Played 90 minutes against Uzbekistan, don't know how he did though. Dahlberg was on the bench, which I bet annoyed Doncaster who had to postpone their game yesterday!
Based on a lot of tweets I have seen the Watford Loan/International Twitter profile 'like', the Swedish fans don't seem impressed by Sema.
Sweden aren't fantastic by any means, but you'd think they'd be able to get 11 Premier League standard players on a field near enough tbf
Sadly Ken isn't up to PL or international standard. I wouldn't have been surprised if he left during the summer but he was one of our best players for half of last season so deserved another crack at this level. Plus he's so lovable it's impossible to be too harsh on him.
Too early to write him off after just two starts this season - admittedly his form was poor towards the end of last season, but so was Pedro’s and most are keen to see him back in the team. Plus, we are still trying to establish our best team (whether in attack, midfield or defence) and we haven’t decided whether Cucho, Dennis or Sema are the best options on the left up front, and that could vary depending on who and where we’re playing.
Tbf Sema has a track record of being decent in the Championship, but not good enough in the Prem, JP is a 19 year old kid who could be really good. I hope it's not a case of Xisco thinking Sema is a better option than Cucho because of his workrate, because Cucho isn't a fancy Dan! Obviously I wouldn't have been too down had we sold him, but he's a good egg, and can plug a number of holes I guess, at left-wing perhaps when Sarr and (possibly) Dennis go, as a wingback if we ever play a back 3, or (shudder) in the midfield if we're really thin
To be fair his only previous PL outing was his first in a major European top flight, and he was limited to a handful of late subs or deputising for or playing onside Hughes when he’s clearly better suited to playing on the left wing and almost invariably coming off by around the 70th minute. That isn’t really sufficient evidence by which to judge his PL credentials. He’s been OK in the two games where he’s played in what seems to be his best position (and where he played during most of his appearances last season, when he always played on the wing), though his decision making leaves something to be desired. Time will tell…
Tbf, he's had a season in the Championship, and he had a hot spell, but overall was just solid rather than spectacular. He worked hard as always against Villa and Brighton, but I can't help but feel that Cucho from the start would have made us far more threatening, especially against Brighton
I honestly find it beyond belief that people think sema might come good. There is just nothing at all to suggest he's got what it takes to make it at this level. It's not just the lunatics of the forum with this view. LondonOrn is one of the saner posters on here, yet he sees something in sema. I just don't get it.
I think people are blinded by his dazzling smile. I view Sema as a Doyley mark II, he will give his best within his limitations so on some days he's outstanding and other days he will be shown up by a better opponent.
He's nowhere near good enough. I'm not even sure why everyone insists he's a "lovely bloke"? What's that based on exactly? Because he smiles a bit? Classic Watford "works hard but isn't actually any good at football" fan favourite.
I think Anya is a better comparison, also likeable character with great work rate, faster but more lightweight and weaker defensively - without checking I imagine their assists/goals per game in the Championship were comparable. Trouble is he wasn't up to it at this level - hmm...
Think most people see him as adequate back up, and PL squad filler, which is what he is. Shouldn't be starting regularly, but probably as good as we're going to get right now for a bench player.
Can't wait until he starts every game in January after we've reignited Dennis' international career. Smiles a lot and seems like a nice bloke but my god it's hard to watch him play football.
Well Dennis still hasn't got back into the Nigeria squad, so fingers crossed they don't pick him for the AFCON! God that few weeks will be a right pickle for us, Cucho is a more effective option from the left than Sema, but we have no proper RW backup lol, so I fear it'll be Cucho on the right and Sema on the left...
Well hopefully he'll keep scoring for us but WTE and Etebo actually tell them he's rubbish and really not that good.. Most annoyingly January in terms of fixtures is very inviting for points but as tonight showed a weaken side and we might be in trouble.
When you find yourself in the pocket of Ben 'streak o' piss' Wilmot isn't it time to quietly just fade away? A dire player.
To be fair I thought he played really well in the championship. The premiership is a level too high for him, but he was a very useful player last year and could be again next year if we go down.
I agree. But in that context giving him a new 5 year deal is idiocy. He is way below the standard of where we are. Presumably we hope to stay up. If we go down then he will be useful but even then a 5 year deal is absurd. He’s got fairly minimal resale value.
I dunno, I feel like we could probably get a couple mill for a regular Swedish international who posted decent numbers in the Championship
Yeah maybe. But why 5 years? Just seems like another player who is garbage on fair whack in the final 2 years who hangs around like a bad smell like Cathcart. Cleverly will be the same. And if he’s on 40k a week then the potential £2m is just a false economy.
While I too think 5 years is excessive, and we need to move beyond them as first XI choices asap, there’s plenty to suggest those you’ve named don’t hang around like a bad smell (other than to the auditors). They seem to be the type who make decent squad fillers, good eggs to have around the place, helping morale and providing some experience of the English game etc. In the same way our U23 side needs bodies to make up the numbers for the few decent prospects we have around the place I suppose the same applies to the first team squad. A few to counteract the mercenary types can’t be a bad thing.
Cathcart is lovely bloke no doubt. But why the hell did we extend his contact in 2019 to 2023 when he still had 2 years to go at that point. He’s garbage now and will be even more garbage next year whatever division we are in. Just let these declining players go. If they are worthy of an extension at end of contract then extend by a year. Make them earn it. We just reduce our flexibility because we have some concept of missing out on a transfer fee on poor declining players that isn’t there. Aside from feeling the need to look after his agent mates, this is Pozzo’s biggest weakness. I’ve no doubt Craig and Tom are nice blokes but frankly that’s irrelevant.
As I say, I totally agree 4-5 year extensions are bonkers. But I’m not sure I’d go as far as to say being nice blokes is irrelevant. To me until we can ever get to a point where we can afford to have 25 highly motivated players in their prime in the squad, I’d rather keep hold of a Sema or a Cleverley than have Issac Success or some other feckless waster being laughed at by the true pros.
He seems to have fallen well down the pecking order which is a shame, it actually wouldn’t surprise me if Gosling is picked more than him. The trouble is while he has some useful qualities (energetic though with relatively less pace at this level than at the one below, good dribbler, can track back, has a fair few goals and assists in him, though again maybe not at this level) there’s nothing he can do that Dennis or Cucho can’t equal or do better, so it’s hard to work out when he’ll be used even as a sub, bar more bad luck with injuries. But it shows there’s no sentiment in football - there are quite a few players who were key to our promotion but will barely feature if at all this season, I just hope we can still maintain the team spirit that was instrumental to our success.