Diogo Dalot Double as Portugal beat Czech Republic 4-0 in the Nations League

I agree with having Bernardo coming deep. His link up play, ability to find space, and dribbling are all unmatched. I would’ve liked to see Vitinha play, he’s been one of PSGs best players this season. Phenomenal talent, an absolute hard worker in the engine room, and has exceptional vision. He would complement Neves extremely well.

Listen, Neto was a great talent before his injury, we saw this with the Seleçao too, super explosive. I really hate to say it, but the injury has really hampered his development. He’s still only 22, so time is on his side, but Horta is undoubtedly the superior player (at the moment). I’m positive that Neto will find his feet, he just needs time, hopefully he’ll reach the same levels when he was up for running for the PL Young POTY. If he hadn’t gotten injured I’m sure he would’ve won it over Foden. That being said, we have Leao, I’m so happy with his performance and I’m glad he’s been able to make an impression with the national team after having so much success with Milan. We do need more explosive wingers, Rafa Silva was always a good option to have on the bench.

The dropping deep and roaming you speak of on the right side allows Dalot and Bruno to venture deeper on that right side. It proved to be massively effective. Bruno got into some dangerous positions down the right wing and played some balls into the box that could’ve been finished if the delivery was a bit better, pitch condition better, finishing, etc.

The good thing to take away from today is that we were able to see Bernardo and Bruno play in the XI and both play well!

Força

Agreed - that is for sure. Just dreaming of a PSG Veratti + Vitinha style-link up in a double pivot.

Not entirely convinced that William is the "big guy" for the job (or Danilo when not playing CB). That being said, he does produce some good passes and movement when playing further up the field (we've seen this with Betis as well). Always referred to him as Portugal's insurance policy in the past, a strange career and injuries put a cap on his potential a little bit, but nonetheless will be important player for us on and off the bench. Palhinha has been a key figure in the Fulham side, I think he deserves some time in the starting XI. Nunes is 1.83 and is aggressive, can be useful in the engine room, the question being whether to opt for experienced or young players. We have a healthy mix of veterans, players in their prime, and young starlets at the moment, so finding the right balance is key.

I'm positive that Vitinha won't start and the XI we see against Spain will be extremely similar to that of the game yesterday (perhaps identical barring Cancelo's and maybe Mendes' inclusion).

5'7 Mourinho's 70+ caps under Fernando Santos would seem to undermine this idea that he likes big guys in the engine room.

Not to mention Renato Sanches and Adrien Silva.

Based on this, I agree with Teresa that Vitinha should be getting starts at the Nation's League.

Hi Matthew. No, of course not. I'd love to see Portugal win against Spain. The result against Czech Republic was good, but t.b.h. over longer periods, the game was not so impressive. relatively slow and no high intensity. So even though 4:0 looks good on paper, Santos has done nothing to convince me with this. Not with forgetting Djalo on the bench and not with calling up an out-of-form Neto who will not get any minutes anyway (IMHO Santos would rather have called up Fabio Carvalho and give him 15 - 20 minutes to 1) test him in a senior team competitive match and 2) secure him for Portugal. That kid could offer what Neto promised before his injury. But since I'd dont want to be put into the shelf of the "Santos Bashers", I better stop. Let0s see how Portugal will do in a high intensity game like today with Spain, without Renato. Particularly if Bruno can now show up against a big team and not only against middle-class opponents.

Being labelled a Santos-basher is the same as being labelled a 'hater': the reality is that people are allowed to like and not like.

I have a great appreciation for all that Santos has accomplished for us while also seeing his massive short-comings in the last 3 years.

The reality is that managers have a shelf-life, and after a while, players need a refresh. Santos is capable of winning trophies, he's proven that, but he's also proven he can be clueless and have a basic understanding of tactics.

We have no other option at this moment in time before the World Cup, so all we can do is hope his confident comments are running off on the team and that's he can settle on a strong starting 11.

Aside from that, being honest about a manager's performance (particularly when they get an annual salary in the millions and have massively talented players), is not cause to be called a hater or basher.

Hey Justin,

I am certainly no expert, but...if I can tell you why I think Neto is not seeing playing time: in my opinion, it's a formation issue. Neto operates really well in a 4-3-3 as the right winger, and in such a formation, tends to have more space. Santos has preferred 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2 (midfield diamond) and 4-2-3-1 formations more than the 4-3-3. That's why guys like Neto don't always see a lot of playing time.

I agree that Neto could be a big addition to the Seleccao, but as Teresa mentioned, he's not been the same since returning from his injury, and although I don't agree with Santos' philosophy a lot of the time, I think in this case, if he is leaning towards tactics over 1 player who has yet to return to form, it definitely was the right call he made.

Anyways, just my 2 cents, cheers.

At this point I think it’s more then fair to say with Santos as coach none of these hypothetical replacement discussions matter. We have 2 world class players out of 11 starting. Dias and Bernardo. They have nobody close to them and unless injured have nobody at there level at this point in there primes. The rest of our team is loaded with good to great players and who has a damn clue which one will be superior on any given day. Each of them has different skill sets and they are all very close in terms of level. Santos doesn’t have a proven style like Pep or Mourihno or Klopp for example where we know the types of players that work best for them. Santos is all over the place imo. His tactics and style change with the weather. With that said until some of our younger guys make that next leg up to being irreplaceable it will be a coin flip.

Dalot is a great example. Cancelo is probably the better player but there not that far off and on his day Dalot can play at and above Cancelo if he’s not at his best. The performance yesterday was just as good if not better then any Cancelo has ever had for the NT. And that’s how every position is atm. Santos will put his chips on a lineup and let’s hope there in form. Because the talent gap is so close with most of our positions the player who is in form, rested, healthy etc probably is the one you want in the team. We can argue all day about Neto and Leao and Felix and Bruno and Vitihna and so on but in reality none of them are world class yet and absolutely irreplaceable. If there direct backup is In better form chances are they are the better option. So it’s up to Santos to make those calls and we’ll see how it goes. Even if Dias is at 75% he’s better then the next option. Same with Bernardo, other then then those two if these guys were mentioning aren’t at there best there replaceable and none of us knows what’s happening on the training ground but Santos and the staff. I’ve never been a huge fan of Santos but this year a monkey could throw darts and come up with a good 11 for Portugal. His tactics will never be the best so the best we can hope for is the guys he chooses are the ones who are feeling there best that day. And let the rest take care of itself

100% agree on Bernardo. I've always advocated him being in a central role as I believe have most fans on this site.

Cancelo is a beast going forward, but his defensive game has always been a liability. He has improved a bit in the last 2 years defensively, but he is still often caught out of position.

Many times, Bernardo playing on the right, he'd actually run back and defend because Cancelo was so often caught out of position. So it became a situation where Bernardo was wasted both because he was playing out of position and also because he had to defend for Cancelo.

At the end of the day, if there is a way for the team to gel and believe they can pull it off, that's all I care about. Cheers.