Sunday, February 21, 2021

When is enough, enough when it comes to Jorge Jesus

Benfica Blog
Benfica continue to struggle under the management of Jorge Jesus after being held to a scoreless draw this afternoon against Farense and it seems Jesus' magic was left at Flamengo and change should be upon us. Jorge Jesus return to Benfica, which was hailed by many as a master coup, has been nothing short of a colossal failure. The Jesus experiment should be all but over if Benfica fail to move on in Europa League action later this week, or will it? Luis Filipe Vieira went out of his way to spend an enormous amount of money this summer to appease the arrival of Jorge Jesus totaling over €100M, Jesus arrival has also caused a hit to Benfica's Seixal academy which has seen an exodus of the clubs younger players leave on loan or see minimal playing time due to Jesus' stubbornness to adapt to change.

Jesus overall record since returning to the club, sees him with 20 wins, 10 draws and 6 losses but what that record fails to tell you is that Jesus has FAILED to win what many would call "important games" this season against rivals or in Europe. Benfica have been unable to defeat FC Porto, Sporting and Braga in league and cup play, they also failed to defeat the Rangers twice in a battle for the top spot of their Europa group, they failed to qualify for the Champions League group stage after a loss to PAOK and we just witnessed the latest failure this past week when the club played Arsenal to a draw in the first leg of the round of 32 Europa League action. 

Jesus record is an unimpressive 0 (wins), 4 (draws) 4 (losses) in these contests. Would a manager of any other name who sits in fourth place in the league, fifteen points out of first, still be at the helm of Portugal's biggest and most popular club? Luis Filipe Vieira, Rui Costa and the clubs directors need to sit down and have a serious conversation about which direction this club is to take and when they get moving down that road, make sure to leave Jorge Jesus off at the bus stop, as his time with the club should be done.

Friday, February 19, 2021

Seferovic lets Benfica know he is interested in move

Benfica Blog
Benfica striker Haris Seferovic has let is be known through his interview with Swiss channel Bluewin yesterday that he is open to a move away from the club if the move were to be to the Premier League. Seferovic who has a contract with Benfica until the summer of 2024 discussed how he has played in Portugal, Italy, Germany and Spain and would love for his career to end by playing in England. The 28 year old Swiss striker also let it be known how much he and his family enjoy living in Portugal but this is a move that would be hard to pass on. Seferovic joined Benfica in the summer of 2017 on a free transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt and has since appeared in 155 games across all competitions, scoring 55 goals while setting up 19. Seferovic captured the golden boot during the 2018/19 season scoring 23 goals.


Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Benfica and Tottenham re-ignite talks for Pizzi

Benfica Blog
Benfica and Tottenham have begun talks once again on the move of midfielder Pizzi to the English Premier side. The two clubs spoke in the summer about a move but nothing materialized as Benfica hold firm on a €20M price tag for the 31 year old Portuguese international. Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho is said to be a fan of Pizzi and wants to add the player as part of the clubs attacking mix for next season. Pizzi has been a member of Benfica since being acquired from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2013 but spent his first season on loan at Espanyol before returning to the Lisbon side permanently in the summer of 2014. Pizzi has appeared in 312 games for the club across all competitions, scoring 87 goals while setting up 89.

Pizzi has been an integral part of Benfica's rise back to the top of Portuguese football over the past few seasons capturing, four league titles, two league cups, three super cups and a Taca de Portugal while being named the league's most valuable player during the 2016-2017 season. Pizzi was also a member of Portugal's UEFA Nations League title winners in 2019. Pizzi has been linked with moves away from Benfica over the years but has remained at the club but this could be the players final chance to make a move to one of Europe's richest clubs and a chance to apply his trade in what many consider the worlds best football league.