Kevin McCarra of the Guardian sums up the Portugal performance against the Czech Republic yesterday as being edged with ‘a tinge of frustration’ – referring to the lack of total dominance shown by one C. Ronaldo. It’s not enough now for him to have ‘dangerous moments’ – he should impose ‘utter devastation’. That said, the CPI stats for the young man show that he was joint fastest man on the pitch at 29.42 km/h a whole km/h faster than in the first game. His heat maps show that in his ‘ineffectual’ first game he covered a lot more of the pitch, but when he applied himself to covering one area, he scored one and arguably set up both of the other goals.

In the Telegraph, Tim Rich reports that former Croatia coach Miroslav Blazevic has been bemoaning the apparent lack of fitness in his former charges. ‘There look to be clear problems with physique,’ he said. The stats back him up, too – in their opening game, Croatia as a team covered 105,830m, an amount that Castrol Performance Index ambassador Arsene Wenger called ‘disappointing’ when asked for his thoughts on the stats from the first few games. Averaging 9620m per man, this work rate must improve if they are to go further in the competition.

Austrian coach Josef Hickersperger knows that tonight’s game is a ‘must win’ but has promised not to throw caution to the wind and play ‘Hollywood football’, according to Lewis Rutledge from Team Talk. There have been many formations tried during the tournament so far, from the basic 4-4-2, through the 4-5-1 employed by the Czechs, to a successful (so far) Portuguese 4-2-3-1. Hickersperger isn’t going to play ‘two strikers and four attacking midfielders behind them’ in pursuit of a much needed victory. The stats don’t show clearly yet which is the most effective formation, but you can be sure a 4-0-6 isn’t the way forward.

veyDer over at OleOle has posted some thoughts before the Austria vs. Poland game this evening, and it seems he’s happy with what he sees. Comparing the speed and distance charts from the two teams’ first matches, he has noted that the Polish run faster and further in every position, even the goalkeepers!