Portuguese Football Season 2019/20

[shineB4]

Porto is not much better, they were desperatey defending against...Pacos Ferreira today.

I can see now how all the Portuguese clubs got wiped out of Europe from February this year. They are all awful !

Wel,l today Famalicao, 5th, lost today at home to penultimate team!

[rpo.castro]

One thing is playing once a week. Another is playing 3 times a week. If you have a good XI but not many good subs, you will struggle.

[shineB4]

One thing is playing once a week. Another is playing 3 times a week. If you have a good XI but not many good subs, you will struggle.

Portimonense come from death after this (long) pause! Just 2 pts short to safe zone!

[shineB4]

Rio ave.braga just to start. Following trend I see away team to win. Let`s see

[shineB4]

From 0-2 to 3-2 HT. First goal of match just @ `20 . thej a stream of gols first half

[rpo.castro]

After the losing yesterday @Rio Ave (with a Red card not given to Santos, from rio ave at minute 60, and ghost penalty and red card at injury time against Braga) Custodio left the job.

4 penaltys against, in 5 matches, without VAR correcting any single time while sporting has 34 penalties in favour, in last 2 seasons

[xavier_]

The circus in Braga continues, Custodio is gone and the new 4th coach this season is... Artur Jorge.
Benfica has also fired their coach, Bruno Lage.
Sporting is in their 3rd coach this season, 10M hire Ruben Amorim.
And one of the poorest FC Porto I can recall seems to be headed to the title with 6 pts advantage and H2H over Benfica, with 5 games remaining. Will Sergio Conceiçao stay for another season?

It will be interesting to see how low will Benfica get. They only managed to get 5 pts in the first 5 games... if they replicate the results in the remaining 5 games then they would end up with 69 pts. That could potentially leave the door open, for Sporting in the last matchday vs Benfica to steel the 2nd place. But that's of course a long shot for Sporting, they would need a lot of things to happen in their favor.

Braga is now 4th, and very lucky that Famalicao and Rio Ave are not very constant... otherwise they could ended up in the bitter 6th place at the end of the season. Even though Braga lost to Rio Ave they still managed to keep the H2H advantage, which might be a key factor in the final day.
Rio Ave are right now favorites for the 5th place, but Famalicao and Vitoria are still in the race.

the 8th place seems to destined, for the 3rd season in a row, for Boavista. A very respectable position, but their supporters want more after a few solid seasons back in the I Liga.
Surprisingly both Moreirense and Santa Clara seem to be headed for another top10 finish, second year in a row, with Santa Clara wanting to have their best ever finish this year.

Now in the relegation battle, things are quite interesting.
- Portimonense is rising like a phoenix, and while they are still in the relegation spot, if they continue like this very soon they will be able to swim on safe waters.
What will be the magic number? 35 pts would be my bet.
- Gil Vicente, they only managed to beat the dead last Aves. They need to do a little more, but I think their next matches vs their Minho rivals will help them get to their goal.
- Tondela, usually they are the comeback team. This year they keep going down after the break, their bad form at home could be a deciding factor.
- Vitoria Setubal, a club that always has many problems... seemed to be mentally check out after the break but they need to start winning games, otherwise I think they will be the ones joining Aves.
- Maritimo, historic win vs Benfica. It might be because of my expectations, but this Maritimo is very week though they do have soul to keep them in the I Liga.
- Paços de Ferreira, they are making sure they won't return to the II Liga that soon.
- Belenenses SAD, would anyone care if they got relegated? Very few would... though they have the master of avoiding relegation, Petit. Unlikely candidates.

[shineB4]

The circus in Braga continues, Custodio is gone and the new 4th coach this season is... Artur Jorge.
Benfica has also fired their coach, Bruno Lage.
Sporting is in their 3rd coach this season, 10M hire Ruben Amorim.
And one of the poorest FC Porto I can recall seems to be headed to the title with 6 pts advantage and H2H over Benfica, with 5 games remaining. Will Sergio Conceiçao stay for another season?

It will be interesting to see how low will Benfica get. They only managed to get 5 pts in the first 5 games... if they replicate the results in the remaining 5 games then they would end up with 69 pts. That could potentially leave the door open, for Sporting in the last matchday vs Benfica to steel the 2nd place. But that's of course a long shot for Sporting, they would need a lot of things to happen in their favor.

Braga is now 4th, and very lucky that Famalicao and Rio Ave are not very constant... otherwise they could ended up in the bitter 6th place at the end of the season. Even though Braga lost to Rio Ave they still managed to keep the H2H advantage, which might be a key factor in the final day.
Rio Ave are right now favorites for the 5th place, but Famalicao and Vitoria are still in the race.

the 8th place seems to destined, for the 3rd season in a row, for Boavista. A very respectable position, but their supporters want more after a few solid seasons back in the I Liga.
Surprisingly both Moreirense and Santa Clara seem to be headed for another top10 finish, second year in a row, with Santa Clara wanting to have their best ever finish this year.

Now in the relegation battle, things are quite interesting.
- Portimonense is rising like a phoenix, and while they are still in the relegation spot, if they continue like this very soon they will be able to swim on safe waters.
What will be the magic number? 35 pts would be my bet.
- Gil Vicente, they only managed to beat the dead last Aves. They need to do a little more, but I think their next matches vs their Minho rivals will help them get to their goal.
- Tondela, usually they are the comeback team. This year they keep going down after the break, their bad form at home could be a deciding factor.
- Vitoria Setubal, a club that always has many problems... seemed to be mentally check out after the break but they need to start winning games, otherwise I think they will be the ones joining Aves.
- Maritimo, historic win vs Benfica. It might be because of my expectations, but this Maritimo is very week though they do have soul to keep them in the I Liga.
- Paços de Ferreira, they are making sure they won't return to the II Liga that soon.
- Belenenses SAD, would anyone care if they got relegated? Very few would... though they have the master of avoiding relegation, Petit. Unlikely candidates.

So far so good it seems. Sporting could seal 3rd if they win in a game just about to start

[xavier_]

The circus in Braga continues, Custodio is gone and the new 4th coach this season is... Artur Jorge.
Benfica has also fired their coach, Bruno Lage.
Sporting is in their 3rd coach this season, 10M hire Ruben Amorim.
And one of the poorest FC Porto I can recall seems to be headed to the title with 6 pts advantage and H2H over Benfica, with 5 games remaining. Will Sergio Conceiçao stay for another season?

It will be interesting to see how low will Benfica get. They only managed to get 5 pts in the first 5 games... if they replicate the results in the remaining 5 games then they would end up with 69 pts. That could potentially leave the door open, for Sporting in the last matchday vs Benfica to steel the 2nd place. But that's of course a long shot for Sporting, they would need a lot of things to happen in their favor.

Braga is now 4th, and very lucky that Famalicao and Rio Ave are not very constant... otherwise they could ended up in the bitter 6th place at the end of the season. Even though Braga lost to Rio Ave they still managed to keep the H2H advantage, which might be a key factor in the final day.
Rio Ave are right now favorites for the 5th place, but Famalicao and Vitoria are still in the race.

the 8th place seems to destined, for the 3rd season in a row, for Boavista. A very respectable position, but their supporters want more after a few solid seasons back in the I Liga.
Surprisingly both Moreirense and Santa Clara seem to be headed for another top10 finish, second year in a row, with Santa Clara wanting to have their best ever finish this year.

Now in the relegation battle, things are quite interesting.
- Portimonense is rising like a phoenix, and while they are still in the relegation spot, if they continue like this very soon they will be able to swim on safe waters.
What will be the magic number? 35 pts would be my bet.
- Gil Vicente, they only managed to beat the dead last Aves. They need to do a little more, but I think their next matches vs their Minho rivals will help them get to their goal.
- Tondela, usually they are the comeback team. This year they keep going down after the break, their bad form at home could be a deciding factor.
- Vitoria Setubal, a club that always has many problems... seemed to be mentally check out after the break but they need to start winning games, otherwise I think they will be the ones joining Aves.
- Maritimo, historic win vs Benfica. It might be because of my expectations, but this Maritimo is very week though they do have soul to keep them in the I Liga.
- Paços de Ferreira, they are making sure they won't return to the II Liga that soon.
- Belenenses SAD, would anyone care if they got relegated? Very few would... though they have the master of avoiding relegation, Petit. Unlikely candidates.

So far so good it seems. Sporting could seal 3rd if they win in a game just about to start

10M for a coach just to get the 3rd place and EL group stages vs the EL Q3 seems a bit expensive.
Though it's a risky gamble, Sporting maybe have done their best investment of decade. Ruben Amorim would've have gone without a doubt to Benfica... and now he is in Alvalade, while Benfica is helpless looking for someone to finish the season. The CL spot seems almost out of reach, but if anyone can do it... it's Ruben Amorim.

Plus, next season preparation time will be shorter than usual and has we seen FC Porto is playing horribly and Benfica is currently having an existencial crises... could be the time for the young squad of Sporting to shine. But I might be reading to much into it

[rpo.castro]

10M for a coach just to get the 3rd place and EL group stages vs the EL Q3 seems a bit expensive.
Though it's a risky gamble, Sporting maybe have done their best investment of decade. Ruben Amorim would've have gone without a doubt to Benfica... and now he is in Alvalade, while Benfica is helpless looking for someone to finish the season. The CL spot seems almost out of reach, but if anyone can do it... it's Ruben Amorim.

Plus, next season preparation time will be shorter than usual and has we seen FC Porto is playing horribly and Benfica is currently having an existencial crises... could be the time for the young squad of Sporting to shine. But I might be reading to much into it

The was never the case, but the second sentence: they didn't spent 10M for the 3rd league spot. They saw what looks a really really good coach that can really make the difference in Sporting, in a long term mandate, working with youth players and secure Champions League 2021/22.

Without Ruben, Braga would give a lot of fight for last CL spot (next season) and Ruben going to Benfica was just a question of time.
So they paid to secure him right away (and they really screwed their rival in the last seasons-Braga). Plus they are preparing the team for next season. No doubt they will have an head start over all the others.

What is cheaper, having a 10Million € coach for several years or having 3 coaches every year?

[Firnen]

Benfica got a win !

[rpo.castro]

Benfica got a win !

And Porto has already one hand on the Title.

Famalicão, Rio Ave and Guimarães in tight race for last EL spot (48, 47 and 46 points).

[macgregorc93]

Would be incredible if Famalicao got the spot just after being promoted.

[xavier_]

Would be incredible if Famalicao got the spot just after being promoted.

The last team to managed such a feat was Estoril in 12/13 with Marco Silva, with their 5th place. The next year they even improved and finished 4th.

It's gonna be a tight race for that last EL spot:
- Famalicão has H2H over Rio Ave
- Rio Ave has H2H over Vitoria Guimaraes
- Vitoria Guimaraes has H2H over Famalicão.

Famalicão will host Benfica, then visit Vitoria Setubal, host Boavista and finishes at Maritimo's home.

Rio Ave will host Portimonense, visit Maritimo, host Santa Clara and will finish at Boavista's.

Vitoria Guimarães will host Gil Vicente, visit Benfica, host Maritimo and will finish at Santa Clara.

The 3 teams will face a Maritimo, and only Rio Ave won't have to face Benfica (though that's not a such a big threat now a days).
Any bets?

[rpo.castro]

Would be incredible if Famalicao got the spot just after being promoted.

Famalicão is not just a small team comming from 2nd Division.
They were bought by Idan Ofer, which has also 32% of Atletico Mardid, built a great professional structure and a great squad, the 5th best squad, (only behind Porto, Benfica, Braga and Sporting).