Morita, Simões or Kochorashvili? Sporting champion reveals who should start | OneFootball

Augusto Inácio believes that, at the moment, João Simões should be a starter in the midfield of Sporting alongside Morten Hjulmand - who saw Frederico Varandas make a decision about his departure in January. The former player, coach, and director of the lions praised the midfielder trained in Alcochete, who has an advantage over the Japanese and the Georgian.

"Only Rui Borges can tell us what we are missing, because when you launch a kid, in Naples, in a Champions game, in a stadium that is not Alvalade, and he showed all that personality, I thought he would have more opportunities. The truth is that in the next game he wasn't even called up, then he's been around, but hasn't had minutes, and, interestingly, he appears with Marseille, in Alvalade, and plays as a starter," he said, to the newspaper A Bola.

For Inácio, the difference between the young player and the competition has been noticeable: "Rui Borges knows what he has, but what is certain is that Morita hasn't reached the level, since the beginning of the season, Kochorashvili hasn't yet shown the security to replace Morita in the starting team, but I think from the game he played in Naples, Simões seems to me the best to play alongside Hjulmand."

"We see that he seems to be better than Morita and Kochorashvili. Besides the personality, he is also the one who supports the striker, who often appears in the area, in the empty space, he is a box-to-box player, but, above all, when he has the ball at his feet, he doesn't lose it easily and that's very good for the team. Of course, everything depends on what the coach is asking, what we see is that the other midfielders come in very little, it's true that in the 3x4x3 system there was that possibility, and Morita often appeared in the area, and Kochorashvili is already in the 4x2x3x1 system and, maybe, doesn't have orders to appear so much in the area. It's all about Rui Borges' game strategy," he added.

Augusto Inácio also pointed out a lesser impact of Hjulmand, compared to past seasons, but points to the captain as indisputable: "This year he hasn't appeared with that vigor and charisma as he played in the other system, where he had another importance. Sometimes it seems to me that he doesn't know if he should stretch the game a bit more, if he should stay, but he gets along well with whoever is by his side, it's him and ten more, but his performance and quality of play have to do with what the coach tells him. But, for me, Hjulmand's importance in the team was much greater in the other system than now. Sometimes, it even seems to me somewhat lost, that he doesn't occupy as much space, precisely because the interior midfielders might not be as involved, as it was in the 3x4x3, and that might be a way for him not to have as much influence."

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