Fulham suffer as Semenyo continues progress from Sunday League to Premier League star status

Photo: ©️ Capital Football

Bournemouth (0) 3 v Fulham (0) 1

Premier League

Matchweek 7

Talking Points

By Kaz Mochlinski at the Vitality Stadium

Fulham are not known to be among the clubs to have rejected Antoine Semenyo as a youngster, but the Londoner has been brilliant in beating them at Bournemouth twice during this calendar year.

Semenyo started it by scoring after only 53 seconds in April and secured another success six months later with a strike in stoppage time. His three goals in the two games led the way to Bournemouth winning 1-0 and 3-1.

It is difficult to describe just how hard the weather conditions were on the South Coast on this Friday night, with a howling wind driving a rainstorm off the sea. Equally, it is not easy to do justice to the skills shown by Semenyo and others in the circumstances.

Everyone who made the effort to overcome the elements and get to the ground will long remember the goals, and especially Bournemouth’s first two, both ‘Goal of the Month’ contenders barely three days into October.

The Fulham head coach, Marco Silva, felt that Semenyo’s mesmerising dribble down the left wing and Justin Kluivert’s jaw-dropping long-range drive could have been avoided with better defending, but both seemed almost unstoppable.

“Two individual moments decided the game really” suggested Silva afterwards. “100% sure they are preventable. The first one when you have two against one on the side you have to be stronger.

“And the second, the shot from 25 yards, we have to make Kluivert go out wide and not make the shot. We are penalised by two individual players that have the quality, power and pace to do it.”

Semenyo’s two finishes were alternately with his right foot and then with his left. It again illustrated that he is genuinely two-footed, which is not through random chance but from his immense enthusiasm for football from early childhood.

His ex-professional footballer father encouraged him to learn how to play with both feet, often with cans or stones or rolled-up paper when balls were not available. By the age of six, Antoine was already adept equally with using his right and left feet.

That is just one of the many stories from Semenyo’s development which mean that the high level he has now reached at the pinnacle of the Premier League should be cherished all the more, in addition to the pure joy produced by his sheer skillfulness.

He survived Sunday League football when no other avenues were opening up for him as a teenager. He came back from not playing for a year after his spirit was briefly broken through being repeatedly turned down by clubs’ academies.

Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace and Millwall were among the leading London clubs which decided against taking him onto their junior programmes. Palace particularly came close, having given him an extended trial.

At Selhurst Park, Semenyo would have been a very good fit to be a younger replacement for the recently-departed Eberechi Eze, if he was not already thriving with Bournemouth, whose positive play under Andoni Iraola suits him perfectly.

“Semenyo is in a very good spot” says his head coach. “I think he is a player with confidence. It has been growing with him. He has played in other divisions, earning his way into the Premier League.” Iraola adds ominously that “he is improving all the time”.

Certainly, Semenyo has tried to learn from all his experiences. He adjusted to leaving London for the West Country when Dave Hockaday, the former Leeds United manager, was the only one to recognise his talent and be prepared to nurture it.

He switched from playing primarily as a striker to becoming a winger during a loan spell at Newport County. Later, back at Bristol City, he grew to relish the simplicity of the direct approach by manager Nigel Pearson, who wanted him to just “run and shoot”.

“I just want to prove I’m good enough to be where I’m at” explains Semenyo. “That’s just my mindset from when I was young. I had to learn the hard way, not being able to come to nice training facilities and glamourous pitches and professional coaches.

“You learn in a different way, playing on rougher pitches against brutal players, with coaches who work part-time. Both build character in different aspects. But it’s a lot tougher playing Sunday League.”

This summer there were reports of interest from Manchester United, Liverpool and Spurs. After Eze’s transfer to Arsenal for an initial £60 million, a fee of £78 million for Semenyo is being mentioned now, with rumours of Chelsea wanting him.

That would be uniquely fitting, as he was born in Chelsea. Being a Ghana international, who has already played at a World Cup three years ago, he would be following in the footsteps of a national legend in Michael Essien if he went to Stamford Bridge.

However, one of the characteristics that adds to his general likeability is a greater loyalty than is usually found in modern football, and he signed a contract extension with Bournemouth this summer up to 2030.

For the moment, he is overwhelmingly repaying the Cherries’ investment, with six goals in seven Premier League matches so far this season, the latest being scored in the sixth minute of added time against Fulham.

Semenyo is one of six different goalscorers for Bournemouth, who have helped the club to a run of six league games unbeaten since losing the opening fixture of their campaign at Liverpool back in August.

For Fulham, the Friday night defeat in Dorset means that they have lost six points from winning positions in the Premier League this season. Only Brentford with eight dropped points have been worse on this metric than the Cottagers.

In consecutive games, at Aston Villa and Bournemouth, they have gone ahead 1-0 before eventually succumbing 3-1 - in the space of six days. When rolling dice, sixes are coveted, but Fulham will feel that the number is a curse for them at this time.

And they will hope that it does not continue, as they have now lost five of their last eight matches when taking the lead. Away to the Cherries, the Cottagers have been beaten four times in a row.

On this occasion, more than any previous visit, it was no disgrace, with Bournemouth registering their best ever start to a season in the Premier League. Semenyo, second in the top scorers’ chart behind only Erling Haaland, is a big part of that.