“Jorge Jesus? It’s a big risk, but the players have faith…” | OneFootball

Beto, the former Portugal international goalkeeper, analyzed the national team’s rapid adaptation to Jorge Jesus’s ideas ahead of the home match against Norway, for the fourth round of Nations League Group A4. Alongside the team’s collective progress, defensive stability and ambition to build its own identity, he also issued a warning about the complexity of the process: “there is a big risk”.

Portugal, the trophy holders and clear group leaders with nine points, can secure a place in the quarter-finals on Sunday if they take at least a point against Norway at the Estádio do Dragão. With 16 caps between 2009 and 2018 and a Nations League title in 2019, Beto sees a team increasingly close to what Jorge Jesus wants, despite the limited time they have had to work together.

For the former international, the way the players are absorbing the coach’s ideas is one of the clearest signs of this early stage of the new cycle. The level of demand is high, but the group’s response has sustained the transformation.

“The opinion is unanimous: they are quickly absorbing the ‘boss’s’ ideas,” he stressed. “The difficulty with Jorge Jesus is applying a lot of ideas in a match situation and there is a big risk, but, so far, the players have trusted the process and that is important. You can see that growth in the team, in the players’ confidence and in their good positioning and competitive attitude, very much in the image of what the coach wants.”

That progress, he added, can already be seen in the team’s collective behavior, both in the reaction after losing the ball and in the freedom given to players in attacking moments.

“In any area of the pitch, there is a strong and aggressive reaction to try to win the ball back,” he argued. “We see a lot of consistency in the defensive side and then freedom and creativity in attack. I don’t think there are many national teams that go to Denmark and score four goals. This reflects what the ‘boss’ is giving, by placing players in areas where they feel more comfortable and confident and contribute more to the team’s dynamics.”

The picture drawn by Beto is of a national team trying to balance discipline and talent. Organization does not appear as a brake on creativity, but as the platform that allows players to appear in areas where they can have greater influence.

A week after the 2-1 win in Oslo, Portugal meet Norway again, the third-placed team in the group. Beto expects an opponent true to its characteristics, but he hopes to see a more dominant Portugal in the way it manages the match.

“As for Norway, I believe it will be a match along the same lines as the previous one. It is a team with a physical profile, but also technical quality,” he said. “Now, what I expect to be different is Portugal having more control. They knew how to suffer in Norway, because that was also necessary, but they will begin to create their own DNA in possession, regardless of the opponent.”

More than repeating the result, the former goalkeeper expects progress in the way Portugal controls the game. The ability to suffer will still be necessary, but the ambition is to impose an identity that does not depend on the opponent’s characteristics.

Beto, who worked with Jorge Jesus at Sporting in 2016/17, also highlighted the emotional dimension of the coach’s arrival at the Portugal national team. For the former international, the coach’s commitment has been matched by the group from the very beginning.

“The ‘boss’ is fulfilling the dream of coaching his country’s national team, which he loves so much,” he said. “From the moment there is commitment and passion, he puts his knowledge, talent and experience at Portugal’s service and that carries across to the players, because there has to be great chemistry among everyone. It seems to me that this has been happening practically since minute one and, if this communion is positive, then obviously the national team, which was already among the world’s best, can take another step toward perhaps even greater objectives.”

Chemistry thus emerges as a piece just as important as the tactical side. In Beto’s view, the quality that already exists can reach another level if the connection between coach and players continues to strengthen.

With few training sessions available since work began, the former goalkeeper also valued the repeated use of the same back four in the three matches. In his view, continuity is essential to create automatisms and provide security in front of Diogo Costa.

“It is difficult to work on top of matches if we are always changing pieces in key areas, such as the defense. If we want to create routines, we need insistence and persistence and, when there are no training sessions, it has to be done in matches,” he said. “There is neither room nor time for major changes in a sector he values greatly. Matches may be won up front, but titles are won from back to front.”

That stability does not mean, however, that the national team can become dependent on too small a core group. Beto argued for building a backbone, without closing the door on preparing all the players to respond when called upon.

“The national team cannot live off 12 players and everyone has to be imbued with this spirit and ready to respond at any moment. It is important that they understand the coach’s idea in match situations,” he noted.

Between the need to establish routines and the obligation to broaden the options, Jorge Jesus faces a decisive balancing act. For Beto, the foundations are already becoming visible: a team that is safer, more competitive and connected to a shared idea.

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