Portuguese League 2014/2015

[Azul]

Welcome to the Portuguese 2014/15 thread.​

Here are the trophies of our top 3 teams.

F.C. Porto: 74 titles

2 Intercontinental Cups
2 Champions leagues
1 Europa League
1 Uefa Cup
1 European Supercup
27 Championships
16 Portuguese cups
20 Supercups
4 Portuguese championships

S.L. Benfica: 72 titles

2 Champions leagues
33 Championships
25 Portuguese cups
5 League cups
4 Supercups
3 Portuguese championships

Sporting C.P. : 45 titles

1 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
18 Championships
15 Portuguese cups
7 Supercups
4 Portuguese championships


Main Transfers:

Porto:
In: Adrián López, Martins Indi, Brahimi. Loans: Tello, Óliver Torres
Out: Fernando, Mangala, Defour.

Benfica:
In: Bebé, Júlio César (former Inter), Samaris
Out: Oblak, Garay, Markovic, Rodrigo

Sporting:
In: Sarr, Rabia, Nani (loan)
Out: Rojo, Eric Dier

Major players and players to watch:

Porto:
Major players: Alex Sandro, Jackson
Players to watch: Rúben Neves, Brahimi, Óliver Torres, Quintero, Herrera (I´ll put him in here just in case this year he decides to show the Herrera from the WC instead of what we saw from him last season)

Benfica:
Major players: Enzo Perez, Salvio, Gaitan
Players to watch: Talisca, Samaris, Nélson Oliveira (let´s see if he gets any chances or Derley instead), Bebé

Sporting:
Major players: Rui Patrício, William Carvalho, Slimani (if he stays)
Players to watch: Sarr, Rosell, João Mário, Tanaka (just because his Japanese, no but really, they expect much from him)

 

[Cal]

Ryan Gauld

 

[Azul]

So last night was a trip to memory lane.

The goodbye game of Deco, one of the best player I´ve ever seen playing for Porto. That was also some sort of appreciation match to the team of 04 that won everything, even the CL which I honestly never though I´d see happen in real life.

I wasn´t expecting this response the stadium sold out, 49.500 people to see Porto 04 vs Barcelona 06, Deco played for both if you remember.

Here were the players involved

FC PORTO: Vitor Baía; Paulo Ferreira, Jorge Costa, Pedro Emanuel e Nuno Valente; Maniche, Costinha, Deco e Pedro Mendes; Benni McCarthy e Derlei.

Subs: Bruno Vale, Ricardo Carvalho, Ricardo Costa, Secretário, Jankauskas, Jorge Andrade, Sérgio Conceição, Rubens Júnior, Alenitchev, Ricardo Fernandes, Bruno Moraes e Mário Silva.

Coach: Fernando Santos

BARCELONA: Jorquera; Belletti, Oleguer, Gerard e Sylvinho; Van Bommel, Davids e Van Bronckhorst; Gudjohnsen, Giuly e Ezquerro.

Subs: Etoo, Leo Messi, Djalminha, Deco e Luizão.

Coach: Henk ten Cate

_____
It was an overall great night and fun to watch all those player together again, some fat as f*ck could hardly run.

Here are the highlights

The game couldn´t have ended better, this was the last moment of the match, just pure class.

______________

Ryan Gauld

Never watched him play tbh. But Sporting is putting a lot of faith on him, for the future of course, I don´t think he´ll get much game time this season.

 

[ScottishInterista]

He's better than Messi tbh

 

[chiktikka_fastpaws]

Falcao's Law ???

 

[Handoyo]

Was Mourinho involved?

 

[wera]

ofc not, Mourinho was touring with Chelsea

he had one friendly game like this in June (where he tackled a player on the pitch), but otherwise he is 100% focused on Chelsea

 

[Dylan]

Involved in what?

 

[wera]

the Porto - Barca game

 

[Handoyo]

Dat last goal :datass:

Is it just me or does Deco look younger? :| Benjamin Button shit.

Eto'o looks fat as fuck tho. I can't believe this is the player who scored a hattrick past Man utd last season.

Then again that's not saying much. #Monster09

 

[Pajo]

Poll added.

 

[monster09]

Again it's time to ask Azul about players.

How good is Rojo?

Also is he better than Mangala?

 

[Fapuccino]

Again it's time to ask Azul about players.

How good is Rojo?

Also is he better than Mangala?

Idk about the first question, but I don't think there is anyone who considers Rojo better than Mangala. You don't need to ask him that .

 

[monster09]

Idk about the first question, but I don't think there is anyone who considers Rojo better than Mangala. You don't need to ask him that .

Mangala is highly rated by FM fan boys, guy who watched him closely posted this though.

If you asked me about Mangala last year, and I believe I wrote something on FIF about him around that time, I´d say this year he´d only need to gain more experience and more calm on the tackles, he accomplished both but he also started to made a lot of childish mistakes, too many time on possession and lost the ball after, but mostly bad positioning on the box and lacks of concentration that have costed us goals.

Yeah Azul posted this in previous year's thread.

On the other hand Rojo was important player in the defense that conceded 5 less goals in the league. So it's a valid question

 

[Azul]

Sorry about the lack of updates on the first post guys, I've been having such a hard time this last few weeks, sometimes life gives you so much BS in such a short amount of time that it's really hard to deal with it all.

Now I'm at work but I'll do my best to answer the questions tonight and to update the first post during the weekend.

 

[Pajo]

Can you also tell me about Siqueira? He was a beast in EL, but i havent really watched him much in the league to say. Is he good Filipe replacement?

 

[monster09]

Jan Hagen
‏@PortuBall

Breaking: Sporting President Bruno de Carvalho has confirmed Nani is joining the club!

Hoping he would tear the league apart. Much needed change for him.

 

[Azul]

Yeah, it´s official, 20M for Rojo, 10M now, 5M on the 1st of december and 5M on the 1st of July.
Sporting also receives Nani on loan for the season free of charges!

http://web3.cmvm.pt/sdi2004/emitentes/docs/FR51803.pdf

That´s an insane bid for a player like Rojo and and amazing deal for Sporting who sees an ok player that already wanted to leave out with player coming in that will easily be one on their top 3 players.

Again it's time to ask Azul about players.

How good is Rojo?

Also is he better than Mangala?

Abour Rojo I wrote this recently:

I agree with ADRossis friend, even though he was too hard on the guy, he was a valid player for Sporting last season.

He´s a below average LB, who did a good WC, and an average CB (Not good on the air, not particularly strong nor fast, has a good positioning, pass and can score some goals on the attack but that´s about it), I never understood what the big deal around him was.
If the 20M offer by United is indeed true it would just be a ridiculous amount of money for a player like him, Sporting fans were happy about the 15M bid that apparently Southampton did, 20M would be gold.

That being said and after considering the a 3 man defense that may suit him very well if he gets to play with other defenders that are better on the air and on the physical contact, as to mask some of his weaknesses. A CB from the left side that is confident with the ball and can be the first constructor of the game after the team regains the ball on the defense.

But no I don´t think he´s better than Mangala, despite how disappointing he was last season (alongside with pretty much every player on the team) I still believe that if he keeps his concentration high, improves his game with the ball and his positioning (he compensates this several times with his speed) he can become a great CB and a pretty dominant force on the defense, when on his days the guy is up there with the best CBs we´ve ever had, incredibly strong, very fast and almost unbeatable on the air both on the defense and on the attack, last season he looked like a rookie who was clueless most of the games, I´m rooting for him though because he also seems like a humble hard working guy.

Can you also tell me about Siqueira? He was a beast in EL, but i havent really watched him much in the league to say. Is he good Filipe replacement?

I´m not the biggest fan of the guy tbh.
My biggest problem with him starts with a major problem, he´s very injury prone, until the end of 2013 he only got the equivalent game time of 7,5 full games! The guy was always injured! To me that was one of the reasons why he was in such a terrific last third of the season, when typically all the players start to feel really tired, it was by then that he reached his top form.

If you watched some games from Alex Sandro it´s easy to compare the 2 , Siqueira is an Alex Sandro who defends worse.

He´s one of those full backs that appears a lot on the highlights of the game because he´s very fast, can run the whole game and has great technique that makes a difference on the attack, for the portuguese league that´s more than enough, specially for a team like Benfica and Porto where the full backs attack a lot, the problem like I said comes on the defensive part of the game.
He tends to compensate his lack of defensive capacity to the heart he puts on every move he makes, but that also makes him come for the ball too soon when sometimes he should hold the tackle and just occupy the position, for me that´s the biggest problem I have with him, that leads him to get booked quite easily.
Also he´s kind of clueless when it comes to defend inside the box close to the CBs, he clearly isn´t comfortable when he has to occupy that spot (I´m thinks of crosses from the right side on those ball that appear on the second post on that gap between the 2nd CB and the LB). Both him and Alex Sandro are terrible on those.

All things considered, and for a 28 year old defender on a big club right now, and on a much stronger league (but that he knows already for playing there before) I believe he´ll need to show much more capacity on the defense that what he showed here.

 

[Numero Dieci]

What can you tell me about the young lad Bruma from Galata?

 

[Azul]

First post updated.

About Bruma, he was one of the most promising wingers we´ve had since Quaresma, Ronaldo, Nani appeared few years apart from each other.
He benefited from the fact that Sporting was initiating their financial problems which lead them to play the most promising players on the youth teams sooner than expected, he was very good, a classic winger, very fast with a great technique that could decide a game from the wing or on his diagonals for the center, he was crucial for the short period of time that he played for Sporting.
Then came the U20 WC where he was massive, he scored 5 goals iirc and was the star of the team, keep in mind that he was only 18 then, everyone was after him at that time! A very promising player and cheap because he just had left the youth teams.

His greedy agent tried to get all the money for himself by trying to find a legal way to get him out of the club, he missed the call from the club for the beggining of the season and for the next weeks it was a massive legal dispute from both sides, eventually Sporting won and he had to return for the club but... with only one year of contract Sportings hands were tied.

They ended up selling him for the highest bidder, Gala, for 10M years which was a very good deal considering all that happened.
The player was reported to earn between 1000 to 1500€/month at the time and ended up earning 1M year plus incentives.

He had a severe knee injury in his early times with Gala and left for another club on loan to give his foreigner spot on the club to another player.
I guess that´s pretty much it, I was sad he left Sporting because it was an ideal club for him to evolve but I hope he doesn´t lose himself to money there, we already lost so many talents because of that, Dani and Fábio Paím are the ones that strike my mind immediately.