Sporting4ever

Sporting were supurb with their tactics, they knew what they had to do, they were ready for a major battle.....imagine their surprise when Everton didn't turn up .......well some blokes with Blue shirts were on the same pitch as them, there was a Russian, an American and a bloke from Spain, but they didn't actually get involved, unfortunatly they were all in midfield....so the defence were over run and the lone forward got no service...

 

Wasn't just that trio to be fair, Howard, Baines, Yobo, Pienaar and Saha at least had a go.

 

At last I'm happy I've had a knee operation, I can hide in the fuc%ing house and not have to go to work.Emarrassed, ashamed and fed up.

 

Moyes must take some of the blame, his team and tactics.....though to be fair if Arteta, Donovan and Bily had actually played it might have ended differently.

 

Pity the poor fans that traveled.

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 need a goal, i can't handle 45 of us trying not concede!

 

Hopefully Moyes gives em a good talkin too, especially the midfield who haven't stopped lisbon at all and haven't held on to the ball.

 

We've ended up playing far too much long ball stuff in hope.

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.

just got outta class can't find the game online how we doin

http://www.soccertvlive.net/soccertv/watch/12883/1/watch-sporting-cp-vs-everton-fc-live-stream.html

just found the highlights, though not fantastic quality:

 

http://watchonlinesoccer.com/2010/02/everton-vs-sporting-cp-lisbon-2-1-highlights-16-feb-2010/

 

didnt look like a pen to me, Distin was just too strong for the guy. dont get to see the pass in those highlights either.

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...

can agree with most comments, glad he's not going to be on motd as much now, however was slightly harsh in the fact city have lost the least amount of games all season. Mancini i doubt will do any better than hughes has done tbh

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.

What are the rules for January signings, can they be registered for the next round?

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

There were ten teams in the draw that we needed to avoid because they're stronger than us (on paper) currently (Liverpool, Valencia, Juventus, Shahktar, Roma, Benfica, Hamburg, Bremen, Villarreal and Marseilles) and we avoided them all for both rounds.

 

Sporting are 7th in the league and struggling...Atletico are 14th in the Spanish league and doing even worse. Galatasaray would be the biggest test for me but they're beatable and we'd have the second leg at home if it happens.

 

Don't think it's a bad draw at all....the names and reputations of the clubs make it look harder than it is and with a full(ish) squad to pick from we can make the last eight.

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.

Actually if Nacional even draw yesterday they would get ahead of Sporting in the league standings, they have the same amount of points, even though Sporting will play today. Nacional to play the Europa League Group Stage knocked out Zenit. They are a pretty decent side... dont underestimate them. They draw against Sporting 1-1 on the first league game.

But of course we are not unbeatable, and we wont trash every team every game and its always how you finish it... but moral is high and every team that play against us must give us some credit and respect or they will get trashed like the rest.

 

I look forward to the game in Goodison, knowing that it can settle the dispute around the first place of the group, a draw wouldnt be bad for Benfica, but I recon that our players will play to win no matter what, and yours will try to redeem themselves... so it will be an interesting game, with a great athmosphere, and may the best team win.

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...

even if it is the fact they play twice a week which they dont always do it doesnt hit other teams as hard as it does us so there is something not right at all...plus they should be able play 2 or 3 times easy cos they'd just be training if they wern't playing and it can't be so much more strenuous to play for 90 minutes rather than train for several hours! they should be gettin some kip on the coaches and planes too

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'm so angry about, we've played two real top quality teams so far this season and we've been embarrassed in both games. The last time I felt so sick watching us was when we self-destructed in Bucharest, and I'm afraid to say this season just feels like that all over again. Our heads just dropped second half, no spirit, no guts, and no ability whatsoever. And for the record I don't think I've ever seen a player have a worse game in an Everton shirt than Fellaini tonight - I usually defend him but he can fuck off, if i see his stupid useless afro again i might be forced to shove it right up his useless arse, still attached to his fucking head. Couldn't make his passing any worse.

 

On a more measured note, I just don't get it. 6, 8, 10 months ago the odds were stacked right against us injury wise, yet it galvanised us, we were holding our own against and beating the best in the Premiership, we looked a proper team. Now we look like a bunch of strangers - where's the spirit gone? Yeah I know it was a scratch defence, but jesus, Benfica must have thought Christmas had come early the way we gifted them their goals second half, EVERY one was down to basic errors from us? Why? What's going wrong, why has the mentality of the whole team changed all of a sudden? And where's the leadership from senior players? (although I guess you could only call Yak, Cahill, Howard and Hibbo 'senior' tonight...) Moyes has got a massive, massive job on his hands - by the time Benfica come to ours, we could easily be out the Carling Cup and a further 4 or 6 places adrift in the Premiership, and we'll be all but playing for our season. I hope he goes mental and scares the crap out of them so they never dream of playing like that again, but he looked like he couldn't be arsed. In summary, angry and worried.

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.

so called fans judging fellaini on his 15 mill fee , ok he was shite tonight but so was cahill , jo , rodwell , ets put it too 1 side as we will beat the so fantastic benfica at goodison because we will have yobo , baines & pienaar back at least

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.

just you wait til we get our players back and get you to a european night at goodison! those kids of yours will crap themselves good luck yourselves though nice to see you doing well!

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?

England can win it for one reason - Capello.

 

I am so happy to be able to legitimately support Holland in a competition

 

Brazil look pretty awesome when you consider that they're not playing in the most spectacular fashion just yet - also, I would be overjoyed to see Ronaldo and Adriano return!

 

Spain. Well, Europe's strongest hopes probably but I get the feeling their old stage fright might return.

 

Got a sneaky feeling that Italy might pull off something, maybe even a Final appearance. I mean, they've got arguably the best goalkeeper on the planet and ze Germans got to the final with the same thing seven years ago.

 

Here is a bloody thought, though -

 

The World Cup without Messi or C. Ronaldo.

 

Very possible but so, so strange eh???

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?

Messi will never step foot upon British shores, unless it's a friendly or an shopping spree. In Spain the tax rebate is 30%, compare that to Britain 50% then you'll quickly realise why Ronaldo left sharpish.

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%.

A question for one of the many portugese fans posting in this thread. Apologies if this has already been asked 9and answered) but can you tell me how many tickets Benfica usually provide for visiting supporters? UEFA rules state it has to be a minimu of 5% for Europa League games but that's just over 3000 and I can see us wanting 3 or 4 times that amount.

Also, is anyone on here a member of the European Travel club as I understand that is the only way to get a ticket through the club or am i mistaken??

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.

I don't want to be an immature child...but...you have a keeper called Quim?

 

That's is the greatest name ever. Ha ha!

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...

i only saw 2 replays of the incident and didnt notice him touching the ball after the keeper, so i youtubed it and, ok your right. My point with them being nearly identical was that they both went down knowing they werent going to be able to do anything with the ball. Rooney is nearly on his knees as the keeper touches him! and from what you describe, this is a worse offence than Eduardo's, Rooney is actively seeking a penalty and whats even worse, he looks round to argue for the penalty. granted, in the Eduardo replays i cant see how he reacts other than jogging back with the ball in his arms.

 

as for a decent player not accepting it, ive never seen any professional stop and turn down a pen. only sportsmanship ive seen on the pitch was DiCanio catching the ball in our area from his corner because something had happened. but, that is a 1 in a million event...

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.

Robbie Fowler against Arsenal, and he probably missed the penalty on purpose after telling the ref it wasn't a penalty.

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.

We were poor yah but we make too many changes we never have stability. This year should be different. We have pretty much the same squad with the right players added to the squad so we wont have the same as last season.

 

Everton is a great team and I've been waiting for a while to play them. I BELIEVE it will be Benfica and Everton through

 

Hey Benfica can't do worse then the 20-0 scoreline Sporting had last season against Bayern

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...?

In the earlier posts of this thread it seems like some like that you guys got Benfica in the group stages...I don't think you guys should be happy lol we're not push overs

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.

Another result:

 

SL Benfica 3 - 1 Celtic FC (Friendly CNE CUP - Toronto Canada - Sept 3rd)

 

Both teams were missing a lot of starting eleven players due to national team games. I read alot of british and scotish news that said Benfica had a lot of regulars on their starting eleven, thats was clearly an overstatement, there were only 3 on Benfica side plus the 3 that entered during the game, and we also had alot of youth on that game Roderick Miranda, Ruben Pinto, Nélson Oliveira, Diogo Figueiras and Tiago Ramos, they are all from the U-21 team.

 

All goals - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmtInlkpvfg

 

It was a good opportunity for both teams to give some minutes to some players and give some experience to the youth players. Of course it was a friendly match, and the result is the less important thing.

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.

Good I'm glad this happened. They spend far to much money anyways they could go a transfer window or 2 without getting anyone new. I just really hope this doesn't get over turned .

 

Maybe one day there will be a limit to how much you can spend during a season or maybe for a player. Who knows

From your keyboard to UEFA/FIFA's screens...

Altough I'd be plenty happy if the 6+5 rule came into effect.

Been too busy today to check on footballing stories and just read this one on various websites...shocked! Now I thought fines etc would be used but UEFA are trying to hit Chelsea hard on this one.

FIFA, not UEFA.

Could go a long way to making Chelsea stronger!

 

Adversity.....(The world is against us) may force them to close ranks and show the football world it's maybe not about how much they were going to spend, but about the players that are there now.They have potentialy the best squad at the moment, they can afford to keep them, and maybe they will be forced to bring a youngster through, that could spur them on, players through the ranks sometimes bring out the best in a team.

 

Remember Leeds the other year, they were deducted points and for a while know one could live with them, they were winning every game until they ran out of momentum.

 

It could just spur Chelsea on, I can certainly see them winning it this year.

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.

Im happy to say thats just part of the game.... sometimes you will get them sometime you wont....

I would rather that than ruin the game by stopping it every time someone falls over...

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.

Football will never be free flowing if there is too much emphasis on the TV judge.

Just too many negatives for me and probable reason it very rarely get's much publicity.

 

Plus, someone mentioned earlier, the number of TV shows that exist to debate decisions, off the ball incidents etc would never go for it. Just like we will never see the common cold cured, the pharamcutical industry makes too much money from it.

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.