Road to Russia (Rumo à Rússia) 2018

Guedes is an absolute starter. He will be taking over Andre Silva and the latter would only be used off the bench if we need to score later in a game.

Pepe & Fonte will be the pairing, pretty sure now.

Joao Mario instead of Moutinho.

I'm not sure between Adrien or Bruno.

 

thank fvk pepe out for the 2 half

 

Guedes is dreamy. That's two!

 

GOLOOOOO Guedes

 

Guedessssssssss

 

Fkn hell this guy was kinda dismal during the last two games and now he's already bagged 2?

I gotta watch this replay

 

Or is Algeria shit? How do they compare to Egypt and Belgium?

 

Algeria seems to have a good squad. Don't see why they aren't able to play well together. I'm certainly more familiar with more of there players than Egypt, but they don't seem to coalesce well, much like Belgium actually.

 

Good game. I particularly enjoyed Gonçalo Guedes, Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes. This WC will be their WC, they will make themselves known to whomever doesn't know them yet. Other than that, solid display. Also, Cr7 decline is now undeniable. He's visibly slower than he was just 2-3 years. He's no longer the "Alpha male" of the team, and you can he has a hard time dealing with that fact as he always try going for HIS goal even when teammates are better positioned.

The result is to be put into perspective, however. Algeria, has some talented players, but has a chaotic organization. Dealing with North African mentally, attitude and discipline, or the lack of it, isn't a walk in the park.

 

I LOVE the starting lineup today. Close to my favorite group of players. Guedes, B Silva and B Fernandes are my favorite young players. That being said, I feel that the 1st lineup you posted is the expected one against Spain (with A. Silva). Problem is... if Ronnie and A Silva play together the formation essentially becomes a 4-4-2, not a 4-3-3, which will really put the MF in a lot of pressure against the Spain juggernaut MF. By contrast, if Guedes is in there instead of A Silva, we might have more a MF because Guedes has a harder work rate defensively than either Ronnie or Andre Silva and we can play closer to a 4-3-3 (with Ronaldo, Guedes and B Silva rotating up top). And Guedes offers the best chance for counters against Spain if we play a fairly defensive shape. Interesting dilemma that this offers Santos - start Guedes or keep him as super sub?
Bruno Fernandes will play eventually too but I doubt against Spain.

 

Fernandes and Guedes were fantastic. These boys are ready for prime roles.

 

The confidence is at an all time high. Not because of today.. it had been high prior to today, but the performances of guys such as Guedes and Fernandes was very nice to see.

Is there any reason not to show up v Spain with the same line up as we had today? atleast formation wise..

The preference for me is:

-----------------------Patricio
-Cedric-------Fonte----------Pepe-------Guerreiro
-----------------------William
-----------B.Fernandes---Joao Mario
-B.Silva-------------Ronaldo----------------Guedes


CB - uncertain about this. Dias isnt starting. The fact he didnt start the 2nd game, and did not feature v Algeria at all says alot.

I think Fonte offers a bit more speed wise (not much), but not as much aerial wise, which against Spain we might be able to get away with as i dont see them whipping in a ton of crosses... I would have gone with the younger quick more athletic Dias against a passing team who generally keeps the ball on the ground.

MD - I think with the 3 previously mentioned, we put the most athletic talented technical team in the midfield. Adrien is a great hustler, and can come on late in the game to help close the game down if winning.

Moutinho can come on if we are in need of some creativity.

FW - just dont see Ronaldo having the legs to play outwide anymore if we use a 4-3-3.. It is obvious the decline is real, but his finishing ability is still one of the best in the world, which is undeniable, and with Guedes/Bernardo outwide to open up lanes for Ronaldo to drift into.. it can be extremely dangerous.

I love Andre Silva, but, i just dont see a spot for him at the moment. Maybe in Euro 2020 if Ronaldo is no longer present, you can go with:

-----Bernardo---------------A.Silva--------------Guedes

but for the time being, i just dont see it.

 

Well it's just a friendly so no need to over analyze. Nothing suprising about Guedes performance today. I have been watching him for a while now, and the talent, pace, power and accuracy along with vision, have always been obvious. The only knock I have on him is he seems to stumble a lot, almost seems to regularly trip over himself, and it has nothing to do with the rain as he's always had that issue. Either way, boy is a stud.

Ronaldo just came back from holiday and so in a relaxed friendly I don't think it's worth examining, except his super selfish play around the 17 minute mark was truly terrible, but I don't think he would have made that decision during a competitive match.

 

Yeah good game by our boys. They seem ready. Now let's hope they can get it done next week. Força Portugal!

 

Goncalo Guedes is the Portuguese Thomas Muller.

I never seen a player so comparable to him.

 

if renato sanches turns his shit around and we get a little more young talent at cb this team could be real contender at 2020-24...

 

Lol. Sanches!? Lmao

 

We are contenders right now, just not favorites.

The favorites usually cagao.

I think our spot is the perfect spot to be in because there is way less pressure. That's why Italy came out of nowhere with some big performances, we are the new Italy.

 

I think Gedson Fernandes will be better than Renato, hopefully he get's a chance this season under Rui Vitoria.

 

i mean true

we arent among the 3 or 4 teams expected to win the tournament, those are the true contenders. perhaps your right and favorite is what im going for. i know portugal has done well at alot of tournament in the last couple of decades, bar 02 n 14, but we never went into any competition as a team to beat.

and i dont think sanches is done. im sure two years ago we were all praising him and for good reason. you dont just suddenly lose the talent, i think his problem is in his head.

and favorites are favorites because they are most likely to win. brazil is the favorite this time around and some fancy study says they got a 21% shot.