150 games for Sporting, Rui Borges one of the club's best coaches | OneFootball

Francisco Barão, former Sporting defender, agrees with Frederico Varandas’ decision to keep Rui Borges as head coach of the first team. Despite the fans’ criticism - and Rui Borges’ future not seeming certain - with the team having drawn three of its first seven league matches, the Portuguese coach continues to have the club’s backing.

In the view of the former coach of the Lions’ B team, Frederico Varandas is the right person to assess the coach’s day-to-day work, and he believes the president will know what is best for the club. “Those on the inside have the chance to observe the work being done every day,” he told the newspaper Record.

“Rui Borges is one of the best coaches to have worked at Sporting in terms of points won and titles achieved. Therefore, if there is confidence in his work, then what should be done is to support him until the end. That is why this is a correct decision by Frederico Varandas.”

Regarding the recent draws, Barão believes the blame lies with the Lions: “Looking at it more broadly, Sporting have dropped points through their own fault, because of individual mistakes and some unexpected red cards. Things that, very often, are beyond the coach’s control.”

As for Debast’s sending-off, he believes it is not a reason to call Rui Borges’ position into question: “As we coaches usually say, situations of numerical disadvantage are also something you train for. Teams are prepared for situations of both numerical inferiority and superiority, because that can completely alter the team’s strategy for a given match. The team has to be ready for every scenario, and the impression at Sporting is that these aspects still need work. In this last game, against Arouca, Sporting are playing at home, they have the obligation to control the game better and even hurt the opponent in transition.”

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