SL Benfica lost 2-0 against Marítimo in Funchal and lost sight on the championship. They played in a 4-4-2 formation with Weigl dropping deep as a defensive midfielder. They controlled the game in the first 70 minutes and managed to create a lot of chances, especially in the first half, with Weigl dominating the play and spreading play very well. They focused on attacking down the wing a lot and Nuno Tavares got into crossing position a lot. In the end, they fell apart as Marítimo scored two simple goals. Nanu managed to run through the whole defence of Benfica before assisting his teammates.
Ratings
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Nuno Tavares
- Nationality: Portuguese
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 26/01/2000
- Club: SL Benfica
- Career: Benfica (Y)
- Position: left-back
- Secondary position: right-back
- Preferred foot: left
Nuno Tavares played his second game in a row as a starter at left-back for Benfica. In attack, he liked to position himself high up the pitch to support the attack in the final third. Nuno Tavares often received the ball in the final third and he liked to give crosses. His kicking technique is good, but he often overhit the crosses and the ball went out for a throw-in often. Also, when he did get them into good areas, the crosses lacked accuracy apart from one situation where he nearly assisted Chiquinho, who failed to finish the chance.
He also cut inside with the ball on his feet at times, but often ran into busy areas and lost the ball when doing so. Nuno Tavares can link-up with teammates in the tight spaces well, but too often chooses to carry the ball inside into busy areas. In defence, he is very aggressive, which often leads to him stepping out too early or at the wrong times. At the 1-0, he got dribbled past and at the 2-0 he put pressure at the wrong time. Nuno Tavares did not make a good impression in the defensive area.
Rating – B2
He has more talent than this rating implies, but if I look purely at this match, he did not show that much talent.
Ferro
- Nationality: Portugal
- Age: 23
- Date of birth: 26/03/1997
- Current club: SL Benfica
- Career: Benfica (Y), Casa Pia (Y), Benfica (Y)
- Position: central defender
- Preferred foot: right
Ferro played as a left central defender and formed a partnership with the experienced Jardel. In possession, he drifted out wide to create space for Weigl to move between the two central defenders. He has good ball-playing ability and is able to play powerful, line-breaking passes. However, he occasionally was sloppy on the ball. For example, at once, he let the ball slip under his foot when trying to control the ball. He often chose for the short passing option.
In defence, Ferro liked to step out of the defensive line and defend very aggressively to recover possession early. This worked whenever the attacker received the ball with his back to Ferro, but when the attacker had the space to run towards Ferro with the ball, Ferro got dribbled past easily because his body position was not good and he showed average acceleration. The Portuguese defender did not position himself well which led to him needing to make a foul or just getting dribbled past.
He was at fault in both goals of Marítimo and had a bad match in general.
Rating – C
I’ve been positive about Ferro plenty of times, but he was very average against Marítimo.