Tbh I have very little faith in winning the league after watching that. This year is probably the most accessible it will be for a long time too. benfica is going to be way stronger next year.
What I don’t get was why Battaglia played the full 90, him and William were poor in the midfield. We had no possession and when we did we have it away with cheap passes usually from one of the 2. Where was Podence? fdasilva suggested dropping Fernandes into the midfield to retain some possession there and then have Podence run wild beside Dost. It made too much sense I guess.
Honestly the doubts started creeping in after the Braga game. This just adds to that. The positive we can take is that it was away @ Benfica but that’s just more excuses
Among others. He can't sub and he doesn't mentally prepare his team. They played like a weak bottom table team vs Benfica and Porto this season. Podence has been one of our best players this season and he doesn't get any minutes. A guy who was outcast a month ago was subbed in and JJ didn't even use his last sub. He is a terrible terrible terrible manage that has no business managing this team. Ever. Or any other top 4 Portuguese team for that matter.
It's also blatantly obvious that Sporting played weak and scared. They did not challenge balls in their third of the field and it seems as though they were instructed to play this way. Blows my mind. JJ does not have the ability to adapt to the game and make tactical changes to win.
Heres the difference: We played badly at the Luz, parked the bus and tied 1-1 Couple years ago benfica came to us, played badly and benfica won 1-0
When you're being dominated and then bring on Bryan and Bruno all that does is invite more and more pressure on to ourselves. We needed to see the tactics switched up with the introduction of Podence and/or Doumbia and take the game to them rather than drop deeper and deeper and not retain possession at all
Z's thoughts from beyond the grave 'Post in the match thread that Z says everyone needs to calm down. How often do we come away from Luz with nothing ? The pressure was all on Benfica as if they lost their season would most likely have been over . We did good enough under the circumstances in a hostile venue. Now we can sign reforcos and are only two points behind and running into an easier string of matches after the maritimo game.'
Yeah but we’re starting to really cut down our wiggle room with some late game meltdowns. We have room for like 2 draws and 2 losses the rest of the way. And that’s with most of our games against the top teams on the road. Porto, Braga, Marítimo even Chaves. Will all be tough games away from home. We gotta absolutely capitalize on points during this little stretch against crappy teams, because the schedule comes back round down the end. Porto - Chaves - Rio Ave - Braga then Benfica - Maritimo to finish it off. It can all come apart quick if we drop something here or there to Belenenses or Setúbal and teams like that.
And like let’s be honest, there’s been a few games this year, early on, where we squeaked results. Wins that could’ve been ties and ties that should’ve been losses. I understand champions pull out these results, but we can’t rely on that kind of magic/luck. I think we’ve milked the most we could. At some point we need to start playing like world beaters. Porto has had a short rough patch, but they had a run there where they just mowed everyone down. Between the way they’ve played and the way we’ve played, it’s Porto’s league to lose. Benfica I think is out of it with their little struggles they had a couple months back but even they recently have been running the tables on teams. We really haven’t been super convincing or dominant at any point of the season despite our record IMO.
Player ratings: Patricio - Although Benfica had over 20 shots I don't particularly remember him making a big save. If there's one criticism I can make is that on the penalty he didn't dive either way. 7/10 Piccini - That clearance off the line in the first half was immense, and overall one of our best performers on a day where few performed well. 7.5/10 Coates - Alternated between moments of stability with lapses, almost scored another own goal today. 7/10 Mathieu - Good game under the circumstances, did his job well as we're used to seeing this season. 7/10 Coentrao - One of the stories of this game was how he was going to perform at the Luz, and the fact is he played with intensity and fire today, and provided the assist for the goal. 7.5/10 William - Poor, poor game. They say games are won and lost in midfield and although we didn't lose, tactically we were dominated in midfield. So many difficulties today in defensive situations and for a player whose good at passing he failed immensely. Is West Ham on his mind again? 5.5/10 Battaglia - Poor game, probably his worst with us. All his technical limitations were on show today. He's a hard worker, he has the stamina for a box-to-box but not the technical qualities. If/when Wendel comes Battaglia will be a sub, and a good sub to have when we need to hold onto a result. On top of that, his handball resulted in the penalty. 5.5/10 Bruno Fernandes - The best of our midfielders, was supposed to be supporting Dost but came deeper and deeper to try and get the ball because our midfield was not providing any service going forward. 7/10 Gelson - Scored the goal and had another glorious opportunity in the first half. Still has poor decision-making sometimes but that unpredictability and hustle in defense in these games is crucial. 7/10 Acuna - Ever since that injury he hasn't been the same player, even that usual hustle he's shown wasn't there today, several times he would lose the ball and not track back or he would win the ball and not even run. P.S. I have a theory he's being trained to be our new LB when Coentrao leaves. 5.5/10 Dost - Another big game, another game where Dost goes missing. Had a better first half but with that poor second half where we couldn't string 3 passes together you can't demand your target man to score. Doumbia for Dost and Podence for Acuna when Benfica was throwing players forward and taking off defenders would have been lethal. 6/10 Subs: Bruno Cesar & Bryan Ruiz - neither sub had any real impact, except to push us further back and concede a goal. 5.5/10 Jorge Jesus - Seemed to have instructed the team to take a defensive attitude today and grind out a result. His subs or lack of them and decisions during the game reinforce that idea. 5/10
It's JJs tactics. The dude literally does not have any idea how to create a formidable attack. Portuguese league defenses are trash and we play way too conservative with our formations and tactics. Not to mention, JJ is clueless to adjusting his lineup throughout matches to win games. But to win this kind of league, you need attacking soccer. Multiple forwards who can score on the field and off the bench.
Piccini sucked horribly today too. Not sure what you were watching. About the only players that were worth a shit today were Gelson, Coentrao, and Coates
Really? I thought he did pretty well to save us and he had a good run into the box in the 2nd half. But just my opinion
That run into the box, he beat a couple defenders and instead of just crossing it in, he decided to continue trying to juke everyone and got the corner kick. He was constantly caught out of position and didn't make it back in time.
Also, early in the second half, Benfica literally had like 4 strikers on the field and even subbed of Dias for one of them. And yet, JJ did not capitalize on that. Why not bring in a difference maker? You need a multitude of strikers in this league to succeed, we don't have them and we don't use them. (4-1-3-2) Piccini-Coates-Mathieu-Coentrao William Gelson-Bruno Fernandes/Wendel-Acuna Doumbia/Podence-Dost Our biggest weakness is our manager. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.
Zero reason not to bring on Doumbia for Dost (we were playing counter attack) and Podence for Battaglia (midfield was getting trounced) at the 65 minute mark of that game....... Even a 10 year old blind girl could feel that game slipping away.....Man those 2 pts will come back to haunt us
losing balls in the midfield in the 2nd half cost the game, and not to blame the ref, but many of those lost balls were suspect, from behind, kicking the legs or feet.