Benfica struggle to play their style without Felix

Benfica have struggled up front to find their form of last season as the move by Joao Felix to Atletico Madrid this summer has left a big hole in the secondary striker spot which has yet to be filled by another player on the current squad. The season is 7 games old but the striker partnership of Seferovic and Raul de Tomas has been a gigantic failure all season, with last seasons leading scorer Seferovic scoring twice in league play and the €20M signing RDT yet to find the back of the net for the Eagles. Bruno Lage has acknowledged as much putting in midfielder Gedson Fernandes in RDT's spot in their last league game against Setubal, hoping that Gedson would provide some Joao Felix magic. Gedson though is not known as a prolific scorer in the way Felix was, so this move could be short lived and Benfica could experiment further with an assortment of players at its disposal.

Carlos Vinicius is one that could be given a longer look in the role along Seferovic, Vinicius has scored twice for Benfica this season while appearing in only 68 minutes of action. Benfica could also look at starting Chiquinho up front in the secondary striker role, once the attacking midfielder returns from injury in October. Benfica manager Bruno Lage has recently admitted that the last few games have been hard for him to watch and knows that the clubs fans expect and deserve better but Lage's style of play requires a mobile moving second striker which the club at this time has yet to find. RDT is more suitable as a central striker and although the club has yet to lose faith in the Spaniard, he may be better suited coming off the bench to substitute a Lage favourite in Seferovic. The season is a long and grueling process but Benfica's title hopes could linger on finding the guy who can play up front along Seferovic and Bruno Lage knows this.