Liga NOS: Moreirense's X-Ray

Moreirense is the next opponent in Liga NOS. After the first defeat, Benfica should take advantage of this home match to win again. The opponent is in the 9^th position, with 10 points, but only won once away, against Nacional.

With a new coach in 2018/19, Ivo Vieira, 42 years old, witnessed a dynamic pre-season, with many transfers, mainly goalkeepers and forwards.

With an irregular season so far, Moreirense is among the worst offensive and defensive lines, with only six goals scored and 13 conceded. Nevertheless, and according to the data presented by Wyscout, the team from Moreira de Cónegos likes to shoot. On average, 14 shots per match, but only 32% take the right direction.

Matchday 9 takes place at Estádio da Luz, therefore we should have a defensive Moreirense, waiting for the counter-attack in order to surprise Benfica. Now, that is exactly the opposite of their identity at the start of this season: ball possession and positional attack. On average, the minhotos finish their matches with a higher percentage than their rivals (54%) and create their football based on the positional attack, avoiding the counter-attack (27 against 2).

The teams who prefer ball possession, usually execute more passes than the opponents. That's the case for Moreirense who executes fewer long passes (35 against 52 of the other clubs) preferring the lateral passes to set up the offensive moves .

Another detail to have in mind are the free-kicks. The minhotos normally do not have many corners or free-kicks: 5 and 3, respectively, but the percentage which result in a shot is high: 77% in corners and 43% in free-kicks.

Moreirense are not afraid to commit fouls

On average, they got involved in 87 defensive duels, which regularly provokes. The players of Moreirense are the ones to commit more fouls in Liga NOS: average of 18 per match.

This behavior and the pressure applied over the ball also pay off, because it forces the opponent to lose the ball, on average 115 times per match. They also make 43 interceptions.

A starting XI with many new faces

In this current season, Moreirense fit six new signings in the usual “eleven” (bold): Jhonatan Luiz; Anthony D’Alberto; Ivanildo, Aberhoun, Rúben Lima; Mamadou Loum, Pedro Nuno, Ângelo Neto, Chiquinho, Bilel and Heriberto.

For the match at Estádio da Luz, on Friday, at 8:30 pm, the coach will not be able to call up Heriberto, player linked to Benfica and loaned to Moreirense.

Transfers at Moreirense

Text: Marco Rebelo

Pics: Liga Portugal