Bosnia 0-0 Portugal: both sides play defensively on a very poor pitch
The starting line-ups
A largely uneventful game, and all square going into the second leg the Estadio da Luz on Tuesday.
Safet Susic had various selection problems at the back, meaning that captain Emir Spahic was the only first-choice member of the back four playing. Further forward, the side was as expected.
No major surprises from Paulo Bento either – 4-3-3, with Miguel Veloso in the holding role behind old Sporting teammate Joao Moutinho, and Raul Meireles.
Susic’s concern about the back four may have contributed to his decision to play cautious football in the first two-thirds of this match, although for long periods they simply poor on the ball.
Bosnia tactics
Bosnia played in a similar fashion to in Paris, when they were unlucky not to win. The most interesting feature of their side is the way Haris Medunjanin drops very deep to become a left-sided centre-back in a three, which pushes the full-backs forward (particularly the left-back, Sejad Salihovic) – and both are really midfielders anyway.
Higher up the pitch, left-winger Senad Lulic plays high up and wide, and on the other flank, Miralem Pjanic looks to come inside into the middle to become an extra playmaker. Usually, the combination of a natural wide player and a ‘false’ playmaker on the flanks works well and gives a nice balance, but it did make Bosnia lopsided, because Salihovic attacked much more than Adnan Zahirovic, who was understandably told to stay in position up against Cristiano Ronaldo, who played high up on the left.
Therefore, little went down Bosnia’s right – they couldn’t get the ball to Pjanic, and he increasingly came infield towards the end of the first half, frustrated at seeing little of the ball, but rather contributing the lopsidedness by leaving his position. His creativity was also stifled as he had to help double up on Ronaldo. Zvjezdan Misimovic also struggled to get into the game, with Portugal’s three central midfielders sitting deep, and in the first half it was difficult to see how Bosnia were trying to score a goal. Edin Dzeko was followed out from the back by Pepe and Bruno Alves, with the other covering, and Veloso sometimes dropping in.
Portugal tactics
Portugal complained about the state of the pitch before the game, and it seemed to be a factor in their gameplan. They rarely looked to play through midfield – although they do lack a number ten anyway – and played an extraordinary number of long balls, for which Helder Postiga challenged.
Their best opportunities came from direct play – when Postiga fired over after Moutinho had headed down for him after a free-kick, and when Ronaldo got in down the left after a big diagonal from his Real Madrid teammate Pepe. Meireles and Moutinho were given some license to get forward into advanced positions, but the attacking basically came from the front three.
Final 25 minutes
The line-ups for the final 25 minutes
Bento made straight swaps – Hugo Almeida for Postiga, then Ruben Micael on for Raul Meireles, but Susic made dramatic changes to give Bosnia more attacking threat.
He decided to bring on a second striker, Vedad Ibisevic, which meant taking off Medunjanin. To make up for this, there were various changes. Darko Maletic came on for left-back Salihovic but went to right-back. Previous right-back Zahirovic went into midfield in place of Medunjanin, whilst the left-back gap was filled by Lulic dropping back, and Misimovic going out to the left of midfield. It was more like a 4-4-2.
This pushed Bosnia up the pitch, and the simple addition of a second striker meant a more obvious goalscoring threat. Alves and Pepe now both had to mark, but both (especially Alves) switched off and let Ibisevic have two good goalscoring chances.
A more subtle result from the change was that Misimovic and Pjanic, now both playing deeper as narrow wide midfielders in a four, could actually get the ball and they had more opportunities to play good passes. Those zones are where the 4-3-3 is vulnerable when the wingers play high up the pitch (as Ronaldo and Nani did), because the full-backs don’t want to come that high up the pitch. Therefore, it helped Bosnia that their two most creative players ended up in those positions, even if it probably wasn’t Susic’s intention. Bosnia were the dominant side late on, but poor finishing let them down.
Portugal threatened on the break through Ronaldo, but they faded as the game went on, and Almeida contributed nothing more than Postiga.
Conclusion
A game of various stages – Portugal were better in the first half, the game was even for the third quarter, then Bosnia were on top late on. For that, Susic deserves credit, and you can understand why he was cautious early on given his problems at the back.
Portugal had no link between the midfield trio, which is comprised of three fairly similar players, and the forward three. That made direct football their best best bet, but Ronaldo’s shooting was poor and neither striker was good enough to handle two centre-backs without support from a midfield runner.
Tuesday night’s game should be more open.
Edit: This game saw more misplaced passes than any other Euro 2012 qualifier, summing up how bad the pitch was
Bosnia 0-0 Portugal: both sides play defensively on a very poor pitch
Would Portugal not work better with a false 9, as their strengths are on the wings rather than in the centre?
Danny could play this role or seen as he was suspended for this game, Moutinho or possibly even Meireles?
I think for a false nine you want more of a playmaker than a central midfielder, as ZM has pointed out, most of the number 10s lately (Özil, Rooney when played as a number 10, Sneijder) look more like supporting strikers when their side doesn’t have the ball. They’re already used to getting the ball with their backs to goal, rather than spending most of the game facing the goal, Meireles is a very multifaceted player, but he’s the archetypical versatile CM, rather than AM or CAM. I haven’t seen much of Moutinho, but in general it would seem that the type of players who do best in the midfield triangle of a 4-3-3, a la Lampard, are not generally interchangeable with the higher up positions (see Xavi’s problems against Switzerland on the ZM review, yes that was one match and Spain are good enough to get over it, but it illustrates the general problem) with a couple exceptions. Another way of looking would be to imagine Silva, or Rooney, playing in Meireles position. We know Rooney can do a job there, but they’re separate skill sets.
Yeah, and I think that with Danny, he’s primarily a counter-attacking player, having him as the focal point of the side would mean that you’d be depending a lot on the counter, which would be very easy to defend against.
I really think they need to get him in the side somehow, though. Problem is, having him, Nani, Ronaldo and a forward in a 4-2-3-1 isn’t great defensively. You’d have to either drop Nani (which I think is unlikely) or play Ronaldo as the striker to get Danny in a wide role coming in.
I’m not sure I’d change things if I was Bento ahead of Tues, but I can’t see how they could win Euro 2012 like this. I’d be inclined to go with Danny on the left coming into the middle Nani on the right and tell Ronaldo to play as the striker, but to drift to the left Henry-style…
I think that Portugal’s big problem, and they have had this for a while, is the lack of a striker good enough at this level (assuming that Ronaldo is not an out-and-out striker).
Postiga has been around for a while now, as has Almeida, and neither have shown themselves to be good enough. I think a lot of Portugal’s problems would be solved if they had a good centre forward, someone who could score goals and also link up the play well, which would in turn bring the best (or certainly better) out of Ronaldo, Nani, etc.
As to what they should do now, I agree that playing Ronaldo up front is probably their best option, however given Ronaldo is by no means a traditional centre forward, I would think that playing him up front would require a particular system (like when he was at Man United), and, with Euro 2012 only 7 months away, it is a system I don’t think Bento would have sufficient time to work on, that is assuming they qualify (which I’m not convinced they will)
Nelson Oliveira did brilliantly for the u21s in a role very similar to Postiga’s in this game. He is a handful for defenders and opens a lot of space for othr players. I think he’d fit excellently in Portugal’s team but Paulo Bento seems to suffer from Scolari syndrome. He has picked his team and it would take a calamity to change anything.
I also think Danny needs to be in this team, and your suggestion is a good one – but I think the even more important thing is to get Ronaldo up front – he’s far too good a player nowadays to be playing even a nominal wingers role like he does. He’s got all the classic attributes of a prima punta, like good finishing, aeiral ability and pace, but with plenty of bonuses, like powerful dribbling and an array of clever flicks for teeing up chances when playing with back to goal, that make him a potent focal point of the attack. No one else from portugal’s player pool is really able to tie up a pair of centrebacks like he can and playing as a 9 (false or otherwise) gets him closer to goal, somewhat compensates for his lack of defensive effort and just generally seems a good idea. He’ll be winning more dangerous free-kicks from a central role, will help connect the midfield to the attack by demanding the ball instead of being a targetman type like postiga/almeida and it makes for a lethally fast front three which will be devastating on the counter especially as all 3 of the nani, ronaldo, danny triumvirate are renownded counterattackers. I think he’d also give them a better plan in possession, in that he provides greater variety from the 9 position that depends a lot less on the midfield trio rampaging forward which they’re not going to do. That way, when they do the standard thing and run out of ideas and just give it to ronaldo, he’s gonna have less to do, only making a yard against a centreback, enough for a shot, rather than cut inside against doubling up players and find space for a good shot.
Also, and this is maybe just a personal bugbear with ronaldo, I think that having back to goal more would encourage him to shoot better, he’d have to turn a player and make space for a shot – I often am irritated by the way that he receives the ball on the left, can see the goal, and will just go for it, even though it’s not really much of a chance. It’s just one of those subtle little tactical effects that I think would make much more of his undoubted shooting ability without having to give him a personality swap.
Ronaldo never did well with his back to the goal. I don’t know why people keep insisting on this.
hope we get portugal in draw, didn’t watch this game was predisposed watching the rep destroy estonia
though I did get portugal in my draw for the group stages at mydraw.info
You want Portugal in Euro 2012 draw? Just wait a few days to see what Bosnians have to say on that. Igraj BiH ne daj se!
ZM, excellent analysis once again. Since we had such a ramshackle back four, I was personally relieved that we didn’t concede or pick up too many yellow cards. I thought this game found us at our most vulnerable, so emerging from it relatively unscathed was an accomplishment.
You’re completely right that our lack of width on the right side hampered our attacking play for much of the game, but I would suggest this had as much to do with the players at our disposal as it did with Ronaldo. After all, he would often drift well towards the center, sometimes even all the way to the right. Isn’t that how Salihović picked up his card? I can’t quite remember, but the point stands.
In any case, as you pointed out, neither Zahirović nor Pjanić are “wide” players. Maletić is, and that’s why even though he had similar defensive responsibilities (and he definitely looked shaky at times against Ronaldo and Coentrao), he helped make us much more effective offensively.
Unfortunately, with Salihović out due to cards (and far from match fit regardless), it looks like we’ll have similar issues in Lisbon. Papac will be back, which will be a huge help for our back four, but I’m still not sure how we would open up our right flank. Maletić, based out of Kazakhstan, isn’t exactly a player you want to depend on for 90 minutes.
I found your point about Pjanić and Misimović turning into wide midfielders very interesting. Going into the game, Sušić was serously considering going with a 4-4-2. Do you think that might be our best bet now in Lisbon? Or perhaps a 4-4-1-1, with Papac at LB and Lulić at LM?
I think you’re right about Salihovic, he stuck tight to Ronaldo when he came into midfield.
Re the shape, I probably haven’t seen enough to judge. I do think it’s important to get Pjanic involved more though, as he’s not doing a great deal if he’s not involved in build-up play.
I really think Bosnia have a chance though – defending deep then breaking quickly. I can see Lulic being key in that – maybe starting deeper and travelling with the ball.
Bosnia – They seemed to lack a sense of control from deep midfield, seemed more a case of two destroyers without creativity. Misimovic could have had a better game playing in deep midfield, as portugal rarely attacked down the middle, so he wouldnt have had to deal with much defensive work. This could have helped them play some better football and create more opportunities.
Then pjanic could have played as the central playmaker, where his direct running could have been a big threat,while his crisp passing along with misimovic passing skills could have outplayed portugal. Because Pjanic out on the right was wasted, he drifted inside too much,Bosnia lacked any width on the right, and Pjanic wasnt a threat playing so far away from goal.
The late tactic of playing both wide worked well, as they got space to create,but this was down to a poor portugal more than anything by the end of the game.
Lulic actually played okay,looking a threat when he got the ball, and providing width, but he lacked the talent to really beat his marker.
Dzeko played well, but lacked support, he occupied the CB’s well, but this is pointless if there is no runners from midfield (something misimovic rarely did) or support from outwide (pjanic played too deep).
Overall,Bosnia should have taken more of a risk than they did, they were too conservative and might have missed there chance to get to the euro’s.
Medunjanin is our version od Xabi Alonso and some sort of creativity in that mid. zone, but tonight he was to slow, and very bad IMO. He can play also in link up role, like he play in Belarus with Rahimić and Zahirović as destroyers(Misimović was out for that game).
Medunjanin have one more interesting role earlyer in games vs Albania, Slovakia and Romania, he starts from defesive mid. position and when Lulić (who plays on left back) go forward, he moves on left back position. Becouse of that he was allways free and unmarked.
I think, with this players we have, and formation, Pjanić have his true role, he is not to good in tackles and tight pressing, he is more runner and pace midfielder. Problem is that our right back must track C. Ronaldo and stay deeper.
Portugal – The back four seemed rock solid, which is a good sign for portugal. Alves and Pepe look a good relationship at CB, while Coentrao got forward really well,linking with ronaldo.He was rarely tested by pjanic either, so had little defensive responsibility. Pereira had more trouble with lulic,and so didnt get forward as much, but still dealt with him simply enough.
Veloso didnt seem needed, as portugal were already solid at the back and in midfield. I think a better solution would be to play meireles and moutinho in deeper positions, with meireles breaking up play and making runs forward, and moutinho controlling the game from deep. Then Danny could have played the number ten role, providing direct running in the centre and creative passing. The only drawback would be his bad defensive skills, but Bosnia werent really committing players forward from deep.
Ronaldo and nani played good games and looked a threat, but they didnt get the ball in dangerous positions,and nani in particular was isolated. Postiga showed good build up play, and provided a ariel threat, but lacked a goal threat himself, and isnt the player to provide a killer pass for a team mate. This meant there was no1 to provide a killer pass for ronaldo or nani.
Overall, Portugal were solid, tidy in possession and had a threat down the wings. But they lacked creativity throughout the team, with no1 to provide a killer pass for ronaldo or nani. They missed a number 10 today badly, more so than a top striker.
I understand the popualtion is smalla t around 4 million, but really, they could not get a better pitch?!?!
And Coentrao needs to be even more attacking, far too confident to be left in just defense
Very nice analysis, like always. I wonder if you will take a look at the Ukraine – Germany friendly, too? Löw tried out some very intriguing tactical choices with a 3-5-2 with three CBs there.
Yea, it was an intriguing match with a deceiving result. Imo it’s worth noting though that it wasn’t actually a back three, but a back 2, 3 or 4 formed out of a pool of five players ( before subs: Aogo, Hummels, Badstuber, Boateng, Traesch ) according to the situation.
Making that distinction may seem somewhat pedantic, but I think it is crucial in understanding what Loew attempted to achieve here.
You couldn’t make out a clear formation at all since there was total chaos on the pitch for 90 minutes. Formation and tactics-wise. Funny experiment it was.
Eep. I just noticed the -1 got lost. 3-5-2-1 I meant of course, silly me.
You meant 3-4-2-1. Although playing 12 players would help, too
Btw, I found Aogo and especially Traesch horrible in their wing-back roles. They were far too defensive, so that Germany were more like a 5-2-2-1, against only one true striker of Ukraine. Goetze, Oezil, and Gomez were left alone upfront. The 3 CBs noticed that, and tried to support offensively, but that was messing up Germany’s system/defence totally, so that often there were too few CBs left when a Ukraine counter attack came.
Either, Loew was unable to tell Traesch and Loew what to do, or they were unable to do what was needed: go high up the pitch and stay wide, so that the creative midfielders would enjoy more space AND passing options…
*read instead: “… Loew was unable to tell Traesch and Aogo what to do …”.
That’s what I get for typing in a hurry XD You are of course right – ashes on my head. And IMO Träsch and Aogo were simply not up to it.
Danny is injured for the whole tie.
Susic did what he had to do, regarding the state of the pitch and defensive troubles in the team. Of course Medunjanin will be poor in such circumstances, also Pjanic in a lesser extent.
ZM, do you think that Bosnia can dominate the midfield for at least 45 minutes, like we did in Paris? I think it would be our best bet to qualify… playing to our strengths, scoring a goal or two, and then defending dilligently.
Your right of course,having an attacking LB instead of an attacking RB screws up the whole system, with pjanic needed width, but lulic not so much.
But would you have played mujdza against ronaldo so attacking,i think he would have been torn apart.
But pjanic without an attacking RB is wasted on the right, he drifts inside too much and too far away from goal.
But medunjanin just had a bad game I think, his passing was poor today and didnt control the game. Maybe the pressure got to him.
importantly Dzeko was isolated, and he is wasted without support.
Bosnia really need all there parts working in the team, to win, they dont have the talent to win games when they are playing bad, so they need all the players working in tandem, otherwise it really doesnt work.
It is an issue probably, as soon as more attacking RB Maletic was in, Pjanic was playing better (last 20 mins).
I think it is too much to ask of Medunjanin to control the game on such bad pitch and with both sides having congested midfields. He wouldn’t play in Israeli league if he was able to do that
Tuesday’s match will be very different.
Susic confessed that he told the players to step away from usual gameplan, and play a lot of long balls to Dzeko. So you can say that Medunjanin was bad and Dzeko was isolated on purpose.
Like I mentioned earlier, I think defending against Ronaldo was only so much of it. There were times when Ronaldo would be on the complete other side of the pitch, we would take the ball, and we still wouldn’t have an outlet on the right. Ronaldo was still there when Maletić came in, still dangerous, but we instantly became much better going forward… he’s that kind of player, Zahirović isn’t.
Also, we do have the talent to win games when we’re playing bad – Belarus at home comes to mind. The problem is we just don’t have the depth to match bigger countries when we have injury and card problems. Mujdža is far from our best player, but him being out has thrown our entire formation off balance.
I think C.Ronaldo “in the false9 position” and Quaresma & Nani on the wings would be much more efficient for Portugal in this match. In addition, I don’t think that H.Postiga is better than H.Almeida. After Pauleta, Portuguese football couldn’t grow up a real striker (goal scorer). So they should try Ronaldo in the centre-forward as a false9 for their future coz they have also many skilfull wingers except Ronaldo.
As a serb, I’m very excited to see what happens in the 2nd leg, for all the ex-Yugo teams. I should say, while Bosnia looked better later on, Ibisevic looks like the worst striker of all time. I mean, he had 3 big chances and blew all of them so wide. Heskey would have put at least one of his chances away.
And I think Rahimic must be given credit as well, he looked like Bosnia’s best player, certainly defensively. He really put in a strong effort. Dzeko only started to look good in the final minutes, but he didn’t really get many chances.
Hooligans FIVE MILLION FOR BRUNO is droppong let’s get it higher and keep it trending till he wakes up. He deserves 2 see it!
Susic only mistake is that he need to start game with two strikers
If Bosnia could knock out Portugal, it’d go some way to easing my disgust over the Czechs qualifying, the unmitigated bastards that they are