João Brandão gears up to host FC Penafiel in Segunda Liga round four | OneFootball

After a week of regular work, João Brandão wants his team to maintain the level shown in the home match against FC Penafiel, in the fourth round of the Segunda Liga, scheduled for Sunday at 6:00pm and broadcast on Porto Canal. “The last game is already in the same drawer as the first two rounds” and, after “a week of consistency”, the coach wants to see a team that is “consistent, very well organised and able to understand what the game is giving us”.

Facing an opponent he considers particularly demanding, the coach highlights FC Penafiel’s progress in attack, without forgetting the aspects his own team still needs to improve. The goal, he stresses, is to give the fans something to celebrate: “We will be up against an extremely difficult opponent, one that has grown a lot from last year to this one in attacking dynamics, in the variety of its attacking play and also individually, with players who can make the difference at any moment,” warns the coach, pleased that the team “showed signs of growth in the last game in terms of emotional management and the ability to come together to defend the goal,” but aware that it is necessary to develop “physicality and the ability to win duels”. “We have the responsibility and the pleasure of making the fans happy.”

Consolidating the work with wins “It was a week of consistency, during which we tried to keep building a playing idea and an identity. Working after a win brings a different kind of satisfaction, above all because of the validation that the result gives to the team’s growth. We are very focused on the next game, and the last one is in the same drawer as the first two rounds. After analysing it, reflecting on it and understanding what we did well and where we were not as good, we started looking at the next opponent.”

Constant improvement “The team’s growth is daily. Obviously, the match carries important weight in validating all the ideas developed throughout the week, but we demand that the players bring great ambition and very strong energy to training every day. This development work involves the more technical, tactical and physical side, but also the mental side. The team showed signs of growth in the last game in terms of emotional management, the ability to come together, defend the goal and be authoritative. That mental side and the creation of a strong identity are also important.”

The expected difficulties against FC Penafiel “We will be up against an extremely difficult opponent, one that has grown a lot from last year to this one in attacking dynamics, in the variety of its attacking play and also individually, with players who can make the difference at any moment. We have to know how to play throughout the whole game, be effective in the attacking process and understand that, defensively, it is important for us to be very consistent, very well organised and to strategically understand what the game is giving us. In addition, we need a very strong ability to react when we lose the ball and to battle in the more individual and physical side of the game as well.”

Back at their own stadium “Playing at home and in front of our fans always brings extra satisfaction. We have the responsibility and the pleasure of making them happy and of trying to ensure they strongly identify with our identity, our way of playing and our colours. We have the obligation to defend our colours in the best possible way, always with FC Porto’s DNA, and to hope that the fans feel represented and identified with what we do on the pitch.”

What still needs improving “We want to develop our players’ physicality, that ability to win duels and to be intense in certain moments of the game, fundamentally in those with the most chaos. The ability to quickly regain those spaces and those advantages is very important. That is the growth the team needs in order for us to maximise both our individual ability and our ability to create goalscoring situations.”

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