Comments on: A whole team

By: Tony O

Tony O — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 07:36:18 +0000

I’m going to try to stay away from the Scolari thing. Let’s win something then we can talk about how we prefer “o jogo bonito”, but yes…long term tactics over skills does not bode well for the game, but I could write a novel on that one, and this is a blog after all ;P

I just want to chime in on Nuno Valente. I’d much rather see Fereira on the left, even if he has no left foot. Valente is slow…he is a defensive liability and has not even been playing in England. I watched him several times at Everton and he has some nice crossing skills but too many times, he just plain got burned or did a poor job of marking on set pieces. We don’t really need him to go fwd, if miguel is on right so please, Felipao….start Fereira!

Re: Figo..isn’t he the captain? since when don’t you start your captain? The only thing I would say to Figo is go out and don’t save anything for the last 20 mins. He shouldn’t be pacing himself. He is much more useful to us going full out for 70 mins and then being subbed for Simao, then holding back so he can play the whole game. I’d also like to see Tiago start as well as he looked quite good at Lyon (I saw them play quite often) and Maniche is out of form.

Forca Portugal!

By: Luis

Luis — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 18:01:35 +0000

I love the Scolari critics. They would rather look pretty and lose. I for one am glad to see that mentality fade into history. Força Scolari! Make them eat their words. Força Portugal!

By: steven

steven — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 16:20:23 +0000

i agree pedro p, get behind scolari and the lads, ok previous winners mght not hav been exciting but at the end of the day they were winners!! wud u rather b exciting and a losr or not tht exciting but a winner i know which one id choose!!…

By: Pedro P

Pedro P — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 14:58:43 +0000

Jorge, agree the generical trend nowadays is so.

As for Scolari’s lack of imagination, you should remember that the ones’s who have done the same, over and over and over, were exactly the ones before. Scolari invested in a much more versatile tactics (before you never saw any tactical change at all) and has brought new ideas and knowledge, form a diferent perspective. I believe there’s always something to be learned with ones that are better or that have reached what we haven’t. He also invested much in building what usually winners have and losers don’t: A TEAM! A GROUP!

You never saw any “Paula” incident with Scolari, did you…?

All this might not work, of course. But he’s done much more than all the others put together. And naturally, this is just my opinion.

By: jorge espinha

jorge espinha — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 12:27:31 +0000

The reason it’s the same squad all over again is do to mr Scolari lazyness and lack of imagination.
Mr Scoalri is a fine example of the new coach elite coming from Brazil, the days of the beautifull game are long gone, I still remember the awful brazilian team of 94 and horrid football that brazil played in 2002. What made me fall in love with football was the brazilian squad of 82. Tele santana was unfortunately an exception. In the end eficiency and the boring scolari-like footbal will kill the game . It’s impossible to cheerish memories of the germanic football of the 80’s and 90’s , greece fro 2004 or Mourinho’s chelsea. But that’s the way of the future.

By: Jannis

Jannis — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 22:19:53 +0000

So is Nuno Valente a starter in the defensive line then?

By: steven

steven — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:05:57 +0000

woteva the line up the team spirit is there n the team understanding is there which has been built up ova sum time n this is always key 2 great things. we just gota b focused on each game first things first angola n then iran then mexico..etc…n then maybe a france v portugal final….go on portugal!!!

By: Luis

Luis — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 17:27:04 +0000

Figo clearly and only subbed if Scolari needs to make a tactical change or he’s really tired. Although Scolari has tried some options with Figo in the midfield and Simao on the wing.

By: Luis Paulo

Luis Paulo — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 17:23:30 +0000

Bjorn, Gomes won’t start but he probably will be playing a lot on the competition

By: Pedro P

Pedro P — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 17:09:44 +0000

I believe Figo will always start, unless he’s falling apart. Scolari has also showed he loves puting Simao in, sometime in the 2nd half…