Sanches is out of shape, but can be an option in the future. Cedric, is good at defending and at crossing the ball behind the goal line. Sergio Oliveira has no business being in this team even though he's at his best with Porto. Danilo is William Carvalho's clone, but in worse. All those players have no place in the starting 11, but could be seating in the bench, together with CR7
Sanches is not an option. There are far better options than him. He provides zero value to this squad. Santos called him up despite him being inured as well. So this was obviously a homer call-ups because the dude is borderline useless. I don't even know what position he was playing today. Dude went to the right, then back to center, then left. Fuckin awful.
"We've underperformed before" isn't a good excuse when you underperform yet again, especially when you have so much talent and experience. Santos and many of the players have been through this before, making it all the more frustrating. Imagine screwing up at work and saying, "It's fine everyone, I've done this so many times before... There's nothing I can do about my performance." These results are actually better than the consecutive draws at home last time or the home loss to Albania or the draw with Cyprus and so on, but the performances have been dreadful for at least 50% of each match and Portugal is way too good to blow a 2-0 lead so meekly. I refuse to believe that many different teams with many different players led by many different coaches across many qualifying campaigns are simply helpless against some country/FPF-wide malaise early in qualifying that it cannot possibly overcome without dropping points unnecessarily. Portugal has won trophies now and we want it to win more; we can hold the national team to the highest standard these days.
Yeah, anyone still on the anti-Sanches train is fighting a losing battle. With Renato on the pitch last night Portugal starting winning some balls back, gained some possession and Serbia's attack dried up. He was physical, held off defenders and won some fouls. But I'm sure that was all a coincidence.
I'm truly confused about why my comments are being interpreted as an excuse. I never said it was okay, I never said we should accept it, or the FPF should accept it, or whomever the manager is should accept it. What I am saying is simple......when something happens 9 or 10 consecutive times, the surprised or anger factor should be curbed a bit because it's no longer a surprise. It isn't up to us to correct this. I feel that this is some bizarre collective mentality they have despite who's playing or managing. So 1 last time...not saying it's fine, just saying my reaction isn't the same as most others because I would have put money on a slow start because I saw this coming. I even posted it when the draw was made. My view of this team has not changed even 1%. We are probably a top 5 uefa team right now, but still have a bizarre habbit of stumbling from the start of qualifying. Concerns before the matches are the same after. 1: Ronaldo is in fact showing his age. Even despite his goal scoring record with Juventus, if you watch them, it's obvious he's often a touch behind now and his reactions are slower. 2: Who will Partner Dias? 3: Someone needs to stop Ronaldo from taking Free kicks. He will never admit it isn't his thing, so someone has to have the balls to say enough of wasting every single free kick minus the odd miracle. 4: my new concern is F.Santos being slow to react and making a few bizarre selections. Right now I'll hold off hoping he just had a brain fart, and hoperfully he adjusts.
So you cherry-pick a game from over 4 months ago? LOL shit, I can pull together a highlight reel of Sergio Oliveira this year for Porto and it still won’t change the fact that he was garbage in this match. I get that he only played about 20 minutes, but Renato didn’t really provide anything. He’s been hurt and has been coming off the bench for Lille in recent weeks. Don’t understand the call up. There are better options.
He won one foul and gave up another foul. He also had a bad turnover, but I digress. Can’t remember a more overrated player in my life.
What a game.. Firstly, it was clear Ronaldo had scored a goal at the end. This much is clear. Ok - We also blew a 2 goal lead. Sure, we should have 3 pts, but we walk with 1 and thats a disapointment. Not because we were robbed a goal, but because of how we played with a 2 goal lead. As some have stated , this start to the campaign is of no surprise to me. In my life, this has become normal and i am immune to starts as such. Does this make it ok? NO. It doesnt. But, i remain confident that this team will progress into the tournament next year and dont have any concerns. In relation to F.Santos. I will back this man till the day i die. I realize you cant live on past accomplishments forever if the present is mediocore, but in this case.. Santos very well may. I dont have to much of an issue with the call ups although i would have changed 1 or 2. I do have an issue with his starting 11 though. Disapointing and embarrassing to say the least with the 2-2 result, but, we will still come 1st in the group and moving forward, i hope to see the following: ---Ronaldo--------Jota----------Felix ---------Bruno------------B.Silva --------------------Danilo -Mendes-Dias--------Duarte-Cancelo We all know that line up will not occur. B.Silva will NEVER play in the CM role under Santos.. which is dumb AF.. I would still prefer William when healthy over Danilo.. and Pepe will retain his place over Duarte when he gets healthy again. Players i hope to never see again in the NT for various reasons: Jose Fonte *washed up* Cedric *better options* Sergio Oliveira *club team player like Andre Silva* Moutinho *too old* Neves *over rated AF and have never rated him* Lets get the 3pts next match
To answer your question about the enduring frustration with Portugal's slow qualifying starts, I'd say the extent to which a lot of us are frustrated has to do with a couple things: 1. I think there are stages to dealing with a consistent, long-term issue like Portugal's slow starts. And I think a lot of us have passed the apathy stage we may have had for a couple cycles and are pissed precisely because it has happened so consistently and for so long ("How can this still be happening?!"). And you can couple that with the fact... 2. Portugal is loaded with talent and led by an experienced coach who both knows how to qualify and even win trophies. So, yeah, I'm a bit surprised I'm so pissed too. But while you think going through this numerous times before makes it easier to deal with, I think it makes it that much more frustrating to deal with, especially considering how accomplished this Portugal squad is and the fact it got an absolutely beautiful draw of middling opponents for this qualifying campaign. Serbia has talent and is capable, but they are also months removed from not being able to qualify for Euro 2020 via playoff against Pot 3 opponents (they beat Norway in ET and lost to Scotland in a shootout). Ireland was dreadful in the Nations League last fall and their current form is worse than anyone else in Pot 3. Luxembourg has played well lately and had to do so just to steal the last spot in Pot 4... And yet now we can expect automatic qualification to go to the final day of qualifying as usual even though this is Portugal's easiest draw in ages. As long as Serbia keeps beating the rest of the group, Portugal will have little to no room for error and that final match vs. Serbia will be for the group.
I agree with you, I honestly do. Having to start every single qualifying by dropping points has gotten to the point of ridiculous. The only thing I was trying to convey, was that I can't share the view like others here that the world is crumbling and the team needs a overhaul when infact it was kind of predictable and I sincerely don't believe it changes a thing. Meaning the weaknesses we have and strengths we have literally remain exactly the same. Also, I would bet a pretty penny that Serbia will drop points. Decent side, but I think with teams like Luxembourg, Ireland and Azerbaijan not being very good, but being organized and resilient, 1 of them is certain to take some points from Serbia.
I too think Serbia should drop points...but I assumed the next best opponent in the group would drop points eventually during the past two qualifying cycles yet Switzerland never dropped points prior to the final match in Lisbon and Ukraine only dropped points on the final matchday after it had secured first place. And it's not like Portugal is incapable of dropping points in Ireland, for instance. Neither of Portugal's wins over Luxembourg during Euro 2020 qualifying was all that convincing either, especially the match in Luxembourg. I don't think Portugal requires an overhaul, but I am a bit worried about how the team has performed in the past week under such an established manager. I'm not sure what strings Santos will pull (or is even capable of pulling based on his willingness to take risks, or his creativity) right now to get the most out of these guys. And I'd say the same thing about any manager who has been around for years. I just hope Felix and Mendes both start tonight (and possibly Renato as well).