Estrela 1 - Benfica 2 - The Poor, The Bad, and the Ugly

Benfica got the 3 points they needed to remain in the hunt for the title, but if you were one of the many that sat through 90 minutes of ugliness, like me, you should be re-accessing the probabilities that this team has to win the league this year. Off course, it would have been a lot easier to dismiss tonight's performance as an isolated event, but the truth is that it's not.
Tonight's performance falls right in line with the majority of the performances this season, unimaginative, without class or any hint of team of Benfica's reputation. I swear I would have changed the channel had I not been wearing the same red jersey myself. To add insult to injury, the Estrela players have seen only a couple of paychecks this season, yet, they demonstrated a lot more class than the players who have everything, the best facilities, the best care and a paycheck at the end of every month.

For this game Quique lined up the following 11 - Quim in goal, Maxi, Miguel Vitor, David Luiz and Jorge Ribeiro in the back. Katsouranis and Yebda in the middle while Amorim and Aimar played in the flanks. Up front it was Nuno Gomes and Cardozo.

Quim's start came as a surprise to everyone, but entertain this thought, with talks about Benfica acquiring another keeper, putting Quim on the display window makes a lot of sense, as Moreira has been often been thought of Benfica's keeper of the future. Maybe I'm over reaching.
What's the story with Quique's choice of positions for Aimar? Someone please explain to me how in the world is Aimar useful on the left. I don't get it, I don't get it at all. First he insist on playing him as a supporting forward, which is not so bad. But how is a man of Aimar's talents, with the vision he has, useful on the right side of the midfield, when the team has so much trouble with their build up? Where's the player we bought to take over the Maestro's spot?
I got more bones to pick with Quique's choices and certain players, but i'll leave that to another time.

On to the game...
Benfica benefited for two early penalties, at 5 and 15th minute to go up on the scoreboard, while the first one was clearly a foul outside the box, and should have been a free kick, the second one was obvious. Nothing else to write about the half with the exception of Estrela getting one back, also from a penalty, that was really a make up call for the referee, for a handball by David Luiz inside the box, that referee did not call. So he called a a penalty on Yebda in the usual fight for positioning during a corner kick. Not much else happened in the first half for Benfica, as they once again failed to control the game and put the game to sleep.

In the second half, more of the same, but with Estrela showing some real character, and really playing a lot better than Benfica. Benfica's showing was just pitiful, amateurish at best, and were lucky to come out with the win. Let's not forget that the Estrela players did not train Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. It just goes to show that it does not take a lot of preparation to play Benfica, as our team is as predictable as they come.

The level of playing the team exhibits is poor, and i'm not writing this just because they played the way they did today, the same problems have been very evident all season. There is not one that controls the game flow, and maybe that's the reason why there is none. Very rarely do you see a play with a build up that involves more than 6 touches.
8 months later the team plays as if they were still i pre-season. It's unacceptable, I'm a huge fan of continuity, and i'm still behind Quique 100%, but I get the feeling that with a little bit more of good managing we could be in a different position right now. It's a multi-year project and we have to hope that things will only get better going forward.
I'll continue to believe and support the team, but with performances like this, we are bound to end up one position better than last year, which is unacceptable considering the money and the talent caliber we have on the team.