José Mourinho on Benfica’s defensive changes: “I can’t do this” | OneFootball

José Mourinho explained the changes he made to Benfica's defense, when he placed Tomás Araújo in the position usually held by António Silva, in the match against Arouca, which ended with a 5-0 scoreline. The Benfica coach spoke to journalists at a press conference and also praised Ginluca Prestianni.

"There are wingers who never lose the ball, they are the wingers who don't attack opponents, they are the wingers who don't seek situations of imbalance. Obviously, a player like him loses balls, but he is also a player who creates many problems for opponents and brings great instability to the opponent's defensive organization. I know his personality is to take risks, to not have great responsibility, he's a bit irresponsible in a good way, he takes risks, he's not afraid," he began to explain.

The Benfica coach continued: "After Tuesday's defeat, I thought I also needed a player of this type, who could also have this kind of quality. The U-20 World Cup worked well, he played, came with match rhythm, came with high confidence levels. From a physical standpoint, he's a player who hardly lasts 90 minutes due to the way he plays, but I think he played a perfect game. I'm happy with his performance."

"Without a doubt, we pressed more, we pressed high, we recovered a lot of balls high up, we didn't give the opponent any initiative, we controlled practically all the first balls and the second balls in midfield. I liked it, honestly, I liked it," José Mourinho remarked when asked if the team "bit more" against Arouca.

In conclusion, he also spoke about the change in defense: "We have three top center-backs, two young ones, Tomás and António, and Nico [Otamendi]. Then we have the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, young players of great quality. We played the 8th game, in the other 7 games António played seven times for 90 minutes, and Tomás played 2 games of 90. For players of this quality, I can't do this. Despite being already great players, they need to play, they need minutes, confidence."

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