Sporting’s football coach, Rúben Amorim, assumed the candidacy for the national title this Friday and, for this, he wants to start off on the right foot and win this Saturday’s victory in the reception of Vizela.
Rúben Amorim, who was speaking at a press conference prior to the meeting with the locals, began by taking stock of the preseason, acknowledging that “it was well planned.”
“It was a preseason as it should be. We had a lot of young people in the group, who grew up. We were testing our way of playing. We had some good results, we didn’t win the last game (loss against Everton, 1-0), but the performance was good,” he acknowledged.
At the moment, Sporting has only one announced reinforcement (Viktor Gyökeres), although Rúben Amorim admits that a medium term could arrive in the short term (everything points to the Danish Morten Hjulmand).
As for the departures, there were several, but the coach says that the scenario is different from last season, in which the lions saw several starters leave. This time only Ugarte came out.
“Chermiti is a player we counted on, but we had to make decisions. Viktor Gyökeres has similar characteristics. We made a financial adjustment. It was the club’s decision to let Chermiti go to Everton. Fatawu and Talongo will rotate to other clubs or who knows what we might receive another central midfielder. Fatawu had his opportunities, Catamo appeared, which has the same characteristics, so we want it to grow in another reality,” he said.
Deprived of Nuno Santos, who will just begin to integrate training without limitations next week, Rúben Amorim wants to start the championship with a victory, then another and another, until he wins the national title again.
“Our objective is to beat Vizela and win all the titles in Portugal. After Vizela, think about the match with Casa Pia. Sporting is a candidate for the title. I feel that the team is capable and I believe in that. It is our objective. It is think game by game. We know that the championship is very difficult. We have to lower the average number of goals conceded compared to last season”, he admitted.
Regarding the Dutch defender St. Juste, the ‘lions’ coach says that Sporting is doing everything possible for him to recover in the best possible way and to be a world-class player.
Asked about the match of the Portuguese Super Cup, about arbitration matters, Rúben Amorim was clear: “I won’t have any kind of comment. I’m only focused on Sporting”.
This Saturday, Sporting will receive Vizela, at 8:30 p.m., in a match of the first day of the I Liga, which will be refereed by André Narciso, from AF Setúbal.
Source: TSF
