Benfica starting lineup will be much the same

Despite all the grumblings about player exits, I will maintain a realistic and objective assessment of the starting lineup JJ will present for the SuperCup this Sunday.  It will be overwhelmingly the same players that regularly played or started last year.  Shocked ?  Maybe if you believe all the media hype but lets look at things as they are and not from the angle that is intent only on selling newspapers.

Goalkeeper - Artur will play.  He played the vast majority of games last year.  Benfica was leading in points when Oblak started to play towards the end of the year.  Artur also played most of the Europa League and Cup games.  No real change from last year. He started 30 games for Benfica last year.  So anyone who tells you the keeper is not the same as last year as a bald faced liar.

Defence - Those who claim Siqueira was a starter fail to look at facts.  He only played in 18 games for the League and did not start all of them.  So he was a starter half the time.  Eliseu will play now and thats the only real change in defence except for the switch of Jardel for Garay.  Jardel played 18 games in total last year, same as Siqueira played in the League.  So for those who will argue Benfica lost a starter in Siqueira, I would counter that by that logic Jardel was also a starter having played 18 games.   Luisao and Maxi are also holdovers.  Defence - one substantive change. Three of the four players regularly played for Benfica last year.

Midfield - Enzo Perez and Ruben Amorim will start here.  Both regularly played and/or started.  No real change at all.

Wings - Gaitan and Salvio will start here.  Both regularly played and started last year.  Markovic only saw playing time when Salvio got hurt.  After his return they split the duties.  No change at all here.

Forward - Lima and one other option (maybe Jara, maybe Bebe) - one real change.

So with a lineup of : ARTUR;
                                 MAXI, LUISAO, JARDEL, Eliseu
                                 ENZO PEREZ, RUBEN AMORIM
                                 SALVIO, GAITAN
                                 LIMA, (Jara or Bebe)

Above, I listed the players in all caps who regularly started or played for the squad in all caps.  As you can see only Eliseu and the second forward will be players who did not regularly start or play for the squad.

So all this B.S. about "8 starters" being gone is a blatant lie.  Its simply not true.  The strength of the team last year was that most players didn't "own" their position and the lineup was always subject to change except for a few players like Luisao, Lima, Enzo Perez, Gaitan (all of which will still be in the lineup this year!).  What we can deduce from the lineup that will play on Sunday is that we will see a Benfica with the same overwhelming strength and dominance of previous years.  People said it was the end of the world when DiMaria, Ramires, Javi, Witsel and David Luiz and Matic left.  It wasn't.  The club kept enough regular and long term benfica players rotated into the lineups and subs that the transition for any new players was made easy.  The same thing will happen again.  The core of the team is exactly the same. There will be liars who will pretend Ola John, Sulejmani, Andre Almeida (played 26 games alone) were also not playing for Benfica previously but to them I would suggest you again relay the facts.

This Benfica team has kept intact a core of players who are experienced, know exactly how the coach wants them to play, are excellent at what they do.  Immediate quality has already been brought into the roster with Eliseu and Bebe and Pizzi and Lisandro Lopez who were not on the squad last year.  Another few signings will still be made and they will surely be of top quality too.  Additionally, Talisca, Cancelo and Teixeira will continue to work with the team and improve to eventually start getting some playing time as subs and the cycle continues.  New and young players don't always make an immediate impact.  Remember Matic, Andre Gomes, and Rodrigo took a very long time to start playing regularly.  Does that mean they didn't have quality ? Of course not.  But by keeping the core starting lineup essentially the same as last year, the club will be able to have the stable core that keeps them winning while the other players grow and learn and eventually start to accumulate playing time.

Accordingly all the panic stirred up in the media and blogosphere is for motives that are not based in reality.  Whether its enemies of Benfica pushing these myths, or newspapers wanting to sell papers, or obsessed nationalists who think benfica should play mediocre and lousy talent from the B team just because they are portuguese.  Its all nonsense.  The starting lineup will have very little change from last year.  All but two of the starters regularly played or started last year.  Those are the facts.

Expect a very determined and focused Benfica to hammer Rio Ave.  I think Benfica should win by 3 or 4 goals.  Why ?  Because the team is just as strong as it was last year.