Echeverri, Palhinha, Trubin's mins: Marco Silva on Benfica v Gil Vicente | OneFootball

Benfica will play their sixth Liga Portugal Betclic match this Sunday, September 13. Marco Silva’s team, who previewed the clash, host Gil Vicente in the 6th round of the competition, a domestic fixture that comes before the clássico against Porto - who have a major absentee.

"As for Gil Vicente, they are a quality opponent, but they are not coming off a good result. They started the season well and make great use of the flanks and one-on-one situations. Playing at home, we will have to stay focused and show the same quality and the same principles as a team. The quality will come if we maintain those principles, but there is also an opponent on the other side who knows us. In terms of preparation, we already knew the schedule would always be like this, and it has been this way since July 23; we have only had two clear weeks. Now we will have to do our best to win the match"

Prestianni in the Argentina national team?

"Regarding Argentina (a possible call-up for Prestianni), I’m not going to comment; you’ll have to ask the national team coach or wait for the squad announcement. It’s out of my control. Having players in the national teams is a source of pride, even though we lose them. Prestianni has been working very hard in training and that has allowed him to show his best football; he is committed"

Use of Echeverri

"Echeverri? Like others, he has had little time to train. He was already on the bench in the last match and is learning the new dynamics. In his previous team, they played almost with two forwards, but I believe his position is attacking midfielder and he is ready to help the team"

Bah unavailable and pecking order

"Bah is not available. He is recovering well and I was happy to see him on the pitch working individually. Prestianni played more centrally, as I had already said could happen. He is a player in great form. He played more on the right, now more on the left, but I knew he could play in the middle. He interchanged several times with Andreas and I was very pleased. As for pecking order, that doesn’t exist; the players know that at one moment they may be in one place and at another they may be somewhere else"

Palhinha and the Eagles’ quality of play

"Palhinha is not a personal choice of mine, he is a Benfica signing. Sometimes you say a club signed a player the coach did not want. He was my player at Fulham and then went to a big club like Bayern and now he is at a big club like Benfica. As for us being the best, I won’t go there because that is decided at the end. The league is very long"

New signings and fine-tuning a few issues

"The team still has a lot to improve. I congratulated the team after the last match, on yet another difficult pitch, and we produced a sharp display. At the end of the game I congratulated them and told them I was very pleased with the reaction after losing the ball. Our forwards are the first to press. But we have very tough battles ahead. We spoke about Echeverrí, who still has a lot to understand; I gave Soffian (El Karouani) a few minutes in the last match. There is still a lot to improve and many dynamics to work on, and that is only possible with an open mind. If you look at last year’s defensive line, one player’s contract ended, others were sold. We are still only at the beginning of September and there is still a long way to go"

Trubin’s situation and Daniel Banjaqui in the starting line-up?

"I admit that Trubin could play at any moment if needed. We have three goalkeepers: Diogo Ferreira has been playing for the B team and has great potential, and Trubin has been working very hard. As for Banjaqui, I have already told you that we have several options for the position, and he is the most direct one. You will have to wait until tomorrow..."

A team that is competent in every moment

"Without a doubt. People talk a lot about playing well and playing badly, but there is no team that can win if it is not competent in every moment of the game. There is no way around it. If we are not able to react when we lose the ball... we will run into trouble. We had a draw with two completely avoidable errors. It is true that we created a lot, but if we had not conceded we would have won. More than scoring many goals, I think the most important thing is not to concede, and I can already tell you that Gil Vicente will not be easy, because they are a good team"

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