FireWire Review | The Portuguese players are holding the team's lower limit, and Roberto Martinez will be stuck at the ceiling

Shepherd who writes balls

2024-06-19 09:50Posted in Inner Mongolia Sports Creators

That's how interesting modern football is.

Since 2016, Roberto Martinez has almost one of the best national team resources in Europe, at least in Europe, but he ended up only giving the Belgian national team a World Cup semi-finalist and a meaningless FIFA ranking first.

Six years on, not only did Roberto Martinez's rating not go down, but he was also offered the opportunity to coach the Portuguese team.

It was certainly a team with players in the core of the squad hovering around Lent and a difficult place for youngsters, but against the Czechs, who didn't play well today, Roberto Martinez almost overturned.

So, maybe you can trust Cristiano Ronaldo and his team-mates, but can you trust Roberto Martinez?

In this game, Roberto Martinez put on a back three system, but it worked in a different way.

Without the ball, Portugal will settle into a classic position, with Joao Cancelo, Mendes, Pepe, Ruben Dias and Diogo Dalot lined up:

But when he has the ball, Cancelo doesn't move along the wing-back's line, instead cutting into the middle, reinforcing the midfield and leaving space on the flanks for Leao:

Others will try to work with their teammates in the middle of the lane, doing some attacks in the rib area:

On the other side, Diogo Dalot will move forward along the flanks and play as a classic wing-back.

So, this set seems normal, but it works in a way that is a combination of the now popular tactical routine of full-backs adduction, which Roberto Martinez has come up with for Portugal, especially the veterans who need to start Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe.

Although after the opening, Portugal gave Ronaldo a variety of opportunities in front of goal:

But this system is essentially protecting Pepe, because in addition to the attempts on the offensive end, Nuno Mendes, who stayed on Pepe's side, did a lot of work on the defensive end:

And in this attack of the Czech Republic, which just bypassed Mendes, Pepe's performance was a bit surprising:

The Lentenarians may be retaining their fitness and form, so this will need to be observed in the next games.

Strictly speaking, the first game was tactically conservative, which is no problem, after all, winning is the main thing, and the form is the supplement, not to mention that Portugal has to use veterans more carefully than other teams.

However, when the Czechs' leading striker Schick couldn't even get enough of Ruben Dias and Nuno Mendes, and the Czechs didn't even play a decent attack in the first 45 minutes, Portugal could have prepared to be a little bolder in the adjustment phase.

Because in the first half, Portugal had already shown their inefficiency in attack.

Much of this inefficiency stems from structural problems.

If we look away from the positional perspective, the structure of Portugal is actually clear, with Roberto Martinez using a lot of small players to control the ball and the pitch between the back three and the two strikers on one side of the front.

In order to do so, Roberto Martinez has used Vitinha, a player with a very clear style, in the midfield position.

In the face of normal, intense opponents, Vitinha will expose defensive flaws, but it is difficult for the Czech team to test Portugal's defensive problems today.

So if you say how conservative Roberto Martinez's tactics are, it's not really because he has the idea of using Vitinha.

This line of thinking began in the warm-up game, when he used an equally short player like Joao Neves, who at least had the tough look of tucking his shirt into his pants, and Vitinha did not have a similar style.

So when the Czech Republic's starting intensity could not test Portugal's defensive problems, this was exactly what Portugal wanted to play, but when it was presented on the pitch, Portugal showed a clear left-leaning:

The reason behind this is that only Leao's side can eat the opposing full-backs.

You can criticize him for his lack of precision in his crosses after the break, but on the pitch, only Rafael Leao is effectively draining the defenders in front of him, and only Leao is making it less difficult to attack after coming on for potential substitutes.

In the operation on the right side, there are few balls, few people, and it is impossible to create real physical pressure on the defenders on this side, even if this side can take the ball, you will find that Leao has no awareness of the back point on the weak side:

The resoluteness of the outflanking is also insufficient:

He's a player who threatens more when he has the ball.

So after half-time, Portugal especially needs to boost the attacking intensity on the right side, and there is not much to worry about at the defensive level.

You know, your opponent is only the Czechs.

So after returning from the second half, Portugal did step up a bit on the right side, and these two long-range shots were one of the examples:

But the problem comes precisely from Cristiano Ronaldo's header in the 55th minute:

The man who sent him the cross was Ruben Dias.

This is an extremely bad choice.

It's only natural to boost the attack on the right and put the Czechs under attack from both directions, but you can't put Ruben Dias up for an assist without making substitutions.

The full-backs in a back three do have an obligation to step up and help out when they can't open up front, but Ruben Dias is tasked with protecting Pepe's flanks first, and secondly, his own body needs to be protected.

Having Ruben Dias come forward to help, even if the quality of the cross is good, would have increased the risk at the back, and Roberto Martinez should have made an early substitution and put a winger on this side.

But he didn't do that, and with Portugal's quality and the Czech Republic's performance, does he really need a quartet of Cansevtinha, Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes to control the ball and midfield?

Doesn't this aspect of the resource appear to be excessive?

So in the 62nd minute, the Czech Republic, who took the lead in making substitution adjustments, pulled up the intensity, tested Portugal with consecutive crosses in the front, and hit the arc of the penalty area in the third attack and broke the goal with a long-range shot:

And at this time, look at the defensive awareness and ability of Portugal's three midfielders without the ball, especially the defender Vitinha, who is hanging around when defending crosses, and can't help fight for the top, what are you doing here?

In fact, to be scored by the Czechs, or even the first, is already a defeat for the Portuguese team.

It was only after conceding the goal that Roberto Martinez began to make substitutions, but in this wave of substitutions, not only did he bring on only one substitute striker, but the other place was replaced by central defender Inacio Dalot.

It was actually terrible because it was Cancelo's lack of intensity in the development of the Czechs' conceded goals that allowed the Czechs to deliver their first cross from the right side of the pitch:

It was wrong enough not to put on a three-striker, even if you had to strengthen the defense, you didn't even replace the least strong guy on the back line.

And after this substitution, in addition to the two points of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jota in front of the goal, the only good thing is that Nuno Mendes was arched to the front as a left wingback, but the entire attacking direction is still seriously left-leaning.

And in the 69th minute, it was Mendes who received a cross from the back post on the left flank, forcing the Czechs to deliver an own goal:

As the game entered the final stages, the Czechs were actually teetering.

In the entire backfield, there are not many players who can stand, and in the absence of countermeasures, the defensive intensity that can be provided is declining rapidly, coupled with the slippery ball caused by heavy rain, and the goalkeeper has no ability to save the ball, the offensive momentum of the Portuguese team will not be interrupted at all:

Therefore, if in the 60th minute, Roberto Martinez did not dare to play the front three, which is barely understandable, then seeing that the game entered the last 15 minutes, Roberto Martinez did not dare to deploy impact power on the outside of the right side, and the hope of Portugal's comeback was actually wiped out by his own manager.

In the 87th minute, Portugal again played the ball from a 45-degree angle on the right side, and Ronaldo and Jota attacked in succession, but the goal was disallowed:

Note that it was Ruben Dias who interspersed the right rib before the cross from the right flank, creating space on the perimeter.

It wasn't until stoppage time that Roberto Martinez finally made up his mind, and this time he brought on two wingers, Neto and Conceição.

At this time, the Portuguese team's worst enemy has become time.

Fortunately, the early consumption played by Leao and others was not in vain, almost in the first attack after the debut, Neto penetrated from the left side, and Conceição Jr. killed the opponent in front of the goal:

But let's not forget that if the Czechs make a clear clearance in front of goal without mistakes, it is difficult to say whether Portugal will be able to win.

The result of a win can always determine the evaluation after the game, after all, there is no winner, but the players and fans can be happy with the result, and the coach needs to analyse everything that happens in the game.

From that point of view, Roberto Martinez almost became the first sinners of the Portuguese team's black start.

In the first game of the group stage, there is no problem with conservative tactics, but the head coach can't be blind, otherwise why do you want to stand on the sidelines? In the case where it can be seen that Schick cannot play effectively, the Czech team's attack is completely destroyed by Mendes, and his own midfield resources are seriously overloaded, so that there is no direct attacking performance on the right side.

What is the manager looking at?

It's not that Roberto Martinez didn't know that the right side needed to step up the attack, otherwise Portugal wouldn't have shot straight from the right twice in the second half.

However, a long-range shot is not meant to be effective, but may be a waste of possession, and this side should have been long overdue, with Portugal at least putting on three strikers to crush the opposition, but Roberto Martinez did not do so.

Is he afraid to play the big names of the club, or does he not want to give up the ball in my empty sense of security? Most likely both.

As a result, it was Ruben Dias who assisted, the Czechs who took advantage of Portugal's weakness after the substitution and scored from distance, and Portugal had to wait until injury time to win against this weak Czech Republic.

So, Roberto Martinez should give the players a knock.

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