This Friday, the Benfica coach reaffirmed his goal of winning the I Liga title and highlighted the importance of adding three points against Desportivo de Chaves, to then compete for first place against Sporting.
“We want to be champions this year too and do something special in the European competitions. Of course, we didn’t start well, but now we have to focus on tomorrow.” [sábado]”Work on our situation in the League, get three points and have the opportunity to fight for first place in the next home game,” said Roger Schmidt, at a press conference in Seixal.
Asked if this is his most important week at the helm of Benfica, the coach preferred to point out a “step by step” path, but did not hide his ambition for the different competitions in question.
“We started well on Tuesday to maintain our chances in the League Cup. Tomorrow [sábado]We need three points in Chaves and that is our total objective. Then we can talk about the Champions League,” he summarized.
In Trás-os-Montes, the coach expects an opponent “with new energy” after the recent change of coach and “fighting for their chances, like last year”, when Benfica lost there 1-0, in which the team has “memories”.
Regarding the new tactical approach that the red and white team presented during their visit to Arouca, with a system of three centre-backs, the coach recalled that we must “find solutions” to counteract the wave of injuries in the squad, which affects players like “David Neres, Alex Bah and Orkun Kokçu.”
“If we have injuries, we have to look for solutions. We play with a different formation, it was an option, but we play the same football. We don’t change the style, just the distribution of the field a little,” analyzed Schmidt.
The coach said that he does not know if Bah and Kokçu will be ready to face Sporting next week, but acknowledged that he believes that “they cannot play” and, therefore, the new tactical system could continue to be an option in the next matches.
“The first game was good and in our situation, with the players we have available, it gives us good control on the field. It is an option for the future. For tomorrow [sábado]for the next games, but of course we can also play with our other formation,” he admitted.
Benfica visits Desportivo do Chaves on Saturday, in a match of the 10th round of the I Portuguese Football League, scheduled for 3:30 p.m., at the Manuel Branco Teixeira Municipal Stadium, in Chaves, and refereed by Hélder Malheiro ( AF Lisbon). ).
The team led by Roger Schmidt remains in second position in the championship, three points behind Sporting, after losing ground in the previous round, against Casa Pia (1-1), and receives the lions in the next round of the competition.
Source: TSF
