I am quite enjoying this day by day, goal by goal calculation. Obviously going through by one goal would please me, beating France would please me more, winning this group is advantagous, winning Englands group is not.
We needed a draw versus Switzerland and Turkey and Scotland versus Croatia to go through on 3 points no matter what. That option is gone. No matter the following results a huge defeat versus France would eliminate us, so we cannot qualify mathematically before our game versus France.
Let's Go Portugal !!!! Yeah, winning that England group is not so advantageous for the immediate next game as the winner will face the runner up in Portugals group but beyond that it would be very much so for the English as they could no longer play any road games until the finals with the exception of a QF game to be played in Rome and it puts them in the 'easier' side of grouped teams
Why is Rafa Silva all of the sudden the first choice attacking substitute? Santos rarely used him before but now at the tournament he's his go-to guy. Literally every other forward/winger in the squad is better than him. I don't even think he should have made the team.
Bro, don't even get me started. How the fuck that useless bum is first choice attacking substitute blows my mind. Dude shouldn't have been been called up, period. He was atrocious all year for Benfica. Wasn't even a starter on a 3rd place team! Meanwhile, Pote and Andre Silva break records in their respective leagues and somehow Rafa Silva is the first option off the bench. Clubismo at it's finest. Santos needs to be canned as soon as Portugal are dispatched from this tournament.
Maybe the A. Silva and Ronaldo combination but Ronaldo is less and less a winger, so you would have in many instances a front two. Pote and Ronaldo have never played together unlike A. Silva who has and the combination has worked before but would you start A. Silva against France, would you start Pote?
If Belgium beat Finland by 1-0 (or more) and Denmark beat Russia by 1-0 (or more) then Denmark finish 2nd in the group, because then Denmark, Russia and Finland will all be tied at 3 points and with a 1-1 goal difference between them, so then the Results vs. Belgium come into play. Denmark lost by 1-2 to Belgium, leaving them with a goal difference of 2-3 (If they beat Russia by 1-0), Finland will finish with a goal difference of 1-2 (if they lose 0-1 to Belgium) and Russia will finish with a goal difference of 1-4 (if they lose 0-1 to Denmark), so Denmark will then finish in 2nd place in the group If Belgium beat Finland by 1-0 or more. It will not matter if Denmark beat Russia by more than 2 goals.
As to a new coach, nobody wants to be the first person to tell CR7 he's benched is a factor. Santos is either oblivious or indifferent to the issue of at what point is Ronaldo no longer useful or has a diminished role. Are national teams more or less prestigious or advantageous to a career to coach than clubs? Clubs have egomaniacal owners and spending issues. A national team is about the development. Low of Germany is the longest tenured coach in the Euro, since 2006. The Portuguese NT should be a dream gig for an upcoming manager.
We control our own destiny. Unfortunately that destiny is an outright victory over France. They got humiliated yesterday, time to shake it off and play like champions. It's only going to get harder after Wednesday.
We should be playing with a front 2 or with additional midfielders. This team is full of explosive attacking options and coach handicaps the team by playing inferior players in favor of a defensive lineup.
Swiss winning greatly decreased our chances of 3rd without a result. Tomorrow expect a draw in both Finland-Russia and Ukraine - Austria they will leave all the pressure on Portugal/Germany/Hungary, Croatia/Scotlandand Spain/Poland/Sweden
Name the squad you would like, many people have a Golden Generation approach, overestimate your attacking potential, i.e. Scolari losing us 2004, if Santos was coach in the final, we would have a much better chance of winning. Basically, although many positions inbetween, you have the Scolari - Brasil approach, or the Santos - Italy approach, I am in the Italy - Santos approach group.
This is so open-ended is the problem. We have more to worry about from France and Germany. There's only two targets. Deal with them, focus on them.
Really only have to focus on France, draw we MOST probably go through. Santos, drew three games last time, that means last time we had 2 points at this stage, this time we have 3 points, this is against the Scolari School of thought (our attack is soo good, we Will score more than concede). The Optimist School = 0 Titles. The Rational-Sceptical School = 2 Titles Empiricists 0 Rationalists 2
I doubt having Neves in for Carvalho, or A. Silva in for Jota would of made any difference or even Renato (who you hate but are being CEGO about) instead of Fernandes) Germany, like always LIKE Ronaldo, focus in on the Weak Link and Exploit, Exploit, Exploit. Many people have Germany as super-contenders, last game at Home against Hungria, then we Will see. EVERYONE who knows Portuguese football knew the weak link, to make out that this German side is soo good, is a Farce.
One thing I notice is that Portugal's best performance at a tournament, we had a good pair of defensive midfielders. In 2004 and 2006, we had Costinha and Maniche who played together at Porto at the time. In 2016, we had Adrien and William Carvalho who were played together at Sporting and who's importance was always underrated, IMO. Who do we have currently? That's a problem that FS have been trying to sweep under the carpet. Portugal has been underperforming since the WC 2018, the League of Nations being the exception (ironically that CR7 mostly missed)
This result all on Santos, pathetic. Danilo & William are not in shape and lack sharpness, those two are the root of all of the teams problems. We lacked intensity out of the blocks, manager didn’t prepare them for the onslaught then we cop 2 goals after half time. He Brought Danilo in as the backup 4th centre back change the formation to allow Raphael and Semedo to go man to man if your not going to press Germany. I can’t believe what I saw yesterday You guys are wild, anyone who blames semedo for our problems hasn’t got a clue. -First goal, Danilos fault allowed the cross into the box. -Second goal Raphael doesn’t track Havertz and scores the own goal - Third goal Danilo & William allow muller to walk through them just outside the box - fourth goal Rafa doesn’t track the bloke standing next to him you can’t sit back and not press the ball in football anymore, the games changed.
Both Maniche and Adrien are not defensive players. They were box to box midfielders who were workhorses and weren't plodding trincos like Danilo or William. Adrien and Maniche can make plays and shoot the ball well. Neither Danilo or William can do that.
No one is asking for Neves. Neves is defensive midfielder, and not a very good one at that. He doesn't have the size and would get swallowed by more imposing midfielders. What I'm suggesting is playing one defensive midfielder who has the ability to cover ground , distribute the ball and protect the ball better than William, Danilo and Neves. And that player is Pahlinha. That way, we can focus the rest of our midfield on attacking options. Or even play another forward. Also, Renato has been a sparkplug for Portugal this season. I saw he, Pahlinha and Bruno Fernandes in the midfield with Bruno playing the #10.
LOL what. What game did you watch? You think these dudes that analyze the game for these Portuguese soccer papers don't know what they're talking about when they say Semedo was the worst player on the field? Goal #1 for Germany: Semedo marks Pepe's man for some unknown reason rather than having any positional awareness to mark his proper man, who's wide open out wide: Germany's third goal: Again, Semedo marking Pepe's man and leaves the German attacker open by a country mile. By this point, they realize Semedo is the weakest link and attack his side since he has no ********ing idea what he's doing. On both goals, the German attacker was open and Semedo was positioned centrally rather than wide: Germany's 4th goal: Semedo is holding hands with Pepe which forces an even more shittier player who isn't a defender (Rafa) to have to cover for him, which be does poorly. Again, why is Semedo out of position and trying to defend the middle of the field, especially when Pepe is already there: Again, we know William and Danilo are trash and washed. We knew this months ago, maybe even a year ago. They didn't do anyone favors by being lazy and not tracking back or covering for the wingbacks. But the tape tells the most obvious story of all: that Semedo was the worst player on the field. No positional awareness, no ability to cut out Germany's attack to his side of the field, no ability to be an attacking threat, no ability to defend balls over the top or in the air. He's just a trash ass player. Always has been, always will be. It's not like we weren't reminded of it before:
I gotta agree on the Renato/Palhinha duo. One of the biggest errors national team managers make time and time again is that they opt to continue using their own tried and true players, regardless of said players' club form. Generally speaking, this is an obvious mistake because clubs are where players spend and play most of their time. If they aren't playing there, then it will impact their ability to perform for the national team. Opting for William Carvalho who is on the bench of a mid-table La Liga team is beyond ridiculous. The real kicker is, William wasn't getting called recently because of that reason. The tournament comes around and he's not only now included in the squad, he's back in the Starting XI Still not as bad as Scolari though in that first game against Greece. Has literally the core members of the team that just won the Champions League at his disposal and opts for older players instead. He at least made the change required immediately after being humiliated, let's see what Santos does...
Yeah, while I agree that the whole system Portugal played was to blame, when it comes to individual players, Semedo was the weak link. And the Germans knew it, before the game. Low said afterwards that they were aware of weaknesses in Portugal's defense to exploit. Who could he be speaking of? Well of the 4, 1 is one of the most accomplished center-backs of all time who still plays at a high level, 1 just got voted the best player in the best league in the world, 1 is considered by all of his German league colleagues as one of the best left backs in the world so that would leave... the player who had the worst game in his career (prior to Saturday's game) against many of the players in the German squad. I could already see Muller now in the run up to the game 'Hey Coach, I'm sure you and your technical team know this already, but that Semedo guy really sucks. Let's exploit that'. Cancelo getting COVID is still so ********ing bizarre. He'll end up being the only player who actually got it in the tournament. How did he get it so late and it not come up earlier??? The kicker is, if it had only come up a few days prior, he'd be able to come back... what a blow to the team that is turning out to be. And for all this talk of calling Dalot up because he was in form, I don't buy that. He's literally a filler player. In no scenario will he ever play. Should've gotten Cedric's ass on that plane.