but if Glasner were forced to use Kaden Rodney instead of Kamada I don't think we would suffer too much for it.
Kamada had one of his better games in the cup final, and will always be fondly thought of for that. Given his modest contribution on the field and the savings made on wages, however, I am happy to wish him well and see him go.
I can sort of understand why that happened, as its not uncommon to go big on salary when signing a decent free transfer player (for which, see Lerma).
Thing is, even those who rate Kamada must surely accept that he hasn't justified being on £105k pw? Plus, how does it sit with all those players who are contributing every bit as much or more for half the wage?
If he wants to stay then he will surely have to take a huge pay cut, which I doubt he will want to do.
How accurate this thing is I couldn't say, but a few different sources say something similar:
2025-2026 Crystal Palace FC Salaries and Contracts
Capology | Football Salaries & Finances
www.capology.com
Personally I think Kamada lacks the match-winning quality to play No10, and lacks the physicality to play centre mid, although he has improved in that position over time. Whilst he makes himself available for the ball, he also often seems to take a fraction too long to play a pass, undermining attacking moves as much as he helps them. He contributes little at set plays, and rarely scores in open play. His loss would not be irrelevant, but nor would it be too much of a problem. I am the first one to say that you can't just give kids a chance, and that the step up to the first team is huge, but if Glasner were forced to use Kaden Rodney instead of Kamada I don't think we would suffer too much for it.
Kamada had one of his better games in the cup final, and will always be fondly thought of for that. Given his modest contribution on the field and the savings made on wages, however, I am happy to wish him well and see him go.
In terms of Kamada staying next year, one problem might be that he is apparently on big wages.
I can sort of understand why that happened, as its not uncommon to go big on salary when signing a decent free transfer player (for which, see Lerma).
Thing is, even those who rate Kamada must surely accept that he hasn't justified being on £105k pw? Plus, how does it sit with all those players who are contributing every bit as much or more for half the wage?
If he wants to stay then he will surely have to take a huge pay cut, which I doubt he will want to do.
How accurate this thing is I couldn't say, but a few different sources say something similar:
2025-2026 Crystal Palace FC Salaries and Contracts
Capology | Football Salaries & Finances
Personally I think Kamada lacks the match-winning quality to play No10, and lacks the physicality to play centre mid, although he has improved in that position over time. Whilst he makes himself available for the ball, he also often seems to take a fraction too long to play a pass, undermining attacking moves as much as he helps them. He contributes little at set plays, and rarely scores in open play. His loss would not be irrelevant, but nor would it be too much of a problem. I am the first one to say that you can't just give kids a chance, and that the step up to the first team is huge, but if Glasner were forced to use Kaden Rodney instead of Kamada I don't think we would suffer too much for it.
Kamada had one of his better games in the cup final, and will always be fondly thought of for that. Given his modest contribution on the field and the savings made on wages, however, I am happy to wish him well and see him go.
He is on pretty big wages. But he's a very experienced, international footballer who came on a free. All players know that if you dont command a transfer fee, you'll get a bigger wage. And lets be honest its relative peanuts. Even if we think we've paid 50k a week more than needed thats only 2.6m extra a year. So over those 2 years you could almost view him as a 5m signing. Not bad at all.
I know I'm one of the only ones i the Kamada fan club, but IMO there are 2 contributing factors to him being hugely underrated.
1. Optics - all the stats show that he makes more tackles per 90 than Lerma and Hughes and contributes more going forward. Objectively he's our best CM. But he doesn't charge around. His strength is positionally. Which is why I think we are more solid in the team.
2.Glasner set up. Kamada historically has always scored. For ever club and internationally. 76 goals in 402 club appearances, and 12 in 47 internationally. The last 2 seasons are the only 2 in his career he's not scored in.
This is down to the way that Glanner sets the team up, the CMs primary job is to defend and transition, and not to join in with the attack.
Its no coincidence that neither Wharton, Lerma, or Hughes have scored in the league in the last 2 seasons.
It always seams that his criticism is slightly unfair, his job (under Glasner) isn't to do the things that most fans want. He isn't supposed to stand out. We have 2 technical 6's, they stop attacks coming though our centre (with good positional play vs charging around) and help us transition to attack with 1 and 2 touch passes.
And by and large it works. We won the FA cup and Charity shield, and were the 4th (?) best team in the league in 2025. He was an ever present for that period.
CPFCSaturn
Member
- Country
-
England
Great post - completely agree.
DANGERCLOSE
Member
- Location
- London
- Country
-
England
Contracts ending in june 26
Clyne
Kamada
Lerma
Uche
Guessand
Clyne
Kamada
Lerma
Uche
Guessand
TheBigToePunt
Member
- Country
-
England
I accept that the big wages makes sense, even to other players, when a guy arrives on a free. Kamada isn't arriving on a free now, though. He is already here, and Palace have to decide what wage to offer him based on his contribution up to now and what we can expect over the course of the new contract. I cannot see a way for that to add up to six figures a week. Even if that is only a couple of million a year, the same could be said of all the players and all the contracts. There must be some sense of value for money and a hierarchy of merit. More importantly, there is a ratio of turnover to wages that we have to stay within, and Kamada is difficult to justify in that respect.
I take your point about him playing as a defensive screen, but lets not forget that he was moved to that position having repeatedly failed to make an impact as a No10, which appears to be be what he was brought in (and given big wages) to be. Unlike Hughes, Wharton, or Lerma, Kamada has had quite a few games playing further forward but still has a very low goal tally. I'm not sure the club would have agreed to £105k pw for a neat, steady holding midfielder.
Generally, stats can be read lots of different ways and should never overrule what the eye can see. Wharton, for instance, has a famously low pass completion rate but is plainly our best user of the ball and key playmaker - he just tries things. Kamada, on the other hand, passes it square and backwards a lot. As per my last, he often passes it slightly between the receiving players feet, or a split second too late. That will show as a completed pass, but doesn't mean Kamada is a very good passer and playmaker. He's OK, better than Lerma certainly, but that's not a high bar and doesn't make him good , and certainly doesn't make him good value for money.
What counts as a tackle for the stats appears dubious to me. I have certainly seen Lerma compete wholeheartedly in strong physical duels, both in the air on on the ground, but cannot think of a game when Kamada has imposed himself physically.
I don't think he's a poor player, but he just isn't worth the money that could be allocated elsewhere. If he wanted to stay on half the wage then fine, but I doubt he will.
I would completely disagree on this one. As I see it the opposite, his (and Wharton's) key strengths are weight of pass and placement.
Regardless hopefully we'll get to see a bit more over the coming weeks.
Agree. Ultimately he was bought in as a No10 and has failed in that position regularly. He lack of pace and no left foot means he can't beat a man so relies on movement and quick passes etc.
This wasn't just last season - he has played as a 10 a few times this season too - Villa away (Ok), Burnley (rubbish) etc.
Of his 50 appearances i think almost half would have been in an attacking position so to not score in the league is poor.
However, after initially struggling as a CM he has improved quite a bit, and even when coming on as a sub on Sunday looked composed and added to the team.
Overall, he's not worth the wages but has not been a disaster either.
His 3 Wembley appearances will be long remembered.