Why Hungary Proved Portugal Boss Fernando Santos Needs to Make Defensive Changes

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 23, 2016

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Portugal survived, and Cristiano Ronaldo was the man who saved them—no change there, then—but after escaping from what was supposed to be a fairly simple Group F, the questions for manager Fernando Santos are multiplying.

The failure to beat any one of Iceland, Austria or Hungary is an alarming one for a nation that always comes into these tournaments considering itself among the elite.

Ronaldo’s presence means they usually feature in the blockbusting commercials that get everyone hyped up, but this has been a clear failure to live up to that hype from this Portuguese vintage.



Much of the focus might be on Ronaldo—because, well, he’s Ronaldo—but against Hungary, it was Santos’ defence that was all over the place.

All three of the Hungarians’ goals may have come from range—and there is little doubt that Balazs Dzsudzsak was fortunate with his two deflected efforts—but the uncertainty at the back from a side of such experience was disturbing, and it is possible to think that a better team would have made them pay by scoring a number of goals that even Ronaldo couldn’t pull back.

After fielding the same back four in the opening two matches of the tournament, Santos had to pick left-back Eliseu to face Hungary following an injury to Raphael Guerreiro, and although the 32-year-old Benfica man wasn’t solely to blame for the defensive disruption, he contributed to it.

Time and again Hungary piled forward, seemingly uninhibited by their status as the underdog.

Given that they’d already qualified, it was perhaps to be expected, but Portugal can’t afford to give the same chances to an impressive Croatia outfit when they meet in the last 16 in Lens on Saturday.



In previous times of strife, they’ve been able to call upon the cool head of Ricardo Carvalho to help them ou...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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