Rui Borges assesses Sporting duo’s display: they struggled | OneFootball

Rui Borges was frustrated with Sporting's draw against Braga (1-1) this Sunday, October 5th. In the press conference, the coach assessed his players' performance on the field and acknowledged that Francisco Trincão and Pedro Gonçalves had "difficulties" during the match.

"Francisco Trincão and Pedro Gonçalves had some difficulties, they appeared sporadically, and when we don't have them at 100%, we lose some aggressiveness in the final third. That's why I moved Alisson Santos to the width," explained the coach after discussing the game.

"I look at what I need to do to improve my team, because in the last two championship games we weren't as good as we would like. Our team has very specific characteristics, and at times it seems like we're more disconnected. We had some difficulty unlocking Braga's man-to-man marking, which gave us some uncertainty."

The coach mentioned that more energy is needed at certain moments: "To be competitive, we need to have energy. It's as simple as that. I made the substitutions when I thought I should. Every game is difficult, and that is increasingly evident. We were penalized in a very specific play, but I only focus on what I can improve."

Rui Borges then spoke about the absences due to national team call-ups: "The national team coaches make the decisions, we have to deal with that. I would prefer not to be left with just five or six players, but we have to adapt. I will receive the players one or two days before the Portuguese Cup match, but I have to find ways to make Sporting stronger and the players, individually, more available and fresh," he concluded.

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