Bruno Cesar for Coentrão I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure we have yet to concede a goal with Coentrão on the field
Would rather have subbed of Dost for Doumbia. The same peice of shit with 5 fouls and no booking. Lmfao. Liga Colinho not even making it subtle. Just hit the post like 4 times.
Tondela could've had like 2-3 guys sent off in this game what a disaster lol William MOTM for me, shut down the midfield and even could've had a goal
The difference this year, it seems we've made the right signings and now we have players who are comfortable from long distance. Perfect for these games with ultra-defensive opponents that like to hack us down
Player ratings: Patricio - very little to do but solid when needed. 7/10 Piccini - defensively strong but not great going forward today, seems fatigued and could be rested for the league cup. 6.5/10 Coates - another good defensive performance 8/10 Mathieu - voted man of the match, scored that awesome free kick (Andre Cruz anyone?) and defensively solid, I was skeptical when he signed but if he stays fit he could be a key to the title 9/10 Coentrao - also defensively solid (another game with Coentrao, another clean sheet), still reserved when going forward but I think that's what JJ and the medical team want for now. 7/10 William - bossed the midfield again, William is playing some of his best football again and it feels like the whole transfer saga from a couple weeks ago is millions of miles away. Keep this up and he'll win a title and get a move to a big club that he deserves, not some West Ham. 8.5/10 Bruno Fernandes - are there any adjectives left? The difference in having quality players that can shoot from outside the box in these park-the-bus games. Although he definitely looked gassed after the Olympiakos game and it wasn't his best game overall, that goal gives him an 8.5/10 Alan - each game that goes by he seems to get worse. JJ knows and hopes he can get back the form from last season but even simple ball retention was awful. Our first half after the goal wasn't the best (although he had a good shot in the 40th minute) and he was rightly subbed. 5/10 Iuri - not the same player Gelson is; frankly I think he should be tested as an alternative to Bruno Fernandes in the #10 role, because he also has a good mid-range shot and creativity. Podence can play the wing with Gelson. 6/10 Acuna - again wasn't in the game too much but his qualities in defense and possession were pivotal. Should be rested for Tuesday. 7/10 Dost - The fact is the team is playing differently then last year; we aren't simply going to the wing, crossing and giving goals to Dost, and as a result he hasn't been as prolific. Which is fine by me, because we know his quality and he'll score when needed. 6.5/10 Subs: Battaglia - has played every game and the coach rested him to play Alan; with Alan not working Batta came in and did his usual thing, William's game gets better with Batta ahead of him (like Adrien). 7/10 Gelson - he's looked fatigued and I assumed before the match either him or Acuna would get a rest. He only played because we needed another goal and the game was poor. He changed the game with his usual pace and dribbling. 7.5/10 Bruno Cesar - subbed and played the last 10 minutes at RB, did his job and had an interesting run towards the end. 6.5/10
I liked our improved defence in this game. I am a bit worried about bas dost. He's not scoring like before but we have other players stepping up for goals
Yeah if Bas Dost can kick it into gear our game will go to the next level ..... He hasn't had many good looks so far
I'm not even overly concerned with Dost. Like fdasilva said above, were not running everything through the wing and crossing into the box every single time like last year. We're not force feeding Dost goals, we seem to be working more through the middle and have a more balanced attack as a result. If that doesn't equate to 30+ goals from Dost I'm fine with it because it means we'll have a more complex offence for defenders to counter. He's still got 4 goals in 6 games in the league (and even had one voided against Estoril). That's good for 3rd best atm, and a pace for 22-23 goals.
Kinda like the Warriors. Got KD, and now they spread the shooting around and Curry isn't going to be banging them in as often. It creates for great team scoring, which I love. When's the last time e had 3 free kick takers and midfielders who can score from outside the box? God, I f*cking love this team. Love em.
We just need to be smart with squad rotations and maybe improve our bench down the road (the gap between our first choice defenders and bench is huge) . But our Starting XI is strong as hell.
depth is key, we have some in midfield and attack but defence is slim pickings. the most important thing was smashing tondela. They always played like it was a world cup final against Sporting but dont bother to show up against XLB / FC Fruta.