seriously this was such a lame game, dont even wanna say anything about it. it was just lame on every level. only ex-sporting players or current sporting players did anything but overall the team was shit. Patricio was great, but this should have been an easy win but then again these are friendlies and other big teams didnt impress today either
and england losing at home and according to the alan brazil show this morning on talksport radio england are way better than Portugal
The biggest problem was not subbing Almeida for Oliveira. This is a meaningless game, so let's see what he has to offer... then he came in for 9 minutes. Dumb move.
Yup, I was expecting him to come in at 45 or 60 at the latest, instead we bring in Helder because we really needed an opportunity to see what he can do at this level??? But he got some quality minutes coming in at 80 for sure
At least Manny + Nelson got some time. I liked the Manny for Moutinho move, but the offence seemed more eratic with Manny in there. Nelson didn't look comfortable at all at the LB position. He hardly attacked which is hardly his suite. I still think Nelson would be our ideal RB backup with Silvio being the LB backup.
Nelson was ********ing horrible its a fact, the only good players played for sporting or used to play for sporting
Hard to rate the undisputed starters too harshly for some anemic play. But the 2nd team? Man, nobody made a claim for a spot on the team. Only concern among the starters is Bruno. His pace has never been his strongest asset but today he was so slow I am starting to wonder. Between this and the fact that he hasn't started at Zenit - is he alright?! This could be a problem come the Euros. And those breakaways... sigh. Not to beat a dead-horse but Almeida must be punching the walls tonight. 2-3 times he was in perfect position for a tap-in/shot and the ball carrier takes the shot himself. Let's hope this gets worked out in training over the next few months.
Just to revisit my last post from here: I was incorrect he's played as a sub in 4 games. His playing time totalled up comes to about 60 minutes on the pitch. We call that an opportunity? But I love how easily someone will throw stones when the man hasn't even played 1 full game for the NT unlike the almighty unrecognized Messiah.
Sorry for the double-post: As far as Nelson. He may have been horrible, but I don't see how sucking in a position that's unnatural to him is to his demerit. I don't think he should be starting (even at right-back, pending injuries), but I don't think it's fair to say he should be left out completely for failing to perform in an uncomfortable position.
Hugo Viana and his precision passing should be given a shot...ahead of ruben miceal at the very least Bar moutinho the rest of the midfielders are ...blah.
i thought Meireles had a good game in the 1st half he was making some really good passes and great few passes to nani on the right but 2nd half it was like he was shit
Well we learnt nothing, anyone that's crying about the result needs to relax. This match just reinforced what most of us already know, we have no depth. With every sub you can see the team get weaker and weaker. If Nani was in full form and not so damn selfish, we could have had a couple of goals and everyone would have been happy, but with it being a friendly we should not look into things so deeply. Ronaldo forced the keeper into a great save, his passing lane to Almeida was much tighter then Nani's so I can't blame him. All in all first team looked good, subs were terrible, Nelson at lb shouldn't be judged to harshly, Fernandes needs to gel with players he hasn't played with for awhile, Meireles has the curse of Chelsea on him, although I thought he made a couple nice passes and showed some good vision. So in the end, we should feel our first team can compete and beat anyone, once there are Injuries to either Ronaldo, Nani, Meireles, Coentrao, Pepe, Moutinho and even Alves we get weaker, some worse than others of course. If in some strange world they all got injured then we are basically the equals to Hungary. Last thing, Fu*k you Quaresma, every moment you have the ball I want to puke.
I also feel like with a healthy XI, we can compete with anyone. I really hope in the future Ronaldo & Nani cross more balls to Almeida. Patricio really impressed yesterday!
It may not be his fault that Paulo Bento calls him to play him out of position, but he's just not good enough so should be left out.
I agree that beyond the first 11 it starts getting thin, however i do believe there is depth but the depth is inexperienced. Lets face the facts we are in a group that has Germany, Netherlands ranked 2 & 3 in the world, we are 6th, we lucked out big time, the group we have been drawn is tough. It is conceivable that we could perform really well and still be on a plane home after the group stage. If i was paulo bento i would take a gamble and take players who are the future in the next tournament and beyond. GK Patricio Mika Eduardo LB Coentrao Silvio RB Pareira Soares CB Pepe Alves Da Costa Reis CM Moutinho Merieles Veloso Fernandes Andre Santos WG Ronaldo Nani Varela Vieirinha St Postiga Oliveira Eduardo
center back Jose Fonte 28, is class should of been given a call up signed for the Southampton from Crystal Palace in January 2010 for £800,000 and has played 96 games, scoring seven goals. every one will see just how good he is next season when they come up to the premiership
