The championship looks like a mirage (in sixth place, already 12 points away from leader Benfica), the team is out of the Portuguese Cup (eliminated in the first round against Varzim, in Liga 3), outside the Champions League and with a – no access to the round of 16 to play in the Europa League. This is Sporting’s dark scenario in early November. In other times, no coach could resist this bad campaign in a short time. But Rúben Amorim is safe in his position and has all the confidence of SAD leonina.
“It is not normal that a Sporting coach has to endure so many setbacks.” The phrase was said by Rúben Amorim himself, in the wake of the defeat with Eintracht Frankfurt, which dictated the removal of the Champions’ lions. And actually you are absolutely right. In an identical and even less serious situation, several technicians were laid off before the end of the calendar year in this century.
Dutchman Marcel Keizer, who played only five games in his second season with Alvalade (2019-20), shot at the beginning of September. He left the team in fifth place, three points behind leader Famalicão, and left after a 2-3 home defeat to Rio Ave on matchday four. The defeat against Benfica (5-0) in the Super Cup final also weighed in.
Previously, José Peseiro had also suffered the effects of the whip, in 2018-19, being ousted from office on November 1 after losing at home to Estoril (1-2), in a League Cup group stage match. He left the club in fifth position in the championship, two points behind leaders FC Porto and Sp. Braga, and one from Benfica and Rio Ave, and in the second position of Group E of the Europa League, just behind Arsenal.
Serbian Sinisa Mihajlovic does not enter these bills because he has not even warmed the bank. He was hired by Bruno de Carvalho and did not lead the team. These accounts also do not include interim coaches, such as Leonel Pontes, Oceano and Tiago Fernandes.
In the 2012-13 season, Ricardo Sá Pinto also could not resist the poor results and left his position at the beginning of October, for a classic at FC Porto. The former Lions player could not resist a defeat (3-0) with Videoton, from Hungary, in the Europa League. He left the club in fourth place in the championship, 20 (!) points behind leaders FC Porto, outside the Europa League, the Portuguese Cup (Alverca still fell) and after being eliminated in the semi-finals of the League Cup.
Paulo Bento, the second longest serving coach in Lions history, left at the start of the 2009-10 season, in the first week of November. In this case on his own initiative, “because he understands that the conditions to remain in the technical leadership of the team are not met”. The Lions occupy seventh place in the I Liga, 12 less than the leader, Sp. Braga, and they had not qualified for the Champions League.
Previously, and only citing Sporting’s campaigns since 2000, José Peseiro had also left office in early October 2005, and Augusto Inácio in early December 2000, after a heavy defeat to Benfica.
Stubbornness, choices and poor planning
This list of examples proves that in Alvalade there has never been so much “patience” with a coach on the part of the managers as in the case of Rúben Amorim, whose contract does not expire until 2024. The fact that he did not give up his game system and in relation to some choices, but the great justification lies in the poor planning of the season, with the departures of three heavyweights – Matheus Nunes, João Palhinha and Sarabia – whose vacancies were not properly filled.
Until you see, the position of Rúben Amorim, who was national champion for Sporting in 2020-21, is safe. The evaluation will take place at the end of the season, he says, and then some definition can come. On the part of SAD or the coach. What is certain is that Amorim, who will be linked to the lions until 2024, has an escape clause of 30 million euros.
“The contracts are made in the trust of both parties. As long as I’m happy at Sporting, there’s no need for money, if they want to send me away, it’s a matter of paying. But the project is my face. It’s however, time and in two weeks we could be in a different environment,” the coach said in March 2021.
When asked after the defeat to Bayer Leverkusen whether chairman Frederico Varandas should show up, the coach answered immediately. “No one is allowed to show their face, because this is a sporting part. The president and Hugo Viana are not responsible for the fact that the team was eliminated from the Cup by Varzim, twelve points away from the League and eliminated from the Champions “Me and I think it’s good that it’s for me. We’re on the same page. I’d feel belittled and unhelped if they came to defend me now on race day,” he said, admitting that “more than the half of the season is lost because the goals fell”, but that “as long as there is a goal and a plan for the future, nothing is lost”.
Source: DN
