Vinnie Jones
Senior Squad
I don´t think Ronaldo was miserable. He made the assist in the second goal. The only players who were really miserable were Ricardo (again),Tiago (probably because of the pubalgia) and Rui Costa (Deco should be a starter, without any doubt, altough Rui Costa is a great player, he doesnt produce in our Nt, his passing was awfull, shot accuracy nill and his forward runs are inefective). In the first half we dominated the game, mainly because of Figo (great form, but we can´t only rely solely on him, other players should step up and help him), Pauleta (always influencial up front) and Petit (who did a good job on the midfield, playing for two because Tiago was inexistent).
In the second half, our string of play was inexistent and it looked like everyone was waiting for an individual play to solve the match. Ronaldo and Boa Morte got a couple of good runs but the crossing...terrible (Boa Morte really needs to get some practice on those crosses).
Sweden, i cant say much about the team. Their goals came from errors of the Portuguese Nt but you gotta praise their almost 100% effectiveness. Their midfield is strong phisically with good pace but they lack flair and technic (altough Kallstrom did pretty well). Central defenders looked a lil bit shaky but they got good presence in the box. About your precious Ibrahimovic, he did a couple of runs, one or two tricks, nothing special. In my opinion Skoog gave much more problems too Couto and Andrade.
I was at the stadium and i can only say that it was disapointing to see less than half stadium filled, dunno about the official numbers. Scolari was able to spoil that wonderfull relation that we had with our Nt, When it was 1-1 i saw a couple of panuelos. With 1-2 ppl were only verbally abusing Scolari and werent pay attention to the game. With the 2-2 ppl were still disapointed but atleast cheered the players.
We really need the 20 day "estágio" before the Euro, so players get used to playing with each other. There is no "entrosamento" and it´s understandable when you get 1-2 day of practices before the match. We need to revive the relationship Nt/supporters with these 2 upcoming matches and have a positive attitude, with less controversy (Scolari, North, Vitor Baía etc).
P.s this is the Nt thread dont make it a benfiquistas and Sportinguista dispute thread ffs.
In the second half, our string of play was inexistent and it looked like everyone was waiting for an individual play to solve the match. Ronaldo and Boa Morte got a couple of good runs but the crossing...terrible (Boa Morte really needs to get some practice on those crosses).
Sweden, i cant say much about the team. Their goals came from errors of the Portuguese Nt but you gotta praise their almost 100% effectiveness. Their midfield is strong phisically with good pace but they lack flair and technic (altough Kallstrom did pretty well). Central defenders looked a lil bit shaky but they got good presence in the box. About your precious Ibrahimovic, he did a couple of runs, one or two tricks, nothing special. In my opinion Skoog gave much more problems too Couto and Andrade.
I was at the stadium and i can only say that it was disapointing to see less than half stadium filled, dunno about the official numbers. Scolari was able to spoil that wonderfull relation that we had with our Nt, When it was 1-1 i saw a couple of panuelos. With 1-2 ppl were only verbally abusing Scolari and werent pay attention to the game. With the 2-2 ppl were still disapointed but atleast cheered the players.
We really need the 20 day "estágio" before the Euro, so players get used to playing with each other. There is no "entrosamento" and it´s understandable when you get 1-2 day of practices before the match. We need to revive the relationship Nt/supporters with these 2 upcoming matches and have a positive attitude, with less controversy (Scolari, North, Vitor Baía etc).
P.s this is the Nt thread dont make it a benfiquistas and Sportinguista dispute thread ffs.