Sporting CP 3 Boavista 2

The warm up

It could well be argued after four straight defeats that the visit of Boavista, languishing two points above the relegation places couldn't come at a better time. The caveat to that is of course if Sporting make it five losses in a row and go down to a Boavista side two points above the relegation zone the green and white half of Lisboa might go into full meltdown. 

Highly unsavoury scenes after the game on Tuesday night ended with a steward being injured by a flare thrown onto the pitch. A flare which I'm led to believe only narrowly missed Gyökeres and Harder. DAZN Portugal have footage but you can't watch it in England so I've had to go on what was written in the Portuguese press. Not as fucking stupid an incident as the Alcochete attack on players in May 2018 but not far off it. What the fuck goes through the ears of certain people when they do things like that? Clearly not a fucking lot. It's a game of football. Somebody has to end up in hospital because you can't control your temper at losing a game of football? There are people with real problems in every corner of the world. People are being shelled out of their homes and you're losing your shit over losing a game? Grow the fuck up. Let's hope they catch whoever did it and give them a lifetime ban. The resulting punishment for the club is more fines, part of the stadium closed and everyone else has to suffer the consequences of one person's stupidity. It helps no one to act in that manner. NO ONE AT ALL. It tarnishes the reputation of the club. It tarnishes us all with that same brush and stigma. Tuesday night I'm writing about the appalling reaction of the Club Brugge fans as Quaresma was being taken off the pitch in tears as if he was play acting. Now I'm having to eat humble fucking pie cause some fucking halfwit thinks it's OK to throw a flare onto the pitch. Christ knows what will happen if we lose a fifth game. You'd think we were bottom of the league not top of it by the reaction of certain quarters. 

This isn't João Pereira’s fault. When things go wrong it's so easy to point the finger at the new coach. The problems have been there for a long time, not just in Europe but in the league too. If you play the same way every single week then it stands to reason that at some point you'll get figured out. Guess what? We've been found out. Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Take the Santa Clara game, it was like having a needle on a scratched record just looping endlessly. If you don't know what that means Google it, now's not the time for a history lesson on vinyl. The game plan is always to put it wide on one of the flanks, keep a high line and try to play the offside trap. When there's no space because you've got 21 players in the opposition half, is it really that much of a surprise when it becomes difficult to make any progress in an attacking sense? Great teams… like really great teams, can adapt their style of play. Pereira is now tasked with coming up with solutions and in the course of doing so the team is going to need the backing of the fans. Waving white handkerchiefs is one thing, no one is likely to get maimed for life with one of those. Throwing flares however is totally unacceptable. I can hand on heart say if the fans had done that in an English stadium on Tuesday night with the handkerchiefs they'd have been laughed all the way back to the airport and the chants of what the fucking hell is that would have reverberated from the rest of the stadium. I know the first time I saw it I had to ask what the fucking hell is that about. A bit like having to ask who the fat bloke in the suit was on the bench? Oh that's Bruno de Carvalho, he's the club's president. Sorry he's the club's president and he's sat on the bench? I'm still going what the fuck at that year's later. 

That Sporting are in a pickle isn't a surprise to me. I had a conversation with a friend of mine who's half my age and some change a couple of months ago and told her to enjoy it whilst it lasted. The only surprise is we've got their twelve months faster than I'd predicted. I thought we'd go back to normal once Gyökeres had departed. Truth be told I've seen much worse Sporting teams than this one. It's a blip. These things happen in football. We never seem to play well in the rain or in Europe. Yes we have the odd result where you're left thinking this side is amazing. However if you went through every result in Europe over the last ten seasons you'd probably give up after three or four having realised overall we're really not that good. I've seen us twice played off the pitch by Lask. How many fans in European football know who Lask are? Not many I suspect. 

Right now I want to know what's causing all the injuries this season because they're certainly not helping and who had the final say in transfers that have left us with a top heavy squad in certain areas and dangerously short of bodies in others.  Again none of which are the fault of the new mister João Pereira. 

Sporting this season have been really successful when inviting teams on and hitting them on the counter. Usually they only get this benefit having gone 1-0 up before half time but there's nothing stopping them playing that way other than a perception that they should take the lead and be on the front foot. Having the lion's share of passes which equates to the overall percentage of possession means nothing if the ball is constantly going sideways or backwards. Interestingly having held onto the ball for close on two minutes Tuesday night it worked out incredibly well with Geny tapping in from the rebound from Araújo’s effort onto the post. But that owed more to the quick thinking of Hjulmand and the turn of Gyökeres who played Araújo in during the buildup. There was just as much of a chance that they could have held the ball for five minutes straight and gone absolutely nowhere with it. Geny needs space to run into to cause issues. If he starts his run five yards from the goal line it's hardly surprising at the point he gets into his stride he's run out of pitch. You can give the ball to Gyökeres on the half way line when he has space to run into so maybe try backing off 15 yards, or try playing more centrally. Or maybe try playing Harder left of the front three. Or just start Gyökeres there because he naturally drifts out there anyway. If an idiot like me can figure it out then it's not hard to implement slight adjustments which will improve the team and give them the edge once more and put them back on track. 

If you want a club with real problems then spend ten minutes before or after the game and chat with a Boavista fan because they're really in shit street. They're not top, they don't have the league's top goalscorer, they're not playing in the Champions League, they've not got upcoming ties against sides in the Taça da Liga or Taça de Portugal to look forward to. They lost 1-0 away to Varzim in the latter. I'm not even sure they were allowed to play in the Taça da Liga. They've won one game in 13 matches since they're opening day win away to Casa Pia. That's two wins in all competitions all season. You wave white hankies in front of their fans and they'll be mocking you mercilessly going a boo hoo hoo. Well I would be in their shoes watching on. 

If life on the field reads bad enough then life off the pitch is even worse. Their owner Gérard Lopez appears to be as big a tyre kicker as they come. Having overseen the collapse of one of France's oldest clubs in Bordeaux who were relegated to the fourth tier this summer for financial irregularities, Boavista find themselves with the real threat of being liquidated. Oh poor little Sporting losing four games on the trot however do you sleep at night their fans might be asking. 

Do we want to be the new Porto and not have a pot to piss in with the knowledge that we're always one transfer window away from having to sell our best players just to keep our heads above water? I mean granted we'll always have to sell at some stage but we didn't this summer and that's huge in Portugal. We've been threatened with not being granted a licence to play in UEFA competitions in the not so distant past for outstanding transfer fees. 

With Boavista under a transfer embargo their misery is compounded that the money from any player sales go to finance a debt owed on stadium renovations which I think has ruffled more than a few feathers from clubs around Europe owed transfer fees. You've periods where player's haven't been paid on top of that. It really is a sorry state of affairs for one of Portugal's oldest clubs and fourth most successful in terms of titles. They are remember, one of only five Portuguese clubs to have ever won the top division. This is a side who were regularly playing in European competitions and that all seems like a distant memory to their fans I'm sure. 

Outside of the dirty pigeons this isn't a league where players are paid ridiculous sums of money. Kanya Fujimoto the midfielder for Gil Vicente who's having a sterling season by all accounts with five goals and three assists in the league is on a reported €60,000 per annum. Just to put that in context Mo Salah at Liverpool earns a reported €423,749 per week. So you can get seven Fujimotos per week for the same money or in terms of the annual salary you'd get a Fujimoto per day. What would you do with 365 Fujimoto’s? OK so maybe that's a bit of a nonsensical statistic but clubs have to be realistic whatever their size and standing in Portugal. It's so easy to get it wrong and some Sportinguista's have short memories when they're taking a swipe at the board. That we're now making a profit should count for something because it could quite easily go back the other way. Boavista fans will want a club to support at the end of each season; it's as simple as that. I personally hope they find someone to come in and put the club back on a solid foundation. Even if they have to start again, let's hope they do it right. 

I don't want to see our club run poorly again. From what I can tell the claques are up in arms for the same reason that ultras in serie A have been in recent seasons, namely with new club presidents and owners coming in and taking away their privileges. The ones that have seen certain fan groups lining their own pockets and now the money goes where it should do, into the clubs pockets. Barca have an agreement where their claques pay their club fines for poor behaviour. Maybe the club should implement the same policy. That would stop a lot of the nonsense. The Jose Alvalade should be a safe space for all attending as should away grounds. That goes equally for fans and players and staff of both clubs. I've written extensively about how great the fans of this club are. I take no joy in pointing out moments where the opposite applies. At some point we all grow up, yes even us males. I wouldn't criticise Geny for his mistake that led to the goal the other day because I've done some real stupid shit in my time so I'm not saying I'm perfect, merely imploring people to have some common sense on Saturday. This team isn't deliberately trying to lose right now. If you were doing your job and I came and booed you on the Friday, waved a white hanky at you and pinged a firework a few feet from your desk, do you think that would help if you'd made a few mistakes Monday to Thursday? Would you feel extra motivated to make Friday really count? Leave it all out on your keyboard and monitor or whatever field of work you're in. No offence but of course you wouldn't. So it's not rocket engineering to work out the players need support right now. Let's hope we get a comfortable win and we can all just calm down for a week at least. Nothing to see here, move along. 

Oddly for a team struggling this season Boavista are doing better away than they are at home having collected 9 of their 11 points on the road. They've scored once at home all season with a goal difference of minus 8. Top goal scorer with 4 is Miguel Reisinho with 4. Random statistic, they've conceded on average just 11.8 fouls per game which is the fourth lowest total in the league. Sporting having the lowest total on 10.5 fouls per game for added context. Despite that Boavista have picked up 33 yellow cards and 2 sendings off which suggests they're either really petulant a la Bruno Fernandes when decisions go against them or when they do foul an opposition player they do it with some real purpose. 

Last season's game at the Jose Alvalade started so brightly for the visitors when they went ahead after three minutes only to find out that scoring early on is never a great idea as Sporting found out to their own detriment Tuesday night in the Champions league. Incredibly given Sporting only equalised on the stroke of half time, they then put five second half goals past them with Gyökeres scoring a hat trick. How we'd all love to see a repeat of that. Well not the third minute goal of course and any Boavista fans reading that are also going yeah think we'll pass on that one thank you very much as well. Away from home in case you were interested it finished just the 2-0 but Gyökeres got one to make his total four in two games just in case you couldn't do the maths on 3 plus 1 and then 1 plus 1. You're very welcome. Why don't I shut up you're saying? OK I shall point taken. 

In the markets 

Sporting 1/12

Draw 10/1

Boavista 18/1

Team News

Presumably no Quaresma who left part of his head on the forearm of Tzolis on Tuesday night or Inácio who couldn't even make it past the warm-up before breaking down like an Alfa Romeo. Bragança and Morita still aren't fit and with long term absentees Nuno Santos and Gonçalves that's another six reasons why João Pereira might be thinking why did I step under that ladder on my first day as the new mister.

Starting XI

Israel, Quaresma, Debast, Reis, Geny, Simões, Hjulmand, Quenda, Araujo, Gyökeres and Trincão

Substitutes

Kovačević, Diomande, Alves, Fresneda, Esgaio, Arreíol, Edwards, Harder and Couto

Fresh from his full debut for Sporting coming in the Champions League, Simões adds his full league debut and is joined on the bench by another new face in 18 year old Miguel Alves. Quaresma has recovered sufficiently to regain his place in the back three however St Juste isn't even in the squad. Diomande drops to the bench making way for the return of Debast. The experiment in the front left of three continues as Araujo swaps with Quenda who swaps wife right with Geny, who swaps wide left with Araujo. Sometimes it feels like someone dropped the tactics board and just scooped the pieces back on and placed them quickly hoping no one would notice.

I got to thinking this morning about how we've had so many kits this season that actually it's entirely plausible that Geny just forgot we weren't playing I'm white the other day. The pink shirts are a nice touch with money going to support breast cancer charities but it is getting silly season now with all the others and can someone tell the executives at Nike that the person in the Cristiano Ronaldo family with the biggest connection to the Jose Alvalade is Dolores. Enough with the CR7 bollocks already.

First half

I went down a rabbit hole last night of statistics. Top three players in Portugal for blocked shots? Trincão with 20, Gyökeres 18 and Gonçalves who despite not playing for weeks with 16. Vieira at Santa Clara has 11, Di Maria the dirty pigeon 10, Esteves of Nacional 10 and Svensson of Casa Pia also 10. Maybe stop shooting on sight gentlemen and take more time?

Trincão has had 46 shots resulting in 3 goals, Bragança 29 with 3 goals. Says it all really.

Boavista looking like a team of tangerines get us underway. Sporting in green, white and black horizontal stripes will attack right to left.

1 An early stoppage in play as Hjulmand headbutts the back of Reisinho. The Dane has a large lump on his head in one of those Tom and Jerry cartoon styles. That can't be good. If it's hurting he's not showing it.

3 Quenda with the opening shot hits the back of a defender from 14 yards

5 Free kick to Boavista inside the 18 yard box and they've all pushed up to the halfway line and César in goal punts it forward. You don't see that very much in modern football.

7 Gyökeres close to giving Sporting the lead sees his effort somehow come off César and over the bar from 4 yards and out for a corner. The keeper has originally parried a save straight to the feet of the Swede. Whether it took him by surprise I don't know but that should have been 1-0

8 Red card shown I think to one of the Boavista technical staff

11 It's going to be a long night for the visitors as they concede their fourth corner

12 Nice interplay between Trincão and Geny but the latter fires well wide from 16 yards

14 The first goal is coming but not yet as Gyökeres heads inches wide of the left hand post from 7 yards

15 Geny from a narrow angle brings a save at the near post from César

16 Trincão repeats Geny’s shot from 14 yards and sees his effort fly into the stand. If we get one the floodgates are going to open tonight. Boavista have not got a foot in this game at all

17 Araújo with the first touch of a trampoline after a no-look pass from Reis. He should have finished that to make it 1-0. This is the Sporting we saw in the opening weeks of the season. Sporting benefiting from the space afforded to them at the back by Boavista

19 Araújo has an issue with staying on his feet in the box which is polite for saying he dives

20 Coates watching on. Welcome back Captain. Hopefully he's had a few words in the ears of the players and reminded them of what's expected of them

22 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Boavista 0. It's been coming. All the players join in a huddle in a show of unity. A poor pass back to the keeper by Gomes pounced on by the Swede. César rushed out and made contact but the ball popped up in the Swedes favour and he slots home into an empty net. This could be 5 or 6 tonight.

25 Reis with the tackle sends a Boavista player flying and stands over the top of him like a giant as if to say what?

27 I should note Geny is wide right and not as I suggested in the team news wide left, Quenda and Araújo as you were Tuesday

28 Gyökeres cushions a header back to Simões who was in acres of space 4 yards inside the area. Superb saving block from the defender who launched himself at the ball.

31 Ball flashes under the feet of Gyökeres who for the second time will be wondering how on earth he's not scored from three yards out

32 Sporting are playing like flat track bullies. Ball won in midfield sees them quickly counter. Gyökeres shot blocked inside the area

35 Picking up on the point of shots taken from earlier Boženík has had 36 shots this season for 0 return for the visitors

38 Yellow shown to Reis for the most innocuous coming together with one of the Boavista players. I mean that's over zealous

40 Dabo tries the impossible from 24 yards and fires high into the crowd behind Israel's goal. That sums up the visitors first half

42 GOAL fucking hell. Sporting CP 1 Boavista 1. Having not scored a single goal this season wouldn't you know it Boženík heads in unmarked from 6 yards. That was pathetic. 37 attempts and one goal. That'll learn me for writing that statistic.

+2 Araújo tries to find Gyökeres in the centre but César was wise to his intentions

Plus three shown

Half time

Sporting CP 1 Boavista 1

How Sporting go in at half time with the score 1-1 will be one of life's mysteries in years to come. Generations will study these 45 minutes and go how was that possible? That was one of the most one sided halves of football you'll see anywhere in Europe all weekend. Gyökeres should already have the matchball under his arm telling it you're coming home with me tonight. They did everything right apart from score the second, third and fourth goal that would have put the game out of sight and then forgot that it helps to mark players when defending. The time and space Boženík was allowed for the header was criminal. You'd expect to see that level of marking in an under 8s game. Actually that's a lie because at under 8s you're not allowed to header the ball. You know what I mean.

Players leave the field to near silence. It's like no one can even be bothered to react. I think it must have been the officials going off last which elicited some whistles from the crowd.

Sporting have been utterly dominant. Don't let the scoreline fool you. I was trying to think of the word. Not naivety. Complacency. That's what it is. It's almost an affront for Boavista to have even considered attacking and scoring. I refuse to believe we're not going to win this.

Second half

I don't think I'm understating things when I say this is maybe the biggest 45 minutes of the season for Sporting to date. The players are all back out on the pitch and ready before Boavista have even gotten out the tunnel. I'm taking that as a sign they know they need to put this right.

Sporting get us back underway.

46 Quenda tries a little flick to find Gyökeres but cut out by César. That spot isn't working for him. What are they saving Harder for Christmas dinner?

46 Debast pings in a shot from long range and César has to be alert to the danger and down quickly to save it.

48 GOAL Sporting CP 2 Boavista 1. Well having criticised Boženík and he scores, Trincão goes hold my beer and sweeps home the second from an intelligent cross from Araújo on the left

50 Hjulmand leathers the ball over the bar from 26 yards. Don't tell me they're not playing for the mister. They're all desperate to get the monkey off their back and three points in the bag to boot

51 Corner from Quenda finds the head of Gyökeres and out for a goal kick

52 I still think we should be finishing this game with 5 or 6 goals it's been that one sided. Let's have a repeat of last season.

53 Araújo is causing carnage on the left this half. Picks out Geny who stumbles over the ball and doesn't connect properly in a good position to get a shot away

54 Simões sends Pérez flying then puts his hands up like any sensible 17 year old would do for flattening a grown man

55 This season I've finally gotten out of the habit of saying we need another goal. But let's go retro. We need a third. Be nice for Araújo to cap his performance with a goal

56 Trincão with the elbow into the back of the Boavista player. They're showing the fight and desire even if they're conceding fouls

57 GOAL what was I saying about needing a third. Fucking hell. Sporting CP 2 Boavista 2. Long ball out to the left headed into the box. Shot from Onyemaechi from 8 yards deflects off the palm of the diving Israel and into the net. You just cannot legislate for that. That's like watching someone run over the family pet, hearing the crunch and reversing back to see what the noise was and doing it again

58 Yellow shown to Abascal for a foul on Quenda

60 Trincão fouled. Free kick twenty two yards out

61 Gyökeres brings the save from César low to his left. He kept it low and yet somehow got the ball over the draft excluder. Sporting unable to get the rebound in, out for a corner

63 Gyökeres flattened and then Quenda in quick succession and neither was deemed worthy of a yellow? Really?

64 Daft Punk getting readied on the bench.

65 GOAL Sporting CP 3 Boavista 2. Trincão with the middle finger to me again. I'll take that all day long. Gyökeres turns provider. Long punt to the left chased down by the Swede, his pull back from the touchline found Trincão, one touch to control, second touch to slot it into the net.

66 Harder for Geny. Geny's had a good game to be fair. Harder is hunting the ball down like a panther seconds after coming on. Right I said we needed a third. We need a fourth. Maybe also a fifth.

68 Close up of a very festive looking home stand full of green and white Santa hats compete with nervous faces underneath. I could do with going for a half hour walk right now

69 Quenda now wide right looks much happier as he starts to toy with his marker

70 Sporting determined to shoot themselves in the foot. Israel comes racing off his line, misses it and thankfully the stretching Pérez puts it out for a goal kick

71 Quaresma down on the floor receiving treatment

72 Diomande on for Quaresma who hobbles off. With the stitches Tuesday night he's not had a good week, not to mention the own goal

73 Another close up of Coates looking unenthusiastic watching on. Morita isn't even watching the play alongside him.

74 Bruno booked for Boavista. Was that for the kick in the plums on Debast? Not sure. Maybe for a bit of handbags after, close on the halfway line. Close up of Quaresma on the bench in his coat looking like an ASBO kid with his stitches and black eye

77 This is turning into a 70s sitcom with me pacing up and down like my wife's giving birth in the room next door

77 Whistles ring out as Harder is penalised for two fouls in the space of twenty seconds. He is a unit that lad

78 Boženík header at the far post out for a goal kick. Breathe darling breathe you're doing brilliantly. Keep pushing. I'm with you in spirit.

79 Warm round of applause for Simões as he goes off for Arreíol

79 Araújo booked for a foul. That's fucking pathetic. The reverse angle shows his hand touched the chest of the Boavista player who threw himself to the floor.

81 Pérez is rolling around in the box. Trincão goes down after and the referee blew and points… to Pérez. The defender has stamped down on Trincão's foot trapping it. Referee has given a free kick for the foul on Pérez. That would have been a penalty night and day

83 Whistles go around the stadium as Gyökeres goes down after a boot to the plums. That's him and Debast in a select club of two I don't want to be a member of. This game is descending into a farce.

84 We can't go more than twenty seconds without a break in play

85 Edwards name mentioned over the tannoy. If he's come on they've not showed it? Too busy showing all the fouls on replays

85 Hjulmand booked for a high foot. Got the ball originally. The player holds his face but was looking the other way with the boot near the back of his head. The referee needs to watch this game back and go why have you booked Araújo there, Hjulmand there when there's blatantly no contact with the player on either challenge.

88 I can barely watch this this is like being six years old with Doctor Who on the TV

88 Boavista player throws himself to the ground again. Quenda was two yards away from him. Corner ball. His teammate is helping him like he's got cramp. Hmmmm

89 Huge cheer as Israel collects the ball from the corner first time

Plus five

+2 Harder flattened. Run the clock down gentleman and if you can score the fourth after please

+2 Harder wins a corner for Sporting

93 Shouts for handball but nothing given. My heart is pounding as the anxiety grips

+4 Pérez yellow as he chops Araújo down. He didn't dive that time

+5 Free kick found Hjulmand but he can only direct it out for a goalkick.

Full time

Sporting CP 3 Boavista 2

The final word

I've aged five years in fifteen minutes. That was so much harder than it needed to be. Applause as Trincão is announced as man of the match inside the stadium. Those in attendance are giving the players a much better reception than they got on Tuesday night in Belgium.

I'm going to forgive the players for their nerves tonight at certain stages. As Amorim would have said we all had to suffer during that result. But three points is three points and a win is a win. João Pereira now has a league win on his CV. It should have been much more comfortable than the scoreline suggests because in truth it was. Had Gyökeres taken his two chances from point blank range then it goes onto to be a rout.

Sporting are too used to not having to defend. That means that Israel has gotten comfortable with not having to do much and when he does he's reminding us that he's not a top level goalkeeper. Neither can he play with the ball to feet. Watch him closely every time it comes back to him. One touch to control before he moves if on again. Kovačević might pass first time but his kicking is just as bad. That's a huge problem and will need solving in a transfer window. It should be addressed in January but it won't. How much that costs Sporting remains to be seen.

I liked how the players all came together for the first goal. That was important. We're in this together. Last season's opener against Vizela was an early catalyst and the hope is this proves the same which sounds daft given it's our twelfth win in the league but we can't disguise the fact we'd lost four on the spin. For large parts of the first half they were a carbon copy of the Sporting we saw in the opening weeks. We can play when there's space. Tonight was about a lack of finishing, a lack of concentration and a second equaliser that sums Sporting's fortunes up right now. Sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don't. Sporting couldn't catch a cold in winter right now let alone a break although maybe they did because lest I forget I am summarising a win.

Araújo really impressed me tonight. Yes I don't like that he goes down too easily. Gyökeres did that too several times throughout the night but his became more tit for tat with the referee. Fabio Verissimo is not on and neither will he ever be on my Christmas card list. It's churlish to suggest he has a Vendetta against Sporting. Yet if someone else wrote it I wouldn't be going you're wrong there. My heart sinks every time I see his face and it cannot be a coincidence that he always departs at half time to a chorus of whistles from the home fans. Anyways back to Araújo, I know Trincão gets the plaudits for his brace but he gets my man of the match.

Can we stop with the Quenda experiment wide left of the front three? He's clearly not happy or comfortable in that position. Stop flogging a dead horse. As soon as he's out out wide right he's looking to attack the defender. Where he was he looks every inch a lost boy of 17. There's too much expectation on him as it is. At least give him the platform to thrive. Harder always gives everything he has when he comes on. He's a grade A nuisance. That Sporting got over the line tonight owes much to his cameo. Start the lad. Because you can take him off when the score is 3-0. Giving him three minutes midweek made no sense. He needed to be on not Esgaio. That game was there for the taking if Sporting wanted it. The problem was they didn't and Club Brugge did. Mistakes are fine as long as you're learning from them and João Pereira is having to learn on the job. Let's not lose sight of that.

Simões did well. I loved the fact he flattened Pérez even if he looked sheepish after the event with his hands up as if to say please don't hurt me. I also love the commitment of Quaresma to have played tonight because many players wouldn't. I don't know how many stitches he took on Tuesday night but it was a fair few and he's sporting a shiner for his troubles. Hjulmand as well with the lump on his head less than a minute in. That should have been looked at, that cannot have been good. Fair play to the commitment and leading from the front but you need to think about yourself long term not the club short term. Just putting it out there.

Gyökeres when he has that space, Geny too, they're a real nuisance. When Geny burst onto the scene last season I kept calling him a wasp because you're literally trying to swat him away. He's a real nuisance. Last season defenders were kicking lumps out of him. Now he's more savvy. He's the better option in that position. Let Quenda grow into the role with a twenty minute cameo where he does the final damage. I watched Rafael Leão go down the left flank at Sporting and it had that build up of anticipation where you stood up without knowing you were even doing it. I want to say he was older than Quenda. I think he and Nuno Mendes were both 19 and whilst Leão left under a cloud and didn't play as much he's left more of an impression than Quenda has on me. I just wish we'd get to see him next season or the one after. Fuck Jorge Mendes and his need to line his own pockets. A decent agent would advise him to stay put for at least another season. He's not ready for the Premier League. I don't want to be writing I told you so when he disappears like the next Gelson Martins. To be fair I never rated him on any level. I can at least see some promise in Quenda, I'd just pick Geny over him to start wide right and give him time to learn his trade which is what should be happening.

For now the gap is five points at the top, the dirty pigeons play tomorrow and still have their game in hand so let's try jinx it and say they're top by a point. Wednesday night sees the return of Santa Clara in the Taça de Portugal and the perfect time to bury the ghost of the 1-0 defeat in the league. Start Harder and the daft punk will score. You've got to manifest shit for it to happen right so I'm putting it out there. Note I never write the words lucky or unlucky because luck doesn't exist so clearly I'm delirious on the high of a win if I'm talking manifestations.