Yeah 90% of the blame is on midfield. They couldn't get any rhythm going forward and they did not help out the defense.
I thought that in addition to Guedes not getting anything sent his way by the midfield (as NewLaw83 mentioned), he did a pretty good job applying some pressure trying to win the ball back. Even without scoring, he's showing why he's on the pitch. Between he and Ronaldo, Portugal has two guys who can suddenly have great scoring opportunities out of nowhere. At this point, with Portugal's inability to keep the ball or pass it in the midfield, I'm ready to see Ronaldo, Guedes and Andre Silva on the pitch together. Might as well have all your most potent scorers out there to take advantage of chances if you're barely gonna have the ball.
Guedes wasn't good, end of story. I love the kid and I think he's got a lot of talent to be a star in his own right but he's been choking so far in this tournament. But as some of you have said, the bigger issue is our midfield. Was it the wrong selection or just a lack of effort from them? It was HORRIBLE to watch. Probably our worst game under Santos. The good thing is, I don't believe we can play any worse. Santos will have to respond by making changes, no doubt in my mind. Let's just hope he gets it right against Iran and that the players respond. Tie or win the game and we are through.
Yeah that would be interesting. Have Ronaldo and Guedes as the wingers with Andre Silva as the striker in a 4-3-3. but you would lose the CM position as you NEED William in there as DM.
I would side with those who say Guedes did not play that poorly. He was in a good position to receive that goal scoring opportunity, and if you noticed (fernando santos hinted at this after the game too) that after 15-20 minutes they put Ronaldo upfront by himself because our midfield was in shambles.. so Guedes left the forward role to help the left side (mario/guerreiro) as they were getting eaten alive every time Morocco had the ball.. that being said, i do think Andre Silva will start the next game.. no doubt in my mind just given what kind of team Iran is and their style of play..
This is beyond identifying two or three players that “were crap and shouldn’t start next game.” This was a tactical error by Santos. He anticipated their high pressing game by reverting to long ball tactics, huge spaces between our players when we did have possession, and just not the Portugal way of playing. There were many times where William was standing two feet next to a defender asking for the ball to start the attack, but we would bypass and send a 50 yard ball up field. We regularly had Moutinho and William on an island in midfield with a flat front 4 miles apart from them. JM would stand by their RB, Bernardo with the LB, and Guedes-Ronaldo lost in the middle. How did we expect to sustain any possession or pressure with such a disjointed formation? Iran will come out high pressing as well. We have the technical ability to get around this and move the ball quickly on the ground. We shouldn’t be trying to play this garbage long ball tactic. We have no experience doing so, look clueless doing it, and it results in the opponent getting 15 shots. People comparing this to the Euros are out to lunch, that defensive unit(all 11 players, not just 4 defenders) were tight and did not allow anything over 90 minutes. This team is getting ripped to shreds on every attack. Scary stuff.
Agreed. Even some of the haters were saying that Portugal were bunkering. It's not bunkering when the midfield is not back to help on defense!
Spain & Iran still tied 0-0 at half time.. I honestly don't even know how I feel about this. Do we even want them to tie?? No matter what, I believe we will have to fight for a good result against Iran. Just avoid defeat and we should be good.
Does not matter if they draw as we have more goals scored (4-3) they only have 1-0 and the chances of Iran - Spain finishing 3-3 in the second half is practically zero. So we just need a draw, unless Iran wins.
Of course we want them to tie. A Spain win by the narrowest margin means they go all out attack on Morocco to take 1st place. A tie means any win we get against Queiroz’s boys gives us 1st. Spain will still end up winning this game by 2 goals or so, IMO.
OMG whole match i was a bag of nerves the whole team plus subs were crap, only Patricio and a little for Ronaldo as he got the goal were Good and just finished watching Iran playing like Brazil with a full stadium of Iranian supporters
Just can't help but think how Portugal would have been today if they had Renato Sanches and in-form like he was in the Euros. This midfield misses his physical prowess as everyone minus William was getting pushed off the ball...
I understand all the worry, but the way Portugal is playing is just plain FS's style. He used to do the exact same thing with Greece, and enjoyed some success. Portugal got what they were after in just 4 minutes. After that it was clear they wanted nothing more with the game other than sit back and wait for the final whistle. Attacking is costly, pressing high is costly, and except for set pieces, Portugal never attacked with more than 3 players. Portugal never rushed forward because it never needed to, unlike Morocco. I know people were never during the game due to Morocco having more ball, but in reality they didn't create as many chances as may have sound. Had Portugal needed to pull a result, I am positive we would seen a very different game 2 or 3-0, but FS is in tournament mode and smarts matter as much as feet.
I dont know. I feel this was not what FS wanted to see. The midfield, other than WIlliam, did not seem too present helping out the defense which is what made Portugal great at the Euros. The whole team helped defensively on that championship run.
Exactly this. In both games, Guedes ended up having to play as 2nd striker and as LM to protect the disastrous MF and LB. His shooting is still iffy but at least he's getting in scoring positions. And he's working to help out on defense. Bernardo Silva on the other hand is not contributing at all. He was completely 100% absence in Spain game and today was even worse spraying poor passes or losing the ball on dribbles. His pass to Guedes in the 1st half that was 10 feet short and directly out was the most embarrassing moment of the game besides Pepe's "shoulder injury". Today was a bizarre day and I really don't see how Santos is going to magically repair the problem - and Iranians are no slouches as the game against Spain today showed. We are not out of the woods yet.
We all know Portugal was poor and was generally outplayed by Morocco, but the quality/danger of goal-scoring opportunities is what matters most and Portugal had what were easily the two most clear-cut scoring chances (Ronaldo goal and Guedes' saved shot). Balls bouncing around a congested box and falling to a central defender just aren't very good scoring opportunities: xG map for #POR-#MAR. Once again impressive midfield play and an effective team press didn't bring either a result or even dominance of the scoring chances for Morocco. pic.twitter.com/IYdE2xcSvk— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) June 20, 2018
I hope he goes back to Benfica so that he can turn his life around, otherwise, in a few years he'll be found working construction jobs .
This was honestly the first time in a while that Portugal's performance reminded me why Renato Sanches was so important in 2016. His ability to defend aggressively in the midfield, cover ground and then start the attack upon recovering the ball is something this team just doesn't appear to have at the moment (be it talent, tactics or form). William is essential, but he's more like a fifth defender in matches when Portugal's pinned back and lacks possession, and there's nobody next to him in the midfield who can really pressure the defense with the ball at his feet.