Burnley 2-1 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[North Shropshire Lad]

Semedo is better than Doherty. Don't agree with those writing him off. He's not been amazing but neither has he been terrible like some suggest, in my opinion.

I don't think he is quite on the wavelength of some, not consistently anyway. There was a moment in the second half when Joao had the ball, Semedo ran across to receive to feet but the ball was played behind the Burnley defence.

My main concern with him is his aerial ability which is poor

You're right in that we shouldn't be writing him off already, but I've seen absolutely nothing to be positive about. Positionally he seems unaware, is caught under the ball numerous times per game, is weak in any physical exchange and has offered next to nothing going forward. I can think of one example in each of the last two games where he was in the opposition box and either made the wrong decision (I'm being kind) or fluffed his cross. I was no Doherty fan, full stop, but he isn't anything like an upgrade.
If he was playing fullback and was called Jack Robinson, Byrne, Zubar or Saville he'd be getting pelters and rightly so. His performances would have been seen as poor whether he had cost £300,000, £3m or nearly £30m.

 

[Del Woppio]

I certainly wouldn't swap Doc at Spurs for Semedo at Wolves

But we had Doc at Wolves, not Doc at Spurs.

I'm not arguing that Doc is a better footballer or athlete than Semedo, he's clearly not. I'm pretty sure however that he's nowhere near as effective for us in either direction as Matt was for us, and I've seen very little to suggest he will be. Marcal's been far better, for about a twentieth of the fee and presumably a third of the wages

 

[Jinky]

He (Semedo) isn't very good in the air. He isn't very good at defending 1 on 1, or to be honest holding the shape. He isn't good at tracking back. Opposition teams are now starting to overload that side of the pitch because they know he is a weak link and we will concede chances/goals from that side. He isn't offering us much going forward in terms of dangerous crosses or link play around the area - and he doesn't take defenders on with the ball at his feet. He doesn't even seem that quick!

I *hope* he starts to show some improvement soon, because at the moment I have to agree with the others who are saying he's looking like a poor piece of business.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

If Adama is your right sided option up front, the last thing you need is a fancy Dan full back/wing back. With a Jonny/Marcal/Neville/Irwin behind him he would have licence to do the unpredictable. Semedo and Traore just get in each others space.

 

[prawnking]

If Adama is your right sided option up front, the last thing you need is a fancy Dan full back/wing back. With a Jonny/Marcal/Neville/Irwin behind him he would have licence to do the unpredictable. Semedo and Traore just get in each others space.

Nuno must have thought they could/can play together? Surely one of them is adaptable

 

[YoungWolf]

I think that is also something that may take time. I also think Adama needs to play inside of Semedo more rather than the other way. He's far more effective running through the middle as I've said many times. When we played 4231 (albeit very small simple) we seemed to find this balance better with Semedo arriving on the overlap in more space.

I don't agree that there are no positives. The only area we have missed Doc in any form is in the opposition penalty area where he is a weirdly decent finisher. In possession, Semedo is far better at evading pressure, attacks space better, combines just as well if not better too with team mates. He hasn't clicked in final third though, where he has had some good moments but got the decision/final pass wrong.

Defensively I don't think Semedo is that bad defending 1v1 at all. Again better than Doc in this department who generally just half arsed waving his trailing leg often, it's just he was rarely left in that position. We saw him deal well with Grealish for 90 minutes (yes, I know he cocked it all up at the end), he's only really looked exposed when teams have created overloads, and most defenders will struggle with that regardless of quality.

 

[AndyWolves]

He (Semedo) isn't very good in the air. He isn't very good at defending 1 on 1, or to be honest holding the shape. He isn't good at tracking back. Opposition teams are now starting to overload that side of the pitch because they know he is a weak link and we will concede chances/goals from that side. He isn't offering us much going forward in terms of dangerous crosses or link play around the area - and he doesn't take defenders on with the ball at his feet. He doesn't even seem that quick!

I *hope* he starts to show some improvement soon, because at the moment I have to agree with the others who are saying he's looking like a poor piece of business.

They've always overloaded our RWB position, it's only when Otasowie played has he had any kind of help.

Probably because they know Semedo will get forward whereas Marcal rarely does.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

You're a coach and I'm not, so I'm not doubting your view or assessment. I think we'll have to agree to differ though. I haven't seen the same positives.
I would like to think that Semedo and Adama could learn to play together, but based purely on the limited amount of game time so far, I have my doubts. However...I also thought Coady should have been shipped out way before he was moved to centre half and that Darren Potter and Darron Gibson would dominate the division when they played together.

 

[Deano]

Teams overloading his position is an excuse. It's happened a few times but it's not the reason he hasn't looked very good.

He absolutely is dreadful defending 1v1 you can go back to evidence of before he joined or watch pretty much any highlights video of our games this season and see evidence of it.

I get some trying to make excuses for him as for the outlay and for the good of the team we need the transfer to work, I hope the likes of YW turn out to be right and I hope I am absolutely miles wide of the mark but we can only go on the evidence and so far it's not good, not even close.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

My one concern about replacing Doherty with Semedo was that Doherty won a lot in the air, defensively, in attack and from Rui's kicks. I have no doubt Doherty would have been more use than Semedo in the build up to the second goal yesterday. I hoped this would be offset by being better at everything else but have reached the stage where it his just that, hope not expectation.

 

[YoungWolf]

You're a coach and I'm not, so I'm not doubting your view or assessment. I think we'll have to agree to differ though. I haven't seen the same positives.
I would like to think that Semedo and Adama could learn to play together, but based purely on the limited amount of game time so far, I have my doubts. However...I also thought Coady should have been shipped out way before he was moved to centre half and that Darren Potter and Darron Gibson would dominate the division when they played together.

I would say I am in the minority with my view anyway!

I think right now anyway, Semedo isn't what I am most concerned about. I think in a more stable set up (regardless of formation). We are finding it hard to sustain performances. I think some of that is on a physical level where we have lacked the pre-season and where the games are without fans, some on a technical/tactical level where we look a little confused when it doesn't go right, and some on a psychological level where we lack confidence in what we are trying to do. I think people may have to accept we may be quite inconsistent. We've had some good and bad performances. I think it was PrawnKing who questioned whether this was the right season to be making these changes. Could well be right in what is a mad season, or maybe it's the perfect time as there are no guarantees either way.

 

[prawnking]

I think that is also something that may take time. I also think Adama needs to play inside of Semedo more rather than the other way. He's far more effective running through the middle as I've said many times. When we played 4231 (albeit very small simple) we seemed to find this balance better with Semedo arriving on the overlap in more space.

I don't agree that there are no positives. The only area we have missed Doc in any form is in the opposition penalty area where he is a weirdly decent finisher. In possession, Semedo is far better at evading pressure, attacks space better, combines just as well if not better too with team mates. He hasn't clicked in final third though, where he has had some good moments but got the decision/final pass wrong.

Defensively I don't think Semedo is that bad defending 1v1 at all. Again better than Doc in this department who generally just half arsed waving his trailing leg often, it's just he was rarely left in that position. We saw him deal well with Grealish for 90 minutes (yes, I know he cocked it all up at the end), he's only really looked exposed when teams have created overloads, and most defenders will struggle with that regardless of quality.

I agree with some of this, not about the Grealish part though. I accept he is a tricky customer and a challenge to any full back, but I thought Grealish had the beating of Semedo at will through the game, it just didn't come to anything

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

I believe the mistake that was made was believing wholesale changes were needed. I understand Jota and Doc wanting to leave and with Jonny injured, new players were required but we had just had back to back seventh placed finishes and reached the QF in Europe. I don't think everything needed ripping up and starting again.

Marcal was a good acquisition, being both short term cover for Jonny and possibly a medium term answer if he [Jonny] switched to RB after his injury. A similar buy on the other side and a more experienced striker would have been priorities. Then we could have bought potential [RAN, Vitinha, Silva etc] and also gone looking for that game changing midfielder I'm sure we all wanted to supplement what we had.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Semedo hasn’t been bad and neither has he been good. He’s given away a few goals and not contributed to anything of note at the other end. He’s a run of the mill RB so far. But the issue is that as a big money signing replacing your limited but effective alternative then it’s going to get highlighted. Even if he played at the level of Marcal (who we all universally agree has been better I think) it would get highlighted because of the price tag and wages.

I think being happy that a player can pass to his team mates in the middle third and evade pressure is a bit of a low bar for such an expensive footballer and I’d say probably a prerequisite for a FB. That’s basically Kevin Foley. Too slow to be an elite FB at either end, despite a great brain.

So we’ve managed to spend millions on a Zubar/Foley hybrid, great.

 

[Tony Towner]

If you asked me would I rather have Doherty of last season or Semedo of this, it'd be the former and it wouldn't be particularly close. There are mitigating factors for him - lack of pre season, inconsistency in the team as a whole, formation changes etc. I think he has a higher ceiling and certainly aren't writing him off, but I can't however see how anyone can say he's been a better player for Wolves so far

 

[t3ch]

I'm not going to suggest that semedo has been as effective as doherty but how many years did doherty get to become good in the side?

semedo is frequently in good positions on overlap and ignored. there was a point yesterday when traore came on that semedo was kinda wandering back and forth in a 10ft patch while traore tried to take on the defense by himself. could've layed off, done a 1-2, but traore acted like he wasn't there. just not on the same wavelength. I find it hard to be overly critical of the attacking wingback we bought when we suck at attacking and have a coached strategy of passing backwards to centrebacks at every opportunity.

I agree that it would be nice to see him do more to beat a man and I'm not going to die on a hill calling him amazing or anything, but his ability to interlink play, just like the rest of the team, is being hampered by our own decisions.

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

When Nuno arrived he transformed the team and formation overnight. It was 343 from day one, and within a couple of preseason games everyone at the club knew what was expected from them. Now he wants to transform the formation and style again, but it is as though he himself does not know what he means by 'a more possession based' style. And if he does know, then he should be able to convey his ideas to the players more effectively.
The change is not because of Doc and Jota leaving. Neto is a straight replacement for Jota (with arguably greater potential), and Doc was almost a luxury player, not at the core of our play. The changes have to be for a reason, and Nuno must have known in advance what he wanted to achieve, and how - from what he had seen that our players can do, and from what he knew any signings could do. Then if he felt that this season - with no preseason - was the time to do it, then he should have been prepared to sacrifice the first 3 or 4 games of the season in order to bed in the new system and players.
Instead he seems reactive rather than proactive, something I find confusing. For someone who has done so much for the club it really looks like he doesn't know what he wants. We have a wonderful scouting system with info on thousands of players. So why did we buy Semedo? It can't just have been that he played for Barcelona, it must have been that he had been identified as being able to do what Nuno wants (or as a favour to Uncle Jorge).
I think (hope) that it is just that Nuno is mentally exhausted, that absence from his family has affected him much more than could have been foreseen.
Beyond that, I have no idea what to think.

 

[prawnking]

The reactive element is the most perplexing, I agree.

It's not like we've been tentatively working towards something these first 14 games and we can see chinks of light and roughly where we're heading.

I think then the odd stinker or defeat would be understandable growing pains. But we seem to be taking great lurches in both our set up and players being in and out of favour. Is it three or four at the back? And why? One game it's Saiss at LWB, then Marcal, then RAN...

 

[redvictor]

I think (hope) that it is just that Nuno is mentally exhausted, that absence from his family has affected him much more than could have been foreseen.

As i alluded to previously i believe this is a big part of what is wrong, and what's wrong with the players too. It isn't just the matches. It's full on every day on the training pitch too. I would imagine they are mentally and physically tired. I get they are professionals, but they are also human too. Man, i've been working none stop since the beginning of this virus. I'm tired, and need a break. I haven't really done any running in that time either!
Someone mention a covid break for sport in January/February? If true that is a great idea.

On Traore i'm a big fan of him. If only we'd use him in the right way. That is in the middle barging his way into the box, or cutting in from the right. Last night 3 players on him most of the time. 1 touch pass and go would work so well. Whatever happens do not sell him. He would come back and fuck us over as sure as we lose to Burnley...

 

[Kenny]

Someone mention a covid break for sport in January/February? If true that is a great idea.

All depends on whatever the Government decide but don't rule it out.

If it happens I hope Nuno gets on the first flight that takes him to his family.