João Brandão after defeat to Farense: “It feels unjust” | OneFootball

João Brandão acknowledged a “feeling of injustice” after the 1-3 defeat to SC Farense, describing the result as “a bucket of cold water for a team that fought hard and really wants to win”. The FC Porto B coach also lamented that the team “was unable to make it 2-2 in the moments when they were close to the SC Farense area”.

The coach also highlighted the physical difficulties felt by the Porto side, in which “there are physical aspects where our youth really shows”, and again stressed the objective of “helping the young players grow in their discomfort zone, so they understand that excellence is a habit, it cannot be occasional”: “We always have to be competent in our balance, in duels and in positional play, because every mistake we make is punished heavily. That’s what happened today.”

A defeat that is hard to accept

“There is a feeling of injustice. We started the first half making some technical mistakes in building attacks and that did not allow us to impose our game from the outset. When we got that phase of the game right, we started to come out better and to look more like an FC Porto B side settled in the opponent’s half, creating more situations near the SC Farense box. We knew this game would be marked by the physicality of the SC Farense players, by set pieces and by transitions. That’s how we conceded the goals. First from a set piece, when we were on top in the game, and in the second half we conceded another goal from a set piece and, right at the end, after we lost the ball while playing out from the back, by João Teixeira — a player making a sacrifice who wanted to stay on until the end, at his limit — we ended up conceding the third goal, which is completely unfair on a team that worked and fought very hard, but felt the impact of the physicality in the duels and in the way it could not get out of the pressure areas. There was a big improvement compared to the last match, which was the way we reacted to the incidents of the game and the aggressive way we defended. It is unfair that we were unable to make it 2-2 in moments when we were close to the SC Farense area, at a time when we could even have had a penalty in our favour, and this result is a bucket of cold water for a team that fought hard and really wants to win.”

“The way we step onto the pitch to win and be competitive always has to be there, regardless of the opponent. We know that in some moments there are physical aspects where the youth we have — we have many under-19s on the pitch — really shows, but that is the process and the growth this team has to go through. That is the path we want for this B team and to help these young players grow in their discomfort zone, so they understand that excellence is a habit, it cannot be occasional. We always have to be competent in our balance, in duels and in positional play, because every mistake we make is punished heavily. That’s what happened today, every mistake we made was punished heavily.”

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