Bah replacement, Sudakov and Bruma: Marco Silva on Moreirense v Benfica | OneFootball

Benfica will play their postponed Liga Portugal Betclic match this Wednesday, September 9. Marco Silva’s team, who previewed the clash — and is annoyed with the board — will visit Moreirense in the 3rd round of the competition and wants a win to draw level with Sporting and cut the gap to Porto.

"A very difficult match awaits us, on a very difficult ground. Moreirense will force us to be at our very best to take the three points, which is what we want, and if possible with a good performance. That is not always possible, also because of the opponent in front of us. Moreirense have been performing at a good level and we will have to be at our best."

Schjelderup’s form

"He has been giving us good signs and we have seen the player we praised. He is a player of great quality, but he did not return from the World Cup in the best condition and had to 'reset.' He has not been a starter, but for me he is a starter in this Benfica team, although there is no need to take Prestianni out to play him. As for Sudakov, I understand the question, but I would rather not feed it. The signs? They are the signs Tomás gives, Lenglet gives..."

Aursnes’s recovery

"It is not difficult at all for me to sort out the squad. When we have good pieces, it is not difficult at all. These are those selection headaches and good dilemmas that we will manage to fit together in the best way, in the way I think — you may not agree. Fredrik is finally ready to help; in the last match we chose not to take too many risks because of the condition of the pitch. But he is a very important player and he makes us stronger. With Fredrik at his level, the team is stronger."

Rotation in the coming weeks

"The season is long, with the number of matches we are going to have, with the Europa League... Thursday and Sunday. We have to rotate because the workload is enormous. In this case, playing on Wednesday gives us a bit more time, but I also do not want to get too far ahead... After Sunday we will have to assess the team’s condition. The team is quite balanced — not in terms of minutes — so rotation could even happen before the break."

Schjelderup on the bench and Sudakov as the 'ugly duckling'

"Regarding Andreas (Schjelderup), I can say that he is loving life, with a smile on his face. Only a happy player comes on the way he did in the last match. Only someone who is happy trains the way he has been training. He knows he did not come back from the World Cup in the best shape, he had a great World Cup and was not always a starter. He is loving life... Is Sudakov the ugly duckling? When he stops being that, they will find another one. This criticism cannot affect the player and I have not yet had any conversation with him about it. It has been more about what I want from him. If I feel the criticism affects him, then I will have to protect him."

Bah’s replacement

"We have several options; the only natural one is Banjaqui. We chose to give him minutes with the B team. We have several solutions, one of them is Tomás (Araújo). If you notice, there have been many changes in our defensive line. Tomás has played half the minutes so far, António left and so did Otamendi. In the last match we chose not to take him out of the central channel in order to create some stability [in the center of defense]. He can play at full-back, he gives us more build-up although not as much attacking projection. We chose another solution (Kaminski) that gives us projection and plays in that position for the national team, more in a back three. There is also Circati, who is more positional, or Fredrik. I will not reveal who will play, but naturally there is Banjaqui."

El Karouani and Echeverri

"Yes, they have both been called up."

João Palhinha’s impact

"Yes, we already knew what João would bring, with the combative and aggressive approach — in a good way — that Marítimo imposed. João fits that style of play very well. We demand something very specific from the number 6 position without the ball, and he will have time to understand it. Enzo also took a little while. But we are very happy with João, who knows the details of Portuguese football very well. Also because he is Portuguese, he will not have any difficulty adapting."

Bruma’s exclusion

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