Wow, needing penalties to beat Rio Ave in the Supertaça in a game that was completely dominated by Benfica. A lucky escape that Artur decided to pull off a couple of decent saves when it came to the penalties so that Benfica were able to save the blushes.
Watching Benfica tonight reminded me of what it was like watching Porto last season. So much possession, so many chances but really struggled to find the back of the net. There is no doubt that you have lost a lot of quality over the summer but I found the starting XI tonight of Artur, Maxi, Luisão, Jardel, Eliseu, Enzo Perez, Nico Gaitan, Talisca, Salvio, Amorim and Lima not as bad as I expected your starting XI to be. By no means is it the standard you were used to last season but it’s not too bad considering the amount of exits this summer. Even the bench wasn’t as bad as I expected with Paulo Lopes, Cesar, Andre Almeida, Bebe, Franco Jara, Derley and Ola John. I guess the majority of these players are more your average type of players though with no real quality that Benfica are used to having in their team. If Nico Gaitan, Salvio, Enzo or Luisão (and possibly Maxi?) get injured for a significant period of time or leave between now and the end of the transfer window then this will create greater problems for Benfica as there is no real depth to the team with players that have that special quality similar to what those 4/5 bring to this team.
I actually think if Talisca managed to score one of those chances in the first half then this game would have been plain sailing for Benfica, as I think that one goal would have got them rolling.
I am absolutely with you that JJ needs to get a new goalkeeper asap. Artur does look awful though, quite a few mistakes crept into this game. First with the two Rio Ave players that closed him down and got the ball but they were unable to do anything with it and then they had that great chance towards the end of extra time where they had a corner and Artur just punched it away but it was a rubbish punch and somehow ended up hitting the bar. I guess in this game he made up for it with the saves when it came to the penalties but against a better team these two mistakes could have easily cost you the game.
I think Rio Ave deserve some credit with being able to frustrate Benfica so much and defend fairly well but Cassio was rarely tested. I think it was in the second half when Benfica had a free kick and it was whipped into the box and he made a decent save and then one of their defenders knocked it out for a corner but apart from that save I can’t think of another save where I thought “great save” as the saves he had to make were ones you expect your GK to save.
I guess with Cardozo maybe his time was up, especially with the likes of Bebe and Derley being signed but I still don’t think I rate either of them over Cardozo. I actually think he is one of those players that is more of a loss than people realise he will be.
I’ll let you know what the Portuguese Liga coverage will be like but just looking at the schedule for next weekend there seems to be no games in the listings. It might change closer to the time but Porto kick off the season on Friday so if they were going to show Porto then I would have expected it to already be in the listings. We shall see what it is like with Portuguese football but it is a decent channel with the amount of games they show on there from all around the world. But if you are into all sorts of leagues like myself then you are pretty much spoilt for choice with all the German, Italian, EPL, MLS, Brazilian and Copa Libertadores matches that they show. They even manage to throw in Conference football so there has been a couple of times when even Wrexham (and myself
) have made the odd appearance on there.
Whereas I am looking forward to seeing how this Porto side will properly work (we can't be any worse than last season, surely?) and for the Portuguese League to start, I have a feeling you would rather there was still a month to go so you could build a stronger team?
I'm intrigued to how your first two games will go. First game up against a Paços side who only avoided being relegated because of play-off match. Then of course a bit more will be added to this game considering it will be Paulo Fonsecas first game in charge back at Paços and seeing if he can upset the old rival of JJ (and Benfica fans) if they manage to take all three points. Then the second game vs Boavista. Whilst i feel they will need a miracle to stay up this season and get some decent results, if Benfica fail to get three points against them it will be a shock. I'm also genuinely excited to see the Bessa back in this Liga too!