Just hope we take this attertude into Sunday away game in Luxembourg. Serbia 2-0 up as well at HT. Wonder what sort of team Ukraine will take to Serbia or they going there to open their legs
I legitimately feel bad for these Lithuanian players. How are they significantly worse than Luxembourg?
Yeah, THIS performance is why I was annoyed as hell watching the first hour in Lithuania and opening 70 minutes vs. Luxembourg.
They arent. Its just that Fernando Santos finally decided to stop being a little bitch with his 2 dms
Luxembourg are within one again. I’d love to see them fluke out an equalizer. Probably a little too late though.
Didn't think you could win 6-0 and still be able to say our finishing was horrible. But I don't think anyone was taking this seriously after the first goal.
Luxembourg has been quite a bit better than Lithuania throughout qualifying. Lux. got four points head-to-head against Lithuania and lost by a goal each time to Ukraine, once on an injury time goal. Lithuania finishes with one point and a -20 GD. But your point stands. Against the likes of these teams, the end result is really up to Portugal. If it plays like this on Sunday the match won't be competitive.
Goncalo gets in good places but cannot finish to save his life. That said he played way better than Felix ever did for us. Pizzi besides that one shot was pretty horrible. Bernardo operates at another level than anyone else. Ronaldo despite all his misses still gets the job done, but he is in decline two years ago a game going this well with opposition this atrocious would probably give him 2 hat tricks. Sunday's opposition is better by a bit. Not a hard task, but we can't be this sloppy in the box, although controlling the midfield like today would almost guarantees Lux doesn't get much chances to shoot.
Paciencia was great today. He should start from now on in the striker role. Bernardo Silva and Ronaldo were great, but that is fairly obvious.
Paciencia was good with his positioning, got a goal, had a couple of good headers. Most importantly he actually hustled on the field something Felix and Silva haven’t shown. Good game from him imo, especially for a player on the fringes he showed alot of confidence in himself today.
Oh and yes Ronaldo is definitely On the decline it is becoming obvious this season. He will be motivated to help Portugal retain the euro title next summer though.
Ball movement today was really slick!!! Having Neves at the base v Danilo really adds a dimension of our attack but defensively Neves for me lacks pace to recover situations like Danilo does it Florentino. I thought Paciencia showed what a huge talent he is & hopefully he’s recovered mentally from the whole heart condition thing. He’s got some handy tools & to be honest is the best Portugal 9 at the moment by some margin. Watching Bernardo Silva & Bruno Fernandes link & build on their on field chemistry is really exciting me. I honestly believe Santos needs to build his side around those 2. They make the difference in midfield & there work ethic is contagious for the rest of the side
I would agree with most of what you have said. The only thing in this exact moment stopping Paciencia from taking over the starting role is if Felix returns and shows something he hasnt shown to this point (for Portugal, anyways). Not really sure why both cant be inserted into the line up to be honest.. ------CR7------------Paciencia---------Felix -------------Fernandes-----------Silva -----------------Neves/Danilo/William But, who am i? lol. When used properly, Fernandes is a weapon. Its too bad for the majority of his NT career, he hasnt been. We also need to factor the opponent into this match.. There are still so many questions about this team, especially when going up against top talents in the world.
For all i care he can be subbed off in every game for Juve if it means we have him fresh for the Euro.
In euro 2020 we have to revert back to 4-4-2. 4-3-3 leaves us too open. —————GP—-CR7——- ——————-B.Silva——- ————B.Fernandez—Mario—- ——————-William————- Rui————Diaz—-Fonte——Semedo ———————RP1
I want a Ronaldo hat trick and for us to draw and play a play off so Ronaldo can score another 5 before the tournament, Defeat the fake record on the biggest stage against England.
Serbia is also playing Ukraine, the way Ukraine has been playing its tough to see Serbia getting a better result than Portugal against Luxembourg. The pitch conditions will below par. It will be bad for our game play. When the team I coach plays on rough surfaces I always adapt our strategy. I hope Santos does for this, we should be shooting more on target and have Paciencia look for rebounds. They are anticipating rain at the game.
Good to hear I’m glad I am not the only poster with coaching experience and thus I am better situated than most to comment on tactics and formations.