Benfica’s coach, Roger Schmidt, said on Monday that he was surprised by the quality of the Portuguese soccer league and not by the defeats suffered by Sporting and FC Porto on matchday four, against recently promoted teams.
The quality of the Portuguese League surprises me, really. We already played Casa Pia and it was a very difficult game, they only conceded one goal in three games. This shows your quality. and the victories of [Desportivo de] Chaves and Rio Ave against Sporting and FC Porto show that there is a lot of quality in the League”, commented the German coach, in Seixal.
In this sense, Schmidt highlighted that the defeats of lions and dragons give his team “the right attitude for the next game“, since it is “very important never to underestimate” any rival and highlighted the quality of the teams that come forward with more modest goals.
I am surprised not so much with the results, but more with the performance of the teams that are new to the League and that may not count for the best teams”, he stressed in a press conference prior to the meeting with Paços de Ferreira.
On the other hand, and returning to think about the defeats of the rivals, the coach refused to assess whether the Reds are, at this time, the strongest of the three candidates for the title.
Right now we are fine and we have to focus on ourselves. Let’s not look at the other teams. morning [terça-feira] it is a game where we need superior performance and our probability of winning is high. That is our approach. I think it is too early to say if we are the strongest or not, or if another team is the strongest,” he commented.
And precisely about Tuesday’s game, against Paços de Ferreira, Schmidt did not reveal if he will start promote some turnover in the workforce and recalled that he does not see this option as “a rule”, but always as “a decision for the next game”.
Of course, at some point we will change our approach, but I haven’t made my decisions for tomorrow yet. [terça-feira]. Each game is a new challenge, I have to wait for the data from the player, if he recovers or not, and we will make our decisions. But we need all the players to win games”, he insisted.
Benfica receives Paços de Ferreira on Tuesdayin a delayed match of the third round of the Portuguese Football League, starting at 8:15 p.m., at Estádio da Luz, and refereed by Artur Soares Dias, from the Porto association.
In case of victory, and the team led by Roger Schmidt is isolated at the top of the standings, with three points more than FC Porto and Portimonense and two more than Sporting de Braga, increasing the advantage over Sporting to eight points, benefiting from the defeats of lions (2-0) and dragons (3-1) on the fourth day, against Desportivo de Chaves and Rio Ave, respectively.
Source: Observadora
