I thought of making one general thread for the season instead of making individual threads for each game. Sporting vs. Chaves tomorrow. Tiago Fernandes last game as interim coach before Keizer takes over on Monday. 21 players called up - most notably Viviano gets a call after 3 months. Jefferson also out, with Lumor taking his place again. Renan, Viviano, Salin Coates, Mathieu, Lumor, Bruno Gaspar, André Pinto Petrovic, Misic, Bruno Fernandes, Acuña, Miguel Luís, Gudelj Montero, Carlos Mané, Nani, Castaignos, Diaby, Jovane, Bas Dost
Renan; Bruno Gaspar, Coates, Mathieu, Acuña; Gudelj , Miguel Luís, Jovane Cabral, Nani, Bruno Fernandes Bas Dost
20 minutes and all I can say is I hope Keizer brings some of those Cruyff ideas to this team so I dont fall asleep... And as soon as I say that, we score! Dost with a classic header from Acuna's cross. 1-0 to the good guys.
Straight Red card for Chaves. Studs up on Acuna. Edit: on second viewing, it may seem a bit excessive. Only 20K in attendance. Doesnt help when the quality of play is pretty poor and almost no real chances.
What a fantastic goal by Chaves. Contender for goal of the season. What happens when you fall asleep.
2-1 Dost converts the spot kick. That was embarassing. Not sure how a penalty was called there. I didn't even celebrate.
Awful game, awful team, awful ref. We were up a man, and kept losing the ball and playing scared. Embarrassing
2-1 final. Result better than the performance. Penalty for us again seemed very weak. Keizer was watching, hopefully he can improve these performances. We're now alone in 2nd, 1 point ahead of Braga and 2 pts behind Porto.
Yeah Benfica beat Porto and looked set to take over 1st but they've had some bad results. Won again today though
In spite of being more than average, SCP is second only 2 points behind the first. As insane as it may sound, Sporting has a shot at the league title. In spite of being first and of good CL results (their group is weak af) Porto is not as good as it looks and is very beatable, as seen during the game against Braga.
True, hopefully this new coach surprises us, we're going to have to step up the performances because our rivals certainly will.
Starting XI: Renan; Bruno Gaspar, Coates, Mathieu, Acuña; Gudelj, Bruno Fernandes, Wendel; Nani, Diaby, Bas Dost Mathieu and Acuna back, with Acuna getting his first start with Keizer as coach. Otherwise same team, Wendel with another opportunity and well deserved for his performances the last 2 games. Interesting note, we're coming up against Fabio Coentrao who now plays for Rio Ave. Why do I have a feeling he scores against us? Acuna vs. Coentrao should be an interesting match up.
GOLOOOO Bruno Fernandes!! Our high pressure has been paying off and Bruno fernandes with a nice bottom corner finish.
GOLOOOO Na nana nanana BAS DOST!! Beautiful cross from Acuna, all started with smart play again from Wendel.
Its interesting how different we are playing in such a short time. Seeing us playing one touch football, pass and move and how we react when we lose the ball.