Tiago Gouveia: Apart from 3 goals, Porto created few chances | OneFootball

Tiago Gouveia assessed the outcome of the 5th round of the regular phase of the Europa League. At Estádio do Dragão, FC Porto hosted Nice and won 3-0. In statements to Sport TV, the player, on loan from Benfica, commented on a recurring problem:

“What has happened to us several times happened again, which is conceding a goal in the opening minutes. It happened against Fenerbahçe, it happened now with FC Porto, and it’s happened in other matches as well. Naturally, that completely changes the direction of the game. We came here with a well-structured strategy, a strategy that, even when losing 0-1 and 0-2, you could see was working because FC Porto, apart from the three goals, practically didn’t create any other chances.”

Gouveia acknowledged that Nice had merit in some aspects, but pointed out shortcomings:

“Of course, it’s easy to talk afterwards, it’s true, but I think we did some things well, things we need to keep doing with more consistency because this team has a lot of quality, as I mentioned in the pre-match interview. I think that’s what we’re missing, consistency, concentration for longer periods. It’s normal that over 90 minutes there’s a lapse in concentration, it happens to every team, there are no perfect teams. I myself, in my first game as a starter, had two lapses in concentration against Brest and we immediately started losing 0-2.”

“That’s what we need to improve, myself and my teammates. We have to be able to maintain consistency and concentration throughout the 90 minutes so that we can take the game to the end with a chance to win. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that because we conceded a goal just 20 seconds into the game. Even so, the team was mentally strong, tried, we also had some chances, not many, but we did have some. The result ends up being fair, but I believe we could have had a say if we hadn’t conceded a goal so early,” he added.

Gouveia commented on Nice’s less positive period:

“Yes, it’s not easy and when we concede an early goal, the ‘little monkeys’ in your head come. The moment is bad, but I believe we’re going to turn things around. One of the coaches I had, Nélson Veríssimo, used to say that football is like a courtroom. We were judged today and next Sunday we’ll be judged again and we have the opportunity to turn things around. That’s what we’re going to try to do, get the three points and turn the situation around.”

Gouveia spoke about Nice supporters leaving after the third goal conceded:

“It’s not easy for them, I’ve been on that side [the fans] and I know it’s tough when things aren’t going well, but it’s up to us to turn things around, the players, staff, coaching team, the whole club. We live off them, they live off us. Their week won’t be the same when we lose. The next few days won’t be easy after today’s defeat. I went through that many years ago and, in fact, I still go through it from time to time. It’s normal, we have to respect them. Unfortunately, we haven’t given them the respect they deserve, because making these trips isn’t easy. We need to have more respect for them, fight more and want more to turn things around.”

Asked whether FC Porto are candidates for the Europa League title:

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