He played the overwhelming majority of last season at left wing back and probably had the best season of his career to date. There was a reason a few Italian clubs were looking at him, and I spoke to an Udinese fan on reddit who thought he was one of their better players last season. Agree we look short at left back / left wing back generally - but Sema is more than good enough provided we keep this formation.
I'm not being critical of Sema and how he has played. Although I suspect if you asked him where he plays, he wouldn't say LWB is his primary position just yet. I think my fear comes from my belief that we won't stick with this formation long-term this season.
Maybe not, but it certainly suits him a lot more than playing on the wing does. We have lots of strikers, very few wingers, no left back and a decent number of centre backs. It would look to me like we are building a squad to play this formation, or there is going to be some radical player trading over the next 2 days and in January. I am pretty sure Ivic said he wanted 6 centre backs, or 5 at a minimum. You aren't having 6 centre backs to play a back 4.
But surely you’d have 6 if you wanted the squad to be fluid enough to be able to play both formations?
I would have thought 5 would be ample to be honest. FWIW - personally I'd far rather we play with a back 4, I just think everything seems to be shaping up to suggest Ivic wants to play with a back 3. I think the lack of a proper pre-season makes learning two different formations to a decent level a bit harder as well.
See I think the opposite - I think the question marks over what players would be remaining and others fitness has forced his hand into this formation. I expect (and hope) now Capoue is remaining and Gray is closer to fitness that we may go to 433. It suits our players so much more. It’s only really Sema who would be out of place but he’s adaptable to other positions.
We are seemingly dependant on Sema to fit in whatever position we are short. He was a terrible winger for us in the Prem, but earned a reputation as a good utility player at Udinese, where the standards are toilet, but had impressed in the glimpse we've had of him so far. I'd worry, however if our success depends on him as first choice in one or other of his make shift positions, backed up by Phil Steven's.
It's good to see Ken chat taking over He was not terrible for us in the Prem. He worked hard,tracked back and scored a couple of goals. I wouldn't disagree that he wasn't/isn't PL class but we'd have had more points last season if he had been an option when Gerry went down.
1 goal in the Prem, against Bournemouth (obviously lol, they never could defend even after taking Ake off us). Not someone I'd necessarily want to play for us regularly in the Prem (as a winger anyway, as a wingback where he's had success in Italy, maybe), but certainly fine as a backup
You may have been an outlier but at the time it was pretty universally accepted that he was terrible. I saw him in the preseason friendly against whichever Spanish team it was and he was slow, without any tricks or any discernable skills. My opinion never changed during that season. He works hard but he's a very ordinary footballer at best. That might well be enough as a WB at champ level, in just saying this rebranding of Ken as some sort of star player, by some, is a bit premature.
The vast majority of his best work since his season with us in the Prem has been at LWB, both in Italy and also in the early stages of this season. I suppose he would deserve a chance to prove himself there (system permitting) if we do go up
He lacks most of the qualities you need to be a good winger, he's not rapid, he's not a fantastic dribbler, he's not much of a goal threat and not an exceptional crosser. Pretty much average at best at all of them, however that and his work-rate makes him an above average wing-back.
Both our league goals this season from his crosses means I'm warming to the guy. Do agree he wasn't up to the Prem last time, but we're not in Kansas anymore and he's proving extremely useful at this level.
I think he is a decent crosser of the ball, he works hard and while he isn't Ronaldinho, he usually has the ability to create enough space to get a cross away. I don't for the life of me understand people clammering to use him as a winger, as I think he is incredibly average there, but he has all of the attributes to make a decent wing back.
If we were a Premier League buying him brand new off Udinese after being one of the better WBs in Italy last season, I think we'd have been pretty happy, as it is, we're in the Championship where he's made a fantastic start. Ideally we'd have JP at left wing, but there will be times where he'll need a rest and King Ken plays there
Although I disagree that Ken was rubbish in the PL for us there isn't much point in discussing it further. He has played well this season(only JN has been better)so perhaps now he has a manger and system better suited to him he will continue to improve and be a stand out performer for the whole season. I've always got time for someone who works hard and plays for the team-especially after the debacle of last season and the numerous unfortunate injuries we have suffered this.
....Other than the ability to tackle or block a cross. EDIT Ah your comment was about Sema....mine was about the subject matter of the thread....
Ken's problem in the PL was that we played him on the right which is akin to playing Messi as a centre half.
