Many Norwich City supporters have been critical on social media of Ibrahim Amadou’s performance against Aston Villa on Saturday, as the Canaries were thumped 5-1 at home to the Villans.
Villa joined Norwich in securing promotion back into the Premier League via the Play-Offs in May, and spent heavily in the summer to bolster the squad on offer to Dean Smith in Birmingham with more than £130million spent on 12 players (TransferMarkt).
The Canaries, meanwhile, kept spending to a minimum, but injuries have ripped through Daniel Farke’s ranks over the opening months of the term (Pink Un) and players are now being forced to take up roles outside of their natural duties.
That was the case for Amadou on Saturday, and many Norwich fans took note of how evident it was against Aston Villa that the 26-year-old was not a natural defender, as he tried to contend with Wesley Moraes alongside Ben Godfrey.
Wesley got the better of Amadou throughout the Premier League affair to the point one Canaries fan noted the double goal scorer had their Douala, Cameroon-born midfielder ‘in his pocket’, while another suggested the French citizen was ‘being dominated’ by the former Club Brugge hitman.
As well as scoring twice to put Smith’s Villans two goals to the good after half an hour, Wesley enjoyed success with three aerial duels and fashioned six efforts on goal before the 40th minute, five of which were on target according to statistics company WhoScored.
Their data also showed that Amadou did not attempt any defensive aerial duels while Godfrey attempted three, but the Sevilla-owned midfielder at Carrow Road on a season-long loan deal did win possession with each of his four tackles, along with five clearances, one interception and completed 88% of his 32 passes.
Godfrey, on the other hand, did not attempt any tackles or register any clearances while matching Amadou for clearances, but it was the efforts of the Sevilla-owned man that drew many reactions on social media.
Here are a selection of the messages shared…
Amadou all at sea for Villas second. Makeshift defenders killing us. #ncfc
— Buendia’s right foot (@jabbidabbadoo) October 5, 2019
Wesley has Amadou in his pocket. #ncfc
— Juggmeister (@Juggmeister) October 5, 2019
Amadou isn’t a centre back. He’s being dominated. Feel for him here #ncfc
— Lee Jermyn (@LeeJermyn) October 5, 2019
I’m sorry but that Amadou is absolutely useless what the hell is Farke doing putting that clown in the team #NCFC
— Dan Castleton (@dantheman2969) October 5, 2019
Amadou doesn’t play in defence next game, I don’t care who else does. #ncfc
— Rob Elpuchi (@PecheyYellow) October 5, 2019
Sorry NCFC but Amadou isn’t a centre half and the pressure is putting on the rest of our back four.
— DavidWild (@shinkysodavie) October 5, 2019
Feel sorry for Amadou. Definitely not a centre back, but admittedly was poor today. However, the reason we struggled the most is because we have no recognised defensive midfielder. McLean and Leitner too lightweight #ncfc
— Josh Roper (@Josh_Roper) October 5, 2019
How much could we do with a Klose or Zimmermann to slot into defence at moment. Amadou clearly has big question marks over him and Godfrey has had a bad few games and could do with a rest. Not the biggest Hanley fan but if fit he has to play against Bournemouth #ncfc #canarycall
— Seb Lock (@sebncfc123) October 5, 2019
#avfc knew Amadou was our weakest link goal kicks and everything went thought him they clearly did there homework #ncfc
— Phil Plume (@philipplume) October 5, 2019
Amadou has gone from Maldini to Doherty in 3 weeks #ncfc
— Matt Hudson (@mattyhudson90) October 5, 2019
Norwich fans, what did you make of Amadou’s performance against Aston Villa? Let us know your thoughts below!
