Sporting 0 - 0 Internazionale Milano

Sporting's XI on August 14th 2002 Vs. inter

Inter was definitely on top in the early 10 minutes as Sporting was pressured and seemed in over it's head but once the pressure eased off Sporting's Back-4 and midfield found their rythmn and the game has been more even.

Paulo Bento has put together a very defencive XI with 2 contention Full-Backs (Caneira and Miguel Garcia) and 3 defencive elements on the lower Triangle of the Midfield Diamond lining-up with 1 DM (Custódio) and 2 defencive "Insides" (Moutinho and Paredes).

Liedson and particularly Moutinho are easily the 2 players on the field suffering the most fouls. Patrick Vieira and Samuel and especially Matterazi are using and abusing with the rough tactics.

Inter drops all 10 of it's outfield players into the box to defend against corner-kicks, it looks extremelly dificult to get a cross or a FK goal past Samuel and Materazzi and Vieira with those 3 towers clogging up the box.

Liedson has mostly dropped into the flanks (the right to attack and the left to defend) and has asked Carlos Bueno many times to stay in the centre to receive his crosses from the right.

Carlos Paredes is playing very well, he is filtrating the game in midfield with great efficiency.

Tonel is on the right of the midfield axis and he is doubling up Miguel Garcia in closing out the right corridor and both are playing well particularly the supporters pet-hatred Miguel Garcia.

Of the 2 Full-Backs Caneira is clearly the most ofensive one and Figo (who Caneira is in charge of marking) has made crosess from that corridor many times hoping to see Crespo finish them off.

Paulo Bento opted for a contention XI to start the game but will almost certainly inject Nani into the XI in the 2nd hald to see the team gain fantasy and speed and possibly gambling on Deivid's superior physical strenght to win the ball in the middle of Materazzi and Samuel. Also we may see the more offensive Abel replace Miguel Garcia as Sporting switches it's attacking dynamic from left to right and keeps Caneira in contention and opts to start pressuring from the right with Abel who is faster and more aggressive.

45th minute Substitutions:
Nani replaces Paredes.
Abel replaces Miguel Garcia.
Deivid replaces Bueno.

Sporting maintains it's initial tactical system with 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond but now switches to a different game dynamic with 1 attacking FB (Abel) and 2 creative units in midfield (Nani and Martins) so from the start of the 2nd half Sporting now has 5 attacking units (2 forwards, 2 midfielders, 1 Full-Back) and 5 contention units in comparison to 7 contention units at the beggining of the game.

61st minute substitutions:
Leandro Romagnoli replaces Carlos Martins.

74th minute substitutions:
Ronny replaces Caneira.
Miguel Veloso replaces Tonel.

Sporting now with 2 attacking Full-Backs (Ronny and Abel) and 2 Zonal-Marking Centre-Backs (Polga and Veloso), Sporting still maintains the initial system but now has 6 attacking units in Liedson, Deivid, Romagnoli, Nani, Ronny and Abel; with 2 in the forward line, 2 in midfield and 2 in the flanks as the team looks to increase pressure further up the pitch.
Moutinho is playing slightly closer to Custódio as they seek to filter out the Centre-midfield with Nani and Romagnoli going forward and with 2 attacking Full-Backs coming up the flanks. I expected the 2 Centre-Backs (both slow CBs) will now compensate by playing deeper and closer to Ricardo as the 2 CBs and the 2 contention midfielders attempt to compensate the team as it unbalances forward and leaves itself more susceptible to counters through the flanks.

Am I imaginaning things or am I the only one that thinks Deivid is playing his best game for Sporting in QUITE A WHILE? He's moving very well, he's losing his marker, passing the ball, his dynamic of movement tonight is considerably better than usual.



André