Olhanense 2 - Benfica 2 - Lackluster

I'll have to be honest, and say that i didn't have a very good feeling about this game. For one playing against a last place team, always brings a certain level of over confidence, and under estimation. Despite JJ having said that games are planned based on everything else but the other team's position on the table, i think there was definitely a lack of concentration going into this game. There were plenty other factors and story lines around this game(i'll get to those in a bit),and that, i think ended up conditioning the team. As for the game, we didn't ultimately deserve the 3 points, but i believe we did enough to come out with the tie.


All week there was talk about David Luiz and him being on the verge of suspension due to the accumulation of yellow cards, which would ultimately have him out for the Porto clash. In my opinion, the decision by JJ to include David Luiz in the starting 11 is a "no brainer". He is our starter and needs to start every game JJ deems necessary. The exclusion of Luiz from the starting team not only raises questions about the confidence JJ has on the solutions on the bench, namely Vitor and Sidnei, but it also ends up giving porto much more respect than they deserve. This last one i really can't wrap my head around, as with all the talk during the week, it almost seems there is a "boogie man complex" when it comes to Porto.
There was certainly a lot of importance given to this coming week's game that shouldn't have perhaps been there, but then again, that attention sells papers.

In regards to Olhanense, or porto B(as they are also known as), it was easy to see they would be playing Benfica with plenty of direction from the boss up North, after all, porto has a total of 5 players in Olhanense's roster, and a coach who was a porto reference for many year in Jorge Costa.
If you don't believe that porto has any influence on this team(and many others where they have strategically placed players), then you are clearly unaware of the reality and the true reach of the tentacles of Pope Costa. Despite extra incentives Olhanense had on the table, I must say that Benfica did not play enough to win this game and that is the bottom line.

For this game JJ fielded the following players: Quim in goal, Maxi, Luisao, Luiz and Peixoto. Garcia, Coentrao, Ramires and DiMaria. Cardozo and Saviola up front. Aimar who had complained about some muscle pain in the morning's tune up session was left out by JJ as a precaution.

In retrospect i might have lined up Menezes in place of Aimar, as he seems to be the Argentinians natural substitute, but JJ opted for DiMaria instead.

I'll breeze through the game quickly, it was the worst first half i saw Benfica play this year. Gave up an early goal from a dead ball situation at the 10 minute mark,(on an nonexistent foul)tied the game in the 29th minute, following an ejection of an Olhanense man, only to give up another goal on another dead ball situation 3 minutes later, and to restore numerical advantage as a result of a dumb red card by DiMaria in the 42nd minute.
Top that with the loss of Ramires due to injury in the 46th minute, and you have plenty of occurrences in the first half, but quality from Benfica was yet to be seen.

With the advantage, and the same men on the field, Olhanense came out for the second half clearly wanting to defend the result, and that they did, positioning every single player behind the line of the ball. Benfica on the other hand, could not find solutions to penetrate, and their lack of speed and ever present apathy, prevented us from getting the equalizer. Menezes, Weldon, and Nuno Gomes were presented as possible solutions, but could not get anymore than a tie in the time added period, coincidentally by Nuno Gomes.

Worst game of the season in my opinion, perhaps over confidence, perhaps already looking past this game. The truth is that the team was a far cry from what they have accustomed us to, not for the lack of effort, but certainly for the lack of concentration. Too many missed passes, and miscalculated risks, along with poor decisions and poor execution ended up hurting the team.
The absence of a player with a little more clairvoyance, ended up letting the team fall into a funk, which ultimately cost the two points.

We have no one to blame but ourselves for the loss of points in this game. The lead over porto is now 1 point and there's not much else to say about it. In all honesty we can't act like a bunch of scared little children who after taking a comfortable lead are now convinced this is the end, and we will soon be left in a position where we will be seeing the lead through binoculars.
We have too much talent to think this way. For one, we haven't even reached the half way mark, and there's still a lot of games to be played. Secondly, we have to lose this negative mentality, in which we are always waiting for the bottom to fall out.
Hasn't this team given us enough proof we can win this whole thing?
To me they have showed me enough, thinking, and fearing that we can all of the sudden find ourselves in third place, is not only wrong, but something that shouldn't even cross anyone's mind.

We are Benfica, we fear no one. This weekend's game is at our stadium and a loss should be the furthest thing from our mind. It's time to leave everything behind, as the quest for the Championship starts this weekend.

Forca BENFICA!