Jorge Amaral: “FC Porto’s attack lacks firepower” | OneFootball

FC Porto wrapped up their run of pre-season matches on Sunday morning with a narrow win over São João de Ver in a game played behind closed doors. With Francesco Farioli putting the finishing touches on preparations for the official start of the 2026/27 season, there has been one common feature in all the friendlies played: the inconsistency shown by the defence.

Unlike last season, when the defensive unit was decisive in helping the Dragons win the league title, pre-season has been marked by goals conceded in all six matches played. Even so, Jorge Amaral does not believe the situation is cause for alarm.

Speaking exclusively to Desporto ao Minuto, the former FC Porto player said he is more concerned about the team’s attacking output. In his view, some defensive shortcomings can be corrected as the season unfolds and as routines are established in a more settled starting eleven.

“Conceding a goal to a team like Aston Villa, and in the way it happened, is worth what it’s worth. For example, conceding a goal like the one they conceded against Gil Vicente… if that had been a normal FC Porto team, it would be a cause for concern because those are basic, childish mistakes. That would be worrying. They conceded against Gil Vicente in the final stage of the match, already without full-backs and with the whole team completely disjointed. I think that’s a bit irrelevant,” he said.

“The problem is if there are repeated errors because of a specific weakness in one area, a lack of pressure, a lack of positioning. If that is the case, then the coaching staff following this pre-season has to be concerned. For us on the outside, I think the important thing is that when it starts to matter, the team feels like it has a solid foundation, and it should have one because it is practically last year’s team, it should have. In defensive terms, the first ones to apply pressure are the players up front. Maybe details of that kind of pressing are not happening. In this pre-season, I don’t think that is very worrying because coaches want to see new things, they are trying out new situations. I think that’s irrelevant and not very worrying, but it’s something to keep an eye on,” he stressed.

Following the success achieved in 2025/26, Jorge Amaral admits the blue-and-white squad may be playing with a certain degree of overconfidence, even if unintentionally.

“When this team came together last season, there were new players discovering a lot of new things, with a great ability to absorb everything they were being given and probably with much higher levels of concentration. It is very natural that, after a season like the one they had, there may be a relaxation that is not intentional. They see that things went well and that now they will certainly go well again,” he stressed.

“The team is practically the same, there is not much new, they already know what needs to be done, and then the players sometimes forget that there has to be continuity from what happened last year. Now they have to maintain this modus operandi of a team that really cannot afford to fail,” he added.

The former footballer also praised FC Porto’s goalkeepers, although he acknowledged that the absence of Diogo Costa during preparations deprived the squad of an important leadership voice.

“Just changing goalkeepers in practically every match is enough for that to happen, and that is not questioning Cláudio Ramos, João Costa, or whoever it may be. You only have to remove one piece who is a leader and part of the team’s diamond. It is very important for the team to know who they have behind them. The goals conceded have not had anything to do with the goalkeepers; they are more related to details, to lower levels of concentration at the moment of action in the game, when one or another player may make an individual mistake and the team may fail collectively,” Jorge Amaral pointed out.

With the transfer window still open for more than another month, the former player believes the Dragons’ attack needs to be strengthened with greater finishing ability.

“Even with the arrival of André Silva, I think one of the areas where FC Porto is struggling greatly, and it already was last year from the moment Samu left, is the lack of firepower inside the box, the ability to overwhelm teams and create lots of scoring chances. For me, what’s missing is for the wingers to give more dimension to the team’s play on the ball than they do defensively. The wide players give that dimension to the game off the ball, but with the ball that dimension is not always there. They show that in a lot of work rate and mutual support, but then perhaps because they work so hard and fight so much for the ball, in that moment when everything has to be decided, when there has to be thought, things are different,” the former Portugal international noted.

“I would like to see more of Gabri Veiga and Rodrigo Mora using their greater technical ability instead of always chasing the ball. FC Porto lack fire, that attacking nastiness to batter opponents with lots of shots. If you ask me what I think is missing, that’s it. Do these players have the ability? I think they do, but that box predator—I hope André Silva, and I think he was a great signing, can bring that when the matches start to really matter and different things begin to show,” he concluded.

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