Sunderland have been urged to start one of their out-of-favour youngsters next weekend.
Sunderland were forced into a fresh starting line-up against Swansea City following an injury to key man Jack Clarke.
Mike Dodds opted to start Nazariy Rusyn, Abdoullah Ba and Jobe Bellingham as the furthest three up the pitch yesterday, though a mix-up in formation didn’t really pay off as they endured their third successive defeat in the Championship.
Sunderland now sit eight points from the play-off positions and their hopes of winning promotion at the second time of asking are looking significantly more bleak.
With next season now at the forefront of many fans’ minds, the Black Cats have been encouraged to reconsider their team selection with what could ‘benefit hugely’ during the 2024-25 campaign.
Taking to X, journalist Michael Graham wrote: “Just start Hemir ffs. He’s raw, of course he is, but he’s an outlet and a proper centre forward. Will benefit hugely next season if he starts the last 12 games of this one.”
Luis Hemir Semedo has only started one game for Sunderland, and that was the 2-1 loss to Ipswich Town on the first day of the season.
The young striker’s cameo appearances have been limited too, featuring only three times in the 15 league games before this weekend.
However, Hemir was brought onto replace Nazariy Rusyn in the second half against Swansea, and Graham is eager to see him given a proper chance now.
Hemir was mostly underwhelmed during his time on Wearside, bar a lively pre-season campaign.
The 20-year-old wasn’t able to make the difference against the Welsh outfit, but I thought he looked much more effective than previous weeks, completing 100% of his passes and winning a header.
How do we fit Hemir into the team?
Hemir definitely hasn’t been given a fair chance to impress so far and perhaps it is time to reconsider him, though the only way we would fit him in is if Rusyn was on the wing or we played two up front.
The Ukrainian was arguably our only positive in yesterday’s defeat and it would be incredibly frustrating to see him dropped again.
The decision to replace him was irritating too, and it is truly baffling as to why we refuse to play two strikers at once – especially when we are behind at home.
Mike Dodds has made it very clear that he is prepared to make tactical tweaks during his brief tenure, so he should really look at playing the pair of them together if the opposition is right.