Portuguese League 2014/2015

[Azul]

Tonight is Sporting-Benfica guysin which will be one of the decisive games of the season.

Here´s the league so far and the top scorers



Benfica is in 1st and has 3 more points, Porto is behind but with 1 more game, with 7 points to the 1st place comes Sporting that´s been having a really great recovery in the last matches, 6 consecutive wins, and to think they had a massive problem between the board and the coach that almost cost him the job, the only reason why he wasn´t sacked was because both the players and the supporters were behind Marco Silva.

Benfica is comfortably ahead, without being brilliant so far, and most of the season presenting average football now the team looks more stable and confident, the exception was on the game between Paços. To give some context Porto had lost the previous day against Marítimo away, Benfica with the 3 pts would have the league finished, but they ended up losing as well with a childish penalty conceded almost on the 90th minute, Jesus was possessed and storm the field shouting with Eliseu (the player that conceded the penalty). Apart from that they´ve been cruising on the league without much trouble.

About the game itself here are the expected teams

Sporting:

--------------Rui Patrício
Cedric - Tobias F. - Paulo Oliv. - Jefferson
---------------William Carvalho
--------Adrien ----------- João Mário
Carrillo ----------Montero------------Nani

Benfica:

---------------Artur
Maxi--------Jardel---Luisão------Eliseu
-------------Samaris
-----Salvio--------Talisca------ Ola John
---------------Lima
-----------------------Jonas


There are some important players out all injured such as Julione, Slimani and Gaitan (no fap day for wera)

The only relevant change for Sporting is the inclusing of Tobias Figueiredo on the team in the last games that so far has been solving their inconsistency in the center of the defense, he´s another player from their formation that´s been proving very promising. Another curious note, if that lineup is confirmed they´ll play with 8 portuguese players, almost a miracle in our league.

Their threat comes from their wingers, both Carillo and Nani have been great this season and are far better than both full backs from Benfica, it´s a pity that Slimani is out, Montero is ok and sometimes have great matches but Slimani is a power house up front, he´s massive physically and with wingers like that providing chances every match he´s clinical at finishing (he doesn´t have that many goals because he´s been out injured and was out for the CAN). João Mário is a players that I´ve talked about last season (was on loan) and this season is proving himself i Sporting, definitely a player to watch. William Carvalho is far from last season form but has been improving recently and is also a decisive player for their game.

Benfica sold Enzo to Valencia and JJ has been playing with Talisca or Pizzi there. IMO it´s a huge mistake putting Talisca as an 8, his performance decreases drastically, he´s the kind of player that needs to be close to the box to be decisive. I´d play him behind Jonas instead.
Samaris is yet to prove himself as well, with Matic gone for a while now, and Fejsa always injured, he´s been the chosen one to play there but I think he´s been a victim of the system, he look better when he plays a few meters ahead.
Their defense continues to be really bad IMO and their weak point, and with Artur on goal who likes to crack during big matches Sporting has a real chance to create danger if they explore this well.
Benfica without Gaitan will rely a lot on Salvio for their creativity, Jonas will need it because if the team fails to create chances his game drops a lot because he struggles without the ball.

I´m going for a 1-1 but praying for a win by Sporting for us to still dream about the league.

 

[Azul]

Sporting Benfica is over and what a crappy game, 1-1 was the final result with all the emotion coming in the last minutes, Sporting scored at 87´ and Benfica on 93´.

Sporting played as predicted but Benfica approached the game with a highly defensive approach, Talisca was benched and André Almeida played on the midfield with Samaris, that made the midfield very defensive and without a player to add creativity in the middle, most of the time André and Samaris played side by side as the team sat back in the defense closing spaces with all the lines of the team playing as compact as possible.

The first half was awful, Benfica didn´t even try to attack and Sporting had a lot of difficulties constructing, they could regain possession quite easily just to make a lot of unforced error specially on the passing. With Carillo and Nani covered on the wings and João Mário and Adrien struggling to create down to middle 45´passed without much to say.

The second half wasn´t that much different for at least the first minutes, then Sporting finally managed to get their passing together and started to feel more likely to create chances, with William Carvalho leading both the defensive and the construction phase of their game (he was massive, MOTM no doubt) the team could push the other midfielders to more attacking tasks and put more pressure on Benfica who kept comfortable holding on the defense.

Sensing that JJ put Talisca on the game, on the left wing though, to put fear on Sporting because until now they didn´t even had any counter attacking chances, it didn´t work that well apart from 2 runs but it was a good move.
Samaris was destroying most of the game that Sporting was creating at the time, and the CBs could easily put Montero on the corner of the game.

The game was closing in the the 90´without much chances, Benfica had a decent chance with Jonas who decided to assist instead of shoot and that was it.
Sporting was more dangerous but apart from 2 saves from Artur they didn´t create much more. Then on an seemingly normal duel Samaris made a huge mistake, passed the ball to the back and put João Mário 1-1 with the GK, he saved the first shot but the ball ended with Jefferson who made it 1-0. The crowd went wild , the game was almost over and that may put Sporting on the way to fight for the title again.

JJ made some changes to put all their options up front and try something in the last minutes, then on the last play of the game, a long ball was put on the area a lot of confusion and ricochets later the ball ended with Jardel who, on the first shot that Benfica made on target (out of 4) made it 1-1.

The stadium was in shock and silent while watching Benfica celebrating a very important, who knows if decisive, point.

So a draw it was and even though Sporting had every right to feel that it wasn´t a fair result they failed to capitalize their more offensive approach, and Benfica, like they did at Dragão, with a clinical approach and some luck on their side passed one of the biggest obstacle between them and the title.

 

[Cal]

So Ryan Gauld (19) of Scotland seems to be breaking into the Sporting first team, winning man of the match in a cup win in his home debut, and being included in most A team squads. Exciting.

- - - Updated - - -

 

[Dylan]

Does he have an Irish grandmother?

 

[Cal]

Even if he did, I wouldn't be worried. He actually has his head screwed on.

 

[Dylan]

Hope he does play for Scotland. It would be nice if Scots actually wanted to represent their own country.

 

[Pimpin]

does it matter if he's 100% scottish, or if he has an irish grandmother, he's screwed in the head either way

 

[Dylan]

Exactly, the only way to be is Irish. Thanks for supporting me, Pimp.

 

[Pimpin]

Exactly, the only way to be is Irish. Thanks for supporting me, Pimp.

yeah bro i got ur back, i hope you get the independence too, oh wait u already did

 

[Dylan]

 

[ScottishInterista]

 

[J..]

 

[monster09]

Nani's goal for Sporting with his weaker foot

Shit player..

 

[bandiera]

nani is pretty shit. lots of technical ability, but he doesnt look up enough. not an intelligent player.

and "he scored a nice goal " is not an argument...

 

[monster09]

nani is pretty shit. lots of technical ability, but he doesnt look up enough. not an intelligent player.

and "he scored a nice goal " is not an argument...

Yeah after all that's my argument. He scored great goal so he is a great player.

 

[bandiera]

Yeah after all that's my argument. He scored great goal so he is a great player.

my point is that you're persuading no one by saying "nani scored a great goal, how can people call him shit".

 

[monster09]

my point is don't expect anyone to be persuaded by you saying "he scored such a great goal, lol to all of you who call him shit"

I don't wish to persuade people who think there are only 2 types of players, world class or shit.

I have made arguments long back and I don't want to repeat the same boring thing again and again.

 

[bandiera]

I don't wish to persuade people who think there are only 2 types of players, world class or shit.

I have made arguments long back and I don't want to repeat the same boring thing again and again.

i never said there are world class and shit players. have no idea where you got that from.

i said nani is pretty shit, or better worded he's pretty mediocre - because he's very unintelligent. doesn't know what he wants to do with the ball quickly enough and he doesn't look up.

if nani was a former liverpool player, for example, i doubt you'd be defending him.

 

[monster09]

i never said there are world class and shit players. i said nani is pretty shit, if you want better wording, mediocre, because he's very unintelligent. doesn't know what he wants to do with the ball quickly enough and he doesn't look up.

if nani was a former liverpool player, for example, i doubt you'd be defending him.

Yeah Mediocre player.

I have defended few Liverpool, Arsenal and even City players. I don't give a fuck for which club these players for and I don't rate players based on clubs.

 

[bandiera]

Yeah Mediocre player.

I have defended few Liverpool, Arsenal and even City players. I don't give a fuck for which club these players for and I don't rate players based on clubs.

sure, sure... carry on though. nani is such a great and intelligent player. what a fantastic goal he scored in the portuguese league. how can anyone call him shit? i mean, did you see the goal? whoa.