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| Thursday, 14 June 2012 01:42 | ||||||||||||||||
Portugal 3-2 Denmark tactical breakdown Portugal and Denmark met on Wednesday in what could have potentially been the end of the road for the Selecção if they didn't get the win they so desperately needed. Up against their nemesis - who were on the back of a somewhat fortunate victory against the Netherlands - Portugal only had one way to go: forward.
Both coaches chose to keep their starting elevens, as if stating that any adjustments that their sides might need were minor. Paulo Bento had expressed his confidence in Postiga and explained how the role of a striker extends further than just goal stats, which eliminated any lingering doubts and hopes about the possibility of Nélson Oliveira starting the match. Morten Olsen, in turn, had no apparent reason to tweak a team that had frustrated the World vice-champions.
Even though both the Portuguese coach and players had said that they were happy about their display against Germany and the criticism was ill-founded, the fact is that Portugal heeded the call for a more proactive game. In fact, although the Portuguese defensive positioning wasn't criticised for being laid back, they stepped it up a notch and pressured the Danes near their box - it was clear that Bento had watched their previous match and wanted to keep Denmark from playing the ball out from the back.
While it's true that Portugal was trying to win the ball back as soon as possible, Bento was also interested in keeping Denmark from slowing the game too much and dictating the tempo. That way, the Portuguese would always be proactive and on alert. However, Denmark managed to avert this pressure a few times, namely through their go-to play - the ball goes from one of the centre-backs to the wing, one of the midfielders gets it back in the centre and quickly plays it toward the weak side.
After the first 15 minutes of intense attack down the right from the Danes, Portugal finally managed to stop the bleeding and started winning the ball back more and more. Not only were the interceptions further up, but Ronaldo was also better at linking up attack and defence, something Portugal lacked against Germany. In fact, Ronaldo was so dedicated to it that he virtually left his wing unattended (more on that later).
The first Portuguese goal was not exactly surprising - even if the way it was scored was. The Selecção seemed to have finally found their rhythm and every player was clearly more confident on and off the ball. Nani and the three midfielders were tireless workers when Portugal did not have possession of the ball and were particularly good in picking up loose balls. Indeed, the second goal was a perfect example of it and it meant a boost in morale for Hélder Postiga, the scorer. The match seemed all but over, but a Danish cross from the right a few minutes before half-time led to Bendtner's goal and a sea of uncertainty.
With Veloso keeping the playmaker Eriksen rather quiet, Portugal were able to control the game, even if they were not dominating. Attracting their opponent into the trap, Bento's men kept allowing Agger time on the ball and pounced as soon as he misdirected a pass or tried to take one player too many, which led to numerous counter-attacks, two of which were wasted by Ronaldo and would effectively have killed the game.
With no killer instinct and their usual profligacy, Portugal seemed to start to feel the pressure for a win and became nervous. Meireles and Moutinho both reverted to the quick-draw passing mode and the Danes were offered a way back into the game. It was by then that Ronaldo's instructions not to track back started making less and less sense, because while Olsen's men had tried to do it during the first minutes of the match, they had now no doubts about where to hit Portugal. Even though there's no need for a team to be symmetrical, it still needs to be balanced - which it clearly wasn't. Any (current and future) adversary of the Portuguese team will have chalked the hole on the left wing down in their playbook. Even though the huge gap and Coentrão's suffering were plain for everyone to see, Bento surprisingly replaced Postiga with Nélson Oliveira. While it meant that Portugal was now able to hold the ball up a bit longer, it failed to address the problem on the left wing and the Danish goal seemed on the cards. When Bendtner scored his second goal, it was not surprising at all. Varela somehow managed to score the goal that allowed Portugal to breathe a bit better for now, but this was a game that they should have won in a breeze, given Denmark's evident frailties in the organised attacking phase. In a tournament this competitive, not scoring when you have the chance means you probably won't be around for much longer.
If Portugal are to avoid crashing out immediately after progressing from the Group of Death, they must improve at dictating the tempo, score the opportunities that their good defending yields and, most importantly, address the huge gap that Ronaldo leaves on the left wing. If not, the Netherlands may just be the team to hurt them badly.
by Vasco Mota Pereira
Vasco runs http://aboladovasco.blogspot.com/ and
http://combinationplay.blogspot.com/, two blogs exclusively about football. Chalkboards created via the Stats Zone app, available for free in the App Store. |
Never getting behind our players. Do you know how many teams wish they had Ronaldo in the team, along with a few of our players.
Today is a big game, Ronaldo will help us. Moutinho also needs to step up a bit!
He's a fantastic player, no doubt about it. And I am in a special position to say it because I have followed his career closely since Manchester United bought him, I pretty much have seen all his games since then, and since he's gone to Real as well I have watched him. With Mourinho he's become an even better player, he's a machine.
However, even at Real he has struggled in big games, especially against Barcelona.
And for Portugal he has struggled to make his mark and really impose himself. In big tournaments, not qualifiersm European qualifiers aren't that hard come on. In all the major tournaments Ronaldo has not shone. And given his talent, his form for his club he is expected to shine and be a star.
Anything less is simply not good enough.
Now there may be many reasons, and perhaps not all down to him. It may be that the players around him aren't as good, maybe the team plays different from what he is used to, maybe the manager plays a less than attractive brand of football or may be even he is getting instructions from his manager that make him look lazy.
Regardless of this, he is a self confessed star and wants to be the best in the world, as such he HAS to shine, anything less is a failure. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it and so does he.
To refute this point is to be blissfully blind, I'm afraid to say.
PS - I completely disagree that it is Ronaldo that caused so many good players to be in the major European teams. That trend has started since the mid 90's, and increased since Mourinho came to the scene, it is him that has done more for Portuguese football and standing in the world than Ronaldo.
Out of the players mentioned, Meireles and Coentrao are the most likely to pick up a second yellow card. Obviously, Fabio is an extremely important player, but I'd feel comfortable with Lopes coming in to replace him. He may not offer as much in attack, but he's definitely solid defensively.
If Meireles picks up a second yellow, Bento could make some interesting changes to both the personnel and formation. If Bento wants a more attacking line up (unlikely to start a game) he could utilize a 4-2-3-1 with Nani as the attacking midfielder and Moutinho and Veloso as the holding midfielders.
He could also make a straight swap by putting Ruben Micael in his place, but I don't see how Ruben could really improve us in any way. He is decent technically, but he doesn't have the work rate or tenacity to excel in Bento's 4-3-3. Therefore, Bento could decide to partner Veloso with either Hugo Viana or Custodio, thus pushing Moutinho into a more advanced position behind the center forward.
Also, let's not forget that Fabio Coentrao could also play as a box-to-box midfielder if needed. This is unlikely considering how well he plays at left back, but his energy, pace, and tough tackling could be very useful in the midfield.
Against the Dutch, Paulo Bento will likely use the same team that played Denmark and Germany. Nelson Oliveira and Varela will likely remain our offensive impact subs, and Custodio and Viana can come in for Meireles if he wants to solidify the midfield in a more defensive approach.
With that being said i believe this team can go along way if we can advance out of this group, if we can get that W against the dutch we can make some real big noise is the knockout stages
As far as Ronaldo, I'm not to worried, we proved we can win when he has an off day, and even when he doesn't score he pulls defenders towards him which open up the pitch for the other players.
I'm confident that we can beat this dutch team as their individual egos seem to be getting the better of them, especially if Robben wants to be a ball hog and take on our entire defense by himself. Just makes it better for us that he doesn't spread the ball around
Justin: Its simple, we are a fickle people. I agree with you totally and I'm experiencing the same input from the old folks down here in So Flo. They are even going as far as calling him a homo and a disgrace to Portugal. I've spent several hours this afternoon arguing with these "tuntas".
Paulo Bento is doing a good job! He's gotten this team to improve tremendously and I truly believe that they are capable of winning any game once they play their best! In the first part of the game when we went up 2-0 that is a testament to the ability that we have! Also I'm fully behind Ronaldo, sure he slipped up, but as always he will rise again and deliver! This team works hard for each other and whats important is everybody is chipping in with goals here and there and they all have a strong desire to win! That is a credit to Paulo Bento! Once we focus completely and maintain our control of the game we can win and progress. Thats one thing Bento will have to address to the players, the need to continue to control the game after we score and lead. Bento is a direct guy and I have confidence that he will deal with this and improve the team in this aspect. Ronaldo loves Portugal and he will bounce back and bring us joy with goals again! Big congrats to Postiga scoring another key goal for us! He absolutely tries his best, and he's a dangerous scorer in the box! There were some negatives but like I said I'm sure Bento will sort it out and inspire us to become even more thorough with our game! The great positive again is that the whole team has a strong winning mentality and everybody is chipping in to score and win the game! Once we give our best and are completely focused we can win our game vs Netherlands and progress! I believe! Forca Portugal!!!
if you relay need to criticise CR please don't use you usual name here .Because I am 100% sure he will made you byte your tongue with his performance this coming weeks.
Everything you just said is everything I've felt and everything I've had to grow up listening to. Canadian Portuguese are just like American Portuguese, considering the masses emigrated at the same time and come from similar families, many of which are pessimistic Azoreans.
Fed up of having our own people criticize us. Bad enough everyone else does. Ronaldo choked vs. Denmark, yes. One game doesn't make a career. Just because you're losing, doesn't mean you're lost. I hope to God he shuts everyone up Sunday and thereon.
Young Portuguese North Americans are the ones who believe in the team, and in the country as a whole. The ones who emigrated here during the Mozambique war or during tough economic times (mainly on the islands) will never get over their pessimistic view of the world, let alone their own people.
Enough is enough. No country in the world (aside from perhaps Uruguay) is as impressive as Portugal when it comes to quality-per-population in football. Be proud.
Paulo - that is a pretty unfair assessment of Ronaldo. His play at Real this year showed that his vision and creativity is there - IF he has the finishers on the other end.
I like Postiga - he seems to come up big when we need him, but he is nowhere near Benzema or Higuain. Ronaldo played him through a couple of times yesterday, but Postiga couldn't catch up - if that was Benzema, it would have been a break.
The lack of finishers up front stifles his creativity and I think he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders to create and score on his own. He seemed to have a bit more confidence in Oliveira.
I just don't understand all the criticism for this guy - it seems like the rest of the world wants to hate him...yesterday, the Danes were chanting "Messi" - why? why not chant Bendtner?
For everyone here that thinks our team is better off without him - give you heads a shake, there isn't a manager in the world that would agree with you, there isn't a manager in the world that wouldn't want to have him.
He wears his heart on his sleeve and is too emotional - but I don't think there is a man on this team that wants to win as badly as he does...maybe Pepe, but that's it.
Let's be proud
I think the difference is that they have been watching the Seleccao for more longer and they know and have seen them play good football.
Personally the only time I was proud and confident of Portugal was the last tim ethey played well, in Euro 2000, incidentally when Nuno Gomes was the striker.
The problem with Ronaldo is that his lack of work rate sets him apart from other great Portuguese players, of recent history, like Figo and Rui Costa, they had far more influence in the team than Ronaldo does.
Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but he's purely a counter-attacking machine, blessed with great awareness, pace and driblling skills. He does not however create chances nor does he play defence splitting passes, he's got no creativity, his vision is limited and his decision making is too selfish the majority of the time.
Because Portugal indeed lack a player with these qualities he is rarely ble to profit from a a great passes, and when they do happen he seemingly wastes them in a manner that he does not for his club.
With this Ronaldo ten years ago, Portugal could have been World Champions, and playing great football.
Now, let's admit for one minute that just playing good football or the best football is not a prerrogative of success. We have had many recent examples of this: Denmark 92, Greece 2004 and Italy 2006.
Spain was almost apocryphal in the way they have won the last tournaments with a style of football nobody thought was good enough to win , too many passes not enough shots. Indeed Spain won the World Cup with mainly 1-0 wins.
So Portugal may still do well and Ronaldo may still have a couple of good games. But will Portugal play good football? Not this year, and not with Bento.
thank you for being a proud Portuguese, I wish there where more like you out there.. keep it alive as long as you can.
keep the faith..
Before calling Cristiano, can we please find out what Bento was asking of him. Did Bento want him to stay forward in order to at the very least be watched and free up others in midfield?
Don't know, just asking.
Yes Cristiano was poor in his finishing, but people need to give it a rest.
In my opinion Veloso will have to play a very smart match verse the Dutch. Our wide defenders have been beaten, and if Veloso doesn't cover for them or for Pepe or Alves when they have to step out, we are in a world of hurt. He will also be critical in cutting off Robben and Sneidjer when come across the middle for that deadly curling shot.
Granted Meireles and or Moutinho will be critical in cutting off those lanes as well.
All in all, I didn't think we played much different verse Denmark than we did verse Germany.
We actually had more ball procession verse Germany (44%) than Denmark (42%). I expect very much the same verse the Dutch.
Maybe can someone help me with the following. I know Portugal has been getting better results, but tactically Bento is using the same approach Queiroz was killed for. Am I wrong?
The good thing is that the Dutch usually attack centrally with inverted wingers. Thankfully, this will suit Portugal's defensive strengths. We are almost impossible to break down centrally with passing/dribbling. The Dutch can only beat us if they spread the field and pump crosses to Huntelaar and/or Van Persie.
The Dutch will likely drop either De Jong or Van Bommel in favor of van der Vaart which will leave their horrible defense susceptible to counter attacks. We have to be intelligent in possession (Pepe and Alves should stop smashing it aimlessly up the field), and we need to give Ronaldo and Nani plenty of time on the ball. If we test their bad defense, we'll win.
Portugal should be able to beat a very unimpressive Dutch side that's under a lot of pressure.
Portugal to win 3-1.
With a great picture of the number of interceptions of Ronaldo: Zero.
Ronaldo is our weakest link.