FC Porto B host FC Vizela on Monday at 18:00 in Olival | OneFootball

In the fifth round of the Segunda Liga, FC Porto B face FC Vizela (Monday, at 6pm), in a match that João Brandão sees as a “great challenge” against “a competent opponent and a perennial candidate for promotion”. The coach highlights the advantage of playing at Olival and hopes for a strong turnout from the fans, while also calling for patience and high standards at this early stage of the season. Annual Seat holders have free entry to the mini-stadium at Olival.

FC Vizela “We are going up against a competent opponent and a perennial candidate for promotion, one that this year has renewed that ambition by keeping the best players in the Segunda Liga, such as Heinz Mörschel and Bright Godwin, and by strengthening the squad with the experience of Luís Rocha and Anthony Carter, a historic goalscorer in the Segunda Liga. However, I am certain that FC Vizela will also come up against a competent team, with very strong energy, focused on growing and on what it needs to add to its game, with players who badly want a win and who are eager to deliver a different performance from the one they produced in the last league match, but who are also proud of what they managed to build in the Youth League match.”

Home advantage “Playing at home in front of our fans is always an advantage. We always feel extra motivation when we play at home, in our own space and in front of our supporters. I hope they turn out in force and show the necessary patience at this early stage of the season, while still being demanding in line with FC Porto’s standards, which are to play to win, to play with commitment, ability, focus and concentration.”

Game plan “We are going to face a context similar to that of the opening rounds. We are by far the team that suffers the most fouls, and our opponents clearly have the intention of stopping our game and intimidating our players through fouls. By the fifth round, we have already suffered 93 fouls, a gap of 16 fouls compared to the second-most fouled team, but on the other hand we also come away from matches with the feeling that the opponent gets away unpunished for that aggressiveness. This is the context we are facing today in the Segunda Liga, and one we have to adapt to. It is something we do not control and cannot change. The only thing we can change is our attitude towards that context, by being bold, aggressive and stopping play when we have to do so. Above all, we have to be much more intense in our passing, preventing the opponent from making contact or stopping our game. We have to be very purposeful in the final third and have a very strong ability to react when we lose the ball, in keeping with our attacking positional play and by bringing numbers around the ball in those moments of loss of possession.”

Positive week “It was a very positive week, not only because of the match we had in midweek, but because of the energy the team showed in the early part of it. The team felt it did not perform well in the last league match, and it is essential that we understand our problems so that we can then solve them. In the Youth League match we performed well in a different competition; it was a very positive game from my perspective. But now we have a new challenge with a new story, in which we have to play to the maximum of our ability, focus and intent if we want to get what we want from this game: victory.”

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