Benfica played host to Tondela at the Estádio da Luz on Friday, in a match that was calling for a reaction from Jorge Jesus’ squad after a disappointing draw against Santa Clara.
The pressure on the club, the manager, and the players is something we are used to. I guess that’s what comes with being part of Portugal’s biggest football club. Fans are always expecting more, while the press look for ways to create uncertainty, turmoil, and even downplay certain things. It’s been like this for a long time, and with Jorge Jesus back in the hot seat, we knew it would just get worse.
After the draw in São Miguel on Monday, the talk of the town was Benfica. Everywhere you looked, be there TV channels or online, something new was popping up. Actually, that’s always been the case! Benfica generates lots of attention.
From urgent meetings between the president and Jorge Jesus, to the players being tired of Jorge Jesus, they threw everything they could at the wall to see what would stick. Even the latest this morning talks about the Portuguese manager looking for a return to Brazil.
To validate the agenda, Benfica’s performance on Friday wasn’t one that will have caught everyone’s eye, but, it was a solid performance, with more attitude and effort. Despite that, the newspaper covers talk about a suffered victory, meanwhile our same city rival who also won by the same scoreline, with a late second goal as well was described as – leader manages an undisputed victory. For anyone who watched both matches, it’s clear to see.
CONTROL WITH LESS PANIC
One thing we’ve become accustomed to this season, at least over the course of the last month or two is that even when Benfica controls the tempo, there’s always moments of complete panic. Whether it’s five minutes, ten minutes or more, as Jorge Jesus has said multiple times, this squad still lacks that mental mindset to be comfortable and confident when they don’t have the ball and are involved in their defensive processes.
With Tondela coming to town, and taking into consideration how we’ve been playing, especially in their two matches against Porto before Christmas, we all expected some difficult moments in the match.
Much to our surprise, and a pleasant one at that, Benfica looked very organized and focused off the ball, offering very few chances for the auriverdes. Otamendi commanded the defensive line, Weigl put in another solid performance, Grimaldo was tireless down the left, and the Darwin / Waldschmidt duo combined for another goal.
Over the course of the 90 minutes, Tondela had two shots on target – one being a header in the first half from the edge of the box that was right at Ody, and the second being in the final minutes, with the Greek international making a brilliant save. That one chance could have changed the landscape of the final result, but fortunately Ody’s focus came out on top. It’s about time we don’t concede a goal on our opponent’s first or second chance of the match.
When we compare the chances conceded against Tondela, to that of our recent performances, I never felt the result was in doubt. Sure, that one chance at the end made me sweat a bit, but fortunately, we got a break. It seems that lately our opponents are the most efficient in front of goal, while it takes us 10 chances to score one.
Otamendi and Jorge Jesus both talked about the team’s mentality and commitment in the match, which was there for all to see. The question we should all be asking is why has it taken so long for us to see this?
Hopefully they can build off of all the positives, as we head into a few weeks of very demanding and critical matches. First up, we travel to Amadora to take on Jorge Jesus’ boyhood club in the Taça de Portugal. We need another victory and a positive performance to carry into a pivotal visit to the Estádio do Dragão next Friday.
