God Serena
New member
Semedo has had plenty of playing time to show us something and all excuses aside, the fact remains that he hasn't. If his name was Andre Gomes this fact would be celebrated. For some reason everyone thinks that if Semedo was just given the chance to play every game, every week, he'd be the next Dani Alves or something but we've seen plenty of times with other players who also underperform that forcing a player into the lineup no matter how little he offers only makes his stock drop faster. Just look at Paulinho. The infinite praise and hype for him vanished when his "One bad game" became two, and three, and four, and five, and six...
Clearly, Semedo was set up to succeed here when he arrived but he failed to impress Valverde. As safe as Valverde is, I find it hard to believe he's benching Semedo just because of an arbitrary dislike of him, and when watching him play it's clear he's not better than Roberto. Our inability to move Roberto to midfield and use Semedo is a tick against Semedo in my eyes, not a tick against the manager who is just trying to use the best man for every position; even if his idea of who the best man is is often wrong. It's the same case for Yerry Mina. Excuses are thrown out all over the place but the fact remains, we're probably never going to see Mina play again unless all of Pique, Umtiti, and Vermaelen are unavailable, and rightfully so, as he's far inferior to each and every one of them, and it's unlikely any of them will be leaving at the end of the season, either, meaning his spot on the team likely won't improve.
Semedo in training could be struggling to attack or gel with his teammates, the same way he does in the actual game. Demands for Semedo to play more are more likely to reveal we've signed a RB Gomes than they are to reveal we signed a great RB who just needed more playing time. With Umtiti, Rakitic, Suarez, Alba and other signings who have walked into our starting XI it was clear they belonged with the team, even despite the massively overstated slow starts they had, but with Semedo he hasn't looked much better than Digne so far, and as such has earned himself the same role.
Clearly, Semedo was set up to succeed here when he arrived but he failed to impress Valverde. As safe as Valverde is, I find it hard to believe he's benching Semedo just because of an arbitrary dislike of him, and when watching him play it's clear he's not better than Roberto. Our inability to move Roberto to midfield and use Semedo is a tick against Semedo in my eyes, not a tick against the manager who is just trying to use the best man for every position; even if his idea of who the best man is is often wrong. It's the same case for Yerry Mina. Excuses are thrown out all over the place but the fact remains, we're probably never going to see Mina play again unless all of Pique, Umtiti, and Vermaelen are unavailable, and rightfully so, as he's far inferior to each and every one of them, and it's unlikely any of them will be leaving at the end of the season, either, meaning his spot on the team likely won't improve.
Semedo in training could be struggling to attack or gel with his teammates, the same way he does in the actual game. Demands for Semedo to play more are more likely to reveal we've signed a RB Gomes than they are to reveal we signed a great RB who just needed more playing time. With Umtiti, Rakitic, Suarez, Alba and other signings who have walked into our starting XI it was clear they belonged with the team, even despite the massively overstated slow starts they had, but with Semedo he hasn't looked much better than Digne so far, and as such has earned himself the same role.