Wolves have had a really good season so far under Gary O’Neil with players like Pedro Neto, Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha regularly hailed – but there’s one player who has been flying under the radar.
Last night, Wolves drew 0-0 with Brighton at the Amex Stadium.
It was a really good point for Wolves, considering their recent struggles against the Seagulls. Wolves were also missing key players like Hwang, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Joao Gomes.
It was a solid result, and that point could prove crucial at the end of the season.
Defensively, Wolves were really impressive last night – and there was a top display from Nelson Semedo, which is something that has actually been a fairly regular occurrence this season.
Nelson Semedo was excellent for Wolves against Brighton
Wolves had to be absolutely on it from a defensive point of view last night, and a lot of credit has gone the way of Max Kilman, Craig Dawson and Toti Gomes for their contributions to the clean sheet.
But Semedo also enjoyed a really solid outing at right wing-back.
He was unable to offer a huge amount going forward due to Brighton having most of the ball, but he really excellent defensively and gave Pervis Estupinan and James Milner very little down his side.
In the first-half, Semedo showed great awareness to shield a dangerous through ball to Joao Pedro so that Jose Sa could come and gather it.
Then in the second-half, Pedro was through on goal again and looked like he would certainly get a shot off on the Wolves goal inside the box, but Semedo somehow got back to make a crucial block.
The 30-year-old, starting his 20th Premier League game last night, has struggled in this particular fixture in recent times. Kaoru Mitoma has given him real problems in previous meetings.
The Japan international was unavailable last night though, and one got the feeling Semedo was very glad about that and as such, he delivered a fine display for Wanderers.
Semedo is quietly having a tremendous season
Most of the talk this season has been about the attackers, with Neto, Cunha and Hwang all thriving under Gary O’Neil.
Hwang especially has improved so, so much under O’Neil.
But it is about time Semedo got his flowers, and it’s possible he is actually the most improved player at Wolves under O’Neil.
He hasn’t always convinced during his time at Molineux but right now, Semedo is playing his best football since he arrived in a £29 million deal from Barcelona in the summer of 2020. there have only been a handful of games this term where he hasn’t played well.
O’Neil clearly loves him, as evidenced by the fact he’s missed just three games across all competitions all season.
Semedo is just playing with real maturity and consistency now and appears to have improved massively in his defensive actions. Indeed, recently a statistic showed his tackle success rate was the second-highest in the Premier League.
He is a part of Wolves’ new leadership group at Molineux and you can tell that he is taking responsibility.
As a result his level has increased, and the decision to trigger the extension to his contract in the summer is looking like a very good one indeed.