well this is Lage we are talking about. Whenever we aren’t winning he just removes the entire midfield for forwards. We have many shitty overrated players that our fans seem to rate for some reason.....such as Zivkovic, Tarabt, Pizzi and a.almeida.Grimaldo is alright, but nowhere near as good as benfica fans like to believe he is. I do agree with you that it makes no sense at all that Florentino has been benched as he has never really played bad and oUr best performances seemed to come with him. pocchetino will never come here. Why would he, he has earned himself the opportunity at a elite club with his work in Southampton and Tottenham. Our best hope is getting Jardim here. Would even take Vitór pereira are this point
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=312602456806048 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=312602456806048
Problem is two-fold: The defense is dog shit. Fero is a bum and has no place on this team. Dias needs help and, unfortunately, Jardel isn't getting any younger. Stop signing oft-injured players. Gabriel, Grimaldo, etc. It'd bad enough Grimaldo can't defend to save his life (offers a lot on the attacking side of the field). Gabriel, although good, cannot stay healthy to save his life. Aside from those two issues, Weigl doesn't fit in this team and is an overpriced bust. Your forwards have ZERO confidence in front of goal. 3 or 4 clear-cut one-on-one opportunities and they come up empty handed. Your best forward is a Vinicius, although I think Vinicius is a baller, he can't do it alone. Rafa also has the shittiest posture and body language on the field. Dude looks uninterested. There are some deep underlying problems at SLB.
There are a lot of deep underlying issues, I agree. The squad needs a complete revamp. Gabriel has been insanely unlucky with injuries, when fully fit you can see exactly how good he is, sadly he can't last more than a few games now...I thought it would be improve after 3 months off... Grimaldo is usually pretty consistent with health over a season, and the defense was able to compensate when Ferro had that insane 4/5 months a season and a half ago, along with Jardel being younger. Fejsa and Florentino were really good at covering that flank too. But the increasing reliance on him as a fullback wears him down, he knows how much he's needed too. Ferro has been just so poor since his initial breakthrough, there's no justification to play him. Jardel is so so old now, he's useful as a late sub to secure a result or in cup games against Alverca FC, Freamunde, etc. Weigl, in the middle of all of this, has been Benfica's best player. In a proper set-up he's a great player. Have him beside Florentino, so he can dictate play from deep, free up Gabriel (if healthy), if not promote Dantas or Paulo Bernardo as an ACM for now, until we can sign a good playmaker. We need a CB, RB, CM/CAM, Winger (Jota is being destroyed, hard to believe he was far more influential than Trincao just a season ago..shows the effect of quality playing time and coachinh), and a forward. Players like Cervi and Zivkovic look completely different than a couple seasons ago. Burn it to the ground, keep the solid 5/6 pieces we have, promote the younger players who show tons of promise, and make 3/4 shrewd signings like we used to in the past (Witsel, Ramires, Jonas etc)