England-portugal Sensible Thread

[winbet]

Now that were into the last eight lets be sensible and more in Depth. Lets forget that a full Potuguese Side would beat a lack-lustre English Team or a Potentially better English Team would beat any Portuguese Team. Lets base our Operations on an England Team that doesnt improve that much on their showing so far and a weakened Portugal Team.

Even though England might play like they have already, I feel with the losses of Deco and Costinha Portugal are the side thats going to have problems. There's no doubting Scolari is a great coach but his tactics may be tied here.

Firstly, while the Central Defenders are very Good, especially my team boy Ricardo, I feel they havent the pace to cover Rooney without falling back a yard or Two. This means they need a holding Midfielder which Petit seems the only option, thats OK until you now try to work out the rest of the Team. Englands personnel leave no option for Portugal but to play One up front, to save being outnumbered in Midfield, so who has Scolari got to work with?

The big problem here for the Portuguese is Englands weakness is on the flanks so to create plays they need width, which normally isnt a problem with Figo and Renaldo but witout Deco, Maniche will be isolated in this Match. I cant see another option so they will have to try, which will give the English midfield control and sooner or later the Central Defenders will get sucked upfield and Bingo, goodnight Vienna, Just My thoughts. :drink:

 

[MarkieMark+]

I agree. Deco makes Portugal's mid-field click.

Losing the regular holding mid-fielder, Costinha, is a problem but Deco's absence is a HUGE blow to Portugal's chances of advancing.

And just in passing... Figo should not be playing either.

MM

 

[dmmd98]

Great thread Winbet you hit alot of things right on the head. Deco's loss will be big but Simao in a pinch isn't a bad replacement. He has great ball skills with alot of pace plus he was the player who took out Man U in the champions league so it isn't the end of the world. The most important player for England in this game is Gary Neville since Ashley Cole should do a good job marking either Simao or Ronaldo since Im sure Figo will play in the middle. If Neville can shut Portugal from moving the ball into the box or getting corner kicks and fouls then England will be in good shape.

Figo should be on this team. There hasn't been a game where he hasn't played well plus he is the face of the team since if he wasn't on the team then the media glare would go towards Ronaldo who wouldn't be able to handle that care of pressure.

Costinha's loss means little to nothing he shouldn't of been starting anyway. He is the kind of player you play in the 70th minute to cause havoc in the midfield nothing more. Petit is a better player in my opinion and has more skill on the offensive side of things plus he is a good defensive player. Then you can sub in Boa Morte and Paulo Ferriera in the midfield and back who are well aware of the England style of play

Portugal always plays one up front so that isn't a concern since the 4-5-1 basically means Pauleta (who wont do anything) up front with Figo, Ronadlo, and Simao attacking and Manchie supporting those four with Petit staying back to help the defense.

Either way good luck on Saturday

 

[X-Files]

Port-land should stalk up on the vino b4 game time
to mix in the UK gatorade play all 11 back in their
penalty area and hope the Londoners go ofer in PK's.
Just my opinion.

 

[PghBuck]

England should be very confident heading into this quarterfinal for a number of reasons.

1. Besides the Deco and Costinha suspensions 5 other players are sitting on yellow. At least 4 of those 5 will be in the starting 11, with Petit maybe being the exception. Even though an additional yellow will not remove these guys from the quarterfinal it will rule them out of a potential semi-final match. Aggressiveness might be a problem for those on yellow.

2. Rooney being fit, at least compared to the last time these teams met. When these teams played in Euro '04, Wayne Rooney only played for the first 25 minutes or so due to injury. At that time England led 1-0 and Rooney was probably the most dominant player in the tournament.

Hopefully Sven puts Crouch up front with Rooney, unlike the Ecuador match, which should free up Wayne on the ball near and in the penalty area.

3. Pauleta as the lone striker and no Deco is not an overly formidable attack. One strike in the closing minutes against the run of play is all a team needs to advance, but England should be able to squeeze Pauleta. C. Ronaldo is skillful on the left and has looked creative making solo runs in the open field, but he hasn't seemed dangerous around the area. With the exception of the Angola game he hasn't had a decent chance on goal.

4. David James is the backup. Even though Robinson hasn't really been tested, the tom-foolery that is David James should make England supporters much more comfortable since James is on the bench.

 

[uscmike]

england to win !:toast:

 

[Griffination]

Another thing that no one realizes is the health of players. England played a decent game against Ecuador but didn't exhaust themselves very much (except for Beckham puking because he was stupid and wore long sleeves). Portugal played a attack/counter-attack game against Netherlands where they both were running and attacking each other at random. So, I feel Portugal's legs might be a little weaker this time around. But whatever the case, IMO, this is going to be memorable one just like the Netherlands v. Portugal match.

 

[Dacristo360]

Without Deco it's going to be tough