Roberto Martinez is not one that will stay for long at Portugal National Team.

We all know that – Martinez has a validity deadline in Portugal.

Even the most recent interventions of the new Portuguese FA President are clear in getting the bar so high that it’s almost unbearable to sustain – Portugal is one, if not the most, strong Teams to win the World Cup next year, at USA.

To be clear, this never happened.

And history has power, as you probably know my opinion by now.

Therefore, setting the bar at this height would be unbearable for (almost) everyone.

Now, add it the incapacity of Roberto Martinez to be a Coach, instead of a pleaser, and the result is another complete anarchy of ideas, decisions and results.

Yes, Portugal won.

But his choices are simply poor.

I took the time to read some of my texts from the past, back since the preparation for the European Cup and the Euro itself.

Martinez keeps in line with what was presented there – a poor communication, explaining and further explanations on things that simply don’t make any sense.

Before the Euro, was the story of who is on the list (which I believe it’s unfair to judge alone, as everyone would have a different opinion), why they are at the list, then changes the list and amended his previous comments. 

Then was the time each player had to play – do we all remember that Ronaldo played for more than 1 hour in the last Game of the Group Stage (loss vs Georgia 2-0) when everything was already decided for Portugal to move for the Last 16, but was important because he was only present at 1 Friendly Match before the Euro? Yes, after playing the 2 full Games already done at the Competition and playing 3 Matches in a matter of days!!

Another theme would be the Management of the squad, in terms of using each others moments and performances, at the same time as using these opportunities to create the needed relationships between Players, given the short span of time they all have to train together. 

A few examples:

• Do we all remember Joāo Neves as Right-Back at UEFA Nations League ? Just for, then, substitute him at half-time or just after that… 
• Or, who remembers Ruben Neves as Centre-Back ever ? Martinez says “he played there many times”…
• The team performed against Armenia, Félix and Gonçalo Inácio performed well, why changing and not using those performances as fuel for a much-needed increment of their influence at the team?
• Joāo Cancelo made 2 appearances at the Portuguese National Team in the last year, not even enough to be present at the List for the UEFA Nations League. However, Martinez says now “we are very lucky to have a player as Joāo Cancelo”
• If believing in Martinez words, where a thorough Tactical Analysis is done ahead of time and given that “Marco Rossi is Hungary’s National Team Coach for 77 Games” now, and therefore, the plan was to play with Ruben Neves as a Centre-Back, why did Gonçalo Inácio, Antonio Silva, and Renato Veiga were at the list for these 2 Games ? How would you feel if the Coach decides to get a midfielder as a CB (your natural position) instead of you ?

And the System Variations!
Martinez represents the complete Tactical non-sense.

From line-ups that are completely non-consequential, hard to read the rational behind those decisions or, at a minimum, unbalanced – we have it all at Portugal!
Yesterday, another single-vision of the Game, one that (from my understanding) was only understanding the Moments of the Game where Portugal had the Possession of the Ball. 

When you have a back line of 3, on the Build-Up Moment of the Game, that are Ruben Neves – Vitinha – Ruben Dias the result may be expected to be good on that specific Moment. 

However, Football is the integration of the various Moments, and we all know that after that Offensive Moment we can only have either a Set Piece or a Defensive Transition (most likely). Which also means that the triplets were completely exposed and alone for Defensive Transition, leading to have Vitinha (172cm) as the Central CB.

Was it so hard to understand the dangerous associated with this option?

Then, moving to a line of 4 to prevent Ruben Dias or Ruben Neves to be to exposed on the corridors trying to retain crosses (just like the 1st Goal), and because Hungary was already overloading the box with 2 or more players, again it didn’t obviously worked, as we could see on the 2nd goal – because Ruben Neves doesn’t have the capacity or skills to be a CB.

If you look at the video of the 2nd Goal, is clear that at a certain point his focus is solely on the Ball and, never, towards the striker’s movements, which becomes detrimental at top-level.

Well, without any surprise, Martinez isn’t able to understand the Game fully.

Lucky for us that Szoboszlai and Kerkez were distracted and “offer” a decisive chance for Portugal to close the Game.

But, again, my opinion stands clear in my mind – Portugal will keep having success due to the number of top-quality Players we currently have, never because of Roberto Martinez.

I repeat the words that I’ve previously used about Martinez – “Not a top coach, but a politician, someone who steers the ship in the way that is needed. We have many, very good players.

A vast amount of quality that leaves the Coach probably the least relevant Part in all of this.”

I wouldn’t change a word, even though this was written in June or July 2024.

Now, would this be enough to win the World Cup?

Hard to say, but we have one of the most qualified squads, definitely.