Why Porto's form has been so sketchy this season?

At the beginning of the season, Porto were tipped to dominate Portuguese football like they did in 2010-2011. However, and even though the Dragons are joint-leaders of the league, their campaign has already hit some bumps such as the surprising Portuguese Cup knockout at the hands of Académica and the rocky road towards qualification in the Champions League.

Porto have retained their core having only sold the prolific Radamel Falcao and brought in a couple of interesting additions such as the highly-rated Juan Iturbe, dubbed the new Messi, Steven Defour and Brazilian international Danilo (who will arrive in January).

With a deeper squad and with dynamic duo James Rodriguez and Hulk yet to peak, it is easy to understand why expectations were so high. However, if it is a bit unfair for any manager to have his results compared to the ones of an all-conquering season, on the other it is hard to ignore the hiccups this season. What happened then?

• André Villas-Boas left in the summer. The young manager led the team to an incredible 2010-2011 season where the team won the Treble (League, Portuguese Cup and the Europa League) but decided to seek greener pastures at a time most expected him to stay for another season. I am still convinced that Falcao could have been persuaded to stay had AVB remained at the helm of the club. In the end, the chance of managing Chelsea proved too good to be turned down, a decision that must have disappointed some players who would certainly have welcomed a deep run in the Champions League under the same manager. While Mourinho and AVB both enjoyed meteoric rises to stardom, not every young manager with little experience will enjoy the same degree of sucess and quite honestly, I wonder whether Vitor Pereira has earned the trust and respect of his players.

• Porto are one of the shrewdest teams in the market having been able to unearth talent year after year and usually selling players with huge margins of profit. Still, after selling Falcao to Atletico Madrid and knowing that last season the team played with virtually one striker, the club signed just another forward: the young and untried Kléber from Marítimo. Now, the young Brazilian has shown potential and can play a part at the club but he's not one to start every game at the moment. Hulk has somtimes played upfront, but he's best employed on the wings where he enjoys more freedom to roam and destroy defenders.

• Vitor Pereira suspect decision-making. Some of Pereira's options have been questionable. Fredy Guarin, who enjoyed an another-worldly campaign, has surprisingly seen his playing time largely reduced and Maicon, a natural centre-back, has also been employed as a makeshift right-back for some reason. Perhaps the one thing that concerns Porto supporters the most are the decisions Pereira  makes during a match who have so far backfired.

• The constant transfer speculation in the summer affected Alvaro Pereira and Fernando. The left-back almost joined Villas-Boas at Chelsea while Fernando tried to force an exit. The absence of the industrious Brazilian left a void in the midfield that nobody could fill and the defence - arguably, the Dragons' weakest link - got more exposed;

• At some point last season, Porto were perhaps the 3rd best team in Europe and even when considering the talent at their disposal, it seems obvious they have maxed out. At some point, a dip in form would occur and some of the weak points that weren't visible last season would show up. Considering the aforementioned points, the inconsistent form doesn't look so strange, now does it?

Still, the Dragons sat atop the league and, provided they beat Zenit at home in the last match, they will advance to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Danilo will bring an extra edge in January and should they move for a more experienced/prolific forward (Leandro Damião was mooted at the beginning of the season, but was deemed to expensive) they will continue to be big favourites domestically even if Vitor Pereira isn't half the manager AVB was.

Time for Christmas Carroll...

There are few things in the world of sports I dislike as much as undeserved hype.

Last January, then Newcastle striker Andy Carroll moved to Liverpool for a staggering £35M fee becoming the most expensive British player ever in the process. Even when accounting for the fact that the British market is typically inflated (Darren Bent would be the natural exhibit B), it is quite an investment for a player.

Two things can justify such an hefty price tag: current ability and potential ability. Carroll's good start for the Magpies in the 2010-2011 season obviously showed Liverpool he could replace the mercurial Fernando Torres upfront and at the tender age of 21 at the time, his best years would clearly be ahead of him.

Personally, I was very surprised to read the torrent of praise the young striker received. First and foremost, because his goalscoring record is hardly impressive. And regarding his upside, to be honest I didn't see £35M worth of it. He's a towering presence in the box, but he lacks pace and his technical ability is on par with other English strikers.

Last season, Liverpool played against Braga for the Europa League and Andy Carroll featured in one of the matches. He was largely anonymous throughout the match and Braga defenders had no problems keeping him at bay.

Currently, the so-called future of the England squad and Robin to Rooney's Batman is warming the bench at Anfield Road. Luis Suarez and Craig Bellamy are first-team choices and with just 4 goals since making the switch to Liverpool, Carroll can hardly complain.

Why hasn't he been able to make the cut? I have read off-the-field incidents and a lifestyle that clashes with the one of a pro athlete. Still, even the eccentric Balotelli (who's twice as talented and twice as difficult to manage) has been taking his chances to impress.

And since I started talking about hype, here's what is unfair: while Carroll is watching Liverpool alongside Kenny Dalglish, another Englishman is actually showing his talent in London. His name? Daniel Sturridge.

If I had to pick one of them for my team, I would choose Sturridge any day of the week. He's fast, inventive and almost always looks dangerous. Yet, the former Manchester City and Bolton forward seems to slip a bit under the radar.

Unless Carroll starts playing and delivering what he was signed for, not only he'll see his position at the club questioned but he'll also likely miss out on a place in the 2012 Euro England squad.

There's still plenty of time for things to come good because everybody knows memory in football is very, very short. After all, who would have said last year that Balotelli would be the one banging the goals at Man City and Carlos Tevez the troublemaker?

Still, I expect him to leave the Merseysiders at some point and join a club with a manager capable of bringing out the best in his players (Redknapp, Moyes or even Pullis).

As it stands today, he's just a very expensive average striker.

Intro

Since only a few of you have heard about me (actually, maybe only two or three), allow me to make a brief introduction.

My name is Sergio Santos and I am a London-based Portuguese football writer. I used to write for the prestigious FourFourTwo.com website about Portuguese football but after my move to the British capital it became more difficult to follow Liga Zon Sagres (the Portuguese league).

Naturally, that did not prevent me from watching football. Enter this blog. Here I plan to talk about a certain topic about football ranging from the reasons why Andy Carroll sucks to the predictions for the 2012 European Championships.

I don't care if you like my articles or not. They represent just an opinion and are always open to a good debate. The only thing I can promise is to try to be as straight forward as I can and back my biased opinions.

One last thing, if you're wondering why the blog title is "The Portugeezer"...well, that's because that used to be my alias at FourFourTwo and it has kind of grown on me.