Sudakov eases Benfica's chronic weakness, expert claims | OneFootball

Georgiy Sudakov was signed from Shakhtar Donetsk to take on the creative role in Benfica's squad. Nuno Travassos believes that the Ukrainian was a smart choice, but that the team has a "chronic limitation" in decision-making, alleviated by the 'number 10'.

"It is undeniable that Benfica has more than enough options to play better and compete for the title, but it is also evident that the squad lacks players who can have a clear influence in decision-making. Especially in defining the team's identity, which should be aligned with the club's identity," he said to the newspaper A Bola.

For the expert, Sudakov - who dedicated his goal against Rio Ave to someone special - "needs friends" and can form a successful duo with Lukebakio: "signed in the last days of the transfer market, they can combat this chronic limitation, as they showed in the build-up to the goal against Rio Ave, but it still seems insufficient, especially considering the intermittent performance of Schjelderup and Prestianni."

"Benfica has only one player truly capable of receiving the ball within deep and compact defensive blocks: it is precisely the Ukrainian international signed from Shakhtar Donetsk. Even Lukebakio, whose debut generated the same excitement as fresh water in the desert, is a player who destabilizes from the outside. It helps, of course, by providing the verticality that is also lacking, but it remains essential, in these contexts, to be able to undermine the opponent's strategy from within. Pavlidis and Ivanovic are not linking forwards, much less in tight spaces; Ríos has never been a midfielder to create spaces, but rather to exploit them," he added.

To conclude, Nuno Travassos gave high praise to Fredrik Aursnes: "He indeed has the ability to think the game for Benfica, but he is often assigned to other tasks, as almost always. In the next game, he might even be called to compensate for the suspended Enzo Barrenechea, but it might be worth starting to question Ríos' starting position, who has been even more discreet than the Argentine."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.