After its victory over Slovakia, Portugal continues its impeccable performance and moves a little closer to Euro 2024. But in addition to its perfect balance sheet, the Seleção still lacks certainty and has shown great signs of excitement.
Last night, Portugal celebrated Bruno Fernandes’ birthday and his return to the 4-3-3 formation. Unlike the first four matches under Roberto Martinez, this time the Portuguese replaced the 3-4-3 with a more traditional system, often used by Fernando Santos. It is a strange choice, to say the least, considering that the Spanish technician called up 5 central players.
Against the Slovaks, it was Ruben Dias and Antonio Silva who had the pleasure of defending Robert Polivka, and then Boavista striker Robert Poznik. Often players are called sexal They did not appear to be fully sovereign. In the ninth minute, Antonio Silva could have given Slovakia a goal after a huge error at the start of the match.
Tell me what your background is
When a team like Portugal presents itself as a dominant formation and only relies on a more rhythmic and more vertical game in periods, we should move towards the midfield. The least we can say is that the midfield failed last night. They were completely overwhelmed by the physical impact and technical quality, despite the Slovaks’ ineptitude, and neither Vitinha nor Palinha seemed able to keep up. Bruno Fernandes, positioned higher up the pitch, produced an impressive performance, but more in a dynamic role.
In the middle, it was the full-backs Joao Cancelo and Diogo Dalot who occasionally took risks with the aim of making the ball livelier, often being stopped by slow and repetitive releases of the ball from Diogo Costa, Ruben Dias and Antonio Silva. . When he entered, Otavio tried to do what had not been done until then, which was to carry the ball from another back position. In this area we can expect more from Vitinia, but its positioning on the ground is very advanced, and De facto It backfires when we know the qualities of the former portista on the first offensive curtain.
Rafael Leao is no longer smiling, and neither are the fans
The other big problem facing Portugal last night, a problem we already saw against Iceland, was the lack of complementarity between Rafael Leao, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva. The first is too lonely on the left, the third doesn’t touch the ball enough on the right, and the second misses the game completely. If this could happen to Cristiano, the situation is a little more delicate for the Milan striker. So far, his history with the Seleção has only been summed up by excellent playing appearances, when he starts, he suffers from a poverty of attacking animation and is very lonely on his flank, without being able to have the same amount of freedom as he would at a club. As a result, Leao is struggling to show the same smile as he does when he comes on as a substitute, with Portugal’s game getting wilder.
So far, the observation has been focused more on the players. But what about the coach’s job? What progress has he achieved? Roberto Martinez Brought to Portugal? What about the team’s development since Fernando Santos’ departure? Some will answer these questions simply by the raw score. 15 goals scored, 0 conceded, 15 points: when we talk about numbers, everything is fine. But the matches are watched before.”SofascorrizyWhere have the emotions gone? The fun? So far, the Seleção has done what is absolutely necessary to tempt the accountants. But the fans are demanding more from their football.
