Dedic, skipper and Prestianni could leave; Marco Silva on Benfica draw | OneFootball

he analyzed, in the press room at Tynecastle Park, the draw between Benfica and Hearts (1-1) in the second leg of the 3rd qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Check out everything the Benfica coach said after the clash in Scotland.

Your analysis of the match

— "The first half was better than the second. In the first half we saw very positive things: we managed to dominate, control the game well and create chances, with another ball off the woodwork. The number of chances was not as high as in recent games, but it was enough for us to go into the break ahead. And the second half was not positive. Basically, looking at both halves, we are much more satisfied with the first half. The second half was not at the level we are capable of. We already expected some players to have some difficulty sustaining the game at the pace we wanted, and that was clear when we didn’t have the ball. We were not as aggressive on the ball as we have been in recent games, and clearly there are players who need to build that capacity. They haven’t played enough minutes to be able to cope and play with the intensity, with and without the ball, that we want. We went through to the next round as we wanted, that was the objective, with a win at home [6-1] and a draw away [1-1]. We wanted to come here and win and keep the first-leg result intact, but we couldn’t. Overall, we got through the tie and, at the same time, it allowed us to look at players and manage things. Not that we wanted to be in one game already thinking about the next, but it also allowed us to do that for Monday’s game."

Lenglet as captain

— "I wanted to be very clear and I gave you the five in sequence and the hierarchy. You will hardly ever see, if we have the option, a goalkeeper as captain. Samu last year, contrary to what many people said, was already part of Benfica’s captains. A lot of people found it very strange that he would continue this year. Maybe they expected me to arrive at Benfica and strip Samuel of the captaincy. Whenever possible, and whenever we feel we should do it, Benfica’s captain will be an outfield player, regardless of the defined hierarchy. Being part of a group of captains is much more than wearing the armband, it is much more than that. For us it is very important to have an outfield player as captain and whenever we want that and it is possible, that is what we will try to do."

Lenglet coming off at half-time

— "It is linked to planning. We have to be smart and cautious in how we manage things. We are competing every three days. At this stage of the season there is not yet much physical or mental fatigue, it will be more complicated in November, December or January, but at the same time we need to be cautious. Tomás still doesn’t have that many weeks of work, and Lenglet himself didn’t start the first few days with us. After the result we got in the first leg and the excellent game we played, we knew we had to be serious and ambitious to try to win tonight, but at the same time it allowed us two things: to give minutes to players I wanted to see in competition, it is different seeing them there, and I wanted to give them as many minutes as I could. We made seven changes, which always has an impact from one game to the next. Of those seven players, six had not started a single game this season yet and that was very important for us. We had planned to manage Enzo’s workload and that of the centre-backs. We had planned to give 45 minutes to each one, nothing happened to Lenglet. The objective was to give Manu the full 90 minutes in a position he knows, but where he has not played as much, and at the same time manage the two centre-backs we currently have in order to give him competitive match practice."

Can Sudakov’s ability to adapt to these dynamics that Marco wants to implement earn him more playing time and a bigger role in Benfica’s attacking play?

— "That is what we expect. We are giving him pathways and some positioning on the pitch so that the ball reaches him in good conditions, as it did so many times tonight. If we count, especially in the first half, the number of balls Sudakov managed to receive between the lines, even inside the box at certain moments, we can see that these are the pathways we want to give him. We want to make sure the ball reaches him in good conditions and that he can beat his direct opponent. In the first half we managed that, even for Andreas himself on the left flank; it was often through that side that we managed to reach the final third. It seems to me that we lacked a bit more decisiveness in the final decision and above all greater aggression inside the box so that we could create even clearer scoring chances. We know Sudakov is a player with different characteristics from Ríos, who played on the other side of our triangle, from Leandro or Fredrik when he plays. That is what we want to give the player in that position: not to roam around the attacking front and to have patience. That is where creativity has to come from, and other things that are important at this level."

José Neto

— "We felt it was the right moment for him to start, his debut in European competitions for a young player. A player who is very intelligent, not only on the pitch but off it too, who understands well what we want and who naturally still has to grow. It is better for him to grow while competing than not competing. And whenever we can and feel it is the right moment to give him the opportunity, we have to give it. He had a good pre-season, he is a player in whom we, at Benfica, have a lot of belief. We believe he can become a very important player for the club. A player who turned 18 in April, very young, like Banjaqui, Anísio, Miguel [Figueiredo]. Being able, little by little, to give them games and competitive moments at this level is important for their development. And tonight was the moment for Neto. He had some difficulties, he felt a click in his shoulder in the first half. A first half with some good moments on the ball, helping to support the triangle on the left side with Sudakov and Andreas. In the build-up to the goal as well, where he managed to move into a more central area and then had the ability to pick out the pass to Lukebakio. That is what we want to give him, often building with a back three with him as the highest-positioned player and then freeing himself into the flank to complete our triangle. In defensive moments he knows he has to grow in terms of the aggression the game demands, but he is a player we believe in a lot."

Amar Dedic

— "The market has zero influence on my decisions. If at any moment I am told that player A, B or C is no longer a Benfica player, that is one thing. Until I am told that, as far as I am concerned there is no market that controls my decisions, and I guarantee you that. My objective is always to look at what is in the best interests of Sport Lisboa e Benfica. As for Dedic, that was the decision we made. I care very little about what is happening behind the scenes, which is also normal at this point in the market. We want players and other clubs want players too, it is part of the market, and that has zero influence on my decisions and on what I think is best for Benfica. It will absolutely be that way until the last day and the last minute of the transfer window."

You said today’s game would be useful for tests. What certainties do you leave with and what will you take from it for the rest of the season?

— "I said it would be a game to look at players. There is no test or not a test here. I already know them from training, of course I did my analysis before arriving, but I need to see them in competition. I need to see how they react in positive moments, less negative ones, and moments of pressure, which today was not as great because of the result we had. The very good work we did in the first game allowed us to do it with more calm and more confidence in this game. Changing seven players from one game to the next when we are at the start of the season, getting to know the ideas of a new coaching staff with some players arriving, all of that perhaps requires a bit more consistency in the starting eleven, and we decided differently. I liked the first half in many moments, I didn’t like the second half as much, and we will analyze it all together so that they understand why the first half had many positive things and the second not so much. And now we move on to the next one, which is Casa Pia, and that is the most important thing.

Possible departure of Dedic

— "You have information, you are better informed than I am, so that is also normal, it is part of your job. I am not going to comment on what appears in the media. I made the decision I thought was best for Benfica and it will always be that way. Benfica’s interests will always come before anything else while I am here in this chair and am Benfica’s coach, without any doubt."

You have Prestianni in good form, Schjelderup started, you chose to use Lukebakio, and there is also Kaminski, who cost Benfica 17 million. Is that a lot of financial effort for a third or fourth option?

— "You said Prestianni was in good form... no. Prestianni is in great form. ‘Also in good form’ seems far too little for what he has been doing. I know it is only a glimpse, it has been only a few games and, as you have also been saying, very easy ones. But the reality is that he is in very, very good form. He has been a player I have really liked watching, not only in games. Of course the game is the final test, but also in his daily application, his work in training, the heart he has, the soul he puts into the game. I really like these types of players and that is precisely why he showed during pre-season that as soon as his suspension ended he would become a key piece for us, and I am very pleased. And if we are Benfica and we want to win games and approach competitions with ambition, it is not enough to have only one or two good players. If we want to be competitive on Saturday or Sunday and then again on Thursday, we need a lot of people working and fighting for places. I understand your analyses and they are yours and you are fully entitled to make them. I am not going to stand here commenting on the price of player A, B, C or D because that is not my job with you, regardless of the great respect I have for your questions. What matters to me is that there is competitiveness, that Benfica is capable of fighting for places and that there is competition during the week, because that is the only way players grow. If a player is too comfortable, he definitely will not grow, and I like them to have doubts, to feel doubts, because only that way can we become better."

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