Stephen Eustaquio

[Obinna]

19 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

What did everyone think of him last night in his first start for Canada?

I thought he was a little underwhelming compared to his form in Portugal but by no means bad. He took two pretty poor shots and didn't make any real key passes but was good in possession. 

With you on that. I was a little disappointed with his efforts on goal. There's room for improvement, which is great news because even with his mediocre showing he was still very dependable. Provided a good linkage between defense and attack, didn't give the ball away, worked hard closing the opponent down, etc. 

Piette replaced him and immediately showed his ability to break things up and play forward, so for me there was zero drop off when Eustaquio exited the game. Perhaps a sign that Sam won't let go of his spot without a fight, which bodes very well for us. 

[Floortom]

He’ll be better against good teams when his skill set will be more crucial.

[Tyson M]

Give him time for chemistry. He will end up being a top player and his quality will show when we play better opposition(believe it or not).

[LeoH037]

48 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

That sums up my thinking as well.  Didn’t do anything wrong - just didn’t seem to do much to stand out.   I was hoping to be a bit more wowed than I was.  

He is not the kind of player that will "wow" you, specially against this sort of opposition. This may prove more useful though

The guy has an engine, was all over the field.

[SpursFlu]

I think Stephen is used to making decisions and positive touches under pressure at a high pace. Last nights game was st a walking pace with no pressure so yah. Against the Americans or Mexico you'll see his value

[PiedPilko]

Just now, LeoH037 said:

He is not the kind of player that will "wow" you, specially against this sort of opposition. This may prove more useful though

The guy has an engine, was all over the field.

Yeah, I feel like you need an overhead camera to see everything he does lol. Against a Bermuda, it's not particularly difficult to shuttle around the field and make yourself into an outlet. Against bigger teams though, you'll start to notice that he's always the one available for a pass, and it's generally gonna be a good one. He puts himself in a good enough position that he can funnel the ball to where it needs to go, without doing anything incredibly fancy.

He's gotten to the point where's he's above average at every aspect of defense too, so that's something we'll (hopefully) see in the Oct. I wouldn't quite say he'll never wow you, because he's usually due for a few wacky longballs / moments where he outsmarts the opposition per game, but it might take everyone a while to notice all of the little things he does.

Still, he made some nice passes between lines, and Peter's tweet shows just how much of the field he covers. 

[Yohan]

47 minutes ago, Obinna said:

With you on that. I was a little disappointed with his efforts on goal. There's room for improvement, which is great news because even with his mediocre showing he was still very dependable. Provided a good linkage between defense and attack, didn't give the ball away, worked hard closing the opponent down, etc. 

Piette replaced him and immediately showed his ability to break things up and play forward, so for me there was zero drop off when Eustaquio exited the game. Perhaps a sign that Sam won't let go of his spot without a fight, which bodes very well for us. 

SE has 2 caps for Canada and he's a DM. I'm alright if a DM isn't lighting things up on the attack.

For a new player coming into new system, I thought he had good chemistry with Hutch on double pivot. SE played a little more conservatively to shield the defence, but he still contributed on attack with short passes moving side to side. 

I don't remember much of Bermuda trying to attack through the middle. Most of Bermuda attack was on counters going through flanks. That to me says SE and Hutch did a good job killing Bermuda attacks through the centre. 

Don't need to be fancy to be a good DM. Win balls, shield the CBs, pass the ball around a bit, be available as an outlet.

Edited March 26, 2021 by Yohan

[SpursFlu]

I honestly could have played in the midfield for Canada last night. Get a pass from Hutch, have 5 Mississippis to find Alphonso Davies. Rinse and repeat for 90 minutes. Simple

Against better teams you have to create your own time and space

Edited March 26, 2021 by SpursFlu

[Aird25]

Agree with many. I don't think that is the type of game you judge a player like Eustaquio on.

[An Observer]

I agree. Against Mexico we will be pressed like mad and having both him and hutch in the midfield will be important for breaking that press and then countering quickly. 

We will need to have two guys on the ball at the back who can also play it out of the back which probably means Miller and Vitoria and two full backs which leads me to believe we will have Davies at left back against them with Laryea on the right.  I wonder if we play David up top because of his speed and Larin underneath him like he played yesterday with 2 of Miller, Hoilet and Corbeanu on the wings unless Rutty or Nelson really break through this year. 

I think that gives us the ability to retain the ball and break the press while at the same time hurt them on the counter with the speed we have up top and on the flanks. 

[Macksam]

10 hours ago, CanadaFan123 said:

What did everyone think of him last night in his first start for Canada?

I thought he was a little underwhelming compared to his form in Portugal but by no means bad. He took two pretty poor shots and didn't make any real key passes but was good in possession. 

Not to single you out but I disagree with everyone. I was highly intrigued by his shift. The boy has an amazing engine, like a Michael Essien. He was a rabid dog all over the park, like Will Johnson on steroids. Keep doing what you're doing is what I say to the kid. I like it.

[Acid-Tone]

On 3/22/2021 at 3:44 PM, Floortom said:

Great news if true - surprised at the fee amount though.

Saw a clip from an interview with the Pacos president this morning.  He was adamant that not only was there no deal in place for Stephen, but that there hasn't been any negotiations.   Take that for what it's worth.

[PiedPilko]

13 minutes ago, Acid-Tone said:

Saw a clip from an interview with the Pacos president this morning.  He was adamant that not only was there no deal in place for Stephen, but that there hasn't been any negotiations.   Take that for what it's worth.

Yeah, he's been very consistent with that message. He said earlier that Stephen was one of several possibilities. It could be him trying to drive the price up, and Tanque apparently had EPL interest, but I think he has to be sold eventually. They don't really have other big money players (Singh and Costa would be, but they belong to other teams). They spent a lot on Eustaquio.

It's likely they draw a superior team for the Conference League playoff, and if they lose, I don't see where they would get the money to keep him.

[Acid-Tone]

That's why I added "take that for what it's worth".  I wasn't stating it to be an absolute fact.   But I thought it was worth mentioning it since it goes directly against what someone had posted in this thread.

[baulderdash77]

31 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:

It could be him trying to drive the price up, and Tanque apparently had EPL interest, but I think he has to be sold eventually. They don't really have other big money players (Singh and Costa would be, but they belong to other teams). They spent a lot on Eustaquio.

This may be the understatement of the week.  The club has never before spent >€1 million on a player and they spent €2.5 million on him.

Pacos is a selling team who average about €2 Million in net transfer income.  They are pretty extended with his purchase and they probably have to unload him this summer or next January and they absolutely must make a maximum profit on his transfer.  They will definitely be looking to get around €5 million for him to balance their budget.

I expect that there’s going to be all kinds of mentions and rumours between now and the June window.  There’s lots of teams that would like to have a very good and still ascending CM for €5 million in Europe and Pacos is going to be taking to all of them.

Edited April 10, 2021 by baulderdash77
Spelling

[PiedPilko]

43 minutes ago, baulderdash77 said:

This may be the understatement of the week.  The club has never before spent >€1 million on a player and they spent €2.5 million on him.

Pacos is a selling team who average about €2 Million in net transfer income.  They are pretty extended with his purchase and they probably have to unload him this summer or next January and they absolutely must make a maximum profit on his transfer.  They will definitely be looking to get around €5 million for him to balance their budget.

I expect that there’s going to be all kinds of mentions and rumours between now and the June window.  There’s lots of teams that would like to have a very good and still ascending CM for €5 million in Europe and Pacos is going to be taking to all of them.

He is on a 3 year contract though. They sold Reabciuk in January for 2 M... isn't it possible they get a similar amount for Tanque (who had interest in him), and make some decent money from Conference League? They have to sell him eventually, but wouldn't that buy them an extra year or 2? 

[baulderdash77]

44 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:

He is on a 3 year contract though. They sold Reabciuk in January for 2 M... isn't it possible they get a similar amount for Tanque (who had interest in him), and make some decent money from Conference League? They have to sell him eventually, but wouldn't that buy them an extra year or 2? 

The problem for a lot of smaller clubs right now is that due to Covid their revenues are low; which is forcing them to sell faster than they would like.

[lowlander]

Just settling in to watch Pacos- Benfica and Eustaquio is out with a red after only 21 minutes. Deservedly so it seems.

[PiedPilko]

Pacos going through a real rough patch, Eustaquio included. He hasn't looked himself since the international break tbh. He gave the ball away a lot, and had trouble keeping up with Ryan Gauld.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 4/20/2021 at 5:14 PM, PiedPilko said:

Pacos going through a real rough patch

Hopefully Paços de Ferreira can turn things around and finish the season on a high.
There are 5 matches left.

They cannot be relegated.
They cannot qualify for the Champions League.
They cannot qualify for the Europa League (Benfica cannot drop below 4th place, so if Braga wins the Taça de Portugal, the spot would go to Braga/Benfica)

Paços de Ferreira are basically fighting to hold onto their current 5th place and qualify for the Europa Conference League.
Braga is the only top 4 team they have to face before the end of the season and they have very little travel left (even by Portugal standards).
Let's hope they can hold their spot.

[PiedPilko]

He played very well today against Braga; made a nice run and almost scored in the second half. Dominant in his tackling today, and with Costa out, he came further up the pitch and drove everyone forward. Great to see him and Pacos back in form.

[PiedPilko]

In other news, Pacos' coach is apparently switching over to VSG next season, who have traditionally been in the Braga tier of the Portuguese league. Mauro made a comment in an interview that Stephen would go wherever Pepa (the coach) does, so maybe throw them into the transfer discussion.

Edited May 5, 2021 by PiedPilko

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

8 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:

In other news, Pacos' coach is apparently switching over to VSG next season, who have traditionally been in the Braga tier of the Portuguese league. Mauro made a comment in an interview that Stephen would go wherever Pepa (the coach) does, so maybe throw them into the transfer discussion.

Surely only if Vitória S.C. finish 6th and Stephen really thinks they have a better chance of going further in the Europa Conference than Paços.

[Acid-Tone]

 

Historically, Vitoria is a significantly bigger and better club than Pacos.  So I would imagine that would factor heavily into Stephen's consideration of whether to move or not.  But the bigger factor is that his manager, the one who believes strongly in him and has gotten the most out of him, is moving on.   How confident are you that the new manager will pick you so often or formulate successful gameplans?   One guaranteed season of playing in the Europa league and many unknowns vs. sticking with Pepa and taking the next step in your career.    I'm not sure that's that tough of a decision.

[Macksam]

Surely he can move onto something even bigger than a club similar in the standings to the one he's with now. I don't think a lot of our top guys need to be at Gold Cup but Eustaquio should be there to promote himself.