Portugal stay on course for Qatar with comfortable victory over Azerbaijan

Their best performance in a long time regardless of it being a minnow. Bruno able to pull the strings, team was able to press as a unit and win the ball high, there was actually some intricate combinations being played (second half especially), and we put a team away for once. Hmmmmm I wonder what the difference was? I just can’t put my finger on how they were able to play more as a team and not look like they were down a man all the time.

I think Silva showed that he can be a pylon in front of goal, so he can do everything Ronaldo can at this stage in his career. He still won’t be as prolific as Ronaldo, but he literally does everything else better to help this team. Aside from his work rate and hold up play, he will even pass the ball if a player is in a better position to score. This is why United would be much better off with Cavani on the field. Cavani will provide a similar goal return to current Ronaldo, but will also not stop working for 90 minutes and help the overall team performance.

The team was a lot more fluid once Neves came on. Not sure if it was him or more a product of them being up two already and Azerbaijan needing to open up.

I think we have our answer. Santos will not change his tactics, so at best we are destined for a round of 16 exit.

That was a much better all around performance, albeit against the weakest team in the group. Apart from a couple of avoidable lapses in concentration, we shut down virtually all of Azerbaijan's attempted counter attacks. Joao Moutinho was particularly effective at being in the right place at the right time the moment we lost possession.

Both Palhinha and Neves were solid in the #6 position. Both are playing regularly for their clubs and should therefore be our first two options in that role.

Fernandes and Bernardo were excellent today. Again, Azerbaijan are weak, but that was still encouraging to see.

Andre Silva quietly put in a very solid shift up top. He's clearly a much more natural center-forward than Ronaldo, especially with his back to goal.

Jota could have had a hat trick on another night, but at least he continues to get himself into great goal scoring positions. What he lacks in finesse he more than makes up for with his work rate and clever movement.

Cancelo was class. Not sure why Santos sent him home before the start of the Euros rather than keeping him quarantined for two weeks. He is - by far - the best 1v1 dribbler on the team. We may not have a winger with the dribbling ability of a Figo, young CR7, Nani, or Quaresma, but in Joao Cancelo we at least have one player who can create something out of nothing all by himself. He's world-class and he needs to start each and every game barring injury.

You know sometimes when I watch these games and I hear from a handful of you, I honestly wonder what in the world are you guys actually watching? Now I'll admit, im a single man in my mid 30s and I watch a ridiculous amount of football every week for years so that's my reference point, that's where I'm coming from. I've been frequenting this site for probably 10 years now and one thing I've noticed is how quickly people either forget problems, don't recognize them or they're masked by results.


Let me say this again for the 100th time, we have no ability on the wings whatsoever. Bernardo Silva is a neat and tidy player but he's useless against good teams if he's on the wing. Trincao isn't much better either because he's soft and not athletic, everything they do is cut back on their left foot and pass the ball backwards to fill in the blank midfield player. On the other side, Jota isn't actually good at football, he hustles and he's rewarded for being in good spots, spots that won't always be easily available when we play good teams. Now you can point to his misses in the euros all you want and praise him but in general, he's only as good as the players around him. I said last article how we need creativity and speed on the wing and this game was the same story.

Really think about this for a second. Bernardo goal was 100% lucky, yes it takes some ability to make the run and finish but it's a play that usually gets headed away or the forward misses completely. Our best attacking player is.....wait for it....hang on...,little longer.... oh it's Joao Cancelo and he's our Right back. Do you know what we need again for the millionth time? No it's not pote, otavio, Bernardo, trincao, Guedes, Rafa etc. we need more attacking players on the wings that are dynamic and selfish to create plays and take chances themselves. One of you thought I was crazy when I said Jota(Celtic) or Francisco Conseciao is the type of winger we're missing because they're just "fancy dribblers) but the truth is that's exactly what we need.

Find me one legit national team that is contention to win trophies who don't have fast tricky wingers that will go past fullbacks? Here's a hint, you can't. Until Portugal decides to bring up more individually talented wingers/forwards we will always struggle to beat great teams. This has been going on for years and years now. We won in 16 primarily based off of luck and determination. In the future and current situation, we will struggle because everything we do offensively is pass backwards and cross the ball.

My opinion. Don't @me if you're an optimist because I'm not, I watch the games. It's clear as day to me.

Joao Moutinho was excellent today. He's neat and tidy on the ball, intelligent with his positioning off the ball, and never fails to work his socks off each and every game. As long as he is playing week in week out in the Premier League for Wolves, he should continue to be a regular. However, as others have mentioned, the #8 role belongs to Renato barring injury.

Bernardo is a brilliant player, but he hasn't always been utilized correctly by Fernando Santos. He doesn't have the pace to excel on the wings nor does he have the finishing ability of a second striker, but his technique is world class, he can pick a pass, and his ability to dribble out of pressure and combine intelligently in intricate passing combinations is second to none on this team. He's almost like an #8/10 hybrid. He needs to operate centrally in between the lines where he can get on the ball and dictate our moves. He doesn't have to be the guy playing the killer ball, but get him involved, let him drift wide on occasion, and you've got one of the best midfielders in Europe on your side.

Bruno is better suited to an advanced #10 role. There is the potential of both he and Bernardo getting in each other's way, but they certainly do not have to take up the same role on the team. As tonight's match demonstrated, they can coexist, even in more central positions on the pitch. Whereas Bernardo likes get orchestrate passing combinations, Bruno is better suited at playing the killer ball and getting in behind the defense.

A narrow 4-4-2 or diamond shape could accommodate Bernardo, Bruno, and Renato. Perhaps that is a more likely scenario than Santos switching to a 3-5-2.

Regardless, the talent is there to play proactive, winning football. It remains to be seen, however, is Santos has what it takes to make it happen.

Ronaldo has had his time. He is a legend, but I will continue to say that the team as a whole is better without him. This isn’t about emotions. Get your sentimental snowflake garbage out of here. The man is 36. He has 30-40 quality minutes in him if he were to go all out. Watch him on the ball in open space and see if he can take anyone on anymore. Although, he will dazzle you with step overs and fakes from a standstill position. Also, while you are at it, watch him off the ball when Portugal lose possession in the opposition half. He is almost always the reason why we can’t quickly win the ball back. In the modern game that is extremely important to sustained pressure and is so often undervalued. We care more about a person and how he ages than we are about the team as a whole and what is best for them today.

@Justin
It doesn’t mean that there wasn’t decent improvement in form compared to their last few run of games or even the last time they played Azerbaijan. No one is leaving this game thinking we are world beaters. I don’t really recall anyone acting that way. It’s just good to see a convincing win. It was clear there was combination play and movement not seen in a long time. I think most can see that we don’t have top class wingers for selection at the moment. It’s actually quite noticeable since Portugal is a country known exclusively for producing them. But bringing on unseasoned ones who haven’t proven anything at the highest levels isn’t the answer either.

Portugal has always been known to play the game the right way. Silky touches in tight spaces, lots of 1 or 2 touch passing, probing teams and recycling possession, but being direct and threatening while doing it. It was just nice to see a team out there that looked like they were having fun. I don’t think anyone is saying this team is now a WC contender because of this performance. Either way, we all believe we have the answers and if it was as simple as that we all would be managers. You seem to think it’s mostly down to wingers from your post while others, like myself think it’s more about the formation and players playing out of position. It’s probably a little bit of everything.

@Jp

I understand that bringing up people who aren’t ready isn’t exactly the answer. My problem is this has been going on for almost 5 years now. It boggles mind how this is such a glaring hole and need on the team. Look it, just as an example when you have a front 3 with Jota, Ronaldo and Bernardo. You have no real threat individually on the wings when we have the ball because Jota can’t dribble past defenders 1 v 1(Guedes can’t either) and Bernardo can dribble but he doesn’t have another gear to accelerate past defenders and he’s relatively weak strength wise. So all that leads to is passing the ball backwards to our midfielders.

When we play great teams and we’re pinned back defensively, the problem we run into is when we win the ball back, our only outlet ball to the outsides are to guys who can’t dribble or guys who are slow. Ronaldo and Andre Silva aren’t exactly track stats either. If we play against shitty teams like Azerbaijan then it doesn’t matter that much because eventually we should score because we’re simply that much better than them.

When you have guys on the wing that are fast and skilled, that’s a huge advantage when you have the ball and teams park the bus, look at Cancelo yesterday for example. Our best attackers on the team shouldn’t be right wing backs. At this point if Santos isn’t willing to call up some of our dynamic players from the U-21s then I’d rather see Semedo or Ricardo play right back and let Cancelo play up top in that right wing spot instead of Bernardo or Trincao.

The argument to not call up younger players always seemed a little silly to me, when you’re 20-21 and you play on one of the top club teams in any country then I think you’re ready to play against all of these shitty teams in the qualifying games. Let’s really think about this, take a guy like Jota(Celtic) or Conceicao for example, do you really think these kids aren’t ready to play against Azerbaijan, Qatar, Ireland, Luxembourg and Serbia? Come on, really….those countries are usually worse than what these kids play against every day. I understand that it’s easy for me to just say this and it might be harder than it looks but I don’t think it should be at all. Why call up Rafa and Guedes just because they’re older and more experienced if they’re not individually better than guys 5 years younger? Especially when these young guys offer us something we’re clearly missing? It doesn’t even have to be Jota or Conceicao, even Leao and Gelson are a much bigger threat than Guedes or Rafa.