Portuguese Football 2018/19

maniak

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Hopefully we get a miracle and Braga wins it.

As for Académica, 2nd League is always a big mystery, you can win it or be out of the race by christmas. I'm curious to see if Hugo Almeida can still run.
 

Bruno Marques

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Discuss here because I will not say anything about Sporting with Peseiro there. There is nothing to discuss. He is just garbage. :devil:

Enjoy!
Great to have a new thread. Looking forward to this new season. Cant really say i know much about the team or the new players because i didn't catch any preseason game.

Tomorrow will be the "presentation" game. it will be against Extremadura, a spanish team from la liga 2. I don't think i will go, i will decide later.

Anyway there was a big overall in the club, new manager with diferent ideas. Can't really say i like has a person but i think he has some good ideas in terms of football (exactly the opposite of Couceiro).

Squad also changed a lot, like,15 players out and 15 players in, so everything is new.

One of the things i'm really liking at the moment is that there isn't a single loaned player from the top 3 clubs in Portugal in the squad, so let's see. I think it will be a better season then the last one.
 
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André Dominguez

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Discuss here because I will not say anything about Sporting with Peseiro there. There is nothing to discuss. He is just garbage. :devil:

Enjoy!
Ehehehe. Peseiro is not a bad manager. Not a fantastic one either. He does prepares his teams quite well in terms of the defensive process, tbh.

But yeah, he's old school, still abuses man marking and lacks a plan B. But he will get a top 3 qualification, that's almost certain. He's a good stop-gap solution IMHO
 

André Dominguez

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Hopefully we get a miracle and Braga wins it.

As for Académica, 2nd League is always a big mystery, you can win it or be out of the race by christmas. I'm curious to see if Hugo Almeida can still run.
Académica promotion race last season was a bit of a surprise, their squad was not that good. Hugo Almeida will be good enough for the league level. I suspect he will score a minmum of 15-20 goals.
 

André Dominguez

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Great to have a new thread. Looking forward to this new season. Cant really say i know much about the team or the new players because i didn't catch any preseason game.

Tomorrow will be the "presentation" game. it will be against Extremadura, a spanish team from la liga 2. I don't think i will go, i will decide later.

Anyway there was a big overall in the club, new manager with diferent ideas. Can't really say i like has a person but i think he has some good ideas in terms of football (exactly the opposite of Couceiro).

Squad also changed a lot, like,15 players out and 15 players in, so everything is new.

One of the things i'm really liking at the moment is that there isn't a single loaned player from the top 3 clubs in Portugal in the squad, so let's see. I think it will be a better season then the last one.
The squad changed a lot but for budget reasons. Setúbal has a tradition of having mid-season problems with players wages. The idea is probably to have a lighter budget for wages. Let's see if the squad depth won't be a problem.
 

maniak

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Académica promotion race last season was a bit of a surprise, their squad was not that good. Hugo Almeida will be good enough for the league level. I suspect he will score a minmum of 15-20 goals.
True, but even so it was a monumental bottle job at the end. At a certain point we were 6 or 7 points ahead of third if memory serves me, then we went on a 6-7 game sequence without wins.
 

André Dominguez

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True, but even so it was a monumental bottle job at the end. At a certain point we were 6 or 7 points ahead of third if memory serves me, then we went on a 6-7 game sequence without wins.
MOnumental is a figure of speech. It was an ultra failure, the promotion was basically done, we didn't even need to win every home game.
The problem is we basically lost / draw almost every single one :D
 

André Dominguez

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Only thing I know about Peseiro is that the Al Ahly fans protested against his appointment a few years back.
Peseiro stories are becoming funnier each day :lol:
Manuel José had a much worse record than Peseiro when he joine Al Ahly, so what did Peseiro did that infuriated the fans so badly?
 

Arruda

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Counting on you lads to keep me updated. I barely watched any football for the past two seasons and I don't think this one will be different.

I'm happy Santa Clara is back up, though since I'm not living in Azores at the moment I won't benefit much from it in terms of love games.

Thinking of following Braga women's team for a change of pace. The United women's thread piqued my interest.
 

André Dominguez

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Counting on you lads to keep me updated. I barely watched any football for the past two seasons and I don't think this one will be different.

I'm happy Santa Clara is back up, though since I'm not living in Azores at the moment I won't benefit much from it in terms of love games.

Thinking of following Braga women's team for a change of pace. The United women's thread piqued my interest.
I feel you, bro. I mainly follow the results and most of Benfica matches, but over the years my patience to watch matches grows thiner.

Even though, I admit we are creative enough to keep our league above it's weight. We have modest budgets when compared to almost every top 15 league in UEFA, but yet we still to manage to beat most of those teams.

Our league problem is raising the level for clubs outside top 3.
 

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Anyway there was a big overall in the club, new manager with diferent ideas. Can't really say i like has a person but i think he has some good ideas in terms of football (exactly the opposite of Couceiro).
Lito Vidigal is also a defensive minded manager, but agree he is better than Couceiro. What is Couceiro doing now at FPF?
Ehehehe. Peseiro is not a bad manager. Not a fantastic one either. He does prepares his teams quite well in terms of the defensive process, tbh.
Defensive process and Peseiro are 2 concepts who don't link with each other. :lol:

On another note Rio Ave already eliminated, this just reinforces the fact a lot needs to be changed, if not sooner or later we will see the same drop as the Dutch, Belgian or Greek league in the past.

One day when I have time I will show some stats who prove why our development model is entirely wrong and why even those players who won the Under 19's Euros have more chances to play if they go abroad than staying in Portugal.
 

André Dominguez

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Lito Vidigal is also a defensive minded manager, but agree he is better than Couceiro. What is Couceiro doing now at FPF?
Defensive process and Peseiro are 2 concepts who don't link with each other. :lol:

On another note Rio Ave already eliminated, this just reinforces the fact a lot needs to be changed, if not sooner or later we will see the same drop as the Dutch, Belgian or Greek league in the past.

One day when I have time I will show some stats who prove why our development model is entirely wrong and why even those players who won the Under 19's Euros have more chances to play if they go abroad than staying in Portugal.
You just need to read this book to realize the problems of portuguese football (even though this book needs an update)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/24/numbers-game-everything-football-wrong
 

maniak

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My fellow countrymen, sorry for the slight off-topic, but anyone knows if Eleven Sports will be available in the NOS platform. Football is almost starting and I can't find any info on this.
 

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Yagami

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Counting on you lads to keep me updated. I barely watched any football for the past two seasons and I don't think this one will be different.

I'm happy Santa Clara is back up, though since I'm not living in Azores at the moment I won't benefit much from it in terms of love games.

Thinking of following Braga women's team for a change of pace. The United women's thread piqued my interest.
I'm honestly as excited to watch our new women's team as our men's this upcoming season. We're late to the party but better late than never! I might even go up to Old Trafford for a few games providing I have the free time available.
 

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You just need to read this book to realize the problems of portuguese football (even though this book needs an update)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/24/numbers-game-everything-football-wrong
When I mentioned stats I was looking more at the development of youth players who come from the Academies and are stuck between the B teams and lack of space to reach the first teams because they already have signed players from abroad.

If you check the share of portuguese players currently on our league and compare with the top 5 in Europe only England has a higher share. If you compare with other Leagues on the same level as ours, only Belgium has more.

Reason why it is easier to see players like Trincão from Braga, Diogo Gonçalves or João Carvalho at Forest, Neves and Jota at Wolves moving abroad to play than reaching their first team.

The same for Dalot, who instead staying at Porto where this season he had everything to develop and play every week, basically he will not play much this season, and even worse I can't see him developing under the current Mourinho, hopefully I am wrong on this one.

The rest I think that book you mentioned was related with the Moneyball concept if I am not wrong?
 

maniak

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The problem with portuguese football are its fans. People can go around making changes and proposing theories, but when fans don't care about their local teams and everything revolves around 3 corrupt clubs, there's no way we'll ever have decent football.
 

SportingCP96

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The feelings I have towards the coming season are ones I have not felt since Godinho Lopes was the president, our own fans are split right now and its absolutely depressing to be near the Sporting forum. Sporting have had a horrible pre season and I am not talking about just the results but the planning and everything about it. With BDC I always felt we were challengers for the title and tbh right now I think we will struggle to get third place. Bruno Fernandes and Dost returned which is "good" for the squad as has Battaglia but he is so average that I don't know why we put the effort to get him back anyways. Our team has got plenty of worse Viviano I am not convinced with at all though I hope he proves me wrong also our left and right backs are worse then last season. We have yet to buy a defensive mid and we have no one of quality for that position Misic and Petrovic are horrible. Also in our lineup yesterday only TWO! Portuguese players in the starting 11 and only 1 player from our academy truly appalling. We need signings bad our season begins next week and we need at least 3 GOOD signings to compete. As for Peseiro he is horrible never liked him and I give it till the end of September before he gets sacked, In our first 5 games of the season we go away to Benfica and away to Braga In other words we will be out of the title race by September. On the brighter side im excited to see how Matheus Pereira, Raphinha and Nani perform while also hoping Mane can rediscover his form. Sorry for being the depressed and negative one but can you blame me?:(

On to other things Vitoria Guimaraes have put together an exciting squad with a lot of good and talented players. Probably their best squad in years so I think they will be fighting for a top 5 spot for sure. Braga thought not making any big signings have kept their squad in tact and look to build on a fantastic season they had last year. They look like the Braga of the Domingos days.

My predictions
1. Benfica
2. Porto
3. Braga
4. Sporting
5. Guimaraes

Relegation:
Santa Clara
Belenenses
Feirense
 
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André Dominguez

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The feelings I have towards the coming season are ones I have not felt since Godinho Lopes was the president, our own fans are split right now and its absolutely depressing to be near the Sporting forum. Sporting have had a horrible pre season and I am not talking about just the results but the planning and everything about it. With BDC I always felt we were challengers for the title and tbh right now I think we will struggle to get third place. Bruno Fernandes and Dost returned which is "good" for the squad as has Battaglia but he is so average that I don't know why we put the effort to get him back anyways. Our team has got plenty of worse Viviano I am not convinced with at all though I hope he proves me wrong also our left and right backs are worse then last season. We have yet to buy a defensive mid and we have no one of quality for that position Misic and Petrovic are horrible. Also in our lineup yesterday only TWO! Portuguese players in the starting 11 and only 1 player from our academy truly appalling. We need signings bad our season begins next week and we need at least 3 GOOD signings to compete. As for Peseiro he is horrible never liked him and I give it till the end of September before he gets sacked, In our first 5 games of the season we go away to Benfica and away to Braga In other words we will be out of the title race by September. On the brighter side im excited to see how Matheus Pereira, Raphinha and Nani perform while also hoping Mane can rediscover his form. Sorry for being the depressed and negative one but can you blame me?:(

On to other things Vitoria Guimaraes have put together an exciting squad with a lot of good and talented players. Probably their best squad in years so I think they will be fighting for a top 5 spot for sure. Braga thought not making any big signings have kept their squad in tact and look to build on a fantastic season they had last year. They look like the Braga of the Domingos days.

My predictions
1. Benfica
2. Porto
3. Braga
4. Sporting
5. Guimaraes

Relegation:
Santa Clara
Belenenses
Feirense
It will all depends on how Sporting starts the league. A series of good results may turn a nightmare season into a good season.

Guimarães hired who, IMHO, is a fantastic manager. Luís Castro started awfully last season at Chaves (mainly because the squad was almost reseted), but managed to put a poor technical squad to play possession and attacking football, which is very positive.
I think loosing Paolo Hurtado will be a big blow to Guimarãse: he scored and assisted a lot.


Braga can be a double-edged knife. I think Abel leadership has yet to be tested. Braga was very far from being a brilliant team last season and the football quality was quite underwhelming, despite having a solid season.
 

André Dominguez

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The problem with portuguese football are its fans. People can go around making changes and proposing theories, but when fans don't care about their local teams and everything revolves around 3 corrupt clubs, there's no way we'll ever have decent football.
Touché. And things are getting worse, IMHO.

When I lived in Coimbra, I was a season ticket holder for Académica, rarely missed a home game. And attendances are getting lower every seasons. I remember before the 97/98 where Académcia got promoted to Primeira Liga, the stadium was always at least 10.000 / 15.000.

Nowadays it's a lucky day if they get 5.000
 

SportingCP96

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It will all depends on how Sporting starts the league. A series of good results may turn a nightmare season into a good season.

Guimarães hired who, IMHO, is a fantastic manager. Luís Castro started awfully last season at Chaves (mainly because the squad was almost reseted), but managed to put a poor technical squad to play possession and attacking football, which is very positive.
I think loosing Paolo Hurtado will be a big blow to Guimarãse: he scored and assisted a lot.


Braga can be a double-edged knife. I think Abel leadership has yet to be tested. Braga was very far from being a brilliant team last season and the football quality was quite underwhelming, despite having a solid season.
The problem with that is like I sad we face Benfica and Braga away in the first 5 games and its very obvious we are way behind in our pre season preparation so if we lose both those games its all set and done. As for Luis Castro I actually think he is the best manager in the league and this could be a stepping ground into getting into one of the BIG 3. As for Braga had they beat Benfica and Porto at home last season and added a win against a lower level side they would have got top 2 I felt they were very solid. There plan is to win the title by 2022 though I dont see it happening.
 

SportingCP96

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Touché. And things are getting worse, IMHO.

When I lived in Coimbra, I was a season ticket holder for Académica, rarely missed a home game. And attendances are getting lower every seasons. I remember before the 97/98 where Académcia got promoted to Primeira Liga, the stadium was always at least 10.000 / 15.000.

Nowadays it's a lucky day if they get 5.000
Also besides the BIG 3 the only other club who fills out there stadium is Guimaraes they easily have the best fans after the 3 norm. Im surprised that for how good Braga have been in the last decade or so that they still get so few fans to the stadium I feel if VSC was in their shoes they would be closer to accomplishing bigger things because of their fantastic fan base.
 

André Dominguez

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The problem with that is like I sad we face Benfica and Braga away in the first 5 games and its very obvious we are way behind in our pre season preparation so if we lose both those games its all set and done. As for Luis Castro I actually think he is the best manager in the league and this could be a stepping ground into getting into one of the BIG 3. As for Braga had they beat Benfica and Porto at home last season and added a win against a lower level side they would have got top 2 I felt they were very solid. There plan is to win the title by 2022 though I dont see it happening.
Braga 2022 will only happen if they suddenly start hiring and reselling Mendes leftovers... oh wait...
 

maniak

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Touché. And things are getting worse, IMHO.

When I lived in Coimbra, I was a season ticket holder for Académica, rarely missed a home game. And attendances are getting lower every seasons. I remember before the 97/98 where Académcia got promoted to Primeira Liga, the stadium was always at least 10.000 / 15.000.

Nowadays it's a lucky day if they get 5.000
True, I live in Almada and I go to Cova da Piedade matches. We had more people in the stadium 20 years ago playing in the district leagues than we have now playing in the professional leagues. It's ridiculous how one of the most populated areas in the country isn't able to put 1000 people in the stadium in a professional league.
 

André Dominguez

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True, I live in Almada and I go to Cova da Piedade matches. We had more people in the stadium 20 years ago playing in the district leagues than we have now playing in the professional leagues. It's ridiculous how one of the most populated areas in the country isn't able to put 1000 people in the stadium in a professional league.
Cova da Piedade actually made a smart stadium renovation a couple of years ago, by reducing the stands and puting most of the budget on the infrastructures and made the stadium more modern and easier / cheaper to mantain.
But yeah, hundreds of thousands live at Almada and it's amazing how come no one cares about their homeland club. Sad.
 

Bruno Marques

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football in Portugal is rotten in every aspect. Tv coverage only exists for 3 teams and the 3 that face them. Journos always give old "news" and their online versions try to hide the other 15 clubs the most they can (just look at record new website version)
Cups try to benefit the biggest clubs the most, just look at the league cup.
Clubs without the lack of money are always trying to get some players on loan so most of the time they act like allies for those clubs.

The only way for this to change is, end loans, end u23 league, end b teams. Get the tv rights back to the league and not the clubs. Make all clubs grow together or just die
 

SportingCP96

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To the SCP fans, how has Marcus Wendel been doing? Still in first team plans or as rumoured to be loaned back to brazilian league?
This year he has a big chance to start for Sporting. He has had a decent pre season you can see that he is good technically but not tactically. On the ball you see he has talent but off the ball is where he needs to improve A LOT. TBH I have no idea if he will be a good player or not he came in with a lot of hype so this season should tell a lot.
 

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First time I can remember that I am not going to watch any game related with my club. This season the only team I will follow because I like their manager (Luis Castro) is Vitória Guimarães. If I have the chance I will watch them but they couldn't ask for a worse game to start at Benfica. Hopefully Vitória fans have enough calm because they have a lot of new players, most probably until beginning of October they won't be stabilized. On another note, only yesterday found that if Braga beats Zorya they will most probably face RB Leipzig. :lol:
 

SportingCP96

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First time I can remember that I am not going to watch any game related with my club. This season the only team I will follow because I like their manager (Luis Castro) is Vitória Guimarães. If I have the chance I will watch them but they couldn't ask for a worse game to start at Benfica. Hopefully Vitória fans have enough calm because they have a lot of new players, most probably until beginning of October they won't be stabilized. On another note, only yesterday found that if Braga beats Zorya they will most probably face RB Leipzig. :lol:
I cant do that no matter how hard the times no matter how good or bad I will always watch Sporting. A ganhar o a perder Sporting ate morrer. With that being said I hope BDC gets elected in September or else I dont know in which way sporting will win. As for Braga facing Leipzig is the worse possible news for Sporting because if they lose they will focus solely on the league all season and surely get third place.
 

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Watching bits of Benfica, 3-0 up with Pizzi hat trick. Cervi is interesting player, pretty skilful. Does he have game to move to top team in one of the bigger leagues? Could be part of the new Argentina era.
 

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Watching bits of Benfica, 3-0 up with Pizzi hat trick. Cervi is interesting player, pretty skilful. Does he have game to move to top team in one of the bigger leagues? Could be part of the new Argentina era.
He has not been to convincing at Benfica for the most part so not too sure what his level is yet.
 

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Almost time to start Vitoria Setubal vs Aves. Joel isn't starting. Let's see what happens.

3 minutes - first goal for Vitoria. Costinha scoring after a great pass from Mendy

Half-time: Vitoria still leading and now Aves got a player sent off after hitting the Vitoria goal score.

2 - 0 Cadiz after a great pass cutting threw the defense from zequinha

Another player sent of for Aves after a double yelloe
 
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