Bento-effekten fortsetter

Det er liten tvil om at Portugal er i gang nå. Man hadde full kontroll mot Island, på tross av at hjemmelaget yppet seg på dødballer. Cristiano Ronaldo scoret sitt andre mål på to kamper, dette en klar kontrast til VM-kvalifiseringen, som han gikk gjennom uten å komme i målprotokollen. Ronaldos mål kom etter et herlig frispark fra 30 meter allerede etter to minutter.

Island reduserte kontroversielt ved QPR-spilleren Heidar Helguson i det 17. minuttet. Raul Meireles sendte portugiserne i ledelsen ti minutter senere, etter en kanonskudd fra 25 meter. Innbytter Hélder Postiga fastsatte så sluttresultatet 18 minutter før slutt, med god hjelp av en forfjamset Gunnleifur Gunnleifson i Island-målet.

Hva har Bento gjort med laget?

For 40 dager siden tapte et tannløst Portugal på Ullevaal. Det ble slutten på omdiskuterte Carlos Queiroz' karriere som landslagstrener. Flere kjente navn ble knyttet til jobben, men valget falt til slutt på urutinerte Paulo Bento, som kun har trenererfaring fra sine år i Sporting CP. 41-åringen var far Sporting-tida kjent for sitt rigide spillesystem, som han nå har forlatt til fordel for Portugals tradisjonelle 4-3-3. Noen endringer har han imidlertid gjort på Portugals taktikk og spillesystem.

Det første, og kanskje viktigste, er hans mer direkte tilnærming. Dette så man tydelig mot Island i kveld, da både Ronaldo og Nani satte fart med ballen så fort de motttok den. Under Queiroz manglet dette - man trillet ball og spilte for så vidt brukbar fotball, men det gikk aldri fort nok fremover under den tidligere Real Madrid-treneren.

Bento har også valgt å hive inn Porto-spilleren Joao Moutinho i "Deco-rollen". Moutinho, som i sommer byttet klubb fra Sporting til rivalen Porto, har vært Portugals beste spiller de siste to kampene, og har virkelig kommet godt til syne i sin noe offensive midtbanerolle. Moutinho blir støttet opp av Meireles og Benfica-spilleren Carlos Martins, ingen av dem spektakulære, men som en trio utfyller de hverandre glimrende.

Sist, men ikke minst, har han valgt å kalle inn noen nye - og gamle fjes i troppen. Sporting-backen Joao Pereira har vært solid i sine to første landskamper, og virker som en bra erstatter for alltid skadede Bosingwa. Nevnte Martins har ikke vært strålende, men utfyller som sagt Meireles og Moutinho bra. Bento har også valgt å kalle inn sin gamle Sporting-elev Hélder Postiga, nok en sliter, men han passer bra sammen med de to mer defensivt tvilsomme kantspillerne Nani og Ronaldo. Hugo Almeida har startet begge kampene som midtspiss, men Postiga la i kveld inn en god søknad for spill i neste kvalifiseringskamp.

Bento har altså foreløpig lyktes optimalt med både laguttak og prestasjoner, men det gjenstår å se om hans spillestil vil fungere mot defensivt solide Norge. Uansett blir det en kanonspennende fortsettelse på EM-kvalifiseringen!

Not that sort of player

An eventful weekend in Europe have seen some horrific tackles and other highly debated situations. As Graham Poll writes in his excellent column, "There are plenty of 'those sort of players' around and a few have been involved in bad injuries already this season. None were sent off and if they are left unchecked, they could cause further serious problems."

The tackles by Karl Henry and Nigel de Jong were both awful, but so unsurprising. Henry has, after changing his playing style the last couple of seasons, been involved in some awful tackles. His trademark of going straight through the opposition players are extremely dangerous, and had he hit Jordi Gomez different, he'd definately have broken the Spanish midfielder's leg.

Nigel de Jong has always had a reputation of being a hard man, but had the spotlights on his playing style first after breaking Stuart Holden's leg in march, and then after the kung-fu tackle on Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final. His tackle on Ben Arfa lead to a leg-break, but he got away with it somehow. The FA now needs to step in and ban him for several games, and in my opinion that number should be no less than five matches.

Annan the pincher

Last nights "league final" between Rosenborg and Vålerenga in Norway, sparked angered discussions after the match. Especially one incident was debated. After 25 minutes, former Sunderland striker Rade Prica went down (fairly easily) inside the box, and the referee, Terje Hauge, gave his fourth penalty of the week. While Hauge was controlling the penalty spot, Prica started pushing VIF's right back Freddy dos Santos. Vålerenga's CB Andre Muri then pushes Prica away. Hauge then comes over to calm down the situation, and then ghanesian Anthony Annan pinches Muri "up the arse". Muri, in is post-match interview, ironically said "I got a finger both here and there".

Annan pinching Muri

Annan, who had a good world cup and has been rumoured out of Tippeligaen, has a reputation for being a naughty player, and last night he got away with it again, albeit with a yellow card because of pushing. Hauge, totally out of control, then proceeded to give a yellow card to Freddy dos Santos. Dos Santos got his second yellow ten minutes later, who led to Rosenborg taking control, and winning the match 3-1.

The post-match interview was the key entertainment of the night. Both coaches, Martin Andresen and the legendary Nils-Arne Eggen starts arguing about Annan's pinching, with the latter defending his own player. For Norwegian readers, the interview can be seen here. It is quite surprising that coaches insists to defend their own players after such situations. Mick Mccarthy said that he felt it was a clear red card on Henry, but also that "it was a bit theatrical" referring to Gomez' fall. Brian Kidd, replacing Mancini in the interview, claimed that de Jong "is not that kind of player", and denied accusations of there being any malice in the tackle.

Until managers and coaches understands that condoning such incidents and internally punish the players, for instance with no wage payment for a week, these tackles and unsportsmanlike incidents will only continue, and other players will get hurt. Mick Mccarthy have set a good example after saying he'll talk with Henry about his playing style, but others have to follow him.

The things £8million can get you (first blogpost!)

Sometimes, all you can do is wonder. After six matches, four goals and one assist, Rafael van der Vaart has played himself into the hearts of Tottenham supporters. Being dubbed as “the best buy since Gazza” on various forums, the dutch playmaker has set himself up for a terrific season at Spurs. If he keeps free of injury, hitting 20 goals would not surprise anyone after seeing his current form.

So why is Rafa doing so well at Spurs? One may argue that he, as a world-class player, should settle immediately in every team in the Premier League, but it is rare to see a player dominating that much after a few weeks in his new club. By the looks of it, he's found his most effective role already, playing just behind Peter Crouch, supported by Modric and Huddlestone or Jenas from midfield. This allows him to roam, link-up (sorely needed as Spurs' strikers are generally poor at this), and doing what makes him so effective, namely:

Getting into positions
Crouch has been somewhat unconvincing in some of his games this season, and hasn’t scored since his hattrick against Young Boys. What he has done, however, is striking a partnership with Tottenham’s no. 11. Crouchy’s knock downs have resulted in a total of 4 van der Vaart finishes, three of them hitting the back of the net.

The Englishman’s standard move is to get himself in position at the far post before crosses. This was exploited one time by Robbie Keane last season against Sunderland, but with VdV it seems as if Spurs has finally got a player that gets into the right areas for Crouch’s knock downs.

Here’s a picture of the lead up to the first goal v. Villa:

As he’s already inside the box, VdV continues his run to the back post, smart as Friedel would have caught an eventual knock down right in front of goal.

Two pictures this time: VdV misses the target after an excellent header by Crouch

1: VdV has just offered support for Lennon, who decides to cross instead of playing him.

2: Crouchy knocks it down into VdV’s path, but great work by Stilian Petrov to close him down leads to van der Vaart missing the target.

Quality strikes again 

The last goal can be seen here (about 9.00-9.40).

Here, VdV drops deep to link up play with Jenas, then gets it back from Bale, runs into position. Lennon gets the ball, crosses for Crouch at the far post, knocks it down and great dummy by van der Vaart to set up the volley.

If he can continue this link-up with the midfield and Crouch, van der Vaart could be the player Spurs have longed for since Berbatov’s departure. With wide-players such as Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Hutton and Assou-Ekotto, we might see this combination several times in the coming weeks.