From champions to victims: what happened to SL Benfica?
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- SL Benfica were irresistible in the first half of the 2022-23 season. “Roger Ball” was cooking every team it came into contact with, and Benfica even finished ahead of both PSG and Juventus in their Champions League group. From there, things got a bit strange after the Enzo Fernandez transfer saga, with Benfica becoming mortal again, and losing what was once a massive lead in the league. In the end, Benfica were crowned champions, but their season went from feeling invincible, to feeling like they barely survived Porto’s challenge.
Jump ahead to the 2023-24 season, and that feeling of “just surviving” matches has continued, and reached a boiling point in February. With brutal performances against Toulouse, a 2 - 1 defeat to Sporting, and a 5 - 0 embarrassment at the hands of FC Porto, Benfica’s manager Roger Schmidt has been under fire.
So, what happened to SL Benfica? Are the criticisms of Schmidt over-exaggerated? What’s happened to Benfica, all explained in this video.
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SOURCES:
• I'm A Little Stitious ...
SPORT TV: • Roger Schmidt "If you ...
Benfica vs Newcastle: • Resumo/Highlights Eusé...
Drone footage of celebrations: • Festejos Benfica Campe...
Da vinci popsicle bridge: • Leonardo da Vinci Pops...
www.goal.com/en/news/enzo-fer...
A fantastic start: 00:00
Losing talent: 04:33
Same players & approach: 08:11
Unused options: 10:54
Outro: 16:39 - Sport
You guys know where I stand, so have your say now! Are the calls for a new manager justified, or unfair?
Unfair - Who could benfica realistically get in at this stage of the season to make a drastic turn around anyway?
As a diehard Benfiquista myself, I felt humiliated but we need to have a cool head before any rash decision
@@diamondcianoi heard Mourinho was present at the porto game
Jorge Jesus
for for him to stay, he had to go to the final of Liga Europa, and/or win the league, If none of this happens, he should leave, but never when there are only few games missing to the end of the league and we can still win it...
Arthur Cabral was on the starting eleven on the first half of the season without playing that good or scoring. He finally found his form, started scoring, and RS removed him from the team. Why?
O Xumite não curte picanha.
@@adrianapeixoto6046😂😂
He had flu for 2 games after that and lost his spot after the 2 games
He was playing because tengsted got injured
@@lol50edu93 nah, he was playing because of the 25m€ signing fee
You missed talking about Florentino not playing. He is not the perfect at passing the ball but he was the best at recovering the ball and he gives a lot to benfica's pressing system.
Total mystery on why he doesn't play
Wrong players for Gengenpressing and inability from the coach to adapt his tactics to the players.
Starting with Di Maria.
Very ten hag-esque
Right ideas but wrong team
Very true
But even then Florentino, who is the best pressing and ball winning midfielder, rides the bench almost every game this season
Meanwhile 36 year old Di Maria and many other poor defensive players often log 80+ minutes every game
Hard to explain and even harder to understand...
@@marmanjoteta2100 I have a really unpopular opinion: Di Maria is killing the team. Does't fit at all with the profile of a winning-gegenpressing team. Also very selfish. Technical wise is still the best in the league in some aspects, but overall he is a massive handicap. I mean, again: no winning team in the world plays a 36 winger that does not press. Much less with two 36 year old players, the other being Otamendi. I was never in favor of Ti Maria joining Benfica, and I am tired of pretending it was a good decision.
@@marmanjoteta2100 P.S: I just checked the statistics. Ti Maria is the second player with more lost balls in the League, only behind a guy calles Costinha from Rio Ave.
Enough said for me.
I love the way you say "we" when talking about Benfica ❤
So nice to see you cover your favorite team Adrian. I love your channel because you consistently cover across all the leagues in Europe, instead of just the prem like most channels do. I’ll keep watching keep up the good content please.
This was a banger of a video, Adrian! You addressing the problems at Benfica helped me understand a bit better what's going on with them. Me as a Portuguese Sporting fan can tell you that has been difficult to understand because here in Portugal, everyone that talks about Benfica being in crisis is like Portugal is dying (yes, seriously). Even though is just about a manager that has a top talent at a top club, and he is being terrible at man management at the moment.
About Sporting, we've been so good this season because of one man and he is Viktor Gyokeres. Doing a video on him and how he changed how Sporting play in the present compared to past season would be interesting. Also, more coverage of Portuguese football coming from you is a blessing. Keep up the good work, Adrian! 🙏
Hjulmand também foi uma contratação importante. Não é só o Gyokeres
I think it all started with poor scouting. We lost 3 important players (Ramos, Grimaldo and Enzo) and all we had to do was to find good replacers.
Instead of it, we got a random Jurasek, injured Bernat, Kokçu (a 10 to play as a 8), injured Guedes, old Di Maria and Cabral who didn't know how to play in our system.
Lost Gilberto and got stuck with just 1 rightback. And why the hell we got rid of Ristic??
Besides all this, we lost Aursnes as a left mid and Florentino never plays. Too many changes! We shoud've just went for good replacers for Grimaldo, Ramos and Enzo and stick with the same lineup and ideas as last year.
The only upgrade we had from last year was the GK.
Guedes is playing and scoring at Villareal. It's an insult to Schmid for not utilising him.
Deveríamos era ter dado ao Grimaldo o que ele queria. Temos 14 milhões Jurasek e não temos para o Grimaldo
rn benfica can play GK-Trubin LB-Carreras CB-Otamendi and Silva RB-Bah MD-Neves MC-Kokcu and Aursnes LW-Rafa RW- DiMaria CF-Marcos Leonardo
@@goncalor.8192 por mim o Rafa rende mais no meio do que nas alas. Na esquerda não vai baixar pra defender, e mesmo que baixe, vai-se cansar e perdemos as suas arrancadas. Aursnes na esquerda ajuda a defender e vem pra dentro ajudar os 2 médios centro.
@@brunosurrador2161 bom, ele também queria um novo desafio.
Rui Costa knew exactly what he was getting in: at PSV, Roger had a fabulous first year and the second year was a disaster. Story is repeating at Benfica right now in front of us. If Rui does not step in, we sink further...
His second season at PSV was actually his best. What the fuck are you saying? Just check your facts before saying misleading information
@@JorgeSilva-ii4mcthats why i dont like to talk against bald people
2nd place with good points = disaster
Last year i found he moved no one.
Same starting line up all year.
How did Ristic never get a chance and he seemed to play well.
Before Morato got hurt against boavista he was the best defender in our league. Was barely given a chance last year when he could have rotated some games.
Aursnes who i love like you said has played every position.
So many great points here in the video and comments
Schmidt is like Fernando Santos...a stubborn stubborn man
The same problem of star players getting sold is always the issue for teams like Benfica, this was inevitable
Nah. Doesn't justify getting pumped 5-0. Every portuguese team sells. Not just benfica.
RIght, because Porto didn't lose Luis Diaz, Otávio, Uribe, Vitinha or Fábio Vieira just in last 2 years. Apparently only Benfica sells their star players now 😂
this is not due to sales though. Benfica has money, we literally had 90m worth of players on the bench against Porto
Except that they made hundreds of millions in those sales (biggest flop factory in the world, but that discussion can stay for another time) and used that money to heavilly invest in the squad. Benfica is BY FAR the biggest spender in the league, spending more than Porto and Sporting combined, and still fail to succeed. And like the other guy pointed out, the other clubs also lose their stars each year, it isnt a Benfica thing. What is a Benfica thing is how much money they make on selling flops (thanks to Jorge Mendes), so they have a ton more money to spend every season.
Lets get to numbers:
Money spent this season alone:
Porto: 45M
Sporting: 60M
Benfica: 97M
Money spent in the last 5 seasons combined (from 2019/2020 to today):
Porto: 217M
Sporting: 214M
Benfica: 414M (Also, they spent 211M the last 2 years alone, thats about as much as Porto and Sporting have spent in the last 5 seasons)
Unlike this biased youtube channel that refuses to call Benfica a "Failure", i would argue that "Failure" is an understatement... they suck. Money wise, its like having PSG struggling to win Ligue 1.
@@greentuga691 Yeah i'm a fan of Liverpool but I watch a lot of Portuguese League, I've noticed there is a lot of favoritism towards Sporting in this title race this season, If they don't win the league, I think that would be a huge failure considering the calls they've been getting like the Casa Pia game. I've also been loving Darwin Nunez, amazing footballer, don't know where you are getting flop factory from considering Sporting have sold flops like Nuno Mendes, Carvalho, Adrien Silva, etc.
I'm with you. I hate the narrative of "hero to zero" in football. I believe his style of play (that we saw largely last season) is the best approach for Benfica. Last season, Benfica was a joy to watch almost every week. This season, the team has a lot of problems. The pressing is usually innefective, Di Maria doesn't track back and leaves the full back exposed, the midfield can be paper thin (the lack of Florentino is questionable), the striker situation is unbelievable, the full back situation is even more questionable. Another relevant situation is the feud going on between the portuguese press and Roger. A lot of weird nationalistic sentiment from the media around him not learning portuguese, some unfortunate comments by the manager towards the journalists... I believe a lot of journalists have been praying on his downfall and are ready to speculate and make his life harder, so to speak. We shall wait and see
I think the problem isnt the pressing but the defensive construction after an attack, the left wing is very weak and the right weak sometimes feels useless when bah isn't playing (although Aursnes is playing marvelously in the position).
The thing is even though João Neves is with no doubt, one of the best players, the team needs more of a duo between kokcu (builds the attack) and Florentino and rafa to distribute the balls between the wingers, and maybe give more of a variation and play guys like rollheiser, tiago gouveia, prestianni and NERES. I mean if there's a position benfica is always stacked up its the wings and we haven't been using them or rightfully most of the games hoped Di Maria would be a messiah and do most of the job there with luck.
@@eskipoI I hear you. I definitely feel like the left wing is weak especially when Morato and João Mário play there. But I think the biggest issue is with equilibrium and stability. The teams sets up in a high press that is very easily countered. After the first line of press is broken, there's acres of space the opponent can run into,seing Di Maria doesn't do too much defensive work, and Neves and Kokcu are left incredibly exposed. There have been a lot of teams that exploited that: Salzburg, Sociedad, Toulouse, Inter and the last week were particularly bad examples of this. The team needs to find stability in defensive transition and there are two options to solve it: either improve the pressing game (some solutions could be bring Aursnes up, sub out Di Maria or at the very least make Rafa and the ST double the work, bring on Tino) or compromise that idea and defend in a compact low block 442, for example. The wichy washy approach will cost Benfica over the next few games as it is very easy to understand the fragilities atm
@@Jose_C695 you are right but besides trying to find that equilibrium and stability, which sometimes seems like obtained for a series of two or three games and then gets broken, is preparing every game individually, because Schmidt can't keep relying on individual talent and not prepare every game individually.
I dont remember Schmidt making any "unfortunate" comments towards the journalists. The press keeps misinterpreting him (as its their job i guess) and comes from a different culture proven by how he isnt used to so many questions per journalist, it would eventually reach a breaking point. Other than a situation as a consequence of journalistic BS I dont think I've ever heard Schmidt throwing slights at the journalists unprompted at all
@@feetusgaming779 A RTP journalist asked him if the result was better than the performance after the Sporting game (which is an irrelevant question anyways) and the answered by saying that the journalist must be a Sporting (or Porto) fan. That wasn't very classy. Also, he answers a lot of questions by stating that the he already answered that question before (which is true) but I know that journalists hate that response. They perceive it as arrogant and demining. But I think football journalists don't want to discuss the game, they want a headline to print in the newspapers the day after
There’s one more turning point, last year. Along with Enzo’s departure to Chelsea FC, Rui Costa rushed to renew RS contract and now, in my opinion, Benfica is his hostage. Need to reminder that Benfica is a seller and not much of a buyer and, with that being said, paying 20 M to end RS contract mid season, is close to impossible. As a Benfica fan, I appreciate RS’s early work but I came to the conclusion that will be a near future with out trophy’s. Cheers for the video.
It's so contradicting to switch the starting 11 every other week and to just refuse to substitute during the game. He did the same thing at PSV. Let's just say the fans don't look back at that period in a very positive way. Our way of playing has improved so much in quality, performance and entertainment under v. Nistelrooij and especially under Bosz.
Edit: Just read that under Bosz we have the most goals scored by subs in the Eredivisie (16) 😂
Man, I was waiting for this video.
I thought you would be too heartbroken to talk about Benfica😅 (esp. after Porto match)
P.S Love your content, have been subscriber for a long time
You are too kind, thank you! It definitely was a terrible feeling after that match, but matches have been "uncomfortable" for a while now. I hope Schmidt makes some changes to how he is doing things so that we finish strong. The squad is good enough, but not optimized.
@@RabonaTV Totally agree with you. we have an amazing squad, with a lot of option. But Schmidt keep doing the same mistakes.
PORTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
PORTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO @@RabonaTV
@@pedrocardoso909 criança..
15:58 There are so many big clubs in Europe who somehow had the biggest bottlejobs at the end of the season by going trophyless, despite having a big expectations to win all of the competitions. Benfica had even suffered this back in 2012/13 season. They failed to win Primeira Liga after losing their crucial Clasico to, you guessed it, Porto, despite being unbeaten in the league before that game, then lost the Europa League Final to Chelsea by last minute goal from Branislav Ivanovic, and surprisingly got beaten by minnows Vitoria Guimaraes in the Portuguese Cup Final.
I know its easy to say now that Leverkusen is doing so good but even before the season started as neutral i was very "unsure" of how Benfica would do without Grimaldo. Dont get me wrong its not one player running the game 24/7 but anyone who paid attention to Benfica's great year before would have seen how much they relied on Grimaldo's output and movements on the pitch and the fact he left on a free is even more sad. (edit - its not just that Grimaldo is an above average defender its that the guy performs like a midfielder as a defender both supplying a generous amount of G/A while also being extremely dangerous in link up play , am not saying he had the G/A of an elite striker but to have a defender that can fill in goals and assists when you need them thats a huge luxury)
Griimaldo was Benfica's exit channel. Getting the ball out of the back always - always - went through Grimaldo. Since he left, Benfica have struggled to get the ball out from the back. Not having another exit outlet or strategy has been a large part of Benfica's problems this season. We can't get out through our useless wings, and our center is always outnumbered. Front line waits haplessly while the backline struggles endlessly getting the ball out.
It was rumoured he wanted a 10M€ signing bonus and I can't believe we didn't take it if it's true. If you see it as a "transfer fee" for a signing, it's an absolute steal. How much would he have had to pay to get someone of his quality? 6x, 10x?
@@teh_bruno150 Grimaldo's problem for benfica was his market , he had an amazing season and had a good market overall , he knew that either Benfica would pay and renew and he would be satisfied or he would take the chance while he had market. And for Benfica it was the same , if they did renew his market in 2 to 4 years would drop considerably, thus making us lose more money down the road. Besides he knew that to be able to be called to the National team he would need to be trained by a spanish coach, so he already wanted out anyway. also dont forget that his salary was one of the highest on the squad , and that leeway is always needed for new signs
Parabéns.uma excelente análise da situação do nosso SLBenfica. Mas Eu acredito que vamos ter mais do que um motivo para festejar em Maio.
Força rabonatv e Força Benfica.🙏🏽❤️
When he came in to SLB he looked like a savior that was going to end our trophies drought, but yea this season has gone incredibly bad. I'm not one to crucify a championship coach, but maybe we're already due for a change 🤔
Há inúmeras razões para estarmos insatisfeitos, mas a mais flagrante é a tremenda falta de preparação que a equipa evidenciou frente ao Sporting e ao Porto.
Parecia que estavam a ser arrastados por um furacão que se materializou instantaneamente e que para o qual nunca se poderiam ter precavido.
Atenção que até contra o Rio Ave vimos esse filme. Ganharam 4-1, mas quem viu o jogo, sabe que o resultado deveria ter sido o inverso...
@@marmanjoteta2100w eu estava no estádio contra o Rio Ave... antes da expulsão foi um jogo renhido demais para um jogo entre 2o lugar e o 17o
A manager who doesn‘t play new signings just tells you that he didn‘t get the players he wanted and now wants to show the board „look I told you“
Obrigado Adrien, I knew you'd have the best take. CARREGA BENFICA! 🦅
Marcos Leonardo, Prestianni, Rollheiser, David Neres should be the starting team, the two middlefielders should be Neves and Florentino Luiz, the centerback pairing needs to change as well Otamendi is getting constantly outplayed by faster and more physical strikers, Gyokeres ate him alive, the entire backline needs to change
Gouveia should start. Not prestianni.
I 100% agree with your opinion. I´m a benfica fan too. Everytime we start a match is like we already losing it. Either because of the manager choices or because the fans have lost the faith on the team and dont support the players when things dont turn out right. I really dont think that sack Roger mid season is a good solution. But he needs to change is approach and the fans need to support the team on difficult times. I know its hard to understand why joao mario, morato and even rafa play all time but we need to support the team even though we dont agreed with the starting eleven.
Sorry to say that I do not share your enthusiasm :( He seems to be way too stubborn. Why is Florentino out of the team after such a good last season partnering with Enzo? They were the reason we could keep up that high pressing and got the ball back so quickly. We were not caught with our pants around our ankles on quick transitions, like we do now. João Neves is different from Enzo, but not so much that he could not reenact a similar partnership with Florentino. Having an intense double pivot in the midfield frees up the creatives further upfront. 4-2-3-1 with real fullbacks on both sides would do wonders for us. Up front, Rafa coming in from the left, Kokcu in the midle near the penalty area for that last pass/outside shooting, Di Maria coming in from the right and a real nr. 9 (maybe Cabral), pinning down the opposition centerbacks. Then J. Mário could come in later as a sub if we need to keep the ball, or Neres/second striker to turn up the heat on the opposition if needed.
Very important video, one I was expecting for quite some time now. And yeah, I knew it was a bit of superstition from you waiting first.
Apart from everything else, it is a bummer Rafa and Di Maria would probably leave with that being their last season. Grimaldo leaving last year felt more "right", because of that super season.
Champions league campaign really isn't up to comment this year..
But thanks for making that video ❤
By a huge mile, the best analysis. By a fucking huge mile. Congrats bro.
P.S: bad decisions aside, I still think Di Maria is more of an handicap rather than a solution. He is the best player in the league still technical wise, but no winning team in the world plays a 36 year old winger that doesn't press. It's bittersweet to say this, but the fact that he apparently needs to play everygame pisses me off.
For me you were spot on, I still Schmidt has it and if he is willing to make changes to the team we could create momentum and with some luck we can still be champions. Fingers crossed for that 🤞
the problem is Schmidt. really that simple. the entire season has been a disaster since the beginning. only reason we are in 2nd in the league is individual quality, not tactics.
I like the subtle like new edits ur putting it
Good to Shake things up
Bravo 👏👏
Just Brilliant Insight!!!👏
They sold Enzo, and replaced him with Kökçu who is a solid player. But he is not Enzo, he cant defend like him. He can be good if the rest of your midfield supports him defensively. Trying to use him as 1-1 replacement for Enzo was never going to go well
There's a possibility it could work with Florentino playing and providing the defensive support. Roger hasn't played them together that often which is one of my main criticisms for Roger this season. But there's also Joao Neves, so I'd like to see Florentino and Joao Neves together in midfield, and Kokcu as the LM with Joao Mario benched and Carreras starting. Then we'd have something more similar to last season: Florentino defending, Joao Neves in Enzo role contributing both on attack and defense, Kokcu can have freedom to move into the middle while Carreras moves up on the left.
You really do make the most articulate, intelligent, interesting football videos online. Better than anything made by English “journalists” or “experts” in the media here, and I’ve paid for some of that rubbish in the past. (I’m looking at you, The Athletic).
Just fantastic mate. Keep doing what you’re doing, and thank you for the content.
We need to talk about Di Maria
Definetly. Bad decisions aside (like Morato or Rafa as 9) the problems start with the need to play Di Maria unconditionaly. No winning team in the world play a 36 year old winger that does not press. Period. Nowadays he plays like a quarterback: slowly and throwing long passes. He still is the best in the league technical wise, and he can be decisive in big time games, but overall the team suffers a lot and is exposed by having such a fragile player on the pitch. Both the right bak and right center midfielders suffer a lot in defensive transitions because Di Maria simply does not run.
To prove my point, the closest we had this season from the Benfica of last year was against Vizela, in which Di Maria did not play from the stat and whe were winning 4-0 at halftime, with a very intense gegenrpressing all the time. Rafa almost scored a goal just by the super intense pressing, next to the goalkeeper. Period.
With Di Maria we lost our best N10 and best creator of dangerous and unpredictable chances: the gegenpressing.
I am confident that Roger will turn this around.
Just play Tino, neves and Kokcu on the middle and don't play Morato as a leftback!!!!
after the entire season of playing like shit you still think Roger can turn this around? lmao
Great analysis Adrien! Really enjoy watching your videos. As a fellow benfiquista would like to now your opinion on a couple of questions; What do you think about Gonçalo Guedes barely being used by schimdt and quickly sent on loan to spain? And why can Benfica have two good seasons in a row, no matter who's coaching? Club structural problems maybe?
As someone who isn’t a Benfica fan. I can definitely say that it’s definitely club structure issues. I follow Man Utd. I SHOULD know 😅
Guedes had two long injuries (one last season, another this season) and it seems like he lost a lot of the pace he had before. Last season before the injury Schmidt got some good performances from him. We also have Tiago Gouveia this season who provides some competition in his spot. I'd like to still have Guedes here, but it's probably better for Guedes that he gets more guaranteed playing time at Villarreal.
Club structure yes. Transfer planning can be really hot and cold. Bruno Lage second season is a good example, Felix was sold and Jonas retired and we didn't sign any players with a similar profile. Once in a while we get a good transfer window, like last season with Enzo, Neres, Bah. But this seasons, the planning to replace Grimaldo and Goncalo Ramos was terrible.
Thank you for putting many of my thoughts into video! I would just add one detail: why doesn't he play Florentino? He still tries to press high, but without him is waaay harder. Everytime he strarts we can see a better and more cohese team, but Roger prefers to move J. Mário to the middle instead...
Fully agree with you. My biggest surprise has been, sure use morato as left back, but if you do make everyone else mote attacking, the inverted full back role is a tactical innovation which works well, but if hes bombing up thats useless, it makes us more defensively vulnerable, not less
The main problems are Grimaldo who left, and Schmidt doesn't trust the left back we have, so he decides to play Morato as a left back, while he is not even able to play as a solid central defender. Why Carreras is not playing? Schmidt doesn't trust him. So why did he come in January?
Why Aursnes is still playing as a right back, when Bah is fit already? Aursnes is very good in the midfield. With Neves, they can dominate the opponent midfield.
Why Tengstedt is considered to be the main striker while he nearly have experience? Cabral and Eduardo are considered by Schmidt as not good enough (he said that scoring wasn't enough to be strikers at Benfica). What is Tengstedt doing more compared to Cabral and Eduardo?
What does Kokcu bring to the team? I don't see what he adds. Especially when he plays with Joao Mario. They should be playing not together. They have exactly the same characteristics.
Very nice video. I almost agree with everything you said there. The part where i disagree is the last one. I'm not sure if we must sack him right away, but a decision needs to be made by the president right now for the end of the season because even if we win trophies, what RS as shown in this year and a half is that he's not going to change. So that means that the problems will still bé there next season (whithout Rafa or Di Maria to bail us out).
Ps. I agree 100% about the point you made about Jurasek, and i would like to say another 2 names that, in my opinion have been mistreated by RS: Florentino Luís and Petar Musa (and David Neres is also in this category), don't you agree?
To finish, from a portuguese and a SL Benfica fan (maybe you are both too, i don't know) thanks for the video 🙂✌️
You are a nice guy, Adrian, you did not deserve a 5-0 thrashing by a little more tjhan mediocre Porto side. As a Porto fan I admire your courage and your humbleness and as a football lover I know when you make a deep dive video of any time - Benfica this time, obviously - you show you really know what you're talking about and we always learn something. Greetings from Porto(gal).
This Benfica loss is more embarrassing than the one in the 2010-11 season. At least that 2011 Porto squad was elite. This Porto squad is too inconsistent. Schmidt really screwed the dog this season. I don't know if winning the Taça de Portugal will save his job.
In my opinion Benfica has the best squad in the recent history with overflowing talent players. It’s mind blowing to see RS making subs at 85min mark every single game. We have been playing with the same strategy since day one, it was new and it worked but if things are not going as planned the strategy/formation needs to change ( why not try a classic 4x4x2 we have the players for it). RS needs to address this and have a plan B.
As a Benfica fan myself, there is nothing worse than seeing talent being recruited and then we just don’t use it.
Di Maria has had moments of brilliance yes but there have been so many games where he has been poor.
Give rolhaiser game time.
Carreras possibly may not be playing due to the buy clause, okay so play a youth player instead of Morato who has shown time fm time again he cannot play there, I’m sure a proper left back from the B team will at least do a bit better.
We need a backup right back so that aursnes is not forced to be playing as a full back and can play in midfield where he has performed the best helping us press properly.
Joao Mario cannot play on the wing, yes he has been better in midfield but still short for me I would much rather stick a Florentino in there at least we know we are safe defensively and Joao neves can roam a bit more.
Tiago Gouveia deserves more game time 100%
Cabral for me not good enough and Leonardo should be our starting ST allowing him to develop and create the chemistry on the pitch with the team. He can score goals so why bench him?
Lastly might be controversial but I would like to see Otamendi benched for Tomas Araújo who I think would actually develop very quickly to be the best pairing to Antonio, just because of the many mistakes from otamendi recently.
Long comment don’t know if you will read it but hey at least this is how I feel about Benfica right now.
Do I believe in Roger? Yes but it’s fading away quickly honestly
I’ve been waiting for a video like this all year. I am Luso Canadian and speak it but all the channels are in Portuguese and I may miss a word here or there. How long before Benfica sells Neves? I wish they would keep him forever but we both know they sell players as a
Sport 😂
I prefer Porto to Benfica but I only watch Benfica games for Neres. Love that guy. Deserves to get a Brazil cal up over freakin Raphinha😒
Ur background music is sheway. I like it a lot ❤
Can’t get enough Rabina tv man daily uploads wouldn’t be enough 😫😤
For gegenpressing Florentino played a vital role last season being the player with most ball recoveries in the 22/23 UCL. This season, Schmidt ghosted Florentino. Also Cabral has been improving and scoring. After 4 consecutive goals he was benched. You can also notice Rafa's peak performance was due to Cabral holding back the defense. To finish, whenever we think we have a vreat formula, Schmidt shakes everything again.
I don't agree nor understand some of the choices as well, and, the stuberness of making substitutions sooner.. But, we need to be with the team and the club now. Now that we are not that well, is the time to support them. Support when the team is doing fine is easy. Thats why we are call fans and supporters, is to support. Not to put them down, for that we have the fans of the other teams.
The season is not over, and Roger was champion on his first season, lets support them until the end.
I don't know if it's stupidity, arrogance, self doubt or a mix of them, but the man seems to prepare the 11's with no thought of the opponent. Against Toulouse Sporting and Porto away, where he needed to keep the ball as long as possible and be solid defensively, he leaves Florentino on the bench. Joao Mario doesn't know how to defend, on the rare occasions he feels like it, leaving Neves to do a double shift.
Even last year after january me and my brother already saw a lot of problems that were just hidden like the lack of pure wingers that are capable of taking on a player like good fulbacks that can actually cross the ball(bah can but he rarely has the oportunity to do so) and the lack of dynamics if anyone ser the games in the portuguese league u would want to fall asleep its just possession no dynamics no chances created every chance we create is from di maria crossing or david neres taking on a player
Realistically who could Benfica get that would change the season. Do what Bayern is doing and ride it out till the end of the season.
Que vídeo completo e sóbrio! Espero que a direção veja este conteúdo que representa a opinião da maioria dos benfiquistas…
Obrigado!
A fun video idea: I would love to see a yearly review of Benfica, how they did that season, and all the drama surrounding it from an acual Benfica fan.
You from Portugal?
I 100% Agree with your take on Gilberto's exit, it's just nonsense. Awesome Squad Player, always giving full effort, scored some important goals and everyone seemed to like him in the dressing room too!
It’s sad times watching this vid after an amazing time last year 😢
Spot on!!!
On point
The problem is that Roger has a core of players he never bench even if they play in unfamiliar positions. João Mario, Frederic, Rafa, DiMaria, Otamendi and Morato always play even exhausted .
I wish Enzo joined a different club :(
Adrian with a Benfica Banger!
What's the name of the outro instrumental?
Enzo, Grimaldo , and G.ramos leaving.
The replacements are not at the same level
Corrupt club in a corrupt country, disgusting how much they are favoured by refs
I don't think he should be fired now. I have mixed feelings on Schmidt - loved what he did last season, hate what he's doing right now. If the Porto game acts as a wake-up call, maybe Schmidt's stubbornness will end and he'll finally realize these lineups aren't working. I thought things weren't going too bad in January, and it was the 2-2 game against Guimaraes where Roger started trying the strange strikerless lineup where I felt things started to go really wrong. If he goes back to what he was doing before that game, plus giving some other players a chance, we still have a squad that can challenge for a trophy.
You covered most of the issues (left back, striker). Another one I'd add is the center midfield, specifically Florentino. I don't understand why Roger stopped playing Florentino, when Florentino was part of the team that gave us last year's Champions League success, in fact he had some of the best defensive stats in the CL. Florentino was also very important in Roger's pressing system being able to win the ball high up the pitch. His partnership with Enzo was perfect, one midfielder staying back and the other able to move up the pitch. I imagine Neves and Kokcu could play even better with Florentino covering for them defensively. This is one of the worse errors by Schmidt imo, since this isn't a transfer window problem and he just isn't using a player that already did well for him.
Arthur Cabral was done dirty. Finally when he got confidence and got 3 goals in 3 games, he didn't get another start after that. How can someone be benched when scoring every game? Maybe there's a theme here? Possibly Roger doesn't think the less flashy players like Cabral and Florentino are good for his tactic, forgetting that having some players with different traits like Cabral's strength and Florentino's defense can make life easier for the Di Marias and Rafas to use their skills. Again, the Porto game could be Roger's wake-up call since he did sub on Florentino, Carreras, and Cabral in the 2nd half (of course it was already too late to make a difference, but consistently starting these players could help the team be more balanced).
We can all agree the reason we lost to Porto was Morato. Francisco Conceição dominated his flank and could initiate any counter attack from there.
We couldn't attack also because of him, the lack of play with the wings which Benfica throughout history usually does is the biggest reason we aren't as dangerous as we should be.
Schmidt should wake up and realize Benfica needs to approach every game individually and not hope for individual talent to sort things out (on a note we have to appreciate him for investing in scouting and our talent and foreign talent, we dont even need to compare the team he got and the one he built up without counting Di Maria of course)
Maybe you should apply to become Benfica’s next manager! I would love to see that!
zip it you ant!
Kinda off topic but i personally think he should bring back the weekly reviews instead of monthly
We just drew against Rangers and he did change the 11 a bit today and I preferred it but honestly he might have to change the gamestyle if he wants to play Di Maria, maybe a 433 with Aursnes/Kokçu, Florentino and Joao Neves
Rest Otamendi a little I'd like to see more of Antonio Silva and Tomas Araujo pairing, give Marcos Leonardo a start for once, and for the wingers Rafa on the left and Di Maria can still do it on the right but not for a whole game, he should be substituted after 60-70 mins and start from the bench every 3rd game or so, let us see what Rollheiser and Prestianni and Gouveia can do.
I still have a lot of faith on Roger and believe he's gonna get us the league this year but man it's getting harder to keep this much faith on a guy that shows no sign of wanting to learn from his own mistakes.
Viva Benfica
As a benfixa fan my stance is.
I do think he should a will finish the season
But the play like the quality of play has been sooo low . Has a team its like theres no plan. Any team can high press us and we have no clue what to do.
Ive seen more unwinnable seasons.
But its hard to remeber seasons where im bored or upset watching benfica play with this amazing talent
For when a video about the TRUE club of Portugal, FC Porto? xD To be fair, I wasn't expecting this result against SLB. I know Porto are always good at home against Benfica, but the way they were playing, 5-nil never occured to me and I can see Porto drop some points this friday in Portimão. Good video and good analysis as always..
Thinking of doing a video on Conceição eventually, actually. Hope you are doing well man, all the best!
@@RabonaTVcould you do a video on any of the big portuguese derbies? (Sporting vs Benfica, Porto vs Benfica, Sporting vs Porto, Porto vs Boavista, Braga vs Guimarães,...)
In the end it all depends on the importance roger had on this seasons signings ... If he was the major person behind every signing, he should just go on the end of the season
The other problem for me is the team rotation, same 11 and late subs (and always the same subs) ... Its a problem since he came, even on our best moments i was saying that, to little rotation, and he saw that
For that reason, in my opinion, he should leave at the end of the season
I can understand not changing when we on top and shining, "ok, the results and exhibitions are on point, do what you want" but when the results are not on point, at least show us we trying to address it by changing something
RB position I think were fine I feel like Bah or Aursnes do a good job left back and striker is where i feel like we are missing some key points Arthur Cabral is not bad but his finishing is not really there its like 40/60. I think we also buy a lot of players that are/could be great yet we put them on the Bench we have: Marcos Leonardo, Rollheiser and Prestianni and i don't get the point of benching them but als always much love for Benfica still
Getting rid of Ristic after a season of very few opportunitties due to Grimaldo's amazing form even though in these very few chances he would actually deliver and perform well was also a decision that I am not able to understand up to this day...
And you didnt even get into why has Florentino, one of Europe's best ball recovery players, just disappeared from regular starting eleven this season!
Here we go
It's not the end yet for Benfica. If if beats Sporting & Porto beat Sporting, it can have an opportunity to seize the league. But it will need outside help. Benfica have to be perfect in the remainder of their matches. Forza Di Maria!
the blame is three fold: absent team that seems detached from the game with adistinct lack of fighting spirit and inability to react hastly to threats, a manager who seems troubled especially in his reluctance in exploring new player positions to cover for a lack of natural players in those positions, and finnally the fans for how historically harsh and critical they are about their own club to the point of actively withdrawing support and aggravating the problems within instead of being an anchor the club can rely on in times of trouble
The match vs Sporting, where Rafa was alone at the front.... so so so bad cant get how it should play out for benfica
Marcos Leonardo came in January when the season ended in Brazil, so he is very tired. And playing in Brazil and Portugal is completely different.
My Question is why does Roger schmidt play Rafa Silva as a CF while Joao Mario plays on the wings?
He played rafa as a cf to put kokcu on the cam position (which he played very well). In the other side he puts João Mário at the wing since it was the position he played last season and most of the times, to get a cf + rafa in the middle and di maria on the right but recently he is using him more as a cm while kokcu plays at cam and rafa as a cf or in a 4 3 3 (once against Porto).
Biggest problem though arent the players but like Adrian said the tactics, its to easy to get counter attacker and the defensive wings are very weak.
I feel like the team is good it’s just they are missing a great number 9 because they can’t find a player that can be as good as gancalo Ramos or Darwin Nunez because they keep switching there striker there midfield and defense is scoring more goals I think that’s the problem
Schimidt had enought time to recover already and just like you said, he keeps doing the same and the same again, thats something that shows he doesnt want change, so he can get the fack out
I mean, I was thrilled when we won 5-0 in the Dragão against Benfica and I hope that at least Porto finishes in second place. In fact it was shocking and I hope that at least Benfica reaches the quarter-finals of the Europa League
How do I send this to Roger?
I get that we should give him more, time, but he also needs to realise that he needs to change, as soon as the game starts he doesnt change the game plan, if we are not performing well playing like we usually do then we need to improvise, thats what being a manager is about, being able to do quick adjustments, against tolouse we had a simple gamplain in the first half, that didnt work so what did we do? the exact same, and after tolouse switched game plans they were all over us, that cant happen. Another thing is Roger seems to not study is opponents, against Porto we already knew they defensive line up, we need to switch players and game plan before the whistle is blown, he simple does the exact same and we lost , 5-0, Sergio conceiçao knew exactly what he had to do, he studied us and used our weaknesses , Roger on the otherhand looked like he didnt even look at the weaknesses Porto had, wich are obvious. Another thing is that Roger doesnt seem like that type of coach who can improve tha players, Sergio does, he knows that x player is bad but with some words and smart thinking he looks decent, Roger cant do that, aursnes is a very good defensive of center midfield, he isnt even using him at a similar position.
Benfica amor da minha vida ❤❤🦅
I wonder about the derby match: does this feel similar to Porto or Benfica supporters as it did for MUN or Liverpool supporters when the 7-0 happened last season?
Honestly Benfica supporters are used to getting ran over by Porto. We beat them 5-0 every ten years or so and we even nicknamed Benficas stadium as Party Hall.
Im a Porto fan so Im a bit biased, but I think this result is much heavier than the Liverpool one. Porto Benfica matches are almost always separated by 1 goal, maybe 2 sometimes. This is because pretty much every season, both teams are very balanced. In the past 30 years, this result has only happened 3 times. As for Liv-Man U, although its a huge rivalry as well, there are many years where either Liv or Man U are way better than one another. For the past 6 years, Liv have been much better and even beat Man U 1-5 just 2 years ago away from home. In early 2010s Man U was much better and got some big results then.
Yea kind off. But porto impregnates benfica most times anyways
@@RaddonBenfica literally won twice this season against Porto, including the Supercup win, what are you on?
@@FurioussBearimpregnates? 😭😭😭
Florentino has to be in the starting 11, he was one of the players with more ball recoveries in the 22/23 UCL. Kökçü does not have the same characteristics as Enzo Fernandez, so he can't play as an 8, he has to play as a 10. Not having a left back doing the same work as Grimaldo worsened drastically João Mário's performance. Not having a fast/physically strong striker like Gonçalo Ramos prevented Benfica from high-pressing as intensively as last season, being this aspect one of the key aspects of Benfica, pressuring high and recovering the ball quickly. I would have kept Gilberto, not the best player ever, but a hard worker with some interesting details. Di Maria should be benched more often and enter only around minute 60, so he can make an impact in the game. Having Aursnes playing as left/right back is such a waste. 22/23 Benfica had the starting 11 defined in the pre-season, there were routines and the players were entranced. We are 2 months away from the end of the 23/24 season and there isn't a fixed starting 11.
Thinking benfica was in lead before the match against FC Porto is the faulting thinking and the problem that benfica and his supporters are facing now.
Benfica wasnt in the lead, sporting had 1 less match.
Benfica need to open his eyes and wake up. Actually, they should had woken up long time ago, maybe if it happened, this match wasnt a loss, or at least not 5-0.
They did ended 1st last season, but as you said in the video, the strong begining actually was what managed to do that. Benfica this season was dropped from champions in group stage, and the reaction (i think it was from Di Maria) was that all they wanted was to win eroupa league... Like, are you fkng serious?? XD Benfica as portuguese champion should at least went to next stage. In theory it was one of the easiest group and they only won 1 match?? Benfica blindness is the problem. It doenst matter if they need to swicth the coach or whatever, they need to take fkng responsability for the mistakes and present with a solution, and dont content with consolotion prizes, like europa league or celebrating like they're in 1st when everybody knows that Sporting still have 1 more match to go. They cant keep going like there is nothing wrong.
Hell, FC Porto season is really bad, and still they manage to present better display at champions than Benfica. They always manage to get out group stage, for at least the last couple years. And even when they lose against strong europeans teams, they always put a really good fight, its actually incredible.
Benfica should have woken up a long time ago and now maybe is too late.
Benfica administration is not innocent. Roger wants well-rounded versatile players. One of the best things Roger did when he arrived was clear out all the half-players (Weigl, Pizzi, etc.) - guys who were only good at one thing - from the stables. But the acquisition policy by the Benfica administration since has been to acquire a whole bunch of half-players again. We desperately needed a left back in Jan, but we get a "future project". This "stubborness" feels calculated, like a power struggle between Roger & Benfica directors in the background. The lack of prep for games feels like Roger has thrown in the towel until he believes there is actually a project here. Dismissing him would be returning to the bad old Vieira days when the Benfica admin & their agent friends acquired all sorts of trash for future re-sale and hired a "yes-man" manager to simply smile and accept it. Our three best players - Rafa, Di Maria and Joao Neves - will likely be gone this summer. Benfica is going to have to rebuild. The question is whether we want Roger to be part of that rebuild. If no, then fire him now, don't wait. Because nothing is going to change before the end of the season, and we still have chance for silverware.
Gonçalo's season wasn't the most consistent, it's true. But it was his first full season as the 9 and he was 21
Spot on Adrian
Last year even wining 4, nil at home he wouldn't sub leading to fatigue on 1 hand Porto taking that shit to the last game and players feeling undervalued at the club on the other
Don't get me started on the full backs, Ristic would be a good replacement for Grimaldo, sold!?Jurasek 14m wtf??burning Morato a decent,valued CB at LB with Carreras on the bench and if you start banging goals upfront on big matches he will go with the guy that just comeback from injury and out of form letting 40 m on the bench for the last 2 min
Frederik A needs to play in the CM his best position ,he can plug holes sure but as we all know JM will always but ALWAYS play despite being a shadowy figure from what he was last year,he's being slowly cooked on the eyes of supporters that received him with open arms ,its either him or Kokcu on the pitch,
Neres,Florentino etc etc
He lost me already to be honest ,Il settle for silverware this year but the lack of ideas .ego and blindness is something we can go without
As always great insight ,continua com o grande trabalho brother
Um grande abraco
E PLURIBUS UNUM
Yes, what has HAPPENED?!?!?!
only Portuguese team in the last 16 of CL and EL, how can it be so bad?
kokcu with confidence and trust is a serious problem for europe
Gilberto and Ristic were more than good enough for Benfica. In fact, Ristic is better than any of the options we've had this season (excluding Bernat, if he wasn't injured all the time). I really don't understand what goes on in the football department at Benfica and what's going through Schmidt's mind!
I know what happened to Joao Mario, no penalties no goals. He is not great player, he was hyped when he returns to the Portuguese league. Can anyone remember his time at inter?
Ay yo ! Di Maria be looking like Tony "El Cu Cuy Ferguson" in the thumbnail 😂
Para quando um vídeo em Português?
Too many players, to many names.
Fredy our best midfielder is playing aa defender, Ramos sold to PSG and DiMaria only works offensive so you have lost all that pressing capability you had even after selling Enzo.