Former Sporting man eyes Rui Silva's spot: no one looked back again | OneFootball

Nelson Pereira, the former Portuguese international goalkeeper who stood between the posts for Sporting and Estrela da Amadora, the teams facing each other this Saturday at 8:30 pm in Matchday 29 of the league, did not hold back in his praise for Rui Silva.

"It is the position where there are the fewest changes, and Rui Silva deserves full credit for the season he is having, knowing that he cannot relax because those right behind him also want the spot [João Virgínia and Diego Callai], and this healthy competition makes goalkeepers better and better; competitiveness leads to a rise in the quality they are required to have," he began by telling newspaper A Bola.

The former Sporting goalkeeper has no doubt that the signing of Rui Silva from Real Betis in January 2025 was a successful move by the green-and-whites. "He arrived with great maturity and, if Gyökeres was important in winning the title, we cannot forget the stability Rui Silva brought to the team. No one was looking over their shoulder anymore, because they felt very secure with the goalkeeper in goal. That was decisive."

When tactical systems are described, the notation is 4x2x3x1, now also used by Rui Borges, without ever including the goalkeeper in that structure. However, Nélson Pereira argues that this way of representing the system should be reconsidered, claiming that the goalkeeper’s role is becoming increasingly decisive at different moments of the game, especially in the build-up phase.

"I think there is an oversight that has to start being corrected: teams play with 11 in the tactical system, not 10, so please add the 1 [laughs]. Football has evolved, and that evolution has allowed for greater integration of the goalkeeper in all phases of the game and, looking at Saturday’s match [tomorrow], we are even talking about two goalkeepers, Rui Silva and Renan [he played three and a half seasons for Sporting], who are very involved and comfortable with the ball at their feet; they are important elements in their teams’ strategies," he stressed.

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