“The result is very good for us, it was a team victory”

POST-MATCH

"Playing as a team" was a step towards Benfica's win over Gil Vicente (5-1), Bruno Lage's analysis of the match at Estádio da Luz this Saturday night, September 28, on matchday 7 of the Liga Betclic.

CAPACITY FOR THE COMEBACK AND SET-PIECES

"What we analyzed was that [Gil Vicente] were a competent team, especially in the build-up, with a lot of technical quality in their players, with a very well-defined strategy. Somehow, we had to be strategically very well-prepared for Gil Vicente's way of playing, a team that likes to be patient with the ball. Their players are calm, they sit almost on the sideline to build and, with that, they try to wear us down and look for spaces further forward. Having said that, looking at the opposition and really realizing that they are a very competent team, look at the positive things we did: the team being able to turn the result around in the first half with a goal from a corner, and then a second half when we sensed that we needed another type of energy up front to provoke and exploit spaces at the back, and thus continue to be effective in pressing. And so it happened. We don't want to concede early goals, not least because the team has had good starts in away games, and at home we conceded two very early goals, but then the response of resolving the issue as a team was very important for us. The result is very good for us, a team victory, with goals from set pieces and goals from the bench. We're really pleased with that."

ADAPT IN THE BEST WAY FOR COLLECTIVE PERFORMANCE

"It has to do with everything we feel, which is the best at every moment. We're very happy with Bah and Issa [Kaboré], but we're also very happy, for example, with Beste. He's a winger and I felt I needed him on the wing, because he's used to playing with a line of five, and I felt that from 3-1 we could get into dangerous situations as if we had men open in the wings to cross. And Beste had to play in a different position to left-back, playing on the wing, like [Tomás] Araújo played on the wing. It's up to us to feel the moment. Bah still had a slight impression, he only trained for one day, and we preferred to keep the team that came from the Bessa game. He had given us a lot of guarantees. Tomás knows everything about central defense. As a full-back, he played a few games last year, he's good technically, he's fast, so he gives us guarantees. Right now, what we have to do as a coaching staff is adapt all the players in the best way possible. Not everyone can be like Aktürkoğlu, who arrives and scores goals. Others need more time, more adaptation, to understand that the dynamic of, for example, playing in a line of five is different from playing in a line of four. That takes time, it takes training, but at the moment we're very happy with everyone, and what matters is that the team performs as we expect it to."

TRANQUILITY FOR OTAMENDI AND HAPPINESS FOR FLORENTINO

"I'm only talking about the moment I arrived here. It's good for all players to score goals, but I think Nico [Otamendi], because of his experience, because of what he has on his CV, won't be shaken by having made that slip on the first goal, and it's a goal that will give him the peace of mind he needs to put in good performances. What's important for everyone, and today [Saturday] was one of the watchwords for the game, is to bring a winning mentality and consistency, which are very important factors for anyone who wants to play for Benfica. Regardless of their age, prestige or titles, they all have to keep going. It was a very important goal for the team, because they've been working very hard on set-piece situations. We were happy about that, just as I was happy for Tino [Florentino]. In 15 days he's already scored two goals and that makes us very happy. It shows hard work, because the two goals were practically identical."

GROWING CONFIDENCE AND THE “ALWAYS WANTING MORE” MENTALITY

"It gives us all confidence. Even the fans feel more confident, the structure feels more confident, the players feel more confident. There's still a long way to go. There are things I see the team already doing: as well as winning all four games, which was important, creating more chances, scoring more goals, having that winning mentality of always wanting more. At half-time, it was 2-1, we felt the game was under control, but our intention was to get the third goal as quickly as possible. When I thought we had to make a change, we did. We made three changes to look for the third goal and try to close out the game. It gives us that mentality, that consistency that we want in the team, but there are some aspects that we need to improve. Unfortunately, we haven't had enough time to train. Also because of the sequence of games, sometimes the recovery time isn't right for the next game. Even though we played on Monday, from Monday to Friday, with two days to recover, the only day to train was Thursday, so we have to be careful with recovery, but also with what we're going to cause in terms of wear and tear for the next game. We have to be careful, but there are things we want to do more and better. One of them is to be a little more aggressive in our pressing, and today [Saturday], strategically, we tried to ensure that Gil Vicente always played vertically and that our midfielders could win the ball back and come out in transition, but then, at that moment of transition, we lost some of the ball. When we have possession, we want to be able to control the game with the ball. We want the team to have the ambition to look for more goals, but at the same time, the team can't lose possession, can't lose control of the game and has to grow in those moments. But on the other hand, it's about the team trying to win games, creating more chances and scoring goals."

EVERYONE “IN THE GROUP”

"Regarding Issa [Kaboré], I think his absence from the photo [of the team lunch promoted by Otamendi] has been explained. [On the team formation for this game] These are decisions we have to make between keeping [Tomás] Araújo, or bringing Bah onto the bench, a guy who has been here for a long time and who would give us tremendous depth and pace if needed, perfectly adapted. And Issa [Kaboré], who arrived with enormous potential, but is still in an adaptation phase. We have to make these decisions, and it was easy for me. The important thing is that nobody is outside the group. Everyone is in the group, and that's what's important about the turning point. I can confess what I said at the players' entrance. We talked a lot, and I talked yesterday [Friday] about team culture, the culture of our club and that nobody is above the team. There is one thing that is above the team, and that is the family. It's a family that we have to build in there. The players' families were watching the game, the various families... 60,000 were watching the game, several families around the world were supporting the team, and we have to form a family. When we form that family more and more, and that takes time because a lot of people have arrived recently, I believe we'll have an even stronger union and an even stronger relationship with the fans, and things will become a wave, which is what we want. That responsibility has to be ours, people have to see us as a family in order to support us as a family."

"SUPER BLESSED AND VERY HAPPY" ON HIS RETURN TO THE CLUB

"I feel very blessed. Life and destiny have given me the opportunity to coach Benfica again. I'm super blessed, I feel very happy and my adaptation to the club has been very easy. If you look at the calendar, we don't even have clean weeks in December and January because of the increase in the number of Champions League matches. The first time I came here, I had some space to work between January and mid-February/end of February. Then, in March, the European competitions start again. And that's the ideal world, in pre-season we have four/five weeks, and often, if we want to give the players three weeks off in World Cup and European Championship years, it's two/three weeks before the Championship starts, and it's very difficult to work like that. That's why having the squad together in pre-season, in the first few days, and being able to work is everything. We have time to train, go over ideas, watch videos, and understand what it's like to play against a 4x4x2, a 4x3x3, or a line of five... That's a perfect amount of time, but few teams have the merit of having everything sorted out in pre-season. The best school in life is our experiences, and my experience in the Championship was playing every three days. Then I felt blessed to work with Carlos Carvalhal in the Championship. There are so many games in a row where there's no time to train, there's no time for anything, it's recover and play, recover and play, recover and play. The variety of systems, the quality of the teams and the ways of playing, magnificent stadiums, small stadiums, that gave me a tremendous experience, the greatest experience of my life and one that allowed me to grow as a coach."