These kids worry me with their mentality in big games. Other than Renato, name one young Portuguese player that has stepped up when it matters for Portugal. The fact that we have lost so many youth finals means we have the talent but lack the mentality to win when it counts.
And what has Renato done at club level on his last seasons? Even at Lille he played nothing special, if he is the best we have for the future I would be worried. Compared to the Verratis, Pedris, Barellas, Kimmichs, Declan Rices, etc he really looks nothing special...
Renato at club level he's okay but that's about it but for Portugal he shows up when he puts on that national team jersey
Renato was in the team of the season season before last, injuries really hampered his campaign this year but play a role in key games.
I feel like Neto can become a similar player as to what Chiesa is at the moment. I hope his career isnt over with that injury. Unforutnately there has been no news about Felix leaving.....another season under that defensive coach
Yes, the reason Felix is a overrated player it’s Simeone fault and not the Jorge Mendes and Benfica hype machine…
Meanwhile Gonscalves gets benched when he had a break out year. AS should have played more. I don't agree it's mentality, it's confidence. every time I see Felix or Fernandes, they look disinterested and this is what coaching matters and habits. winning habits start with pushing your players to excel -- renato seems full of confidence cause he knows his role.
i understnd people doubting Felix but the guy won player of the month in Spain last year in a team that doesn’t suit his style. A 21 year old winning player of the month in a top league and him not being a player of immense potential doesn’t really make sense. I agree that he’s been ordinary for Portugal and Athletico but I believe this is system based.
I agree & disagree, some players within a game self motivate regardless of the coach, tactics, situation. Players that I put in this bracket are Pepe, Renato, Ricardo Pereira, Pedro Neto are current examples past examples include Maniche, S.Conceição, Miguel. Players are individuals particularly in modern football & I actually think Santos is quite good at man management his weakness lies in his beliefs in how the game should be played and those beliefs are outdated. None of his teams have ever had any attacking chemistry. He has at times however build a good defensive chemistry albeit one that defends quite deep. In terms of personnel choice i agree that he didn’t utilise form at this tournament as much as he should’ve, in saying that Paulo Bento was even worse in this regard. I feel this is a Portuguese cultural trait and it’s to our detriment, confidence snd form can be contagious just look at Bruno Fernandes at Manchester United.
Portugal's problems do not just start with Santos but ultimately CR7 is the problem. He holds them back or the offense is always centered around him. Whereas if you see other national teams, yeah they have stars but they don't have that one big star that everything revolves around them. Other players on the team could end up resenting that player for that very reason. Other national teams yeah they do make it work if they are in a situation like how Portugal is with Ronaldo but then you look at other teams like Italy and England for example they have a collective effort of stars who have learned to play together or who play for each other. But then it all comes down to mentality as well which in some facets has to change but you can also adapt around it too.
I’m pretty sure he wants to play for Portugal. He left Brazil 12 years ago, learnt to play in Portugal. I think the options still there if they want him. Se o Brasil enfrentasse Portugal, eu torceria por Portugal. Minha essência é brasileira, mas meu coração está em Portugal. Minhas melhores lembranças estão lá. A seleção portuguesa costumava ser uma equipe média, mas agora está no topo. Defenderia Portugal com 100% de certeza. Seria a realização de um sonho", disse, ao site oficial do clube inglês.
You've just GOT to find a way to fit Joao Felix & Bruno Fernandes in your team. It's just crazy not to. I understood why they weren't in this tournament but with the WC next year, management has to find a way. Ronaldo should strictly be a #9 at this point to save his energy but in order for it to be successful, you need another forward to play off of him. (Benzema type...) I thought Jota could work and he had his moments but ultimately, he cost us BIG time and more than once... I want to see something like this in the qualifying games; -----------Ronaldo--------A. Silva--------------- --------------------J. Felix------------------------- R. Sanches---------------------B. Fernandes --------------------Palhinha----------------------- Mendes-----Dias------Pepe---------Cancelo -------------------R. Patricio----------------------- Bernardo Silva & Bruno Fernandes to sub each other... They just don't seem to be compatible to play at the same time. Guerreiro & Mendes could fight it out at the Left Back but would love to see a more mature Mendes have his chance. Cancelo being back at the right back position for the World Cup will make a HUGE difference. Joao Felix to pull the strings in the middle and feed our front two attackers. Renato to keep beasting it as the workhorse in the midfield with the help of Bruno. Palhinha showed enough for me and I think he deserves to be our DM.
Interesting to see Braga ustilising a 15 year old called Roger in their first pre season match. Attacking midfielder that had only recently started playing organised football.
Until Felix solves his consistency problems he cannot start for us. It's becoming evident that transfer was based on a Ponzi scheme by Mendes using offshores to inflate the fee, but the problem is his performances don't even come close to what was paid for him. Even worse is that he doesn't seem to have a similar work ethic to Cristiano, or mentality for that matter, not to mention he has a lot of injuries per season. Until he solves that it's useless for Benfica fans to keep blaming Simeone for his failures, as they did with Ancelotti regarding Sanches. Reality is the massive propaganda done by Mendes and Benfica to hype the players from Seixal isn't helping them, and some of them are good or very good, but nothing that justifies the massive propaganda operations around them.
Felix was a product of PORTO, he will be the best in football. Forgive him for not being a stat padder like Bruno Fernandes, Felix with one foot performed better then Bruno in 45 minutes.
Ahahaha, Fernandes in 18 months in the Premier League done more than Felix will do in his entire carrer. Being a product of the Mendes hype machine doesn't turn you into a great player. So far he is just a overrated player made by the Benfica press.
I discovered. You know who’s his brother? Joelson from Sporting. So far discovered he was born in 2005 and he is a leftback. Carvalhal played him 90 minutes against Vizela and they won 4:3. If you saw the amount of racist comments on Zero Zero questioning his age, this guy’s even question the age of a black player even when they were born in Portugal. But so far the clubs who are looking more ready to play youth players during the season are Sporting and Braga, Carvalhal looks he likes that CB Bruno Rodrigues, let’s wait and see. Don’t believe Conceição or Jesus will give a chance to younger players, but guys like Goncalo Ramos, Fábio Vieira and specifically Diogo Costa need to play, it’s criminal in Portugal you barely see Portuguese goalkeepers playing.
It looks like Matchoi Djaloi might be a real bet this season for Paços Ferreira. Also interesting to watch, Guimarães under Pepa this preseason has been playing a couple of youth players, I just hope Andre Almeida stays there and don’t leave for Porto, I doubt he would play much there. Another one to watch is Tomas Handel from Guimarães. Finally, I sincerely hope if that clown named Conceição doesn’t have the balls to play Diogo Costa or Fabio Vieira that they are loaned to a club where they can play every week. It’s criminal to stagnate the development of this players.