Liga NOS: X-ray of V. Setúbal

Benfica travels to Estádio do Bonfim to play matchday 12 of the Liga NOS. The opponent, V. Setúbal, comes from two wins in the last to matches and sits 7th in the league standings. The match starts at 8:30 pm on Saturday.

From the last season to this one there are a lot of changes and many new faces in the squad from the sadinos.  17 players came in, 19 left the club and there is even a new coach at the club: Lito Vidigal. None the less, despite having a practically new squad in 2018/19, V. Setúbal has been carrying out a good season start: they sit 7th in the Liga NOS, they are present in the eighth-finals of the Portuguese Cup, where they will host SC Braga, and are in the group stage of the League Cup, but with no chance of going through to the final four.

The team played 15 official matches in all competitions, won seven, suffered five losses and drew threw matches. Scored 24 goals and conceded 18. In the Liga NOS alone, Setúbal won five of the 11 matches played and at Bonfim they only lost twice (FC Porto and Nacional).

The most used starting XI is composed by: Joel Pereira; Mano, Dankler, Vasco Fernandes, Nuno Pinto; Semedo, Mikel Agu, Éber Bessa, Rúben Micael; Hildeberto and Frédéric Mendy.

Counter-attack and wing play

V. Setúbal coached by Lito Vidigal is not a team that favors ball possession. The team bets on deadly counter-attacks. According to Wyscout, Benfica’s next opponent is not a team that delivers many shots (average of 10 per match), but it does not need many attempts to score goals.

With less ball possession than the opponent (45% against 55%), the vitorianos also perform fewer passes (303 against 377). Still regarding the pass, highlight for the bet on the long pass: 48 per encounter, with 59% efficacy.

In offensive terms, the men under Lito Vidigal favor the wing play, a space in which they deliver 18 crosses per match.

Analyzing the defensive attitude, V. Setúbal loses the ball fewer times than the opponent (101 against 103) and recovers more balls (87 against 81). It is also a stronger team in the defensive duels than in the offensive ones.

Transfers at V. Setúbal

Text: Marco Rebelo

Pics: Liga Portugal