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| Wednesday, 29 February 2012 22:27 |
Portugal play out goalless draw in WarsawPoland 0-0 Portugal Portugal were left to rue missed opportunities as they were held to a 0-0 draw tonight by Poland at the newly christened National Stadium in Warsaw.
Paulo Bento fielded a strong line-up to start the game, with the only change from the playoff with Bosnia being Almeida as the starter in place of Postiga. On the heels of such a grand performance at the Estadio da Luz, expectations were relatively high and Portugal certainly started more confidently than their hosts. The Portuguese had their first look at goal with only four minutes on the clock when a long ball out of the defence was flicked on by Meireles into the path of Nani, who let loose a fierce shot on the half volley that was beaten away by Szczesny. Almeida dragged a shot wide minutes later as Portugal continued to dictate the tempo of the game and look menacing on the attack. Poland were at first unable to string enough passes together to even approach the attacking third of the pitch, but eventually recorded their first shot in the 13th minute when Ludovic Obraniak found some space just outside the penalty area. Livewire NaniIn the 21st minute Bento was forced to bring on Nelson when Fabio Coentrao pulled up with a suspected hamstring pull. Poland continued to press Portugal back into their own half and eventually the visitors created another chance on the counterattack. Nani put Ronaldo through on goal after racing clear down the right, but the Real Madrid man’s shot was parried away by Szczesny. Poland should have been one up late in the half when Bruno Alves slipped and failed to cut out Nelson’s risky back pass, allowing Ireneusz Jelen a free run on goal. Jelen mercifully wasted the opportunity when he tried to round Patricio, who did extremely well to get a hand to his attempted lob and push it just wide of goal. Szczesny impressesIn the first minute of stoppage time, Nani returned the favour when he elected to shoot instead of pass to a wide open Almeida at the back post. His shot sped past the post and Poland went into the break grateful for Portugal’s profligacy and goalkeeper Szczesny, who made four crucial saves in the first half.Poland started the second half on the front foot and Obraniak brought a great save out of Rui Patricio after running right down the centre of the pitch through the Portuguese defence. Portugal struggled to respond to the increased pressure from the Poles and created very little during the opening quarter hour of the second half. Bento began to make changes and first introduced Postiga and Rolando in place of Almeida and Pepe respectively. Ronaldo, who had a very quiet evening on the left wing, was replaced by Quaresma in the 75th minute. Nelson Oliveira makes debutA minute later, Nani’s cross very nearly found Postiga at the edge of the six-yard box, but Szczesny was out to stymie the opportunity and the defence was able to clear the ball to safety. Nelson Oliveira made his international debut in the 80th minute for Nani, providing Bento a minimal opportunity to scrutinize the Benfica striker.Poland wasted a glorious opportunity to score when Mierzejewski teed up Peszko to shoot from close range, forcing another great save from Rui Patricio. The Sporting keeper then saved Mierzejewski’s effort from outside the box as Poland piled on the pressure in the closing stages. In the end it was another lacklustre performance from Portugal in terms of finishing. The Seleccao created enough opportunities in the first half to put the game away, but were denied by the outstanding Wojciech Szczęsny and were guilty of being selfish at key moments. Portugal also struggled to bring Cristiano Ronaldo into the game and will certainly need to rectify that situation if they are to have any hope of advancing from Group B at Euro 2012. Portugal: Patricio, Joao Pereira, Pepe (Rolando, 66), Bruno Alves, Coentrao (Nelson, 21), Veloso, Moutinho (Manuel Fernandes, HT), Meireles, Nani (Nelson Oliveira, 81), Ronaldo (Quaremsa, 75), Almeida (Postiga, 65) by Nathan Motz |
.................Patricio................
Pereira B.Alves Pepe Coentrao
.Meireles Fernandes Moutinho.
.....Nani Ronaldo Quaresma....
Here are some of my conclusions:- Moutinho and Coentrao are untouchables in the first team, we looked much more ordinary with them off the pitch. We still clearly have a problem at centre-forward, Almeida is never going to be prolific, I have more faith in Postiga but he will never score loads either. And unfortunately CR7 always looks like a winger when playing for the seleccao, rather than the striker which he looks like when playing for Madrid! Why wasn't Oliveira given more than 10 minutes to prove himself? And why was he played on the left, rather than at centre-forward where he should be tried out? He should've come on at half-time for Almeida, I think we all agree on that.
On a positive note, Rui Patricio played his best game yet for the seleccao and probably saved us from a defeat in the second half with a few very good saves. I have been hard on him, but perhaps he is improving, and he is definitely a good reflex shot-stopper. However Bruno Alves showed again that he is not much of a replacement for Carvalho, and really lacks pace. Quicker attacks than Poland's will exploit this weakness against us. We have to hope Pepe bails him out with his brilliance! Fernandes did ok when he came on, but Meireles is clearly first choice for the seleccao.
Lastly, a certain Paulo/Australia mocked the point I made yesterday about the stupid timing of these friendlies and the big risk of injuries to players. Well...25 minutes in and Coentrao limps off injured, I can only imagine what Mourinho thought of that! Thankfully the injury doesn't look serious. Just before half-time, Moutinho suffers a terrible tackle and for a few seconds looks like he will also have to come off the pitch injured...i can imagine what all Porto fans watching must have been feeling for a few moments....again it wasn't too bad and sure Moutinho will be fine. But this proves again how this was a dumb time to have an international friendly and luckily no players who will feature in the classico tomorrow were injured. Great, now for the real fireworks to begin!!!
I did get to see highlights last night, and I do admit that hey sometimes say lies. Lol. But I did see Almeida all alone out in front of goal fr ap on several occasions. Where was the pass?
I think the biggest reason that Postiga looks better in people's eyes, is his work rate. Almeida is a traditional physical striker, while Postiga needs to run all over the place. That's not a knock on either.
As I thought Oliveira didn't get to show anything.
What I meant by same old crap, is that we are back to accomplishing nothing in these friendliest. I for one never get too worked up about them, since I expect certain things to be worked on. Maybe go on all out attacks and see how we react to counters. Play everyone back and see how we cover for each other. That sort of thing. What I found a problem was with this game was that we played it straight and for the win, and yet came out empty. Please don't go on about how Bento has won everything since taking over. His hire was a wake up call to the players, and we still struggled at times.
Worries
Meireles is having a horrible season at Chelsea. It could hurt the Seleccao as well.
Oliveira and Fernandes are not gong to get any work with supposed starters.
No backup center backs.
Bench is very thin and no new blood on it.
The best thing I saw yesterday was a pathetic Dutch defense. Nani is going to eat alive the left back, and hopefully provide that much needed last touch. The Dutch looked slow and deliberate, which should play to our advantage.
Portugal should not play Veleso, too fat and slow. Fernandes should start alongside world class Moutinho. Period.
Postiga is class compared to Almerda, thats right Almerda!
he misses chances, planted offside, cant even head the damn ball at 6ft+ so whats the point? seriously get off the pitch. Instead of calling Nelson as a LB option why not try Bosingwa, Nelson ran into so much trouble last night and almost cost us the game. Portugal never EVER perform against lower ranked teams, too awkward to play against... so WTF are we "warming" up and "preparing" against Poland???? We've got GERMANY & HOLLAND in our group, we should be playing Europes elite! Paulo Bento is too afraid to try anything new... bring back Scolari!
"Almeida is TOTAL GARBAGE! NEVER wanna see him for Portugal again. He totally failed his opportunity. Postiga is CLEARLY pure class for Portugal and plays amazing for us."
LOL What the hell is this crap? Almedia should have had a hat trick before half time if Nani and Ronaldo didnt go for goal. I understand why they went for the shot and having that selfish attitude is good in some ways but not when Hugo is just waiting for a simple pass for a tap in.
"The game really turned up when Oliveira came in for Nani."
No...just no. Nelson barley even got a touch of the ball. In fact he had ZERO impact on the run of play when he came on.
Over all it was a game dominated by Portugal just lacking the finishing touch. I thought that the only players to have a bad game were Nelson and Meireles. Nelson I cant really blame because he came on pretty unexpectedly for Fabio. Raul just wasn't on in this match. I would have liked to have seen him come off for Fernandes. I agree with most on here in the thinking of Nelson O. to start just to see what he can do with Nani and CR7 feeding him the ball...well it wasn't going to happen in this match due to the fact they looked over Hugo.
It felt like I was watching Benfica the past 2 weeks. All the possession in the world but nothing to show for it. I have supreme confidence in this team though. We looked damn good, all that was missing was the goal.
And since its in style here would be my next starting 11
Rui
Coentrao-Alves-Pepe-Pereira
Veloso
Ferandes-Moutinho
Ronaldo-Nelson-Nani
Overall we did good but we should have come away with a win.
Based on this match:
Cons
Almeida - He is slower than a turtle plus he never tracks back. He scored a lovely header against Korea in the WC but he's not scoring consistantly and fails to link up with teammates.
Nani - He is a brilliant player with a ton of skill who could make the difference in a game.. could have played part in two goals but put his personal glory ahead of the team again.
Miguel Veloso - Tidy passing but lacks pace and will be over run by top quality opponents as mentioned.
Bruno Alves - If Almeida's a turtle, this guy's a snail. Gets forward on corner kicks but cannot track back to save his life.
Paulo Bento - All his substitutes were awful.. not literally the players themselves but how it affected the formation. Combining Fernandes and Moutinho would have improved the attack in the 2nd half. He subs CR and Nani before giving Oliveira a shot.. it restricted us from really seeing what he has to offer. The same with Nelson who was forced in Left back when hes a natural right footed player.
Pros -
Joao Moutinho - Absolute work-a-holic. All over the pitch applying pressure and retrieving the ball. Good vision. Vital player who springs most of the attacks through midfield.
Coentrao - Pretty sharp on defence and decent interchanges with CR, unfortunate to lose him early on.
Patricio - Made some big saves and bailed us out on more than one occasion, though I think Eduardo has better control.
The main thing is that this was suppose to be a chance where we could give opportunites and see how players would fit in. The main three that I was looking forward to see: Nelson, Fernandes, and Oliveira were screwed by Bento who broke up the formation.
1) No trust in strikers- Their were at least two or three occassions where the winger broke into teh box and a slight pass to Almeida would have made for a tap in goal. I think it's clear their is little confidence there
2)Subs were puzzling- While Nelson for Coentrao made sense. I would have liked to see Fernandes actually be out their with Moutinho perhaps in place of Meireles. Almeida for Postiga made little difference and Oliveira should have played in the central stiker role not on the wing for Nani. He barely got a touch on the ball there.
3) If either Pepe or Bruno Alves go down injured this team is screwed. As soon as Pepe was subbed off for Rolando the Polish team began to dominate play and could have easily beaten us, as Rolando was beaten plenty of times. Ricardo Costa is not a legitimate option either, they should beg for Carvalho back.
4) On the positive end, I thought Nani played very well but lacked finishing while Ronaldo caused the Polish D a problem as usual. Patricio did very well and looks confident out there.
5) The team lacks depth and I figure this will be the undoing of this club unless some players step up their play big time in the next few months.
I was really upset to see that Oliveira was only given the last 10 minutes in the game . Almeida again proved that he should never start again for Portugal. He could have had a goal or 2 if Nani was less selfish, but his overall play was quite poor. Postiga may not be the greatest striker in the world, but he is much better than Almeida at pressing the defense and linking up with Ronaldo and Nani.
The midfield trio of Moutinho, Meireles, and Veloso again played pretty well, but I still think that there is a lack of defensive tenacity in this trio. All three of these players are calm, highly technical passers, and while they do pass the ball beautifully, neither of them are that great defensively. That's why I'd like to see Manny Fernandes play against Germany and Holland.
Unless Nelson Oliveira gets more playing time with Benfica, there is no way that he'll be a starter for the seleccao this summer. However, he should definitively be part of the squad.
I also hope that Bento comes to his senses and picks Hugo Viana and Paulo Jorge. They are excellent players who will add more depth to the midfield and defense respectively.
My 23 players for this summer:
Strikers: Helder Postiga, Nelson Oliveira
Left Wing: Ronaldo, Varela
Right Wing: Nani, Quaresma
Starting Midfield: Moutinho, Meireles, Veloso.
Midfield Bench: Fernandes, Viana, Andre Santos
Fullbacks: Coentrao, Pereira, Nelson, Silvio
Centerbacks: Pepe, Alves, Paulo Jorge, Rolando
Keepers: Patricio, Eduardo, Beto
Almeida has his issues, but Postiga is great all of a sudden.
I would have preferred to have seen Oliveira play with CR7 and Nani. It's a friendly.
What worries me about this one was that we played our supposed starters and the same crap happens. CR7 can't get into the game, and we can't score unless he does.
Bento accomplished nothing with this match. Then again maybe he now realizes that he needs to do more than just roll the ball out there.
11 should be.
Striker- CR (just give him the freedom to roam). Sub Postiga or the young one Nelson. We've all seen the same garbage; it's time to change it up already.
Midfield- Nani, with Coentrao (said it before he's not a back anymore with club) to support CR. Then Miguel, Manny, and Raul...(Joao good replacement or sub).
Def- Nelson, Alves, Pepe, Pereira
GK- Patricio
What do you all think?
They miss (and have done for many years now) a top class goalscorer.
Nélson Oliveira should have been given 45 minutes.
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