Nélson Semedo 2020/21 – Scout Report | OneFootball

Another day closer to the transfer deadline, another exciting transfer happens. Nélson Semedo moves to Wolverhampton Wanderers for 30 million euros with 10 million euros addons from Barcelona. He is the 11th Portuguese player to join the wolves. He has played 141 games for Barcelona and scored thrice for them and grabbed 11 assists. He has won two La Liga one Copa del Rey and one Supercopa de España with Barcelona. Here are some tactical analysis of Semedo as a Left back as well as a vital player for the attack through the wings.

Defensive Phase

Semedo is a Portuguese right-back. He has played left-back for Barcelona sometimes during his time for the Spanish team. He is 26 years old and is a good defensive player. He has a good pace and he is agile and acrobatic. He dribbles past the players smoothly and has good ball control. His average rating is 6.98 during his time in La Liga. He doesn’t allow the opponents to exploit the place behind him. He plays a high rise game. His average successful tackles are around 60%.

He positions himself well so that he doesn’t miss the ball when it comes. His pace helps him to get past the players and get in the defensive position from attacking position.

Attacking Phase

Semedo is a right-back and he is very much an active player for the attacks of Barcelona. He and Alba are the key players for making the ground wide and for crosses from the wings. He has pace and he gets to the opponent half and then he does one-touch passes with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and also with Frenkie De Jong. He can exploit spaces. His successful passing percentage is approximately 88% for Barcelona. His accurate crosses percentage is around 40%. His average shots on target are 50% which is reasonable for a right back.

Here Semedo is active in the team attack. Here you can see Semedo find the speed to get the ball and he has three players who are inside the box to collect the pass. That’s a Barcelona game where the fullbacks are in the attacking phase of the game to provide the inside the box. His stamina is given a rating of 91 and acceleration is also given the same.

Exploiting Space

The best thing a player can do is exploit spaces. Semedo was one of the top-class players who could exploit the space of the opponent while attacking. He used to pass the ball in the center and then exploit the space which is in front of him. This tactic is mainly used when left and right backs leave their position to help the attack.

Here is another example where Semedo exploits the space. He sees there is space in front of him and he sees Sergio Busquests with the ball. He sprints to space and then gets the ball and passes it to Antoine Griezmann. Semedo and Alba are the typical people to run in the space to assist the ball to the front three of Barcelona.

Semedo has good vision to see the space for his teammates which can be used to score goals. In the above picture, he has Griezmann ready to run for the ball and he passes to him like a through ball for an attack. Semedo’s tactics are to exploit spaces or to make his team exploit spaces.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Semedo coming to the Wolves would be exciting to see. He will have Adama Traoré playing in front of him. Wolves will have a huge advantage with Semedo. It will be a relief for Traoré because Semedo is a person with space. He will support Traoré in the front and he will also help to fall back with him.

Traoré is giving a through ball in the space in his front just like Semedo would do. Their combination would be brutal for the opponents. They both will have a good combination of exploiting space with dribbling and speed. Wolves have gameplay of counter-attacking because they have people with pace. They stay strong defensively and look to counter-attack from their wings. Their formation is 3-5-2 and 3-4-3. The 3-5-2 is used to attack centrally and the 3-4-3 formation is used when they want to attack from the wings using the fallbacks to get in the opponents half. What is remarkable about Wolves’ use of their wing-backs is that you will frequently see both of them popping up in the eighteen-yard box at the same time. The manager Nuno Espírito Santo has a different way of defense. The first line of defense in Nuno’s tactics is always the midfield. Players are encouraged to keep a high position and play with small width between them. While midfielders attempt to stop opponents from playing through the middle of the pitch, the forwards will also apply pressure to ball-playing defenders in a bid to build a quick counterattack

Wolves make their opponents take the ball wide. At this stage, with the wing-backs drop down to offer support, Wolves will move into a three-player marking ploy. This, often, forces teams into making mistakes or allows time to challenge for the ball.

Preferable Lineup

This would be the perfect lineup for the attack of Wolves from the wings. Semedo will provide full support to Traore from the right and he will exploit more space from his wing and provide ball inside the box to the forwards. In 3-5-2 formation, Wolves will attack through the center of the pitch and Semedo will help in that formation also. The wing-backs and wingers will overload the wide areas giving the player who has the opportunity to quickly move the ball into an attacking position. Wing-backs are essential to Wolves’ strategy. Their advancement up the pitch is balanced by the central midfielders’ switch to a more defensive role and Semedo will be an essential part of their starting lineup

Conclusion

Semedo was in a team that was just removing players and wanted to get their glory back. According to my analysis and the scout report, it will be a new challenge for him. The premier league is one of the top leagues and he is in a team that can challenge the top teams in the league. Traore and his combination would be really exciting to see. They can be really deadly when the would-be exploiting the right sides and give all sorts of trouble to the opponent. Semedo will also be back with his National team players. The Portuguese will be the one to look out for.