João Brandão on the up: building a winning Porto mentality | OneFootball

With the fourth victory in five matches and the third win in the last three games at Olival (1-0), João Brandão stated that this was the outcome he wanted in order to “create this habit of winning so we can develop players the Porto way.” Aware that “winning is part of FC Porto’s DNA,” the coach praised the “very communicative, dynamic, and compact block” that the “B” team built defensively, pointed out areas to improve “in the offensive transition,” and, when asked about the movement of players between the Club’s different levels, assured that the cohesion and alignment among the coaching staffs “are unequivocal”: “There is only one FC Porto and we always look for the ideal context for the players’ development process, without forgetting the collective ability of all teams to play to win at every level.”

Fair and Desired Result“This was the victory we wanted, we wanted to create this habit of winning so we can develop players the Porto way. Winning is part of FC Porto’s DNA. It was a tough match against a Paços de Ferreira side with a lot of offensive mobility, we expected that and it was very important for our block to be very communicative, dynamic, and compact, and that’s what we did, which allowed us to be defensively stable at many moments and win the ball to exploit spaces. We lacked that offensive transition, it was the moment in the game where we weren’t at our best today. Given the opponent’s mobility, if we had been more precise in our offensive transition and managed more passes out of the pressure zone… that’s what was missing from our game today, but otherwise we managed to create chances and establish ourselves in the opponent’s half, which wasn’t easy due to Paços’ attitude of wanting to press immediately and jump on the ball. There was a great goal in a beautiful play and efficiency right at the start of the game, it was an internal challenge we had and we managed to achieve it.”

Perfect Harmony“It’s unequivocal. We had U17 players training with us during the week who then went to play in Alcochete, others who were and are with us going to play in Seixal for the U19s, our players in the first team who played in the morning today, and even some who trained with the main squad during the week and played for us. There is only one FC Porto and we always look for the ideal context for the players’ development process, without forgetting the collective ability of all teams to play to win at every level.”

Upcoming Challenges Against the Leaders“Those are the challenges that make us grow and give everything every day. I never tire of stressing that these are the same players, the same coaching staff, and the same staff who have been in this process for months. Now we have achieved this reward of points and a different position in the league table. It’s an evolutionary, continuous process in which we remain very alert so that they don’t get distracted, especially since the road is long for them and for the team.”

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