Sporting4ever

The problem, to me, was at half time. While we were indeed playing well, getting possession and creating a few chances, we hadn't scored. At half time, Moyes should have changed things. Everton needed more possession to dictate the tempo, and force Sporting to make mistakes, since clearly just waiting wasn't working. He was risking a goal, which eventually happened, and when he finally pushed them forward, it was too late.

Sorry, guys. Our lads knew this was the game of the season, we're out of every other competition, their confidence levels are shot, we were in a 7 game no-win streak, tied for worse in our history, and finally they delivered. I'd hope we didn't meet this soon out of groups, and I wouldn't begrudge a knockout, given our season, but in all fairness, we needed this result more than you, we're playing porto this sunday, and I doubt we'll even get a draw there.

We've been terrible with goals this season, 20 goals scored in the league so far, with 20 games played. We're playing decently, but the pressure us gonna start pilling on during the 2nd half. http://www.soccertvlive.net/soccertv/watch/12883/1/watch-sporting-cp-vs-everton-fc-live-stream.html

Well, the thing is, if you're behind an opponent and push him, it's a foul... Distin lost the position, he wasn't disputing side by side, and he didn't go for the ball, and that's that. Another thing to watch out for Liedson, he never gives up on these sort of plays, he fights for every possession, the whole match. And while he was well covered for most of the game, he did show a few glimpses of what he can do to a defense if they give him time and/or space. If, in 2 weeks time, we've bounced back, won a few games, and have a bit of restored confidence, you'll probably get a tough game. Nevertheless, I just want this season over as fast as possible. I never thought it could get worse than last year, but here we are.

Cahill was very imposing in the mid-field. And while our fullbacks aren't that great, true, your left side was terrible tonight. Izmailov pretty much did what he wanted there, which is something Moyes needs to look at for the return leg. Then again, Izmailov is possibly gonna leave to Russia soon...

Hey, guys. A nice game, that was. As you can see, we're keeping up our no-win streak, and, while I agree that the game here will be tough for you, it's not gonna be easy for us either. Home form has been terrible this season, we've played better away, and, if Everton play it smart and keep us tied up, time will definitely work in your favour, as the fans will start complaining fast, and this team isn't responding well to pressure. Nevertheless, I hope we go through, of course, I didn't like getting Everton just out of the group stage, I'd rather played you guys in the final It's a fair result, I think. Everton did play a tad better, but not enough for a 2 goal advantage. And benfica_suporter, good luck against Herta. It'll be good to see you guys contributing with some points for our European ranking, for a change...

Well, the petro-dollar squad spent a trillion dollars with the club, and they can't figure out why it's not at a top 4 spot, or in a closer title shot position, so off goes the head. It was bound to happen, and we'll see how many managers they go through before they figure out that money doesn't buy silverware.

If they haven't yet played in a european match this season, yes.

Damn. I so didn't want the draw to put us up against each other... It's true, both of us aren't at our best at the moment, hopefully that'll change come February. We've got a new manager (finally), the players show more willpower in the pitch, so I'm hopeful we'll be better by then. Your injuries cannot last forever, either, so we'll be in better shape then, and have a couple of entertaining games.

The only viable option is go for loans on players that are not beeing used much, because the changes that anyone will let go of 1st team players mid-competition is slim at best, especially considering the financial state of Everton right now. It's still way too soon to tell, but there's bound to be a lot of names available.

National lack ambition. If you've watched their games in Europe this season, you can see that. They've had all their games pretty much controled, and lost or drew them all in the final moments. As for us, nothing needs to be said, really... We have the fullbacks we have, and yet, for some reason, the board thinks it's more important to get Caicedo and Angulo... Finally we have some sort of consistency in defence, with Polga (finally) gone, but creatively, we're doing crap, and it's clear this teams doesn't work without Izmailov. I have little hopes this year, especially if Bettencourt keeps Bento for much longer. As for you guys, it's clear this week that you'r not unbeatable. I'm not a big braga fan, but someone needed to ground you guys, and trust me, better now than later on. It's gonna be an interesting match in Goodison, after your defeat yesterday...

I agree. Looking at the last few years, the sheer number of injuries points to more than simply bad luck. I remember that, a few years back, benfica had a similar problem, they had a high number of injuries for a couple of seasons or so, and I remember they made some changes back then, don't recall exactly if it was on the medical staff or the phisio department. Maybe one of them remembers that better than me, but I do remember that it was something like their PT wasn't properly done, or something, and they had higher attrition numbers than normal. It's what makes the most sense, really. Their bodies aren't beeing properly prepared for the ammount of time they play, therefore they injure themselves easier.

That's what I felt when I was watching. I knew EFC had injuries (seems like a damned plague at Goodison, makes you wonder if there's more ot it than bad luck), but Moyes really botched his selections. benfica are offensively balanced, Jesus has always been an attacking manager, and they have quality up front. A new denfense against a side like that, playing at home to an enthusiastic croud, as benfica fans are always at the start of every season (reality sinks in later on ), was a tremendous risk. And while the 1st half, Everton didn't look bad, they didn't really threaten much either. The start of the nd half is terrible. A Premier League team, regular in european competitions, that wants to aspire to higher places, cannot concede 3 goals in 7 minutes. The 1st two are terrible, taking 2 goals in little over 3 minutes, when you have two kickoffs is unnaceptable. Moyes seriously needs to bang some heads on the flight back, but he must also realize that you cannot stirr the pot even more, against a team that's been scoring goals by the handfulls. I dissagree. The second half, especially, I don't think I saw him make a correct pass. He intercepted a few passes, but always gave possession away, and while cahill was playing outside his position, and rodwell, given fel's absence, actually had to do more than just his job, and he had a couple of nice moves. Fel needed to be the break at the begining of benfica's offensive moves, and he was seldom there. He also needed to be the transition between defense and offense, and he never did that. All in all, I only saw him because of his fro. With some players back, in 15 days, it's possible to beat them, especially with a more experienced defence.

Nicely done. It appears the boys have finally found their form. I know it's to early to tell, but those 1st matches were atypical, now confidence should be returning to normal, and results will continue to come. Keep at it, blues! :thumbsup_still: :thumbsup_still:

Very nice result, guys. Shame about Saha, how many games might he get for that, two?

Well, for all we've (not) done, we really don't deserve to go, although sweden is even worse, so I can see us going to the playoffs and denmark going direct. Anyways, if we don't go, that's one less penalty shootout to worry about, eh?

That's the most important truth written regarding this. True, England has had the best league in the europe for a long time, but this tax thing could very well change that. If other spanish teams start to get more revenues, and can spend more, you can very well see a move from players away from the premier league and to la liga. And by the way, the taxes aren't 30%, it's some sort of new provision where they pay 30% or 40% for the first 5 years, then it goes back to 50%.

The benfica board are usually pretty stringy when it comes to tickets, sometimes giving well bellow the required minimum. Of course, in europe, I doubt they'll do that, because UEFA would actually punish them, unlike what happens here, but I don't see them sending more than required. Depending on their sales, they might make a few more available, but it's doubtful, they usually have pretty good attendances early in the season, when they're still high on dreams of success. Nonetheless, there's a decent change of getting a ticket at the matchday, I reckon. Yup, they do. Decent keeper, but gives some amazing freebies sometimes...

keepers usually jump with one leg extended in those cases, to prevent beeing bumped by the attacker and falling badly, but that guy kind of overdoes it...

They both actively seeked it. The main difference is Rooney knew from his trajectory and Almunia's that contact was inevitable. Now while some people may argue that his motion was to prevent a dangerous fall, which I can understand, as potentially it could be a serious injury if his leg gets stuck or something, it's also true that he was already going down, knowing the contact was inevitable. Eduardo tried to do the same, but misjudged terribly, the ball was controlable, and the brush with the keeper's knee is anything but contact. He was expecting his front leg to get caught on the keeper's arms, and that's why he didn't even notice that the ball was still there and he kicked it out. I think that's one. I remember a player, I forget if it was in the PL or the dutch league, that fell because of a trip and a shoulder to shoulder legal contact, and the ref giving the penalty and he was telling him it wasn't. I also remember someone scoring from a kick to the keeper that was supposed to be a normal fair play return of the ball after it was thrown out for a player's assistance, and the club (I think it was arsenal) asking the FA for a replay. Granted, you don't see that kind of thing often, but you should.

20-0?? I see this is gonna be like those Jardel penalties, with you "lamps" making a storm out of a mild rain... Besides, didn't you guys got some interesting results last season in europe as well...?

Well, given the seeded clubs that were possibles, you're one of the better choices. Plus, AEK are struggling hard, so the chances that both Everton and you "lamps" willl go trough is good. I hope you do. Last season you guys were terrible in europe, and Portugal needs as many points as we can get, as it seems that even if we get 6 teams to the qualifying rounds, we never get more than 3/4 to the groups stage. Remember, you took a lot of 1st team players, they didn't play because of the synthetic grass, jesus said it himself, so it's normal that they expected a stronger team, and use that as an excuse for the result.

From your keyboard to UEFA/FIFA's screens... Altough I'd be plenty happy if the 6+5 rule came into effect.

FIFA, not UEFA. That's a good point. But remember, it's 2 transfer seasons. This winter and next summer. Any injured players will have to be replaced from the squad, anyone performing bellow normal will be the same. The tweaking managers do in winter, chelsea won't have, and next season, they'll have to go with the same roster, and come 2011 winter market, we all know clubs don't happily let important players go, so it could ruin their 2010/2011 season, and if anything happens this season, they won't be able to correct it. Add to that, a lot of their players are reaching the end of their careers, there's a lot of players over 30, Carvalho, Lampard, Drogba, Anelka, Ballack, Deco, plus a few getting closer, like Terry and Cole. Soon it's gonna be time to replace them, and if in fact they can only count on the 2011 summer transfer, that's almost 2 years from now, and potentially a lot of people to replace.

I doubt very mutch anything would be implemented that would force football to become like that. No one wants football to be like american football, where game time is 60 minutes but actually it takes like 3 hours! But it's necessary to implement more control, because if nothing else, it lessens the risk of corruption that exists now, which is pretty high. And given the money involved in betting, the less corruption we have, the better. Exactly. I think tech can be implemented without it having to become involved in every little aspect of the game. but when controversy arrises, it's there to clear the issue.