Carvalho hype justified; Alaba pace nullified; Ronaldo, he will be fine

Thomas Woods lays out his talking points from the goalless draw between Portugal and Austria, which was not as bad for Cristiano Ronaldo and Co as the score would suggest.

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after scoring a disallowed goal against Austria in their Euro 2016 Group F game in Paris on Saturday. Darren Staples / Reuters / June 18, 2016

Portugal and Austria have it all to do in Group F after a goalless draw in Paris left them in the bottom two spots in the table. Here are the key talking points from the game.

William Carvalho makes it look effortless

No wonder the Portuguese midfielder has been linked to pretty much every big-name Premier League club around. In fact, he might already be playing outside Portugal had he not broken his leg last summer.

The Sporting Lisbon man came in to Portugal’s starting XI against Austria in the place of FC Porto man Danilo – who didn’t do much wrong in the first game – and was superb.

He makes the game look easy, rarely breaking into a sprint and hardly giving a ball away. Carvalho does the simple things right but he also has excellent range in his passing. His diagonal balls, sliced with quite a unique low trajectory as if he was chipping onto a golf green, were on the money and he gave Portugal a base from which all their attacks could start.

Talented Portuguese players always leave for Europe’s bigger leagues eventually. And at just 24, don’t be surprised if the pick of Spain, England and Italy are fighting for Carvalho’s signature this summer.

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Alaba’s talent wasted down the middle

Marko Arnautovic and David Alaba are Austria's two best players and neither got the chance to shine on Saturday night. Stoke City man Arnautovic was stuck out on the left wing and Alaba, a left-back in his day job at Bayern Munich, was poor as a No 10.

It’s understandable that international managers might want to squeeze their best players into positions where they feel they might be most effective, but this did not work for Austria.

Sometimes you’ve just got to let a player demonstrate his national game.

You could make an argument for calling Alaba world class. He’s part of an awesome Bayern team. His best attributes are his pace, his delivery, his shots from distance, but Portugal did not allow him any time on the ball.

Alaba often plays in midfield for Austria, but manager Marcel Koller should have given him a wide birth. His pace on the counter attack could have been a dangerous weapon.

Instead Austria managed to nullify their own stars, with the hardly-pacey Arnautovic toiling as a winger and Alaba getting substituted mid-way through the second half.

Portugal shouldn’t worry

Much of the post-match analysis will focus on Cristiano Ronaldo's lack of goals and Portugal's toothlessness in attack.

But if I were Portuguese, I’d actually be quite optimistic about the chances of doing well in the knockout rounds.

Portugal need to get out of the group first. A draw against Hungary would probably be enough to claim one of the best third-placed spots, giving them three points with a zero goal difference, but they should beat the eastern Europeans.

It is the fact, however, that they are creating so many chances that suggests Portugal will eventually click in attack.

If they do, given a pretty solid back line, it makes them a dangerous proposition.

They had 18 shots at goal against Austria, Ronaldo missed a penalty, had a goal disallowed and had two great efforts saved. On another day this might have been a 3-0 win.

Of course, this is a common theme with Portugal, going back to Euro 2000, where they often had the better of matches but couldn’t convert their chances. Still, a player like Ronaldo will eventually deliver.

What their struggles might do, if they finish second in the group, is set up a bumper last 16 clash against Italy.

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