146 minutes without a shot: grim stat exposes Sporting problem | OneFootball

Sporting have already dropped six points in the first seven rounds of the league, and there is one statistic that helps explain part of Rui Borges’ team’s difficulties in holding on to leads. In the matches where they lost ground, the Lions went through long spells without even managing a shot after going ahead.

According to an analysis by ‘GoalPoint’, Sporting have already racked up 146 minutes without a single shot attempt after scoring. The trend was seen against Estrela da Amadora, Vitória de Guimarães, Famalicão and Arouca, although against the side from Guimarães the green-and-whites still managed to hold on for a 3-2 win.

At Reboleira, the Lions went 36 minutes without a shot, while in Famalicão the spell lasted 12 minutes. The numbers become even more striking in the matches played at Alvalade: 56 minutes against Vitória de Guimarães and 42 against Arouca, after Gonçalo Inácio and Luis Suárez had quickly put Sporting 2-0 up.

The difficulty in controlling leads is not exclusive to this start of the season. Since taking charge, Rui Borges has already overseen ten comebacks with Sporting, but he has also seen the team allow opponents to come back on 17 occasions.

The next opponent appears as one of the coach’s biggest problems in this regard. Sporting have still not managed to beat Braga with Rui Borges on the bench and, in the three meetings between them, the Minho side have always managed to come back after starting behind.

The first two cases happened at Alvalade, with 1-1 draws in 2024/25 and 2025/26, while on the last visit to the Quarry Braga managed to make it 2-2. It is indeed the Minho side that have taken points off Rui Borges’ Sporting the most often after trailing on the scoreboard.

After Braga come Vitória de Guimarães, Benfica and AVS SAD, all with two comebacks against the Lions. After another lead squandered against Arouca, Rui Borges will now have almost three weeks to try to fix a problem that is once again gaining weight ahead of the trip to Minho.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.