Portuguese League 2013/2014

[Azul]

Welcome to the Portuguese 2013/14 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: 69 titles

2 Champions leagues
32 Championships
24 Portuguese cups
4 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

I´ll only include the ones I think are the most relevant

Porto:
In: Diego Reyes, Herrera, Ghilas and Quintero
Out: James Rodriguez and João Moutinho

Benfica:
In: Djuricic, Markovic, Sulejmani, Lisandro Lopéz (not the former Porto player)
Out: Aimar

Sporting:
In: Jefferson, Salim Cissé, Fredy Montero
Out: Ricky V. Wolfswinkel, Miguel Lopes, Schaars, Bruma (?) is in a legal process to be released from Sporting.


Major players and players to watch (mostly promissing young players and/or new signings)

Porto:
Major players: Mangala, Alex Sandro, Lucho, Jackson
Players to watch: Josué, Diego Reyes, Quintero

Benfica:
Major players: Garay, Matic, Salvio, Cardozo (it´s still uncertain if he´ll stay or not due to a disciplinar problem with the coach)
Players to watch: Lisandro López, Djuricic, Rodrigo ( he´ll need to step his game this season if he wants to prove his potential)

Sporting:
Major players: Rui Patrício, Rojo, Illori (is in a soft spot, if he renews he´ll be important, if he doesn´t he´ll be sold or relegated to the B team), Capel
Players to watch: Eric Dier, Wilson Eduardo, André Martins.

 

[Azul]

Tonight will be the first trophey of the season, the portuguese supercup between Porto, champion, and Guimarães, cup winner.

This will be the first big test for Porto after the latest matches struggling to figure out the new midfield system the new coach wants to implement, and that I don´t think will work.
Porto is the big favourite specially with Guimarães with a lot of changes since last season.

Expected teams:

Porto

-------------Hélton
Fucile- Otamendi - Mangala - Alex Sandro
--------Fernando
----------------------Defour
---------------Lucho
Varela---------Jackson---------Licá

Fabiano, Maicon, Josué, Herrera, Quintero, Kelvin, Ghillas.

Guimarães

-------------Douglas
P. Correira- P. Oliveira - Moreno - D. Addy
-----------L. Olímpio
-------André--------Crivellaro
M. Matias---------R. Gomes---------Hernâni

Assis, Amorim, Freire, Josué, Luís Rocha, Barrientos, Siaka Bamba, Alex, Tomané.

 

[Bill]

Do you think Pacos can make it into the CL group stage?

 

[Azul]

Do you think Pacos can make it into the CL group stage?

I`m not seeing that happen, Zenit has a great team, I can only see Porto and Benfica to give them a fight from our league.
Paços this season lost his coach (to Porto) and several players and aren´t doing that well in the preseason, they lost all the toughest matches and only managed to win against lower league clubs.

On a curious note Paços has Costinha as the coach and Maniche as the assistant.

 

[Azul]

Porto 3 Guimarães 0
Licá
Jackson
Lucho

Easy win against a really weak Guimarães.

 

[Dylan]

How much do you think Quintero will play?

 

[Cal]

On a scale of 1 to 10, how crap is Rolando?

 

[Azul]

How much do you think Quintero will play?

In Porto young players go through a 3 year process. The 1st one it´s pretty much to adapt to the club the city and the european style of football (the one´s that aren´t european of course) on that stage the 1st month they barely get any minutes and only play in cup matches, if the player is showing a good development he may start playing more on the 2nd half of the season.
The 2nd stage it´s expected the player to be part of the starting 11, or close to that, he plays a lot on the 1st team or as a sub.
The 3rd stage if anything goes according to plan the player should be one of the key players of the team and plays almost everytime. At this point bigger clubs (or clubs with more money then us) are following him closely and we expect to sell him for a big fee. During this time it´s offen we already bought a young player that is starting the 1st stage.

That´s our cicle. Sorry for the long post so far but it´s important to understand the process otherwise just the straight answer won´t say much.

James, for instante, was a typical player that went through the whole process. The 1st season he barely played the 1st 6 months, after that he started playing often. The 2nd season he was either a sub or a 1st starter but he was already important for the team. Last season he was, alongside with Jackson, the key player in the attack.

Quintero is supposed to be the same but although it´s still early to tell I´m guessing he may be in the 2nd stage already. The reasons why I say this is that he came from Italy and I´m sure he doesn´t have the lack of tactical problems we pass with south american players, that´s where we spend more time working before they start playing. Other thing is that he showed really good talent against Nápoles, it´s not often a player that´s new to the club to perform like he did. And the most important thing is that he was called for the Supercup yesterday ahead of the likes of Iturbe for instance who we tried hard this preseason to find out he may be a valid player or was just a flop (new messi :chan: ).

Adding to that this may be the last season of Lucho for us since it´s expected that he return to Argentina to retire, Quintero will be the player to get his role if he´s up to the task. Summarizing, he´ll probably be a sub that enters several times (like he did yesterday).

On a scale of 1 to 10, how crap is Rolando?

When he was on top form he was a 6,5. Now with almost 1,5 years of almost any gametime and in a stronger league I´d say a 4,5/5.

 

[thatdude]

How do you think Fernando would adapt to Inter and Italian football?

 

[Azul]

How do you think Fernando would adapt to Inter and Italian football?

.

Fernando is the kind of player that is often overlooked. Very consistent player, very focused, and intelligent player. He´s like having another manager on the pitch since he always know where to be and when to make a tackle or just hold a position to cut the lines of the pass for the opponents. He´s one of my favourite player. With him, Moutinho and Lucho we have the best midfield since we won the CL with Costinha, Maniche and Deco.

His strengths are: his positioning, his tackling (his sliding tackles are sublime) and his ability to "read the game". He´s 5*on that topic and one of the best in the game. You can compare him to Senna in Spain to give you a more notorious example of his importance on the team. He has a lot of experience as well, including in europe since he´s Porto is a regular on that competitions. He´s also very fast for a 6.

His weaknesses are everything that relates to the attacking phase of the game. He´s a average passer, simple passes will do but don´t count on much than that. He´s an awful shooter, finisher, he doesn´t get the chance often but when he does it´s usually , to be fair to him he has improved a bit in that department in the last 2/3 seasons.

I think Seria A would be perfect for his football, but only of you put him as a classic 6, if you play him with 2 DMC his performances will drop, and if you try to play him as a MC or a box to box or anything like that he´d only be average or bellow that. For me that´s the only reason he´s been here for so long. But he´s a top player, don´t doubt that.

I was looking for a particular match when we draw 2-2 (I believe) against M. United away when he did a sublime game, the best for us IMO, He was everywhere, even Ronaldo was complaining of the amounts of ball he recovered, sadly that compilation of his tackles aren´t on youtube anymore, or I can´t find it, that would give an idea of how he can control the defensive fase of the game.

 

[Cal]

Is Kelvin good?

 

[Azul]

I don´t think so. He has some skills but lacks objectivity and consistency.
He was important for us against Braga and specially when he scored that great goal against Benfica that pretty much settled the league but besides that he didn´t impress even on our B team.

I believe the only reason he stayed on the team this season was because of that goal against Benfica that bought him another season, otherwise he´d have been loaned for sure.

 

[Kakaroto]

How has Diego Reyes looked in the early going? I rate him, hope he does well.

 

[Azul]

How has Diego Reyes looked in the early going? I rate him, hope he does well.

Can´t tell yet, he only played 20´ in 2 matches during the pre season. Atm his the 5th option for CB after Mangala, Otamenti, Maicon and Abdoulaye for this order. It´s our strongest sector in terms of options and don´t think he´ll get much game time this season.

Great goal today by Montero after some ridiculous misses on the previous match.

 

[rockball]

Porto

-------------Hélton
Fucile- Otamendi - Mangala - Alex Sandro
--------Fernando
----------------------Defour
---------------Lucho
Varela---------Jackson---------Licá

Fabiano, Maicon, Josué, Herrera, Quintero, Kelvin, Ghillas.

Who are the worst players in this lineup? I want to know who Inter will be targeting in 2014-16.

 

[ChillBro]

Who are the worst players in this lineup? I want to know who Inter will be targeting in 2014-16.

bahahahaha probably a straight swap kovacic for lucho

 

[Azul]

We all missed football and now it´s starting, and in what an exciting way in Portugal.

The 1st big game was between Paços and Braga, Paços was the star of last year but, like I wrote before I don´t think the´ll do that well this year, on the other hand Braga got the former FC Porto champion and one of the most experienced coach of the league to try to return to the good result they were having the last seasons. Braga ended up winning easily by 2-0, Paços continues to struggle in this beggining of the season.

Sporting also faced a big challenge, not much Arouca on their 1st season ever on the 1st league , but with themselves, everyone is optimistic about the way Sporting is facing his financial difficulties and building the team to try to improve their worst season ever in the league. They didn´t disappoint their fans and started in a big fashion crushing Arouca by 5-1. Montero was the star by scoring a hat-trick on his debut! The 3rd goal was a beauty

Benfica faced a always hard opponent on their home field, Marítimo, and the red alarms surrounding the team since the collapse in the end of last season and the option to keep the coach ended up even higher. Benfica lost 2-1 and struggled to find their football.


Porto was the last to play pressured by the result of Benfica, it´s expected the league to be tight between the 2 clubs and it´s always good to start ahead of the opposition. The new coach like I wrote before is still trying to sort out the midfield nand implement his ideas on the club, it´s still early to tell but I don´t agree with them, later on let´s see who´s right, hopefully it´ll be him.
We had a really hard game against a usually easy opponent away, Setúbal, we ended the 1st half losing 1-0 after failing to score 2/3 chances. The 2nd half started with a penalty scored by Josué and after that both him and the keeper got involved and Josué was hit by the GK who was sent off. Josué got a yellow for pushing him.
Things were bound to be easy but that didn´t happen we were playing really bad. We needed to put Quintero on, who on his 1st move scored a great goal.

We continued to play bad football but scored the 3rd by Jackson almost on the end of the game. 3-1.


_________
I´ll not do this every week, only when something relevant happens like transfers, important matches or good goals. I´ll keep reviewing the league every once in a while just for you guys being updated.

 

[Azul]

Paços was crushed, for the 2nd time) by Zenit by an incredible 8-3 aggregate score! It was expected that they lose but this numbers are really hard. They lost every official game this season yet (4) and play Porto next if they lose again I can see Costinha being on a tough spot right in the beginning of the season.

It´s certain that on the home match they were really unlucky, but the score is what matters.

Two good goals by Danny on this game btw, the 2nd was superb

 

[dynasty27]

what do you make of benfica's curse in the european finals? ;>

fuck u :kiss:

 

[Azul]

what do you make of benfica's curse in the european finals? ;>

fuck u :kiss:

Sorry for the long time without answering the question. I read it a couple of weeks ago but completely forgot to answer.

It´s one of those funny facts about football. And even though It´s a team of my country I´m totally fine with them failing at the key moments when no one wants to fail.

There are several articles about it but most of them are in Portuguese. For those who don´t know what we are talking about here´s a short one in English.


Not even Jesus can break the Guttman curse! Benfica's 50-year European hoodoo continues with defeat by Chelsea

The curse of Bela Guttman continued last night as Benfica lost their seventh consecutive European final in 50 years.
The 2-1 defeat by Chelsea in the Europa League final in Amsterdam means further misery for the Portuguese club who have been haunted by the curse placed upon them by their former manager
in 1962.
Guttman, a Jewish Hungarian footballer and coach who died at the age of 82 in 1981, was hugely successful during his three-year period at Benfica, winning two European Cups, two Portguese league titles and one Portuguese cup.


He also signed the legendary Eusebio, then aged 18, who went on to score 317 goals in 301 appearances for Benfica from 1960 to 1975.
But after leading his team to victory in the 1962 European Cup final over a Real Madrid side which included his compatriot Ferenc Puskas and the great Alfredo Di Stefano, Guttman felt his success deserved a pay rise.
The board of directors at Benfica didn't take too kindly to his request and turned it down before sacking him.
An angry Guttman - billed as 'the original Jose Mourinho' for his self-confidence and personality - responded by uttering the words which have haunted Benfica ever since: 'Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever win a European Cup.'

.
.
.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...tinues-haunt-Benfica-Europa-League-final.html

In Portugal the media and a lot of benfiquistas take the curse very seriously. For the fans of the other clubs it´s just a thing to mock our friends at work or at home after the european competitions.

I read an article on CNN a couple of months ago which was better than the one I posted before but I can´t find it now.

PS here it is
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/04/sport/football/benfica-bela-guttmann-curse/index.html

- - - Updated - - -

So what´s new on the league.

Porto lost their first points of the league this last sunday after an appalling match against an always tough Estoril away. 2-2 was the final score on a match that the ref was the key figure failing to send off Otamendi at 11´ and after for conceding a penaty to Estoril on a handball by Otamendi clearly off the area that made the game 1-1. The 2-2 for estoril was scored on an off-side which in Portugal is more then enough for our press and clubs to start fighting about it for the next weeks.

Benfica won against Guimarães and Jesus was on fire again, this time fighting the police who was going to arrest a supporter who invaded the pitch at the end of the match when the players were giving away their shirts. Here´s the video the hot stuff starts at 40´´

This image doens´t appear on the video but shows a lot of what was happening during the struggle. Don´t open it you are easily impressed, strong content inside.

Spoiler

Sporting drew at home and lost the opportunity to catch up with Porto on the 1st place.



Pos Club G W D L Pts.
1 Porto 5 4 1 0 13
2 Braga 5 4 0 1 12
3 Sporting 5 3 2 0 11
4 Benfica 5 3 1 1 10