Can't be too hard on them, but...

[Smile 26,600]

25 minutes ago, British_Empire said:

I just don't get how nervous our defence looked. I know Benfica are a good footballing team who pass it around slick and can get in behind, but the nervous half-arsed balls/clearances that just went straight back to them in our defensive areas was baffling to me. I'm not just on about Tav, the whole unit looked uneasy.

Yes we did look nervous with more confidence we could have won that game at a canter, first half.

 Benfica were worrying me going forward but fuck it second half when we didn't sub killed it for us.

[Smile 26,600]

39 minutes ago, Howsitgoing said:

I thought the substitutions in the 3-3 draw with them was a factor in them getting back, it changed the game for their benefit. Suspect that was in Steve’s mind when we were 2-0 up. 

Maybe, but the players were fucked from 70 minutes onward.

[Howsitgoing 4,281]

1 minute ago, Smile said:

Maybe, but the players were fucked from 70 minutes onward.

Who’s to say it wouldn’t of affected the game the same as it did with the 3-3 draw. He would of made the substitutions in that game because of the players being fucked. It’s a difficult one! 

[Laudrup1690 1,064]

10 hours ago, plumbGER said:

I can talk some sense sometimes mate, but you are absolutely correct we do need to get smarter. I'd have went with Helander tonight before Balogun, just feel he is a much better defender particularly against technical European sides.

All in all Gerrard has us a proper European side who can face up to top opposition and give them a game. See before the game when Tav and their captain were holding the wee gift things that go in the trophy room I said to my boy that we can put that up on the wall and look back on it as a good effort against one of footballs best sides. We are back in the big time and I just see us getting stronger. Now we need to add some trophies to show the fruits of our labour and I reckon that will be soon.

Did you not watch helander in first leg?balogun played well last night 

[Smile 26,600]

18 minutes ago, Howsitgoing said:

Who’s to say it wouldn’t of affected the game the same as it did with the 3-3 draw. He would of made the substitutions in that game because of the players being fucked. It’s a difficult one! 

It could have but I would have like to see a few subs just to help the players, great result all the same against a very good side.

[Falcoholic 1,348]

Last night(edit 3rd Dec 2014) was the anniversary of us getting pumped 3-2 off Alloa in 2014 in the Petrofac Cup after being 2-0 up.

I'll happily take two draws against Benfica in Europe

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,540]

12 hours ago, SeparateEntityMyArse said:

There were mistakes made on the park. There were mistakes made by Gerrard. Fair enough.

Previous game was brutal to lose a 2 goal lead to 10 men. Tonight their subs brought not only freshness but improvement in their play. 

But fucking hell they're as good a team as we've played in years, its a credit to us to come out even against a team that spent e100m this summer.

Big picture stuff here, we're on a great trajectory. 

 

Im still struggling to see where people are blaming tav or anyone else for the goals, the first they got two lucky breaks after they win a header from a cross, the second was absolutely devastating football that tore us apart

Infact their 2 goals were like our two goals in the breaks we got at the first then the superb football and finish for the 2nd

I thought every player on the park had a great game, we just needed subs after roofes goal imo

[plumbGER 24,518]

1 hour ago, Laudrup1690 said:

Did you not watch helander in first leg?balogun played well last night 

Of course I watched him, do you think we should just drop players after an off game? In that case Balogun should have been nowhere near the team after the Aberdeen game.

[ForeverAndEver 71,467]

13 hours ago, BridgeIsBlue said:

Porto were miles better. 

No they weren’t. Porto are probably the 5th best team we’ve played in Europe under Gerrard

[SeparateEntityMyArse 53,715]

2 hours ago, Jimbeamjunior said:

Im still struggling to see where people are blaming tav or anyone else for the goals, the first they got two lucky breaks after they win a header from a cross, the second was absolutely devastating football that tore us apart

Infact their 2 goals were like our two goals in the breaks we got at the first then the superb football and finish for the 2nd

I thought every player on the park had a great game, we just needed subs after roofes goal imo

Tav himself states he should have done better with the header. He also said there were opportunities to then clear. The 2nd one I think it was Davis actually move towards the ball when he'd have been directly in front of Pizzi, then Balogun slid low rather than stand up to block. Small things, but its the player himself making some of the points. Its not actually blame from me personally either, its small things that could have been done differently/ better.

I thought we were very good but also brought some unnecessary pressure on ourselves both with silly passes or lost possession and from sitting too deep 2nd half. Fully agree about subs.

A very good performance on the whole though.

 

[KeyserSoze 14,531]

15 hours ago, eskbankloyal said:

Frustrating we’ve only taken 2 points from those 2 games but is what it is. Was 2 good teams having a go at each other. 

Given the season so far happy to give them some slack.

This

 

 

[BridgeIsBlue 66,606]

16 minutes ago, ForeverAndEver said:

No they weren’t. Porto are probably the 5th best team we’ve played in Europe under Gerrard

Disagree. 

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,540]

4 hours ago, SeparateEntityMyArse said:

Tav himself states he should have done better with the header. He also said there were opportunities to then clear. The 2nd one I think it was Davis actually move towards the ball when he'd have been directly in front of Pizzi, then Balogun slid low rather than stand up to block. Small things, but its the player himself making some of the points. Its not actually blame from me personally either, its small things that could have been done differently/ better.

I thought we were very good but also brought some unnecessary pressure on ourselves both with silly passes or lost possession and from sitting too deep 2nd half. Fully agree about subs.

A very good performance on the whole though.

 

Dunno if its a good thing or not that tav thinks he should have done better, taking responsibility is good i guess, dunno maybe the missus slipped a prozac or 40 into my food yesterday, but i think benfica probably deserved a point, no real mistakes caused their goals unlike the away game, and it was actually a cracking game to watch, 

Infact i will criticise tav for something, his header off the bar that arfield scored the rebound from, how the fuck tav missed that I'll never know 😂😂

[southcoastbear 1,639]

I think it's far simpler , you cant sit deep and let players of the quality that benfica has and give them the time to play and pick their passes and as our players tired that is just what they had.

[supermac58 40]

On 27/11/2020 at 11:20, Jimbeamjunior said:

Im still struggling to see where people are blaming tav or anyone else for the goals, the first they got two lucky breaks after they win a header from a cross, the second was absolutely devastating football that tore us apart

Infact their 2 goals were like our two goals in the breaks we got at the first then the superb football and finish for the 2nd

I thought every player on the park had a great game, we just needed subs after roofes goal imo

I wonder also say greegs could have done more at the first goal imo his distribution wasn’t that good either.

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,540]

17 hours ago, southcoastbear said:

I think it's far simpler , you cant sit deep and let players of the quality that benfica has and give them the time to play and pick their passes and as our players tired that is just what they had.

Tiredness led to us sitting deeper as well, at one point in the second half tav lost the ball high up the park (was a good tackle on him tbf) and unusually for tav he struggled to chase the guy back, i know he's captain and stuff but i defo think he's feeling the effects of a hectic schedule and could be doing with a rest this weekend

[southcoastbear 1,639]

10 minutes ago, Jimbeamjunior said:

Tiredness led to us sitting deeper as well, at one point in the second half tav lost the ball high up the park (was a good tackle on him tbf) and unusually for tav he struggled to chase the guy back, i know he's captain and stuff but i defo think he's feeling the effects of a hectic schedule and could be doing with a rest this weekend

No doubt fatigue played its part and consequently  injuries to Aribo an Zungu in particular.

After we scored our second did wonder if we should bring on Helander and push Balogun into defensive mid/ sweeper position. 

Whether fresh legs in the more advanced positions restricting time on the ball and also the introduction  of Big Shirley at left back would have had an impact on the game is a matter of opinion only.

[Swally 6,289]

I can understand the disappointment, but I honestly don't see this as anything other than a positive. They're a very good team, and you can't get past that.

 

[Darrenmt7 656]

It is really frustrating but you have too take into consideration Benfica's quality and how much they have spent, Would have took 2 draws against them when the draw was made I would be more concerned if it started to creep into our league games. At the end of the day we are in a great position to qualify and will hopefully do so with a win next Thursday.