G.D. Estoril Praia 0 Sporting CP 3

G.D. Estoril Praia v Sporting CP
September 27th, 2024
Estádio António Coimbra da Mota
Matchday 7

The warm up

It's been a busy summer transfer window at Estoril with 16 players incoming and another 14 departing. That's not to say owner David Blitzer has been splashing the cash however. Gonçalo Costa the solitary player where a fee was paid for his services (£172k) from relegated Portimonense. Despite being an away fixture for Sporting before their Champions League tie away to PSV Eindhoven the two grounds are separated by a mere distance of 14 miles so the fixtures couldn't really have been much kinder in that respect for Ruben Amorim's men as they go in search of a 7th straight win to cement their current position as League leaders. 

Since an opening day 4-1 thumping at home by newly promoted Santa Clara things have started to slowly improve for the Cascais based side. A 1-0 loss away to Vitória may have seen them lose their first two games but they're now 4 unbeaten and are fourth in the table for clean sheets with 3 in total. Successive 0-0 draws home and away to Gil Vicente and Boavista were followed by their first win of the season 1-0 to newly promoted Nacional. Last week they came from 2-0 down away to Rio Ave to secure their 5th point of the campaign. 

They take on a Sporting side who took their league goal tally to 22 with the 3-0 home win against AVS on Sunday. We're not yet out of September and the goalscoring sensation that is Viktor Gyökeres took his League tally into double figures to make it 10 goals in six games. Still just the two conceded overall which came in the opening two games, meaning of course four successive clean sheets and five straight in all competitions. Interestingly Nacional are the only club to have finished with an XG above 1 against Sporting in League and Champions League fixtures ahead of this game. Those stats in full;

Rio Ave 0.46
Nacional 1.23
Farense 0.26
Porto 0.49
Arouca 0.23 
Lille 0.41
AVS 0.07

That is of course despite injuries to first choice goalkeeper Kovačević and to defenders such as Quaresma and Inácio and the longer term absence of St Juste. 

For any Leeds United fans who might randomly be reading a post about Estoril v Sporting CP just taking time out from marching all together, if you were wondering whatever happened to Hélder Costa and Joel Robles, well here's the answer you were looking for - somehow they're both now here in Estoril. Maybe not an obvious choice from Elland Road to Lisboa it has to be said but still true nonetheless. The latter seems to be doing especially well, currently rated as their best player after five appearances in the opening six games with those three clean sheets mentioned previously all attributed to him. 

Estoril haven't beaten Sporting in a competitive match since 2018 when they won back to back league and cup games home and away. In February of that year they won 2-0 in the league and followed that up with a 2-1 October Taça da Liga win in the Alvalade. You don't expect this current iteration of Sporting to be as generous this time around though they did of course loan Mateus Fernandes to them last season making 35 appearances and scoring once which was enough to convince Premier League Southampton to pay around £15m for his services on a 5 year deal. Estoril finished 13th last season just 1 point above Portimonense in 16th who were relegated as mentioned in last week's post in their aggregated 4-2 play off defeat to AVS. Speaking of last week's post, to any regular readers who might have thought I was being flippant with my pre match description of the two captains coming out in red and yellow rescue style coats it wasn't deliberate. That stemmed from an 80 something Sportinguista called D.Maria Silva who tragically lost most of her possessions in a fire but answered the age old question posed to people of what would you save if your house was on fire? Here the answer being her Sporting CP momento's. Touched by her plight the club made her guest of honour at the game. Well that's one D.Maria who is popular in the green and white half of Lisboa anyway. I am truly going to hell in a hand cart one day. I'm reliably informed by those who met her on the day that she's a wonderfully charming lady and I wish her all the best unlike the other Di María across the road who can go fuck himself. Going back to my original point about being not deliberately being flippant which regular readers may find hard to believe, is that I watch games with no commentary, there's only the subtext for me to try work out why the captain's were wearing the coats and why some grey haired lady was grabbing all the boys by the cheeks and kissing anyone who stood still for too long. It's not like she was front page news on the Sun or Times newspapers over here in England. Anyway for what it's worth I am sorry if I offended anyone I genuinely didn't know her story at that point and now I do it transpires that I'm basically making out like she's an octogenarian sex pest. Maybe I'll quit before I really do get myself cancelled. I mean I didn't manage it with the Israel jokes last season but one day I'll run for political office and someone will pull out the joke twenty years later and go oh my god remember when he wrote that thing saying - and you thought the Palestinians had problems with Israel right now. I take that back anyway because he's had three clean sheets on the bounce and improved greatly since then. Fuck it let's just also mention the Double D's that are Diomande and Debast because if I'm going down for being politically incorrect I'm going down burning folks. Sue me. 

In the markets 

Estoril 9/1
Draw 13/2
Sporting 2/11

Team News 

Starting XI 

Israel, Reis, Diomande, Debast, Nuno Santos, Morita, Hjulmand, Geny, Araújo, Gyökeres and Trincão 

Substitutes

Kovačević, Callai, Inácio, Quaresma Fresneda, Bragança, Esgaio, Quenda and Harder

So having said for the last few games Quenda looked leggy out on the right I predicted if I stopped mentioning it the change would come and so it has come to pass as Geny returns to his natural position wide right. Full debut for Araújo having previously only featured as a second half substitute since his summer move late in the transfer window. Harder despite a goal and an assist on his debut last week against AVS is the player to make way. Morita for Bragança is the final change from the starting XI on Sunday. Good news for Amorim with one eye on PSV will be the return of Kovačević, Quaresma and Inácio now fit enough to be named amongst the substitutes. Gonçalves, Edwards, St Juste and Pinto are all are still missing through injury.

First half 

Fingers crossed ahead of this iteration of Estoril - Sporting that come full time the medical team aren't having to collect various parts of Gyökeres legs from the pitch. He wasn't afforded any protection when they met in May and was already playing with the damage to his left knee which curtailed the end of his season. Sporting were also very much dead on their feet having to a man left it all on the pitch in securing their second title win in four seasons. 

Sporting playing in white with green trim get us underway and will attack right to left. Not sure what's up with the pitch, it looks like a giant flattened watermelon.

8 No surprise to see Sporting have had 81% of the possession in the opening salvo but so far no end product. You'd be forgiven for thinking it was a home game with the travelling support dominating the sounds of the night air 

10 Foul given just outside the box for a pull back on Gyökeres. Referee tried to play the advantage but blew up when nothing was on. Good officiating 

10 Trincão tries from 22 yards but his free kick flies over the bar as he looks up for solace in the sky and finds none. 

14 Morita gets on the end of a Nuno Santos through ball from outside the box and sees his shot from the left edge of the six yard box deflected for a corner

15 Huge appeals from Sporting for a penalty as the ball strikes the hand of Boma but it was ball to hand rather than hand to ball. There wasn't much the defender could have done. 

17 Great work from Araújo to chase down a ball on the left wing, his cross finds Trincão unmarked but his header goes over from eight yards  

18 Fabricio runs clear of the Sporting defence to seemingly leave himself one on one with Israel but from nowhere a last ditch tackle just gets Sporting out of jail.*

19 Sporting getting closer. Araújo the man causing the problems in the final third. Tried to find Geny but the defender just nips the ball of his foot from around the penalty spot 

20 * They've just shown the replay of the Fabricio run and actually there was no challenge, the forward lost his balance with Debast breathing down his neck. Maybe he was light headed being so high up the field through a lack of oxygen. He definitely won't want to see it again. 

23 Nuno Santos showing his lack of a right foot as he has to take a touch outside the area to move it onto his left and his effort is blocked. 

24 GOAL Geny covers his ears as he runs off to the Sporting fans on the far side. Estoril 0 Sporting CP 1. Reis looked like he slipped as he passed the ball into the box but he found Geny in acres of space to roll the ball home from ten yards. VAR check for a coming together just prior to the Nuno Santos effort between Geny and his marker which left the young defender down. Officials decided it was accidental and the goal stands. 

29 Poor pass from Hjulmand evades both his teammates open on the right wing. Geny sprints a la Nuno Santos last game, slides and keeps it in to huge applause from the fans behind him and save the skippers blushes 

30 GOAL Huge grin on the face of Morita as he makes it Estoril 0 Sporting CP 2 from 8 yards with his left peg. Trincão cut back from the byline on the right. Touch of the Manchester City's about that goal. 

33 Huge slide from Reis to try keep the ball in play. Having been cleared of a headbutt in the courts earlier this week on a ball boy against Porto there wasn't any in view near him as his motion carried him out of play. Perhaps his reputation proceeds him.

35 Amaral with a hand in the face of Nuno Santos. He needs to look in the mirror at his reaction there at half time, that was embarrassing as he clutches his face. This is Sporting not Porto. Mind you this is probably what you get after their last visit mentioned earlier when the referee didn't give any genuine decisions the way of Sporting. Still no excuse for it. 

43 CLANG the ball just won't go in for Trincão tonight as his latest effort cannons off the left hand post to safety. He looked to have done everything right as he opened up his body from wide right of the area and placed the ball towards the opposite corner of the goal with the keeper stranded

Plus three shown 

Half time 

Estoril 0 Sporting CP 2

It could have been a very different game if Fabricio hadn't done his best impression of me on ice skates and gone arse over tit when bearing down on Israel in the Sporting goal. Sporting in fairness have barely gotten out of second gear and go in at the break still two goals to the good.  

We've seen the party tricks from Nuno Santos this first half; the Rabona cross, a back-heeled nutmeg and finally method acting rolling around like he'd been smacked by Daniel Dubuois. Araújo has definitely impressed in parts on his full debut and certainly appears willing to put a shift in. Neither goal had any real quality to it in respects of the finishes themselves. Like putting practice on the 15th hole at the Masters in Augusta. Apologies to anyone on the Algarve, I don't know the names of any golf courses in your region to help make that point. 

Quiet night so far for Gyökeres. Maybe saving himself for PSV. You still wouldn't bet against him extending his consecutive scoring record in the second half. They've just shown the replay of the first goal. Beautiful first touch from Reis to lose his marker even if he did fall flat on his backside trying to cross the ball in for the assist.

Other than the brief scare for the Fabricio run it's been another easy night for the Sporting defence. One shot from the home side in the 41st minute from Garcia from distance which flew into the box end stand behind Israel. XG of 0.02 for the home side. They're going to need a miracle of epic proportions to get anything out of this game in the second half. 

Second half

Estoril with the one change at half time, Sporting keep the same line up. 

47 Michel clearly a massive Geny fan as he tries to swap shirts with him before the end of the game and attempts to pull it quite literally off his back. Free kick unsurprisingly given. 

49 First yellow shown on the night to Fabricio for a clumsy late challenge on Reis

50 Familiar faces in the crowd looking on. We've seen Portugal coach Roberto Martinez and now Neto enjoying his retirement watching his old team mates in the company of his young son.

52 I said in the first half the pitch looks like a flattened watermelon. Well the action on it presently is more rugby union than football. This half so far a succession of shirt pulls and players going to ground. 

53 Shot on target from the home side. I say shot. I think it was more a clearance deflecting onto the player and then trickling towards Israel from 14 yards. Begraoui it was with the final touch. I'm not sure they're going to count that as a shot in the end. 

54 Best play from Estoril all night which came from the left flank. Cross into the six yard box somehow evades everyone and out to safety. 

57 ➡️⬅️ Reis swaps with Inácio. Hjulmand for Bragança and passes the captain's armband over. Harder for Araújo. 

59 Not even on the pitch a minute and Harder gets a talking to from the referee. He looks a proper unit the young Dane. 

61 First time we've really seen Gyökeres tonight as he's marshalled out wide left and his final touch sees the ball go out the far side for a goal kick. Not been the Swedes night. Sort of night fans of English clubs tune in and go he's overhyped and those with a brain cell go he's human. All he needs is the one chance to break his goalscoring duck on this ground. Won't be many he's not scored at by the time he leaves Portuguese football. 

67 Substitute Holsgrove fires low and wide of the right post from 20 yards. Just looking to see which club the Scotsman came from … Olympiacos. Of course it was going to be the current Europa Conference League champions. That'll learn me. Never played for a Scottish club at all. 

70 Harder cuts the ball back wide left for Trincão but it's not happening for him tonight with the national team boss watching on. Gets the ball caught up under his feet and Estoril clear their lines. He's definitely failing his audition. 

72 Oh, Hollywood's doing his hair. Quelle fucking surprise. 

74 ➡️⬅️ Wow you don't see that very often. Gyökeres taken off and replaced by Quenda. He could have played until December and not scored in fairness. Possibly his worst night in a sporting shirt since… well since he played here in May. There you go you want his kryptonite it's the Estádio Antônio Coimbra da Mota.  

77 Lacximicant with the best chance of the night for Estoril draws a save at the near post from just inside the far right corner of the 18 yard box. Jesus I hope he's not involved more in this game that took some typing. 

78 Quenda pull back for Bragança. First touch beats his marker but his shot is blocked. 

80 Strong Harder header goes straight to the keeper. Christ you wouldn't want that fucker to headbutt you on the evidence of the power he got behind that. 

81 Think someone might have pointed out to Quenda that Martinez is in the crowd as he's turning it on since he came on 

82 Quaresma for Debast

83 Gyökeres with ice being strapped to his right knee. That's not a good sign 

83 Harder taken out by Álvaro who's booked for his troubles. Freekick to Sporting 21 yards out. Quenda effort straight into the wall.

87 Poor cross from Nuno Santos. I'd forgotten he was still playing he's had that little an effect this half. 

90 GOAL Amorim totally unmoved and unimpressed as he looks on from the touchline. I mean literally stone faced which is incredibly ironic as Hollywood has just popped one in from 21 yards low into the bottom left handed corner to make it Estoril 0 Sporting CP 3. You would genuinely have believed that had gone the other way had you not seen the goal and been asked who do you think had scored? Was it a. Daniel Bragança or b. An Estoril player. Tough coach to please. Perhaps he'd painted eyes into his eyelids and was having a nap like the rest of us after a quite dull second half. 

Plus three shown 

Full time 

Estoril 0 Sporting CP 3

The final word 

Right now Sporting are doing enough to win games. That's not meant as a dig, that's actually a compliment, albeit granted it sounds a backhanded one. It's going to be a long season. You'll get the same number of points whether you win 1-0 or 8-0 so why expend extra energy you don't need to? These are the games that unless you were there no one remembers come the end of the season. Oddly I wrote that before I saw Gyökeres getting his knee strapped up with a huge bag of ice under it in the 83rd minute. Just maybe goes to prove my point even more. It's a long season and it's still only September. When we played here in May the players were literally out on their feet at the end of a long season. Game management - That's what you need, that's what we're seeing. They're simply doing the minimum they need to do to win games. It also helps when the level of opposition is several rungs below you and the defence is basically given another night off again. Israel had one shot on target to save and Estoril are in for a very long season on that type of attacking display. I'm not sure based on these last three games in particular whether our defence is incredible, or all three sides faced have been truly woeful in an attacking sense. I guess it depends on your personal definition. Hjulmand and Morita did an incredible job screening from midfield and for the back three it was all about positioning. They don't need to make tackles because their reading of the game is so good. Israel has literally had nothing to do in the past four games and kept four clean sheets. This is the same Israel that would give me heart palpitations anytime I saw his name on a team sheet last season. There you go there's the marker of the question, is the defence any good? Does having Israel in goal scare me at all right now? No. Why? Because the defence is that good. Diomande is mustard. Proper Dijon. If you try tell me Inácio is the better of the two do me the honour of letting me empty my bladder first so I don't literally piss myself laughing at you. They dropped their asking price for him in the summer. I bet they don't do it on this form. I shed a tear or two when Coates left but after eight games he's not been missed yet. Diomande is a natural born leader. I saw some of the Côte d'Ivoire games when he wasn't even in the bench in the African Cup of Nations and some of their defenders wouldn't have even made the Estoril reserve team they were that poor. Why they chose Diomande as their scape goat is beyond me. I'd tell them to fuck themselves and just go on to have the incredible club career that clearly awaits him but that says more about me as a person. 

Hjulmand and Morita quietly went about their business tonight with a ruthless efficiency. On present showing this season in terms of chances of success is going to come down to keeping players fit. I imagine Gyökeres withdrawal was precautionary with PSV in mind but we shall see midweek. We're winning without the likes of Gonçalves and Edwards now and at the back Quaresma and Inácio but they're dropping like flies. It's not a great sign eight games in. Well nine if you count the Supertaça which I'm not. 

I liked what I saw from Araújo tonight. He may have taken 15 minutes or so to get in tune but when he did all that was good came through him. The fact I'd forgotten Nuno Santos was still on the field at the end of the game can be attributed to him coming off because the danger that came down on the left hand side had diserpated somewhat after he was withdrawn. That being said Harder definitely made his presence felt when he came on from that side albeit in a different style. I'd not like to have to mark him and he's going to be more than good enough against the likes of your Estoril, Farense, Arouca and AVS's of this league. Time will tell whether he can make the step up in class against the bigger boys but there's nothing to suggest that he won't. 

PSV is going to be massive test in midweek to see where we really are in the pantheon of European clubs. Their home record is almost on a par with Sporting's having only dropped two points at home in 17 last season compared with our 17 wins. Anyone expecting us to simply turn up again and win is going to be in for a shock. This side has come a long way since we beat them 4-0 at the Alvalade and from memory despite the 3-2 scoreline in Holland a Mendes wondergoal late on makes it appear a closer game when you take into account the final scoreline than it ever was. My memory isn't what it once was but I'm pretty sure PSV could and should have been out of sight by that point in the game. No return fixture of course in this year's competition and with games to come against the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal at home it's all the more imperative to put in another solid display against them. That being said from an expectation management level a draw wouldn't be the worst thing to just temper things slightly. With every win it starts to feel all the more normal and it's not going to last across the course of a league season and becomes all the more dangerous. For now they don't show any signs of slipping up but this match will really show how good we are. We've beaten Porto and this will start as a coin toss. Their home record is probably only second to ours since the start of last season in all of European football. There's a reason they're the reigning Dutch Champions. Yes Ajax have fallen off a cliff in recent years but don't fool yourself into thinking that's the reason why PSV are now the dominant force in Dutch football. It's not the Premier League sides that will show us our true level, this is the indicator. If Gyökeres is injured then what do we have in the locker? Trincão is going to need to play better than he did tonight as will Geny even though he was on the scoresheet again. 

Anyway enough waffle from me. Seven straight league wins, another clean sheet and after all the talk about Morita recently and his struggles when coming back from international football he's proven tonight he's still an integral part of this team capped off with a goal and a winning smile that said more than a thousand words I can write so he's my man of the match.