PORTUGAL VS MOROCCO 2018 FIFA World Cup Group Stage [R]

It's unfortunate... We lacked the attitude against a very determined Moroccan side. Kudos to them for playing their best ever game.

Having said that, Guedes had that one on one chance which should have been a goal after that sublime pass from CR7. That would have killed the tie (2-0).

Guedes has lost his starting spot for me... André Silva should start up top with Cristiano but for some reason, Santos hasn't even looked at him on the bench. Wonder if he will stick with Guedes...

 

They were a desperate team throwing everything at us. Apart from the fact they're pretty talented individuals, it was very physical play from the start. Second half was worse than the first though. Lost possession all over the place. We looked tired and like we didn't want to play the physical game

Positives: Defensively, we were not horrible which is a big plus to take away. A lot of blocked shots, William was huge
Negatives: Fonte can't pass, long, short, wtv. I wish he'd stop trying

Gelson was having the same troubles as Bernardo. They don't know when to release the ball it seems. Hopefully they pick that up

Guerreiro with this beautiful beautiful run first half. It amounted to nothing but reminded me of Coentrao

 

Other than Ronaldo, who is going to score?

Let's not take away from the fact Morocco played really well.

Santos now has a big headache, I don't see how we can fix this with the players we have.

Guedes with Ronaldo up front just doesn't work. Mario, Guereiro, Moutinho, Silva were all crap.

Worst performance I've ever seen from a win.

This is 2014 WC esque.

Blah

 

Yeah I dont know why they played so bad today. Morocco looked like what we expected Portugal was supposed to be in this game. Like some of you said, evey time Portugal got possession they would give up right away. Such bullshit. Were they still recovering from the Spain game? Who knows but today it was CR7 and Patricio with 9 random guys on the field today. I hope they can fix this going forward because to me this needs to be treated like a loss. I know they can do better. Santos was not happy and feels the same as many of us.

 

We are are 2 man side Ronaldo and Patrício.

 

Very poor performance.

Did what we had to do to obtain the 3 points.. but thats it..

Points of the game:

- Pepe looks like he has definitely lost a step or two. Not sure if this is age related/injury related/rust related.

- Fonte played ok, which was huge.

- Guerriro continues to struggle.. truthfully, he looks lost. I think all the midfield play at Dortmund combined with the injury problems has thrown his game into a whirlwind. I stressed earlier that Coentrao would have been my preferred choice, that obviously didnt happen, but i have no doubt Coentrao would likely have performed better to this point.

- Cedric played well minus a slip or two

- William looks like he is a bit out of shape.

- Moutinho cant last the full 90.. although early in the game he still busts his ass which i can live with given his talent on the ball..

- Bernardo.. wow.. what can i say? worse performance i have ever seen by him.. he looks nervous.. and scared.. hes on the world stage and a lot is expected of him.. doesnt look like he is capable of living up to the hype.. its 2 games.. but man..

- Mario.. is.. not..a... winger!!! stop using him on the wing! he is must more useful to us as CM role..

- Guedes seemed to fade as the game went on.. but he was also asked to help out Guerreiro/Mario defensively, and can only be in so many places at once. He initially started out well, full of energy, showed a threat when with the ball and had that good connection pass from Ronaldo though he didnt score..

- Ronaldo.. nothing to say.. still wish he would support his mates a bit better tho.. sulks to much.. but when your the only one scoring goals and setting up plays.. what u supposed to do?

Overall, I felt we hold onto the ball to much when on the counter.. Gelson and Guedes and Bernardo all demonstrated this.. we have the speed.. use it.. throw the ball behind the defender.. to many times a dangerous attack amounted to nothing cuz we held the ball to long..

Fernando Santos has some things to consider moving forward.. definitely..

 

At the moment, yup!

 

It is going to be a very scrappy affair but if Spain beat Iran all we need is a draw, which we should just be able to get. Iran Will have to win but they Will Play the Same way and hope to win 1-0.

 

Mário Rui to replace guerreiro for the next game. Start Adrien?

 

Maybe that's why Portugal kept giving away possession? They forgot they were wearing the white jersey...

 

I think the midfield is to blame for most of our struggles in this game. We were completely dominated in the middle of the field.

Joao Mario (terrible performance), Moutinho (please retire - Neves should have been in this World Cup instead), Bernardo Silva (Not as bad but definitely did not step up his game) and William (He's the only one that played a decent game).

For the game against Iran, I'm hoping Santos makes the proper changes:



-----------------------Rui Patricio----------------------
Cedric---------Pepe---------Dias-------Guerreiro
------------------------William--------------------------
-------B.Fernandes------------Adrien---------------
Bernardo-------------A.Silva--------------Ronaldo

 

Glad this crap is over. Patricio saved our asses out there. Man, what a save he had.

Santos looks like he is losing the plot in this tournament. I can take playing like crap but to give your opponent an open Highway to attack at will. Our midfield couldn't string two passes together and even worse, we kept losing the ball in horrible areas.

Did Guerreiro forgot to eat his breakfast today? I know he was put out to dry but he was beaten in one one situations all game long.

Morocco should be very disappointed that they couldn't score a goal in this one. They won't have an easier game.

 

Everyone, don't be so harsh with team. The game always went to Portugal's best interest. Morocco started the game needing a win, they needed to have the initiative. 4th minute, goal. Morocco needed even more to go after a result, Portugal softened the forward and tightened in the back and left the initiative to Morocco. In the end, Morocco had few real chances, and ran 2kms more than Portugal. We have a long competition ahead of us, while Morocco will have a long flight home, let's never forget that.

 

This wasn't on Santos that they got dominated? He was furious post game, saying this was inexplicable and the players and coaches need to have a talk. The plan clearly wasn't to sit back and allow Morroco possession, they just took the ball off Portuguese players every time we got the ball. It was a disaster, the worst game I can remember seeing Portugal play in terms of how every single time they got possession they would loves the ball. Also huge credit to Morroco, I have no clue how they played that fast and aggressive for 95 minutes without tiring, I thought for sure they would gas around the 70th minute.

Guedes in this system I still believe is better than Silva, that was a great save off the Ronaldo pass to him, he easily could have a goal in this tournament. They need him tracking back and supporting Ronaldo which he has done, the forwards had no support from the midfield. They could never hold onto the ball for long. I would change Mario for Bruno next game and hope these guys like Bernardo get their act together. The only other question may be Adrien for Moutinho but I still think Moutinho is the better player.

 

We all saw Guerreiro get owned but Santos must of seen something else because nothing changed all game long. I love Santos but this one was terrible.I hope he can get the best out of our players for next game.

 

Moving forward, we know a draw will be enough to put us into the knock out stages.

I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but i would rest Ronaldo v Iran..

Would also look to get Dias and/or Alves in there for either Pepe/Fonte..

Get Moutinho a rest..

Front 3 of:

-B.Silva (he needs to get confidence back)
-A.Silva (needs minutes.. perfect opportunity to do so)
-G.Guedes

 

----------------------------Patricio
-Cedric---------Pepe----------------Dias----------Guerreiro
----------------------------William
------------Bruno---------------------Adrien
----------------------------J.mario
-B.Silva------------------A.Silva----------------Guedes

 

We would be playing for a 0-0 with no CR7

 

This was a massive home game for Morocco. They had one of the most traveling fans at the tournament. It is a huge country in regards to population.

This was a preview of the KO game against Russia.

 

Three points are three points, but yeah our midfield really needs to pick it up before the next game.

This is a great plan...

If you want to get eliminated before the R16. No one else can even score. Plus the young guys need more time to build chemistry with Ronaldo and not be awed by his presence.

 

Yeah they packed the stadium. At first, I thought it was all Portuguese fans because of the red shirts but then I heard the booos anytime CR7 touched the ball.

 

Sorry boss but we can't play with 12 players