Absentees, Suárez and Derry: Rui Borges before Famalicão v Sporting | OneFootball

Rui Borges, Sporting's head coach, previewed this Sunday’s match against Famalicão, corresponding to Matchday 6 of the Liga Portugal Betclic. At the press conference, the Lions' manager also addressed several issues surrounding the team’s current situation, namely Luis Suárez’s start to the season, the confirmed absences of Ibrahima Ba and João Simões, as well as the management of Jesse Derry’s and Nestory Irankunda’s minutes.

"Without a doubt, this is a team that doesn’t have the points it deserves. It’s a team that likes to have the ball and is among those with the most possession. It’s a team that likes to dominate. They don’t have that many points because of their youth. They have a great coach, and perhaps the most experienced one in the league."

Changes and attitude

"We expect only wins. The draw in the first game was not what we expected. We’ve been growing steadily, the team is committed and playing well. Our main focus is the league. Now comes that phase of switching mentality between the Champions League and the league, which isn’t always easy. That’s the coach’s job, to keep the team switched on, because we’re going to face a good team and if we’re not at our best, we’ll suffer. Changes? There may be one or two, but I believe the team is in good shape."

Suárez’s start to the season

"I believe he’ll put up even better numbers. He always works at the limit. Right now he’s playing because Fotis got injured and he’s taken advantage of it. It’s a pleasure to have two great strikers plus Nel, it’s a good headache to have. Suárez is growing after a very demanding season and also with the World Cup. You can see he’s highly motivated to have a great season."

A team in the coach’s image?

"The best Sporting? The team is clearly in the coach’s image, but we’re always improving. There’s a mutual understanding that will make us even stronger, both in scoring goals and not conceding. We’ve grown in that regard and we’ll keep growing."

Doumbia watched by Italy and Ba’s absence

"He’s a kid who is still a long way from where he can get to, because he has immense potential. He still has a lot of street football in him and plays against a CP team the same way he plays in the Champions League, with the same discipline and desire. He has fabulous potential and I’m not surprised the Italy coach came to watch him. Ba? He’s not available."

Switching mentality and criticism of the team

"I don’t look at that... I deal well with whistles and the fans’ dissatisfaction. It says a lot about Sporting’s growth in recent years that even when they win, the fans still aren’t satisfied. Switching mentality? Our Champions League is the league. In the match against Galatasaray, I felt the team wasn’t ready for such an intense first half. Then I had to tell them they were in the best competition in the world and that we had to raise our level, and they took that to heart. Now we’re going to face another great opponent, one that doesn’t have the points it deserves. All that remains is to warn that the level of demand will have to be even higher."

"Simões is out. The plan for Derry is for him to play when the coach feels he deserves to play. Both he and Nes [Irankunda] are in a process of adaptation. I think he’s been developing in a very interesting way and is very close to playing. Nes is also adapting to our football and I believe he will still help the team a lot."

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