Yes it’s true, SL Benfica are the champions of last season’s Primeira Liga, but that happened after a harsh first half of the season and many of the victories during the first half of last campaign were due to players individual talent instead of team play. They were actually pretty disorganized at that time, and all of these players leaving the club are not helping for this coming season either.
Reasons Benfica Could Struggle
Reason #1 – A completely different team
Benfica lost Oblak and Siqueira (At.Madrid), Garay (Zenit), Markovic (Liverpool), André Gomes and Rodrigo (Valência), and there are still rumours Enzo Perez will leave the club after being named the best player in the Primeira Liga. Star man Nico Gaitan is also a player that might yet leave the club this summer as he is being pursued by Manchester United (according to the Portuguese media).
So, with those players leaving the club, it’s very likely going to be impossible for Benfica to keep the same quality they were showing last season.
Benfica are signing a lot of players, of which Talisca is proving to be a quality transfer, but the thing is, if they want to win games at the start of the coming season with a completely renewed team, they need to sign great, talented players, and so far Talisca is the only one proving he can decide games on his own. But even though I don’t believe that will make a difference, there is still enough time for Benfica to sign all the great players they want and need.
Reason #2 – Jorge Jesus
Jorge Jesus is a great coach, in fact he was considered the 9th best coach in the world this year. But there are things that he might struggle with.
Jorge Jesus has a tremendous capacity of pushing his players to give the best they have and maximize their strenghts. That is a reason why in the last 2/3 years Benfica have sold players for a lot of money, season after season (Coentrão, Di Maria, Witsel, Javi Garcia, Matic etc..). The thing is, after selling all of those players he will have a tough time making the new players gel together. No coach can actually build a team in a couple of months, as Jorge Jesus has shown after Benfica won the Primeira Liga in 2009-10 and then again in 2013-14, he needs time to make these good players play good football, so with a lot of new young players in the squad he will need some time, and one season is not enough.
Reason #3 – Champions League
Jorge Jesus is using these pre season games to build a solid starting XI, he is not showing much interest in having a squad for the Primeira Liga and one for the Champions League (so far), so, he will either focus on one of those competitions only, or he will use the same players for both competitions changing playing personnel as less as possible and these players will inevitably reach the final games of the season looking very tired, it will be painful to watch. And that is something that we have seen in 2011-12 and 2012-13, so don’t be surprised if it happens again.
Reason #4 – FC Porto, and maybe Sporting CP
Futebol Clube do Porto have been performing quite well in the transfer window, signing a lot of great players, and selling few important players along the way. They are certainly signing the best quality players so far. The coach is also new and we will have to wait to see what he can do, but from what I see so far, he seems to be very disciplined and demand his players work hard and do what he tells them, not like Paulo Fonseca last season.
On the other hand, there is Sporting. They are making some cheaper, less extravagant signings and these players are actually proving to have some quality. But they will also have to keep some of their most important players if they want to have a good season, as they are playing in the Champions League and can’t focus on the Primeira Liga only, as Rui Patricio, Marcos Rojo, William Carvalho and Slimani are players that were/are important to keep hold of this summer (especially Rojo and Carvalho) and are constantly being linked with moves to other clubs across Europe.
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