Is it possible that the club gave the new deal as a package, including a reduction in salary? In which case that would not be such a bad scenario me thinks.
Lord I hope so. It may reduce my increasing belief that our club is run along the lines of The Hatter's Tea Party.
A bit rubbish these days, but by hook or by crook, he pops up with the odd goal, and puts in a fantastic shift. Not sure if he should be starting for us, especially if we're going with a midfield two, but he's certainly one of the good ones in the squad
I think he looks decent enough at this level, not great but ok. Scores a few goals,which is a major asset, and works harder than anyone else on the pitch. Nowhere near Prem class these days though.
Just so. We need more players that get on with it rather than talk about how they get on with it but do sweet Felicity Arkwright.
He's not and never was a defensive centre midfielder, only god knows why coach after coach tries him there He needs to be playing behind the striker(s)
Some funny posts on this thread. Will be looked back on as a huge part of any success we achieve this season. Has his limitations but always shows the most desire, and works the hardest. That effort alone has resulted in at least 2 goals off the top of my head, the slide tackle goal against Hudds and Sarr's first today.
Outpaced an opponent to set up a goal today and thereby triggered a 6 year contract extension clause.
And who'll be laughing when he's League 1's player of the season in our 2023/24 promotion campaign? Mr G Pozzo, that's who
I mean, yes we won and were brilliant today and yes he has had a couple of good performances, but he has also still fairly frequently looked absolutely toilet. Today doesn't change that so let's not suddenly pretend like he hasn't warranted criticism during our repeated awful performances.
Been one of our better players. Got a few goals and his effort cannot be faulted. Three in midfield helped today
No, his effort cannot be faulted. His talent and ability on the ball most certainly can a lot of the time. Like I say, he's had a few good games - today being one them - but most of our performances as a team have been extremely poor and he has also been a part of that. People love re-writing history after a good result and wetting their pants in overexcitement as opposed to wetting their beds in disappointment, but let's not act like he's been having a great season because he most definitely has not.
He’s not a defensive mid, he’s very poor at that. We learned that when Garcia tried him there. What he is good at is playing further forward, pressing, recycling the ball, passing and moving, making runs into the box, and popping up with the odd assist and goal. For the first time this year he was in that role.
He's not been amazing, but in a season of bad performances and underperformers, he's been one of our most consistent players.
Very average is still an upgrade on what DeeKnee and Gray have given us. Cleverly for his faults never ever hides during a game.
Think we'll agree to disagree. I'm sure you'll see the light soon enough, like you did with Sierralta. And Kiko. And Sema.
Sema? Not at all. A few decent assists but inconsistent and certainly not proven himself to be anything other than a half decent Championship player. Of course my criticism of him was far stronger when he absolutely stinking up the Premier League being woefully out of his depth, much like Femenia and Cleverley. None of these players years of performances ranging from average to horrendous or the criticism of those performances are suddenly wiped out because they've improved to varying degrees now that we're playing a division lower.
Kiko fair enough, he'd get horribly exposed actually having to do any defending against Prem opposition, Cleverley is...inconsistent even in the Championship, but Sema's been great for us this season, when he's not been affected by illness or injury he's been consistently one of our best players. He's strong, got a bit of pace about him and can put a quality ball in, I don't see why he can't do well in the Prem if given a fair crack of the whip, he did well in Serie A last year
I don't think he's been "great". I think he's had a few good performances and a number of very average ones, just like a lot of the squad. It's taken him 24 games to get a goal and his return of 5 assists is OK, but not exactly spectacular. He was way out of his depth when he was giving a chance in the Premier League and I'm not sure how or why that will now have changed after, in my opinion, a decent at best season in the Championship.
What does it matter how they’ve done in the past? It’s how they’re performing now that counts. And I think you are being unfairly dismissive of Sema’s chances given that 2018-19 was his first season in a major European top division and he had only nine starts, most of his sub appearances being late and only one full game.
What does it matter? It's a measure of a players career. Sema is 28 this year and has failed in the Premier League, done OK in Serie A (2 goals, 1 assist from 2500 minutes of football) - but not well enough that anyone from that division decided to take him on this season - and has then ended up playing down in the Championship, where he is again doing OK. He's hardly setting the football world on fire, is he? I'm not sure in what world Sema and his 1 goal (which it's taking him 24 appearances to get to) and 5 assists at Championship level has suddenly become someone who looks good for the Premier League, despite having already flopped there once. Femenia looks good at this level but was appalling in the Premier League. This is what Watford fans do. Start ignoring logic in favour of over exciting themselves any time one of our players turns in a couple of 7/10 performances and insisting it means they're suddenly good enough and have proven everyone wrong. It's also what the owner did and is why we were miserably relegated.
Not sure if Sema's lack of goals in the last couple of years is that much of an issue considering he's been largely played as a wing-back. He spent last season in a relegation threatened team, and this season in a defensive side that doesn't score many goals. Also he was reportedly wanted by Fiorentina this summer, so it's not like he didn't impress in Italy.
