HP Terbaru 2023 – Antoine Semenyo’s flying start at Manchester City

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By Graham Ruthven

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Before Antoine Semenyo had even played a game for Manchester City, Pep Guardiola was thanking him. “All I can say is thank you to him,” said the City boss after the Ghanaian’s £65m switch to the Etihad Stadium from Bournemouth was confirmed. Guardiola now has even more reason to be grateful for Semenyo’s decision.

In just four games for his new team, Semenyo has registered four goal contributions. Dropped straight into the Manchester City lineup, the 26-year-old has given Guardiola a different dimension to utilise. With Semenyo in the team, City’s forward line has become even more formidable. 

“He uses both feet unbelievably. He can play as a striker too, with his pace,” said Guardiola at Semenyo’s first press conference as a City player. This was a precursor to the instant impact his new winger would make. Semenyo is indeed two-footed. He’s quick. And he can play as a striker. Guardiola knew what he was getting.

Semenyo’s performance against Wolves on Saturday was his best in a Manchester City shirt to date. Deployed on the right side with Rayan Cherki on the left and Omar Marmoush through the middle, the Premier League’s bottom side simply couldn’t handle the level of creativity and attacking threat that came at them.

No City player registered more shots against Wolves than Semenyo. He was a threat coming inside off the wing. He was a handful combining with teammates in the middle to create overloads. He was determined to get into the final third at every possible opportunity to trouble the Wolves backline.

Some wondered if Semenyo might be used as a depth option by Guardiola. Manchester City already boast a number of top-level attacking figures and so it wasn’t immediately clear how their latest signing would fit in. However, just a few weeks into his City career, Semenyo looks right at home.

Guardiola has historically had a difficult relationship with wingers. Jack Grealish, for instance, arrived at Manchester City for a Premier League-record fee as a swashbuckling maverick. By the time he departed on loan for Everton last summer, he had been moulded into a system player more likely to recycle possession than dribble at a defender.

That Guardiola welcomed Semenyo with open arms suggests the Catalan coach has changed his outlook on what wingers can offer his team. It became clear last season that City needed to add invention to their team in the attacking third, a realisation that led to the addition of Rayan Cherki and Tijani Reijnders.

Manchester City are still in the middle of a rebuild. They have spent over £500m on new players in the last three transfer windows, but their inconsistent form this season has highlighted the process that is still taking place. Most expect Guardiola’s team to fall short in the title race.

Nonetheless, there has been a clear increase in the level of talent at the Etihad Stadium in recent times. Cherki is growing in his influence on the ball. Phil Foden looks more like his old self again. Reijnders has filled the void left by Kevin De Bruyne by giving Manchester City more dynamism through the centre of the pitch.

Semenyo, however,  may be the most exhilarating thing about City right now. Everything looks so easy for him. His control of the ball is instant. He’s fast, but deceptively so. Semenyo at half-pace is still quicker than the majority of Premier League defenders. He frequently brushes past them as if they aren’t even there.

With Jérémy Doku on one wing and Semenyo on the other, Manchester City can stretch opponents across the pitch to create space in the middle. It was bad enough when defenders had to worry about one natural dribbler driving at them with the ball at their feet – now City have two of them.

Another tactical approach available to Guardiola is the deployment of Cherki and Foden as dual number 10s. Both players are most effective in the half spaces between the lines and Guardiola has more than once emboldened them in this formation by sending his full backs high and wide to maintain width.

At Bournemouth, Semenyo was clearly ready for the next step in his career. He was good enough to play for a team targeting the game’s biggest prizes and his £65m release clause was attractive enough to spark a scramble among some of the Premier League’s most ambitious clubs.

Manchester City won that scramble ahead of many of their rivals including Liverpool and Manchester United and are now showing why they were so desperate to land him. Semenyo is the perfect Guardiola winger. He could be the player who elevates City’s reconstruction to the next level.

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(Images from IMAGO)

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