FIFA 21 Liga NOS TOTS Predictions
This is going to be smaller article compared to top 5 leagues, but I did some research and actually asked people who watch a lot more Portugal League than me. I watched a lot of games played by Porto, Benfica and Sporting, but of course I could miss someone.
This was hard league to predict, but as per usual, let’s cover the league.
Surprisingly to many – Sporting leading the league by many points. Apparently first time in many years league will be won not by Porto or Benfica. Do you know last time it happened? I’ll tell you. 2001-02 last season that was won by Sporting. That sounds insane, really. But here we are.
Of course there will be a lot of Sporting players, but of course main reason of them sitting at first – Pedro Goncalves, who had amazing season. He had 15 goals and 3 assists and for sure will get a good TOTS (considering he had nice Future Stars card) and maybe he’ll get a transfer to other league.
Also, while we’re mentioning Sporting – I need to speak about their defense. They conceded 11 goals in 24 games. Next closest is Benfica with 17. Porto conceded 23 goals at the moment. So most players from defense will be from Benfica and Sporting. Sebastian Coates, leader of Sporting defense, also managed to score 4 goals this season, for sure will get TOTS. Anyone remember him playing for Liverpool?
Nicolas Otamendi is my 2nd choice for defense. I actually was surprised that people told me to include him. I thought it was a meme. He started terribly for Benfica, but then improved and actually playing well most part of the season.
No Portugal League TOTS wouldn’t exist without Alejandro Grimaldo covering left flank of Benfica. 2 goals and 6 assists is a nice bonus, but for sure he’ll get TOTS and it’ll be a nice one.
On other flank of defense I have Ricardo Esgaio from Braga, who are sitting 4th, he played consistently well across the season and got 1 goal and 2 assists to his name. He should get TOTS and I’ll be surprised to see anyone else at starting spot. Jesus Corona played more attacking role this season, so he got 2 goals and 5 assists and he should get either RM or RWB card (or maybe just RW). But Pedro Porro, loanee from Man City, had a great season in Sporting and even got a call up to National team. 3 goals and 2 assists too. So yeah. Right flank position is stacked.
In the middle we have a lot of options, but first one is Sergio Oliveira from Porto. Probably 2nd POTY, after Pedro Goncalves. 11 goals and 5 assists to his name and he should get one seriously good TOTS. Next one from Porto – Otavio. He played mostly in the center of the pitch – he got 3 goals and 4 assists and it’s not guaranteed that he’ll get TOTS, but if he gets one – it’ll be a class one. Julian Weigl from Benfica is the only midfielder from that club that probably deserves TOTS. He was consistent performer for them. And the last midfielder that I’ll probably mention is Joao Palhinha from Sporting. He’s been rock solid in midfield for them and he actually got deserved call up to National team, he’s a CDM, but he scored 1 goal this season.
As for Left Wingers – I have Ricardo Horta and Rafa. It was hard decision, but I decided to include Rafa, as he’s higher rated player and he wasn’t that terrible overall this year with 4 goals and 4 assists (yes, it’s not that much, but at least it’s something, because other options are even worse). And Ricardo Horta from Braga – 8 goals and 3 assists, should be easier to include him and he should get some sort of TOTS card too.
Last few positions are strikers: Mehdi Taremi and Haris Seferovich. Taremi got 9 goals and 6 assists, while Seferovich got 14 goals and 4 assists. Other than them – no one really stands out. I miss those times, when strikers in Portugal League were scoring 20+ goals, or even 30 (like Dost and Jonas).
That’s probably it. It was hard to cover some positions, compared to other leagues, because, as you can see – some well known players didn’t perform that well and I include wingers with 4G and 4A. I may have missed someone, but really don’t know who.
2 goalkeepers are set to me: Adan and Marchesin kept the most CS and helped their teams massively, so we shouldn’t see any surprises here. Adan kept 15 CS, Marchesin 11.
Benfica in the summer purchased a lot of players, but not all of them worked out (as you can see I only included Weigl and Otamendi from new transfers). We might see Darwin Nunes as some sort of Moments, but I don’t think he deserves it.
I think we might see some players from lower teams, but I think it’s not as good for FUT, and we usually get decent Liga Nos TOTS, so we have some players to use in our main teams. There will be enough fodder anyway.
Starting XI:
GK: Antony Adan (Sporting) – 15 clean sheets, 0.5 goal conceded per game
LB: Alejandro Grimaldo (Benfica) – 2 goals, 6 assists
CB: Nico Otamendi (Benfica) – 1 goal, 9 clean sheets
CB: Sebastian Coates (Sporting) – 4 goals, 15 clean sheets
RB: Ricardo Esgaio (Braga) – 2 goals, 5 assists
CDM: Julian Weigl (Benfica) – Consistently good performer, high average rating
CM: Otavio (Porto) – 3 goals and 4 assists
CM: Sergio Oliveira (Porto) – 11 goals and 5 assists
LW: Rafa (Ajax) – 4 goals and 4 assists
RW: Pedro Goncalves (Sporting) – 15 goals and 3 assists
ST: Haris Seferovich (Benfica) – 14 goals and 4 assists
Bench:
GK: Agustin Marchesin (Porto) – 11 clean sheet, 0.9 goal conceded per game
RB: Pedro Porro (Sporting) – 3 goals and 2 assists
CDM: Stephen Eustaqito (Pacos) – 2 goals, 1 assist, consistent performer
CDM: Joao Palhinha (Sporting) – 1 goal and solid performances over the season
LW: Ricardo Horta (Braga) – 8 goals and 3 assists
RM: Jesus Corona (Porto) – 3 goals and 5 assists
ST: Mehdi Taremi (Porto) – 9 goals and 6 assists
