Farioli: “AVS improvement is another reason to stay switched on” | OneFootball

Francesco Farioli commented on the match against AVS, scheduled for Monday, adopting a cautious stance by reminding that, although they occupy the last position, the opposing team has recently changed coach and has shown signs of improvement in their results.

AVS, in last place in the League

“If you look at the standings, it’s the last against the first, but the reality is different. Of course, they recently changed coach, the new coach has only managed one game which we analyzed, and we went back to look at his previous experiences. He is a coach with a lot of experience in Portugal, although his last stint wasn’t here. We analyzed the last game, looking for behaviors and common aspects. In my opinion, as you already know, this won’t be a game where we can relax, we really have to stay focused, we have to be very competitive, especially because we’re coming off a week without matches, which is an unusual scenario for us.”

“What I can say is that in the last training sessions, the players showed great motivation, a lot of energy after this short break, and tomorrow we have to be able to bring these vibes onto the pitch to play a great game and fight for the result.”

Improvements of AVS after João Henriques’ arrival

“In the last two games, AVS’s trend was much more positive in terms of results; in the last one, the final stretch didn’t go so well for them, but the feeling is different. That’s one more reason for us to be even more switched on for tomorrow’s game, but we already have plenty of reasons to be attentive and motivated. Sometimes, in a long season, more important than motivation is maintaining discipline, and this team has shown the ability to be consistent and resilient when it’s needed. That’s what I expect for tomorrow’s game: a disciplined team, which is part of Porto’s DNA, and to show quality on the pitch, with aggressiveness and the right spirit so we can finish the year in front of our fans with the best possible feelings.”

FC Porto has found more difficulties against theoretically weaker teams

“That’s your opinion. Modern football presents difficult scenarios, complicated situations, there’s more organization, coaches are getting better and better, in all leagues, at all levels. They also know the players better now and, tactically, we have to find the key to unlock these games. When we face teams that defend with a lower block, the game becomes more dependent on events. Even if we’re playing in the opponent’s half, dominating the game, with high ball possession, sometimes that may not be enough. We need organization, the ability to win individual duels.”

“A good example is the game against Tondela, where in the first half we struggled a lot, not because we were playing badly, but because we didn’t have the ability to speed up the game as we should have and because we had little ability to unlock the game individually. We had a very low percentage of successful dribbles and, in this type of match, individual plays can be the key. I think games against teams that press more or that sit further back are different types of games, different scenarios, and in this case, it requires us to quickly understand the type of game we’re going to have and then find the right solution to succeed.”

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