Vitória’s coach regrets the way the third goal came about, which had an impact on the game.
Game analysis
“Above all, we need to lose the confidence that we can be competent and competitive against any opponent, especially in the first twenty minutes and the start of the second half up to the 1-3 score. We need to understand that details in football are very costly, and it was in those details that this result was built.
Details
At the moment when we were already playing better, when Sporting wasn’t as dangerous as at the beginning, when they deservedly pushed us back, when we started to feel more comfortable in the game after an avoidable loss of possession, but it happens, we ended up conceding a goal. The next moment we could have made it 1-1 and from the following goal kick it was 0-2. The team’s response was to let the game go to halftime. The start of the second half was very interesting, very competent, we scored with some luck, then, inexplicably, we conceded a third goal. A completely controlled free=kick, Juan [Castillo]’s intervention wasn’t the happiest, but it’s part of the team’s and players’ growth.
Misinterpretation of the game plan
“I don’t think it’s a misinterpretation of the plan. We can anticipate, but we don’t know how Sporting would present themselves. They changed a little, but everything adjusts. What I felt in the first 15 minutes is that in those moments we have to have the capacity to want even more. We are a young team, but with quality, and believing more that we could compete in the game would have made a difference. We were respecting Sporting too much. When that eased, when we started to believe that we could compete in the game, we grew. It had more to do with the aggressiveness we put into the game; with the ball, we started to have more composure, we were more comfortable.”
Interval substitutions
“The 1-3 scoreline had a huge impact on the game; everyone felt we could equalize, and we conceded unnecessarily and avoidably. We wanted to have more players to play within the opponent’s structure and progress with the ball. Telmo provides composure on the wing, with one-on-one plays. Mitrovic was interesting offensively, but defensively he wasn’t managing well; Camara also wasn’t performing well, and we brought on two players we believe in.