Written by Mikael_o
Hello, Bournemouth fans! I’m a Dutch Feyenoord fan and Senesi was my favourite player the last couple of years. So I hope you guys don’t mind if I pop in here now and then to keep an update on this wonderful football player. I really hope he’ll bring you the same as he brought us. Feel free to ask me questions about him!
I’ve read this whole thread and saw some people wondering how Bournemouth was able to pull off this deal. To be honest, we were quite surprised as well with this move. But if you ask me, it just suits him. You gotta understand he was a highly rated talent in Argentina from a relatively young age already. But unlike some others, he stayed at San Lorenzo until he thought he had learned everything he could over there. Then he moved to Feyenoord, which was sensational at that time. Like you guys are now, we were really surprised we were able to sign him back then. But after a slow start (like half a year) it became almost a match made in heaven. He’s had an amazing development over here and was definitely a fan favourite in his last two seasons.
And now the move to Bournemouth probably makes a lot of sense, if you ask me. His dream is to play in the Premier League. You guys play in the Premier League. So that’s one huge box already ticked. On top of that, he’s quite an emotional guy. In a way, he values an environment where people care about each other and where he can peacefully settle down, to fully focus on his development. He isn’t someone with a big mouth, he just likes to work hard and in a nice and calm place to chase his dreams. I am not super familiar with Bournemouth, but my guess is that it’s exactly what he found here. And let’s be honest: if he performs here there’s always the chance to get a big move within the Prem in a couple of years. With more perspective on becoming a key player at a top-6 club than when he made the move straight from the Eredivisie.
Great to get the thoughts of @Tim_Vickery today on Marcos Senesi – could be a great get by the club.#afcb pic.twitter.com/kL9Ydd4AXM
— Mark McAdam (@markmcadamtv) August 11, 2022
Alright, so Marcos Senesi is not a typical South-American defender. At least, I vision defenders from that region as ruthless defenders, with massive strength and a great tackle. Which is somewhat stereotypical, I know.
Senesi is first of all a ballplaying defender. He has a great long pass in his left foot. We’ve had lots of situations where his best friend Luis Sinisterra, the Colombian left winger who joined Leeds this summer, made a deep run and Senesi found him with a perfectly placed long pass behind the opposition defence. I imagine that’s quite exciting for Bournemouth, as from what I see you have some players like Solanke and Tavernier who have the pace to make deep runs, which can become a threat in transition with Senesi’s passing ability.
Senesi is pretty decent in one-on-ones. He has a tendency to stay on his feet and force the opponent wide, making quick interceptions when he sees the opportunity. But when the situation is dangerous, for example when his team is out of position during a quick opposition transition he doesn’t hesitate to make a professional foul to eliminate the danger.
He isn’t the tallest defender (6’1), but has a decent jumping reach and timing, which helps him to hold his own in aerial duels against pretty much every striker. So defensively his heading is definitely good enough. Offensively unfortunately not so much, though. He barely scored with a header for us from set pieces, even though he had lots of opportunities for it.
He isn’t the quickest defender you’ll ever see, so that can be considered somewhat of a weakness. But his positioning is really good. Especially going in last year we had some doubts, because our new manager, Arne Slot, wants his defence to play with an extremely high line. So we were afraid that we would be found out in Senesi’s back, due to his lack of speed. But fortunately, his positioning (and also his outstanding defensive partner Trauner, as well as our sweeper keeper Bijlow) barely were beaten in transition.
The high line I mentioned is also gonna be the part in which he’ll have to adapt the most at Bournemouth. Senesi always played in a back-4 and as I mentioned, last year he played in a system where he had to defend high up the pitch. From what I’ve seen at Bournemouth is that you play with a back-5 (or back-3 depending on how you look at it). And I’m curious if he will be the most left of the three central defenders or if he will play through the middle. That depends on how Bournemouth sets up the defence and if the one in the middle is the one covering, or if the outside two are the ones who cover. In any case, Senesi is the one you don’t want in the covering position, due to his lack of pace. I’d say make him the left central defender and use him as the main man in your build-up. I imagine that Lloyd Kelly is much faster, so let him cover is what I’d suggest. But I’m not the manager, of course!
Last, of all, I’ve seen some videos of his goals in this thread already. Don’t expect him to be a goalscoring machine at all. He’ll probably score only a couple at most every season. But when he scores, it’s an absolute beauty. He’s had several goals of the season contenders during his time at Feyenoord and even won it once.
Your say…
SlowDownDerek wrote…
He will inevitably be thinking of proving himself at Bournemouth and then getting a move to one of the big boys, which is fine by us as long as he shows the right attitude.
This is exactly what Nathan Ake did, who you’ll be familiar with as your countries best defender if not for his time at Feyenoord before Chelsea poached him. You won’t find a Bournemouth supporter with a bad word to say about Ake and, from what you say, Senesi sounds like a similar sort of person/player. – Join the conversation, click here.
