Saw Dalot in the U21 his man scored twice in the Italy game, in the final he was OK. Need to see more of him and he is still young and can improve.
Yes, you are correct, 3 way tiebreaker would come into play with all having 3 points which allows for the possibility of Denmark finishing 2nd in the group with 1 victory today. So, having Portugal in mind, what we are hoping for is a heavy Finland loss today to harm their goal differential ( 0 currently) , and a heavy Russian loss to really damage their goal differential(-2 currently).....both these things happen and Portugal can reasonably expect to beat the best 3rd place team from this group even with, say, a 2 goal loss Wednesday. A Ukraine / Austria winner would be so good today. They both could settle for a draw, especially considering a win won't help them to catch Holland anyways as that is an impossibility, and a draw gives them both 4 points thus almost ensuring passage for both.Only advantage a win would have is for seeding. The absolute ideal scenario here for Portugal would be for one of these teams to win by 2 or more goals as that would ruin their goal differential, both sitting at(0) currently.
Cancelo getting COVID basically put the nail in the coffin. That's how important I think he is to this team. He's not just a great wingback, he's an absolute attacking threat, can cross the ball and can shoot very well. He's got it all and is easily our 2nd or 3rd best player easily. Any game he played, he either scored, assisted or had an impact.
you havnt got a clue, I don’t like Semedo but he wasn’t the worst player on the pitch, Gurreiro was just as bad and was more at fault for a goal than Semedo. Germany overloaded the wings, there are very few fullbacks good enough to cover 2 players which is what happened to both our fullbacks. Cancelo would’ve been lost as well.
Agreed, Cancelo wouldn't have changed a damn thing. Photos have already circulated highlighting how poorly Danilo/William covered the back 4 and were constantly out of position ( I posted a few in this thread). Danilo should have dropped in between the Cb's, freeing one of them up to mark further outside which in turn pushes the fullback onto the opposing teams wingback, which is how you play vs a 3-5-2. Santos came out yesterday and said that was his initial plan, and it got "lost in translation". Which screams to me he's attempting to cover his ass after the fact. Still no explanation in regards to how he set us up to not even pressure them and allow them to pick passes at leisure through our final third? Semedo isn't great, he plays far too narrow defensively and should have adjusted his positioning after the first 15 minutes where any profesional should see whats happening when being over loaded, teammates should have spotted it as well. Yet a lot of this rests on Santos getting eviscerated tactically and the DM's not covering the spaces they should have been. Danilo isn't the player he was after blowing his achilles, no where near as quick or mobile, which is a shame because he was a beast defensively who covered every blade if the pitch. And Willian doesn't even dribble out of the press or circulate play the way he used to a few years back, he's done. Or at the very least needs a lot more consistent playing time at a high level to recapture his form and confidence.
I literally gave you full-proof evidence showing that Semedo was lost and completely clueless. I'm not sure what else to give you. I'm not sure why you can't see that he has zero positional awareness. Oh well.
I didn't watch Sporting Games this season. For anyone who did with regularity, how do you rate Paulinha. His style, his strengths and weaknesses.
He's a faster taller Gattuso like ball winner whose stronger in the air, but pretty poor on the ball. Needs to evolve that aspect more.
You showed pictures of him stuck between 2 men, what don’t you understand about overloads. If ge goes to gosens it leaves the greater danger all alone. Germany purposely shifted out defence out of shape
He kept marking Pepe's man. They don't need to double mark anybody. In one of the images, he's literally standing right next to Pepe marking the same dude while the German player is out wide all alone with nobody in sight. I get that the Germans were overloading the wings and aggressively pushing up. We knew they were going to do this because they had to win to stay in. Why couldn't Semedo adjust or play his position correctly?
Quem acha que @joaopalhinha6 tem jeito para bailar, ponha o dedo no ar! ☝️#sporttvportugal #liganos #ligaportugal #sportingclubedeportugal #sportingcp #joaopalhinha #palhinha pic.twitter.com/ejfaWlr1wL— sport tv (@sporttvportugal) November 2, 2020 G-O-L-A-Ç-O! 🔥Foi desta forma que João Palhinha fez o segundo golo dos 'Leões' na partida. 🦁pic.twitter.com/Ys5izp1QAe🎥 @vsports_pt https://t.co/zSzZpIoywj— Sporting Adeptos (@SCPAdeptos1906) February 15, 2021 João Palhinha!! pic.twitter.com/ndLvcfS80S— Furkan Buğra Yolcu (@fbugrayolcu1) October 25, 2020
this we can 100% agree on, The intensity which both these guys play at would lift the rest of the side to match it. William & Danilo are too relaxed on the ball and slow everything down which gives us no chance at exploiting our dynamic attackers who have to start most attacks from static positions
that was a minor issue my man, the bigger issue was Santos or the the two defensive midfielders making the call and dropping in between Dias and Pepe to create a wider defensive line while we were defending. The balls travels a lot quicker than a player so how you occupy space against good teams is vital.
If Portugal somewhere makes it out of the group and swaps a few players, I can see Portugal go far away in this tournament.