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| Sunday, 15 November 2009 02:04 |
Magnificent Pepe outshines all-comersPortugal player ratings versus Bosnia Portugal played arguably their most important game since the 2006 World Cup tonight. PortuGOAL.net breaks down the narrow victory over Bosnia in Lisbon player by player.
Do you agree? Leave your comments using the form at the bottom of the page
Eduardo: 6.5/10
Poor positioning almost cost Portugal dearly as Ibricic headed a corner against the bar in the first half. However, saved well from Salihovic and showed safe handling when coming to claim crosses.
Paulo Ferreira: 7/10
A surprise choice at right-back and the Chelsea player let nobody down. Did not look like a man who had only played a handful of matches in the past 18 months, with a solid defensive display. Rarely ventured past the half-way line.
Duda: 5/10
The Malaga man continues to be Portugal’s glaring weakness, playing as an adapted left-back. Bosnia’s forwards skipped past him with ease. At the other end of the pitch failed to add to Portugal’s attacking momentum.
Bruno Alves: 7.5/10
Another vital goal, following his last-gasp winner against Albania earlier in the qualifying campaign. Fearless in the tackle, commanding in the air, as per usual, although a momentary lapse soon after scoring earned a severe reprimand from team-mate Pepe.
Ricardo Carvalho: 8/10
Back to his best, the classy Chelsea defender is a rock at the centre of Portugal’s defence, putting the Bosnian forwards and their big reputation in his pocket.
Pepe: 9/10
If Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini was watching this game Pepe should never play as a central defender again for the
Meireles: 6/10
The FC Porto midfielder is still far from the sparkling form he showed throughout last season, although this was a better contribution than of late for both club and country. Helped keep Bosnia’s creative midfielders relatively quiet.
Deco: 6/10
Infuriating as the midfield maestro can be, the superb slalom he produced in the second half followed by a clever cross to set up a golden chance for Liedson, or his incisive pass to Nani in the first half shows just why Queiroz feels he needs Deco in his side. However, time after time the Chelsea man gave away the ball with loose passes and doing the same thing in Zenica on Wednesday could prove fatal.
Nani: 7/10
Portugal’s best player in the first half, the winger used his skill and speed to good effect on several occasions to embarrass the left side of Bosnia’s defence. His final ball often left a lot be desired, but he set up the goal with a peach of a cross. Unlucky to be brought off.
Simao: 6/10
Worked hard but made little impact against the well-marshalled Bosnian defence. A good jinking run and shot in the second half was the best the Atletico Madrid flanker could muster.
Liedson: 7/10
Worked his socks off as usual, never giving the Bosnian defence a moment of peace. Showed a sublime piece of skill in the 57th minute to bamboozle his marker and create a clear goal-scoring opportunity for himself, which he will be disappointed to have spurned.
Substitutes:Fabio Coentrao: 4/10
Didn’t put a foot right. Failed to control his nerves on his debut appearance. Coentrao is an exciting talent for the future but throwing him into the action in such an important match was evidently too big an ask.
Tiago & Almeida: Not enough time to have any meaningful influence on events.
by Tom Kundert
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In my opinion, when in his prime better than Boswinga and Ferreira. He is able to defend better than Boswinga and can attack almost as good as Boswinga (his final balls can be lacking). Miguel still has some good mileage and at 80% is a better option than Ferreria. It is time that he is embraced and gets back on the field. All these petty punishments could cost the national team an opportunity to qualify. It is time to move on as the player has been disciplined (discipline is suppose to correct behavior while punishment tends to be regressive).
Go Portugal!
I think it is high time we give defences more to worry about in the box.
Moutinho is a smart guy he slots in well behind Dicko who isn't so smart.. and can sweep up his mistakes.
Because you have a bias you automatically think everyone else has it.
I unlike most on Portuguese sites don't have a major bias.. yes I am a PT Benfica fan.. but I also cheer on all the other Portuguese teams in Euro comps and that is the majority of the games I watch.
The Portuguese league weak in weak out is just that weak. It would've been a Freudian slip if I hadn't meant it intentionally.
As you will see 98% of my posts are only on the national team.
Also I can tell your bias is exclusively offensive.. and has nothing to do with Total Football.
Of course in your eyes you will like one dimensional players like Bosingwa, Quaresma, Almeida, Nani, Deco, even maybe Duda, not to mention many more.. they go one way.
Football is a two way game.. and Bosingwa can only make passes he can't defend period... bar a fluke touch.
The only reason Miguel is in the doghouse is because he was caught out partying with Costinha, Fernandes, Maniche, Dani, and a few others. Scolari gave him the finger and Quieroz is a dumb lacky who listens when he is told by his dumb superiors. Unfortunately the party rule didn't affect CR, Nani, Deco, Pepe..etc that have been known to get up to some trouble.
Besides there is no comparison between the two, one is a two way player the other is not. Watch the highlights of the Italy game where they took his ass apart repeatedly.. costing us a game against the enemy, or Germany, or any other good team with a decent winger on his wing.
Yet they still are the two best for Portugal and should both play as I had listed.. until Bosingwa gets better I had Veloso from Benfica who is a lousy defender but no where near as bad as Duda..
unfortunately Antunes has flown the coup.
To round out the back four I had Carvalho and Alves both from Benfica.
In net of course Eduardo also from Benfica of Braga.
As witnessed on Saturday everyone will agree now with what I and others had taken flack for ..square pegs in round holes.. without Pepe from Real Benfica shutting down the holes created by Duda and Ferret we would've lost by 20.
Contrary to your perception.. reality is that it was a perfect spot to clog up those holes with a square peg.
Moving on up the pitch I had CR and Danny on the wings not that far removed from what you had.. I debated switching Danny to the middle and Simao to the wing.. but I like Danny's pace on the wing.. and like Simao's direct play and passing ability in the middle.. neither him nor Danny are ball hogs..not to mention he has swerve in his shot which is needed in the middle.
Danny of course is from Zenit St. Benfica.
Simao of course who used to play for Benfica & Sporting and is now playing for Athletico Benfica.
Then I had up front Leidson for Sporting Clube de Benfica with either Nuno Gomes or Makakula from Benficaspor in Turkey.
Besides the fact that Simao was support striker for the last bunch of games that we actually won and he got goals (power to the square peg) and Nuno Gomes has scored many important goals for Portugal coming off the bench.. their inclusion has more to do than just offense.. they are two way players.. and are needed on any successful team.
If you could count then you would see there are only two differences in our squads (player wise), you had Nani, and Moutinho in your starting squads and I went with experience.
I also had Moutinho on my shortlist.. literally he is short.
Yet you let your shorts get all crunchy even though we had nearly identical squads.. sounds like you hate me more than my team...lol
Guess I won't be getting a Christmas card from you this year..lol
Besides you using the nick of my favourite Golden Gen player we share nothing in common..
So how does your credibility look now when you insult my players and then select them for your squad especially when they are 4 years past due.. Prostar?..lol
This would be the best 11 in my opinion.
-------------------------Eduardo---------------------------
Miguel----------Carvalho----------Alves----------Veloso
----------------------------Pepe--------------------------------
Deco--------------------Moutinho
Simao--------------Liedson--------------Nani
Veloso left back for Duda. Moutinho alot better then Meireles. Paulo Ferreira is weak on set pieces.
I think this is the best line up for wednesday. If anyone else thinks this is good has a better line up let me know.
Miguel Carvalho. Alves. Bosingwa
Pepe
Ronaldo. Nani
Moutinho
Danny
Liedson
Those 3 up frint work hard and come back to recover.I feel you should have as much speed on the wings defensivly and attacking(bosingwa played everywhere for porto even dm he can do it) When playing against bigger teams ie Bosnia insert Maka or Almeida for danny and play them as a CF not a second striker.Even if you don't like noutinho he needs a chance to succed.If we need to keep a lead I'd call up meira or velso and remove thw cf or second striker....Veloso would allow more ball control Meira would give us another solid DM with height who's not as willing to go forward as Pepe and can link up well with the forwards as his original position was DM.....just my humble opinion.
----------------------Carvalho---------------Alves-----------------------------
------Miguel----------------------------------------------------M.Veluso-------
-------------------------------------Pepe-------------------------------------
----------------------------Deco------------Tiago------------------------
-----------Simao------------------------------------ --------Nani-------------
---------------------------------Liedson-----------------------------------
Why is Simao getting so much crap? he was pretty much our best player in the previous 2 games, and he wasnt that bad in this game either, just a little quite, he is our best option for captaincy and deserves far more than anyone else, even CR.
As for Ferreira...everything else aside...does it really make sense to play a player with practically no first team playing time in over two years, and just recently back from injury, over a player who has been a consistent starter for Valencia for several years now. I agree completely with those that have said the Miguel is better than Bosingwa. Arjen Robben said that Miguel was the best defender he'd ever played against. I really hope that someone in the dressing room can convince CQ to let Miguel start.
At LB...ugh. Veloso? I don't like the whole playing players out of position bit, but I know he's been used there before. Other than him though I struggle to think of anyone else capable.
Anyway I look forward to the next game, and hope that some changes will be made.
Forca Portugal!
An Brazilian Ronaldo, Henry, Drogba, Adabeyor.. are rare in this world.
At full strength I think right now the best squad would be..
--------------Leidson--------Gomes/Makakula-----------
-----CR-----------------Simao--------------------Danny-----
---------------------------Pepe------------------------------------
----Miguel-------Alves-------Carvalho------Bosingwa---
----------------------------Eduardo------------------------------
for now Miguel and Veloso on the pitch in the FB positions would be good.. Nani instead of Danny without Gomes or Mak maybe Simao next to Leidson..
------Miguel----Carvalho---------------Alves------M.Veluso-------
------------------Pepe-----------------------Tiago-----------------------
-----------------------------------Deco------------------------------------
--------------Simao------------------------------------Nani-------------
---------------------------------Liedson-----------------------------------
EDUArDO
MIGUEL---CARVALHO---ALVES---PEPE
----------------------VEloso--------------------------
------------------moutinho--- deco------------------
----- Nani-----------liedson-------------simao-----
IF WE MAKE IT TO THE WORD CUP AND I BELIEVE WE CAN WE SHOULD TRY SOLUTIONS TO THE LEFT BACK PROBLEM AND OTHER AREAS OF CONCERN like duda is not cutting it see if options for lb could be bosingwa, nelson, maybe pepe as he is fast strong and is one of the best defence maybe youngster jose goncalves as well
as well as center midfielers we should try out others as manuel fernandes is finally back from injury and vitor pele is playing first team football in spain and players like paulo machado and nacional midfielder micael and younger trio of wingers and forwards coentrao varela yannick probably most exciting trio of portugal in the league
Pauleta didn't do shit in the big tournaments when he was needed. Who else do we have now? Nuno gomes has always been a go to guy for the national team, but he is in his mid thirties and way past his prime. Helder postiga is mediocre. Hugo Almeida is way too inconsistent, just a big brute. Who do we have in under 21? Orlando Sa, Yazalde, Rabiola? Common! All we have is a decent brazilian striker in his 30's.
Our best chance to win anything was in the previous golden generation of Figo. God we had a great team. Figo, Rui Costa, Paulo Sousa, Fernando Couto, Vitor Baia. A team with these players could beat anybody. Who do we have now.
Many of our younger players like joao moutinho, miguel veloso, nani, etc. have failed to reach their potentials. Instead of Baia we have Eduardo. Instead of paulo sousa we have players like meireles and tiago. Instead of rui costa we have the washed up deco and the young moutinho.
Cristiano Ronaldo arguably is the greatest portuguese player of all time and has the potential to be better than the likes of Pele and Maradona. However, I do not think he alone can carry the seleccao especially with his attitude. Last, but not least we need a new manager. Carlos Queiroz has destroyed our team. We rely on our center backs to score our goals? Doesn't sound very portuguese to me. I just pray every day that we will qualify for the world cup, but if we make it, I do not see us making the semi finals.
- Duda and Ferreira need to sit out the next match.
- Miguel needs to play
- Although Deco and Simao did not have great games yesterday, they have the ability to have break-out games.
Thank God for Carvalho & Pepe.
bunch of Italian morons that run it with a Serie A slant.. they hate the English make fun of the Portuguese.. and have a bunch of commenters from countries with no clue about football and its history.. wannabe poor grammared mofo's with broken engrish and no points to prove their argument.
I stopped posting there because it was a futile gesture in a sea of morons.. here you debate, disagree, and carry on.. over there it is totally different.
I would suggest that site to no one.. besides their comments system is brutal.. having to surf 10 pages with 5 comments each... it shows the importance they place on their users.. but any moron with an Italian name can write there with no qualifications except their bias.
It makes me the most popular guy at a party and sometimes the guy that is most misunderstood.
Mattheiro my friend preech on..
I too find it disgraceful.. you would have to chop my leg off to tackle me.. I come hard working parents not pansy ass mofo's it is surprising how many Porkchops see it as part of the game.. I truly hate those people..
We should be playing to a higher level..or we're no better than Italy and their tainted trophies.
Fernando spot on..
As for our Bosnian friend.. asking for Moutinho.. unlike your team where the manager makes the most of his resources and has instilled confidence in his players hence the results, we have the Opposite.. our manager has inspired the paradox of play.
Good-luck on Wednesday.. may we beat you respectfully.. no offense we just want you to get away and enjoy next summer.. instead of spending it in front of the TV watching footie.
We are a very considerate bunch..lol
besides if you aren't used to it.. like we are.. the couch/settee can get awfully hard for the big games.. we wouldn't want you to have to suffer that not too mention losing your voice from screaming at the tv, and the amount of beer/meat necessary to satisfy everyone you invite over.
So when we knock you out on Wednesday just remember how nice we were being to you, and all the pain we are taking on your behalf. All we ask for in exchange is some prayers to have our manager fired before that day comes or we will need more beer to quench the anger...lol
Forca Portugal
My exact comment was this:
"Queer-Eyes was born in Mozambique-can we start a petition to have him deported? Maybe that would solve our problem, hey I hear Mozambique needs a coach.. he is perfect for it. Second rate manager for a second rate team."
This was said tongue in cheek because I know we can't deport him now.. I checked..lol
Also although Mozambique won yesterday knocking out Tunisia they are anything but a world beater. The Mamba has never qualified for a World Cup not that I haven't wished them to be there, and when I was speaking about second rate I wasn't talking about the people strictly the football team that has never really done well.
Best placing in FIFA rankings was 66th. That makes them a second rate team one who never qualifies and is why I lumped them together with Queer-Eyes which to date has never qualified our PNT either although this is his 3rd attempt.
I hope it all makes sense now. If you read it clearly my friend in the first place you would've understood I wasn't insulting the people of Mozambique.
Besides if I was God Portugal would have more World Cup's (20), England (10), both Italy and Argentina wouldn't have any, they instead of Mozambique would never qualify so the fans wouldn't have to be subjected to their cheating ways. The Toronto Maple Leafs wouldn't be waiting since 67 to win a Stanley Cup, as well as Benfica would be on a streak of 5 European Champions League Trophies in a row with the Portuguese Liga having won 9 out of the last 10. Only the English would give us great games and the Italian League would only have one boring team qualify of which they would have to playoff for their spot.
Canada would be a sunny destination with only great weather 364 days a year. There would be no world hunger, the work week would consist of four 4 hour days, with no Over-time and companies would pay everyone huge money with benefits that cover every aspect of life and leisure.
Nobody would get sick, Doctors and Dentists would be unneeded.. every terrorist would blow up only himself.. they would never die and they would have to live with their deformities as a sign of their stupidity..
Clearly I am not God..lol
Gotta love this comment by Greg:
"Ferreira is a mere bandage on a missing limb "
Classic will have to use this in the future..lol
Also agree it is time to have Moutinho play as he is more consistent than Dicko.. as Jon mentioned but Miguel is not #2 he is #1.. Bosingwa can't defend to save his life in my opinion. The only thing I can think of is the Miguel banged Queer-Eyes wife because there has been no reason for his demotion.. besides partying.. which never got CR in trouble or any of the other players on the team.
JJ we did notice Nani's overall play as you did.. but he was still one of the better ones on the pitch..
so I'll have to refer you to Greg's comment:
Nani is just a bandage on a missing leg.. lol
there is still problems that need fixing.. like the formation.. once fixed Nani will look better.
As for why Alves and the other CB's were still there that is what they do.. it is one of the moments in the game where the mids and some of the wingers etc are pushed back and have to cover the CB's who cover for them all game.
It is not out of the ordinary.. guys like Luis and Luisao at Benfica stay longer.
Besides their height isn't needed at the back at that point when it will be a counter attack if they lose the ball.. what you need is speed covering back at that point.
I also think that Bosnia is a decent team one that can't be taken lightly.. especially with this PNT that has a habit of dropping games to poor opposition.. even the newspapers realize that and is why they are commenting.. Bosnia is a team that scores quickly and finds openings to attack. The Slavic countries of the past always did so and they still do.. albeit Serbia prefers to defend. Just to answer Rui's question..
May the PNT do enough like they did the other day to overcome CQ's failings..
Coentrao was weak. He should not play in Bosnia. Not the time and place to give him experience.
Carvalho, Pepe and Alves and Liedson were solid.
Deco and Nani have to be better.
I thought that Merrieles was OK, but I prefer Tiago
I thought Euduardo was good. Make a brilliant save in the first half.
Not sure who is better/more experienced than Duda at left back. Not the time to play inexperienced players......Perhaps this is why CQ plays Ferreira
One factor that works in Portugal's favour for the next match is Bosnia's disciple situation. They are out 3 starters so this should help to offset the big home advantage that they will have on wednesday
Forca!
I was so sick of this performance from Portugal yesterday it almost gave me nightmares knowing Bosnia could of won.
Our flow of the game was horrible with Deco losing the ball with his poor passing and dribbling and having Nani on the wing didn't make things any better except his alright cross to Bruno Alves. As time goes on I am starting to pick out which players shouldn't be playing and which should. Again Deco has lost his touch for both Club and Country his passing was off, his dribbling was horrible and he's lost his pace completely. Now Nani isn't horrible but he's still to immature to start a game. To me when Nani gets the ball all I see him do is run as fast as he can hit the ball way to far ahead of himself, lose control of it and ends up making a horrible pass or just waiting for the defender to come near him so he can dive.
Let's face it Portugal plays a game of chace, catch us if you can or monkey in the middle game, When we get the ball all we do with it is pass it back and forth between each other, Run with the ball as fast as we can making us look like were going all the way but really were just waiting for our opponents to run near us so we can dive. I am so sick of seeing our players fall to the ground like pussies while we should be running them over. The number one thing i have been tought from my Portuguese parents is to not get pushed around. Reel Portuguese people have balls not pussies and first of all we don't fall to the ground and cry or complain that is not the way we were brought up. When we ever fall to the ground it should be due to the fact we actually got hit even than we should still get up and not cry.
This new Generation of Portuguese players have been looking up to the wrong player the self centered,Crying,Diving,all about looks and complainer so called captain Ronaldo. This new generation should be looking back and should be trying to mimic players like Figo,Eusebio,Rui Costa and Pauleta these players had balls they new how to win the right way and they new if they lost it was due to the fact they weren't good enough or simply they didn't try hard enough.
All I see from this Team we call amazing is a bunch of babies, weaklings and complainers. If you people really think Portugal can compete in 2010 your WRONG! lets just hope we don't face Brazil,Spain or even England because be prepared for an EMBARRASMENT!
And by any chance Portugal does perform well in 2010 if we make it......... I WILL REGRET WHAT I SAID.
But like always im cheering for My Country but i am still disgraced to know my team is overrated.
Forca Portugal
We are better than this!!!!!!!!!
IT WASN'T A FRIENDLY QUIEROZ!!!!!!
Part of me thinks CQ doesn't understand that if Portugal had lost that game, they wouldn't be going to the world cup. Very poor decision.
Enough about that, I absolutely agree with whoever said that Alves, Carvalho, and Pepe must be on the field at all times. It is essential, they have been Portugal's best players during this campaign. Offensively, I would like to see a little more of Almeida because he is big and physical and plays against many of these same players in the Bundesliga.
Aside from that I agree that Veloso is a gamble because he doesn't focus on defense. Now, putting him in midfield is a *maybe*.....but I'd still have to say no because he wanders forward too much.
But most of the news papers in every corner said that Bosnian has the quality defeat Portugal in their home soil.Did you guys see that kind of a quality from this Bosnian side.i don't think so they are not that good side even Iran beet them in their home ground not so long ago.
you man.you acting like fool.I am a great fan of Portugal football and my native place is Mozambique too.How dare you insult like that we are second rated country.are you a god or something. if you have any personal problems with cq please insult him no problem.but don,t post these kind of comments on other countries it is not good for Portugal,s reputation as a nation which is one of the greatest in Europe.
CQ showed that he didn't know what he was doing when he pulled Nani, however. He was one of the most dangerous players on the pitch, along with Liedson. And after pulling him, the team never had a real offensive threat for the rest of the match.
While Liedson had a great match, the team failed to set him up for finishing shots. Too often he worked his socks off to set up teammates who simply could not finish. If the team is to score in Bosnia, they need to return the favor.
With that said he did drop a dime piece to Bruno, but how Alves was still in the offensive third after the corner was cleared still leaves me mistified (but very thankful haha).
Plus, Nani's ability to make that one game changing play, whether its swinging in a great ball (like today) or making one great penetrating run should be reason enough to leave him in the game, espicially in Ronaldo's absense.
Ferreira played ok, but miguel is a much better #2 to Bosingwa. I agree that our strength is our 3 center backs.
We could have scored at least another goal or 2. Deco had some good passes, but also had some dreadful ones. We need deco to provide defense splitting passes like he used to or I think Moutinho should get the start.
Against Bosnia I would use this team.
----------------Eduardo---------------
Miguel----Carvalho---Alves--Veloso
----------------Pepe-------------------
----------Meireles--Moutinho-----
Nani----------Almeida-------Simao
I would use Almeida over liedson for a height advantage. Meireles actually played much better today, and I dont anyone can replace him in his box to box role. We should be able to pull away with at least a tie. An early away goal should be enough to guarantee us qualification,
FORCA PORTUGAL
1) Duda is become a glaring weakness not only for defending but his attacking has become weak, I forced Veloso to play LF and even consider an old whipping boy Ricardo Costa.
2) Agree with comments on Pepe, I believe PORTUGAL MUST HAVE PEPE, ALVES, AND CARVALHO ON THE FIELD AT ALL TIMES.
3) I even agree that Ferreira my favorite whipping boy played decent though he got beat on the second header that hit the post. I still think Miguel is a better option and at some point
Paulo will get beat like Ballack destroyed him in Euro 2008.
4) Meireles, the best thing he does is bring his legs to run around the field but no quality final touches. He is not able to effectively link up from defense to offense. Not the ideal choice but Moutinho has done nothing to take the spot. Maybe time for Tiago.
Keep up the good work!
Ferreira seriously.. come on gentlemen.. he was the dude with the blue shoes getting overlapped and the doors blown off repeatedly.. the guy Pepe would chase and cover for. Also he had a spell where he gave away the ball unchallenged 3 times in a row causing a serious counter attack.
Fabio is a kid who has done exceptionally at Benfica this year but this was the wrong time to bring in that kid. He will recover and is a sublime passer/crosser which we desperately need in this squad.
Queer-Eyes was born in Mozambique-can we start a petition to have him deported? Maybe that would solve our problem, hey I hear Mozambique needs a coach.. he is perfect for it. Second rate manager for a second rate team.
As for Veloso's inclusion really I am tired of hearing about it. He is a talented player going forward but is a lousy defender and that is where we would need him.
Stick with the CB as the defensive mid.. it works and is the only way we get solid defence from the middle, especially when we have losers like Duda and Ferreira creating massive holes. Not to mention we don't have a goalie anywhere that can handle a cross decently.
If you were to play Veloso it would be where Merdaeles is higher up the pitch.
Tiago is a waste of space and has done absolutely nothing in way too many call-ups.. like today with a decent position and great ball he stubbed it into the turf and put it right into the goalie.
I dont get why everyone thinks that Ferreira was such a bad choice, i honestly didnt think he was that bad. Duda was shocking (no surprise there), Meireles was average at best, but atleast he didnt screw around as much as usual.
WHAT ABOUT DECO! HOW INFURIATING! he should have come off, Nani's end results did get me angry alot but he was one of our best, and it's a shame to not see him get a full game at portugal as well as club level, because he deserves to be on both teams.
In closing changes must be made and CQ needs to be kicked out of the country and never allowed back. Our formation needs to change, and Duda, Meireles need to be kicked off the team with Pepe joining up with the defence again. I think Veloso should also get a run. Atleast before ferreira and even Miguel.