Benfica 0 - Nacional 0 - Keeping them close

I'm sure everyone's familiar with the saying - "Keep you friends close, your enemies closer" although the expression is often used in different circumstances, and different situations, i can't help but to think that's exactly what Benfica is going for. I can hear Quique now - "Muchachos, we keep a small lead over our opponents, and then we strike them hard with genius move, the same way we did to Napoli". Trust me there's nothing genius going on in Benfica's locker room, and with every game that goes by, the team's deficiencies are more exposed.


To think that Benfica didn't win only because of a bad call by the referee in the 90+ minute, is a tremendous case of "clubistic" blindness. Personally i don't subscribe to that.
It's very easy to find a scapegoat or someone to point the finger at, but there's no one else to point the finger then at the players that were on the field, and especially Quique, who is their leader.
Every game there is a new starting 11, how can we expect routines to be developed?
I know that all 20 something players train daily and are all very aware of what Quique desires from each player and their role, but fielding a new team every game is not a good thing. It's understandable when there are injuries and there isn't a way around it, but deliberately changing due to technical choices seems to me like a recipe for disaster, not to mention the inconsistency in play by the team.

For this game Quique opted for the following 11:
Moreira in goal. Maxi, Luisao, Sidnei and Ribeiro in the back. Yebda and Katsouranis in the middle. Amorim and DiMaria on the flanks, Suazo and Cardozo up front.
Ribeiro, who just came back from an injury started along with DiMaria who also had just came back, a convalescent left side. In the middle, Yebda got his second start in the row in detriment of Binya, and the change was very noticeable. At this point in time, it's very visible that both Katsouranis and Yebda are not compatible as a tandem in the midfield. Cardozo also got the second start in the row, but just like Yebda and Katsouranis, the Paraguayan seems somewhat out of sync with Suazo, off course much of this blame has to go to Benfica's midfield, who is orphan of a playmaker, a player that can make the ball get to Suazo and Cardozo.

I won't bore you too much with the first half and what i saw, but rather what i didn't see. I clearly didn't see a Benfica that deserved to go to the locker room at half time ahead. The team started strong, but quickly and gradually lost steam, to the point that Nacional was able to play comfortably. To add to the woes of the first half, Quique was forced to burn one of his substitutions 30 minutes in as Sidnei seemed to have sprained his ankle, and was forced to be substituted for Miguel Vitor.

The second half, brought more of the same Benfica, and Nacional came out of the locker room determined to turn the scoreboard in their favor, as they had 3 clear opportunities to go ahead in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Following that, Benfica seemed to wake up, and created a few chances of their own, with both Luisao and Amorim coming very close to put Benfica ahead. It was Benfica's best period, but still not enough to make a dent. Nacional organized themselves well, and grew confident with every minute. Nuno Gomes was brought in for DiMaria, who looked like he was cramping up, and lined up behind Suazo and Cardozo, as Yebda now favored the left side of Benfica's midfield.
I'm still having a hard time understanding this substitution, with Urreta on the bench, wouldn't have made more sense subbing a winger for a winger? If the intention was to bring on someone that can hold the ball in the second line of midfield, wouldn't it make more sense to bring in Aimar? I'm baffled by this move by Quique. I don't pretend to be some kind of an expert, let alone hold any type of coaching certification, but these moves by Quique are just mind boggling to me.
Urreta would eventually make his way on for Amorim, but to no avail. The last minutes were of an authentic push forward, but the plays seemed to just be forced, and lacked any type of coordination and structure.
The controversy came in the added time period of the game. Urreta took a corner that was headed into the heart of the box by Katsouranis, Miguel Vitor challenges for a 50/50 ball and while toeing the ball towards goal, is completely smashed by the Nacional men trying to clear the ball, as a result of their challenge, Miguel Vitor falls to the floor, the ball is then cleared by a Nacional man on the goal line which hits Miguel Vitor's hand, who was rolling on the floor from the earlier tackle, Cardozo gets the loose ball and fires it into the net. Gutsy call by the referee, who blows the whistle before Cardozo hits the ball. Two things in question here - 1, the legality of the tackle on Miguel Vitor. 2, How intentional is the handball? The player is rolling on the floor! The referee was close and did not hesitate.

Yes the goal would have given Benfica the 3 points, but the truth is that Benfica didn't do enough to win convincingly, that is the plain hard fact. Once again the team leaves too much to chance, opting to relinquish the fate of games to chance. A team with title aspirations can't do this, and needs to be in control of their destiny at all times during the game, and today they weren't.
Just to finish up on the game. I do feel that Benfica was robbed tonight, but by the same token, i feel that the team should have done a lot more. There's a certain element of injustice to the whole thing, but Benfica can not leave themselves at the mercy of a lucky strike or a referee's competence.

Benfica misses out on a golden opportunity to put 4 points between them and second place. They will go into the new year in first place and are the only team in the league who has not yet lost a game. But with performances like tonight, i will very much doubt that first place will continue to be ours for much longer.

Both Rui Costa and Quique have spoken out against major changes to the squad in the upcoming transfer window, the latter one even going as far as saying he does not believe in the usefulness of it, as any player that's brough on, will need time to adapt, and that will go against the belief of a player making an immediate impact.
Obviously Quique knows what he has at his disposal, and feels that he has enough to achieve the 2 objectives that Benfica still has. In my opinion, the winter market shouldn't be overlooked, but before taking a good look at what's out there throughout Europe or in South America, a good look should be taken internally, 2 players the most.
(getty images)