Boloni Interview

André

Nuno Coelho

André

4 Juniors Training With The 1st Team

In light of the fact that many of his players are currently away either training with the U-21s or Senior National Teams today Paulo Bento called up 4 Juniors to the A-Team in order to have a few more players available and to keep tabs on the youngsters progress.

Fábio Paim (15/02/1988).
Ambidextrous winger with a professional contract until 2010.
Played 24 games (started 14) and scored 3 goals in 05/06.

João Martins (30/06/1988).
Midfielder with a professional contract untill 2009 with an option for an extra year.
Played 29 games (started 15) and scored 6 goals in 05/06.

André Pires (15/03/1988).
Ofensive midfielder with a Professional contract untill 2009 with an option for an extra year.
Played 20 games (started 10) and scored 1 goal in 05/06.

Yannick Dias (17/06/1988).
Playmaker, I'm not certain about the duration or status of his contract but I believe but him and Ronny signed untill 2010 but whether or not Yannick got a professional contract I do not know.

André

L.I.A. (Loanees In Action)

Hélder Barbosa (Académica): 90 minutes, 1 goal, 1 YC.

Silvestre Varela (Setúbal): 90 minutes.

Bruno Vale (Leiria): 90 minutes.

Paulo Machado (Leiria): 90 minutes.

Bruno Pereirinha (Moscavide): 71 minutes.

David Caiado (Estoril): 67 minutes.

Luis Lourenço (Setúbal): 66 minutes.

Zezinando Correia (Estoril): 45 minutes.

Edgar Marcelino (Guimarães): 30 minutes.

Ivanildo (Leiria): 20 minutes.

Pedro Celestino (Moscavide): 19 minutes, 1 Yellow Card.



André

U-19 Call-Up

Sporting:
Rui Patrício, Daniel Carriço, Tiago Pinto, Fábio Paim, João Martins and Bruno Pereirinha.

FC Porto:
Hugo Ventura, André Santos, André Castro, Rui Pedro, and Daniel CandeiasJorge Monteiro.

Académica: Pedro Ribeiro.
(Developed earlier in Sporting's Schools).

Gil Vicente: Simão Coutinho.
(Developed earlier in Sporting's Schools).

Valência: Yago Fernandez.
(Developed earlier in Sporting's Schools).

Vitória Setúbal: Luis Portela.

Belenenses: Carlos Alves.

Rio Ave: Fábio Coentrão.



André

Scolari Calls-Up Nani

In light of Ricardo Quaresma's recent injury Luiz Felipe Scolari has decided to cap 19 year old Nani (AKA "Luis Carlos") as his replacement as the young Lion follows in the footsteps of countless other teenage Sporting players who debuted at a young age for Portugal's A-Team.

3 years after Ricardo Quaresma and Cristiano Ronaldo debuted for Portugal's A-Team we now have 2 other teenagers from Sporting in Moutinho and Nani representing Portugal at the highest level. Portugal's 2 best players from the U-21 Euro are rightfully moving on up.



In 2005/06 Nani played 36 games for Sporting scoring 6 goals, he played 29 League games (started 16) in which he played 1771 minutes and received 3 Yellow Cards. In 2006/07 he's played 1 game (45 minutes) and notched 1 assist.

Parabêns Leãozinho.



André

Sporting 1 - 1 E. Amadora (Juniors Round 1)

From left to right; Daniel Carriço, Rui Patrício, Adrien Silva, João Gonçalves, Alison, Vasco Campos, Marco Lança, Fábio Paim, Ricardo Nogueira, André Pires and João Martins.

Substitutions:

Bruno Matias (Forward) replaces André Pires at 60th.
Vivaldo Arrais (Forward) replaces Alison at 70th
André Cacito (Striker) replaces João Gonçalves at 76th.

Bookings:

Marco Lança, Yellow Card at the 53rd.
João Martins, Yellow Card at the 75th.

GOAL SCP at the 86th minute scored by Fábio Paim. There was no assist, Paim crossed from the right and the Goal-Keeper fumbled it into goal.

In the future we will include more photos and details including opinions about tactics and squad selection but this weekend it wasn't possible due to the fact I'm a little under the weather plus I did not go to the Academy personally. The team photo was graciously gifted to us by Ricardo who runs their (his and Susana's) excellent blog (www.leoezinhosemaccao.blogspot.com) where you can find a lot more details and photos.

According to Ricardo versatile midfielder Adrien Silva was the MOM and I'd like to point out that in a starting XI full of 18 year olds (2nd year Juniors) there was one 17 year old (1st year Junior) and it was indeed Adrien Silva who if you well remember was the player Chelsea tried to poach from us in December 2004.





André

Portuguese Superleague Round 1

Porto 2 - 1 Leiria

GOAL FCP at the 20th minute, Tarik Sektioui assists from the left (with his left foot) for Adriano's diving header for goal from the centre of the box.

GOAL FCP at the 45th minute, Anderson assists from the left (with his right foot) to a waiting Quaresma who penetrates the box through the centre while pressured by 4 Leiria players to score with his right foot.

Ball Possession at Half-Time: FC Porto 57% - 43% Leiria.

Substitutions at the 65th minute; Vieirinha replaces Quaresma and Jorginho replaces Anderson.

GOAL Leiria at the 69th minute, Paulo Gomes assists Modou Sougou for the Senegalese's goal.

Substitutions at the 79th minute; Lisandro Lopez replaces Lucho Gonzalez.

Ball Possession at Full-Time: FC Porto 56% - 44% Leiria.

Bookings: Pepe Yellow Card at the 69th, Adriano Yellow Card at the 89th.

Attendance: 40.728 spectators.

Sporting 3 - 2 Boavista

GOAL Boavista, 17th minute, Zé Manel.

Ball Possession at Half-Time: Sporting 66% - 34% Boavista.

Substitutions at the 45th minute; Nani replaces Custódio and Ronny replaces Abel. Moutinho repositions to DM and Nani positions himself at "Inside-Left". Caneira repositions to Right-Back and Ronny positions himself at Left-Back.

Substitution at the 58th minute Deivid replaces Carlos Bueno.

GOAL SCP, 63rd minute Nani scored with his left foot from just outside the box courtesy of an assist by Deivid with his right foot.

GOAL SCP 65th minute Deivid scored with an header from an assist from Ronny with his left foot.

GOAL SCP, 90th minute scored by Deivid with his left foot from a right footed assist by Liedson.

GOAL Boavista, 91st minute by Zé Manel.

Bookings: Abel Yellow Card at the 4th, Liedson Yellow Card at the 87th, Tonel Yellow Card at the 90th, Ricardo Yellow Card at the 93rd.

Attendance: 34.330 spectators.

While Porto's tactical system remains the same under Professor Jesualdo Ferreira as it was under Co Adriaanse the game itself flows slightly different. While Adriaanse demand pace, quick ball circulation, quick passes, constant pressure and going from defence-to-ofense transtion very quickly the main difference Porto showed Vs Leiria is that the ball circulation is now done at a slower pace but with more direct and safer passes which result in a rythmn of game that is slower but with increased passing accuracy. Porto might have lost pace and some of it's spectacularity but seems more patience and serene and willing to wait for the right opportunity in a model of game that now rellies more on the creativity and vision of it's attacking players rather than on on the team's ability to exert pressure over 90 minutes but as a result the Back-3 also played at a slower pace and it's important that the different sectors can play at a rythmn that suits their task the best because if Pepe starts playing at Anderson's or Quaresma's pace then Porto will be suffering more goals. Anderson's physical strenght and dynamic of movement are impressive for an 18 year old who is showing consistency as well.

Sporting during the 1st half was horrible, Abel who is usually "Mr Consistency" was awfull and was rightly replaced. Paulo Bento has found himself a problem, he has tested the diamond with 3 contention units and 3 offensive units and has had bad games and good games with both tactics so he's slightly unsure of which works best or what the right balance is or with which version to start and finish. Custódio had a bad game and PB was right and courageous to replace his Cpt at half-time but the 3 midfielders ahead of him (Romagnoli, Martins, Moutinho) weren't exactly a defencive midfield and even Moutinho was going forward more than anything tonight and Custódio was often left alone and because of this had problems reaching the midfield line. Sporting needs to lateralize it's game more and relly less on backward ball triangulations (especially those done by Martins) in order to keeep ball possession. Moutinho clearly was MOM (Man of the Match) as he played well over 90 minutes in 2 different positions BUT whether in the 1st or 2nd half Sporting showed a lack os marking ability in the terrain between it's Centre-Backs and it's "Insides", it's not a matter of Custódio or Moutinho but rather how the 2 insides help the DM in it's defencive duties. Moutinho adds dynamic at DM where Custódio rellies on positioning but all alone neither one can be effective and it's unfair to single either one out, Sporting won because with 4 dynamic players in the diamond in the 2nd half they pressured Boavista to the point where they dind't have to defend as much but once the team blew up after 80 plus minutes Boavista came back to exploit the central corridor. Unless one of the insides is a 2nd DM it's difficult to play 90 minutes in the same fashion.



André

Luis Filipe Vieira: "I'm The Cleanest Man in Football"

André

Inter Milan, AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

August 2002

Group B:

Sporting Clube de Portugal
Internazionale de Milano
Bayern Munchen
FC Spartak Moscow

Group G:

Futebol Clube do Porto
Arsenal
Hamburg FC
CSKA Moskow

Group F:

Benfica
Manchester United
Celtic Football Club
FC Copenhagen

2 strong teams (Inter and Bayern) and 1 relatively weak team in Spartak Moskow. Sporting in 5 games Vs Inter have never scored a single goal and we were last eliminated from the CL in August 2002 by this very same Inter Milan on the night that a 17 year old Cristiano Ronaldo played his very first Europena game.

Bayern? Wait and see but FC Bayern is clearly weaker than in the past 2 seasons, they haven't replaced Ballack with Van der Vaart as many expected, Makaay hasn't been in great form in a while, Owen Hargreaves wants to leave and nobody yet knows how well Van Buyten will adapt to a bigger club.



André

Enakarhire Let Go by Dynamo Moskow

Life for the Nigerian Centre-Back has really been on the "up and up" ever since he moved to Russia. From what I heard he played a few games for Dynamo Moskow in late 2005 but didn't play a single minute for the club in 2006 as he slowly got sent to the bench and eventually to the stands as the coaches lost faith in him and his professional conduct got worse and worse. In the Spring I heard he started with his old tricks again by refusing to show up for training as he had done at Standard Liege and Sporting etc.



André

Middlesbrough 2 - 1 Chelsea (Premiership)

Today Vs Middlesbrough Mourinho starts with a wide (as least on the left side, LOL) 4-3-3 (4-1-2-3 variant) that he usually uses to bring further speed and attacking dynamic to his team in the latter part of games and rarely to start them.

JM much prefers a contention 4-4-2 (with midfield diamond) with 3 "workhorse" units (Lampard, Essien, Makélélé) on the lower triangle of the diamond. This is a more agressive tactic to start the game but hardly abdicating from having enough steel in the midsection because Essien and Lampard create quite a bit of pressure before the counters reach Makélélé.

Why is Kalou on the left? Chelsea lines up with Wayne Bridge and Paulo Ferreira, neither one is a true attacking Full-Back but Mourinho wisely places his more aggressive Full-Back behind the flanker that gives his team less dynamic (much like Scolari places Miguel behind Figo instead of behind Ronaldo in the eternal "game of dynamic compensations") so he maintains Wayne Bridge on the left as contention FB behind the mobile Kalou (much like Nuno Valente plays contention behind the aggressive Ronaldo) and keeps the right footed Ferreira on the right today as the attacking Full-Back to compensate Drogba's lack of speed.

This also represents the 3rd different "model of game" by Chelsea in 3 official games in 06/07. Chelsea played a 4-4-2 with midfield diamond Vs Liverpool, they played a traditional attacking 4-4-2 which unfolded into a 4-2-4 Vs Manchester City and here today they are in an unsimetric attacking 4-3-3 with a pressurizing midfield.

Unsimetric because they have 2 flankers, Salomon Kalou on the left and the much heavier and less dynamic Didier Droga on the right which makes the team slightly predictable unless the flankers switch corridors during the game. One thing is for sure, whenever Shevchenko needs space he ALWAYS falls to the left flank and then goes inward outside the goal mouth and when he does Kalou repositions himself in the centre between Middlesbrough's Left-Back and left sided Centre-Back.

GOAL Chelsea at the 14th minute, Wayne Bridge assists Andryi Shevchenko.

Shevchenko should consider tattooing "honey" on his right foot because that Free-Kick was indeed sweet.

Once Mikael Ballack returns I doubt Mourinho will play much outside a 4-4-2 with a diamond, he needs the 4 men combination of Ballack, Lampard, Essien and Makélélé to make it work and without his preferred playmaker (Ballack) he has decided to test the 4-2-4 and 4-3-3 with the players available but I'm of the opinion that once he can he will return to the Diamond.

GOAL Middlesbrough at the 80th minute by Pogatetz, assist from a beautiful curling Free-Kick by Fábio Rochemback.
It's time for JM to bring Drogba out and add in Shaun Wright-Phillips to turn this into a real 4-3-3 if he wants to wins this game.
Chelsea same as last year does not have a designated marker at the 2nd post, last year they were eaten by Eto'o at the 2nd post and Carvalho cannot "eye" the centre and 2nd post at the same time.

84th minute sub, JM removes Makélélé (drops Essien to DM) to add in SWP to switch to a very risky 4-1-1-4 with Lampard as the midfield pivot between Essien and the 4 forwards.

GOAL Middlesbrough at the 89th minute by Viduka. Paulo Ferreira has to exert more pressure on Middlesbrough's ball carrier and not him allow crosses like that. Where's John Terry tonigth, anybody seen him? Chelsea' defensive axis seems sapped of it's aerial prowess without Terry. And Carvalho seems awfully alone zonal marking the box during set-pieces all by himself.

It's Mourinho's 3rd year at Stamford Bridge and I still do not see a viable option to Claude Makélélé who I maintain has been Chelsea's best player of the last 2 years despite the love affair the media has with Terry and Lampard or how enamored they get over big names like Shevchenko and b. For me, Makélélé is still "Da Man" and Essien has never proven to me that he can fulfill that role (in a single DM system he's awfull but he's okay in the middle of a 4-2-4 or as right-sided CM in a 4-1-2-3) and neither has Diarra.

Chelsea IMO was unquestionably weaker in 05/06 than 04/05 and they are clearly weaker now than last year, whether it will be enough to make a difference as to allow Liverpool and Man Utd to get close enough I don't know but I can't see this Chelsea making as much as 90 points this year.



André

"And Then There Was One"

ROTFL, well, 8 weeks ago the Benfiquista hype machine rolled into Pre-Season mode and told us that Bijou (Gondomar), Nicolas Canales (Gondomar), Fernando Alexandre (Olivais e Moscavide), Hélio Roque (Olivais e Moscavide), Tiago Gomes (Estrela da Amadora), João Coimbra and Bruno Costa would soon follow in the footsteps of such glorious legends from their cantera such as João Pereira (Gil Vicente), João Vilela (Gil Vicente), Bruno Aguiar (Hearts), Rui Baião (Portimonense), Pepa (Olhanense).



André

A Rabbit in Appiano Gentile

16 year old José Alves (who goes by the "Nom de Guerre" of "Coelho") is settling in well at Inter Milan, he claims to be highly respected due to his Portuguese Nationality (who he represents at U-17) because in Inter's Juvenile Team (in which he is the only player with a professional contract) the kids look up to Figo and as a result respect Coelho because of it.
He says unfortunately has has different training schedulles than the A-Team and is yet to meet his idol, Luis Figo.
Training in Italy is quite different from Portugal (just ask Ricardo Vaz Té), there's less emohasys on the technical aspects and more physical conditioning and he claims during pre-season he trained as much as 6 hour a day.



André

Couceiro's U-21 Call-Up.

Sporting: Nani, Yannick, Miguel Veloso, Varela.

FC Porto: Paulo Ribeiro, Vieirinha, Ivanildo, Paulo Machado.

Belenenses: Rolando, Ruben Amorim.

Benfica: Amoreirinha.

Vitória de Setúbal: Julien:
(I think SLB owns 50% of his contract since January 2006)

Bolton: Ricardo Vaz Té.
(From Farense/Massamá/Sporting schools).

Fulham: Ricardo Baptista.
(From Setúbal's schools).

PSV: Manuel da Costa.

Gil Vicente: João Pereira.
(From SLB's schools).

Portimonense: Ruben Fernandes.

Pontevedra: Sérgio Organista.
(From FC Porto's schools).

Maritimo: Filipe Oliveira.
(From FC Porto's schools).

Valencia: João Moreira.
(From Amadora's schools).

2 major novelties on this list with the debut of Ruben Fernandes (a Left-Back from Portimonense) and Julien (a midfielder from Vitória de Setúbal), both are being called up to the U-21 Team for the first time. Good luck.



André

The Poaching of Rui Fonte, Part Trois

Arsenal gets the now 2nd year Juvenile on a 3 year loan in exchange for 60.000 Euros (FFS!!!) and the option to purchase his contract if they are satisfied with his performances. The actual purchase could be anywhere from 500.000 euros in 1 installment or 2,5 million paid over a number of years depending on whether or not he achieves certain objectives. Rui Fonte leaves for London on Thursday to sign a contract with his new club and Sporting has the option to retrieve him if Arsenal is not happy with his development.



André

Man Of The Match and further Statistics.

Shots on Goal: Sporting 12 - 7 Inter.

Shots on Target: Sporting 3 - 3 Inter.

Corners: Sporting 5 - 2 Inter.

Fouls: Sporting 12 - 12 Inter.

Offsides: Sporting 8 - 1 Inter.

Bookings: 2 Yellow Cards for Marco Materazzi.



André

Scolari's 1st Post World Cup Squad

Scolari's full list for Portugal's games Vs Denmark (September 1st) and Finland (September 6th).

Goal-Keepers:

Ricardo (Sporting).
Quim (Benfica).

Defenders:

Marco Caneira (Sporting).
Ricardo Rocha (Benfica).
Ricardo Costa (FC Porto).
Fernando Meira (Stuttgart).
Nuno Valente (Everton FC).
Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea FC).
Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea FC).

Midfielders:

João Moutinho (Sporting).
Carlos Martins (Sporting).
Petit (Benfica).
Deco (Barcelona FC).
Costinha (Atlético Madrid).
Tiago (Olympique de Lyon).

Forwards:

Hugo Almeida (FC Porto, on loan to Werder Bremen).
Hélder Postiga (FC Porto).
Ricardo Quaresma (FC Porto).
Nuno Gomes (Benfica).
Simão Sabrosa (Benfica).
Luis Boa Morte (Fulham).
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United).



André

U-19 Alcobaça Tournament

Apparently the Back-4 had David Santos and Tiago Pinto on the Defensive flanks (Pinto on the left IMO) and the Centre-Back pairing of Daniel Carriço and Marco Lança.

A midfield trio (of a 4-3-3) with João Martins possibly as DM and João Gonçalves and André Pires as "Insides".

3 forwards with Paim and Alisson flanking Ricardo Nogueira in the middle.

That sounds like a strong team, most of them 2nd year Juniors. Sebastião (Nogueira?), Adrien (Silva?), Bruno Matias and André Santos also came on as subs.

Anyway, with that initial XI Luis Martins seems certain to maintain a 4-3-3 (4-1-2-3) structure this season as well although as RMP has speculated they don't seem to have a pure Defensive Midfielder and have to adapt João Martins or André Pires to that position.
In 05/06 in the closing rounds of the Championship the midfield trio had Zezinando as DM and João Martins and Pedro Celestino as "Insides" with Martins clearly more worried about assisting Zezinando in defensive duties and Celestino more of a withdrawn playmaker trying to build passing lines for the forward trio (Pereirinha, Caiado, Diogo Tavares) so defensive duties aren't new to João Martins altough he's not really a DM, he's more of a Maniche/Raul Meireles type 2nd DM than a positional DM like Costinha or Custódio.

It seems Chelsea (and Atlético Madrid) will be present at next year's tournament so maybe Ricardo Fernandes and Fábio Ferreira will pay us a little visit.



André

Players on Loan

18 year old Bruno Pereirinha (Inside/Winger) and 20 year old Carlos Saleiro (Striker) both played yesterday for Olivais and Moscavide. And from what I've been browsing in recent papers it seems Pedro Celestino (Playmaker/Inside) is also playing regularly. I'm definitely keeping a close eye on this team as well as Estoril this season, it would be wonderfull if both teams came up a division, of all the players we currently have on loan I'm looking forward to Bruno Pereirinha's development the most. It's curious how we used to mass produce wingers one after another but in recent times we've seen João Moutinho, Bruno Pereirinha, Adrien Silva and Diogo Amado position themselves for a bright future, are we becoming a factory of Centre-Midfielders?



André

Sporting 0 - 0 Internazionale Milano

Sporting's XI on August 14th 2002 Vs. inter

Inter was definitely on top in the early 10 minutes as Sporting was pressured and seemed in over it's head but once the pressure eased off Sporting's Back-4 and midfield found their rythmn and the game has been more even.

Paulo Bento has put together a very defencive XI with 2 contention Full-Backs (Caneira and Miguel Garcia) and 3 defencive elements on the lower Triangle of the Midfield Diamond lining-up with 1 DM (Custódio) and 2 defencive "Insides" (Moutinho and Paredes).

Liedson and particularly Moutinho are easily the 2 players on the field suffering the most fouls. Patrick Vieira and Samuel and especially Matterazi are using and abusing with the rough tactics.

Inter drops all 10 of it's outfield players into the box to defend against corner-kicks, it looks extremelly dificult to get a cross or a FK goal past Samuel and Materazzi and Vieira with those 3 towers clogging up the box.

Liedson has mostly dropped into the flanks (the right to attack and the left to defend) and has asked Carlos Bueno many times to stay in the centre to receive his crosses from the right.

Carlos Paredes is playing very well, he is filtrating the game in midfield with great efficiency.

Tonel is on the right of the midfield axis and he is doubling up Miguel Garcia in closing out the right corridor and both are playing well particularly the supporters pet-hatred Miguel Garcia.

Of the 2 Full-Backs Caneira is clearly the most ofensive one and Figo (who Caneira is in charge of marking) has made crosess from that corridor many times hoping to see Crespo finish them off.

Paulo Bento opted for a contention XI to start the game but will almost certainly inject Nani into the XI in the 2nd hald to see the team gain fantasy and speed and possibly gambling on Deivid's superior physical strenght to win the ball in the middle of Materazzi and Samuel. Also we may see the more offensive Abel replace Miguel Garcia as Sporting switches it's attacking dynamic from left to right and keeps Caneira in contention and opts to start pressuring from the right with Abel who is faster and more aggressive.

45th minute Substitutions:
Nani replaces Paredes.
Abel replaces Miguel Garcia.
Deivid replaces Bueno.

Sporting maintains it's initial tactical system with 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond but now switches to a different game dynamic with 1 attacking FB (Abel) and 2 creative units in midfield (Nani and Martins) so from the start of the 2nd half Sporting now has 5 attacking units (2 forwards, 2 midfielders, 1 Full-Back) and 5 contention units in comparison to 7 contention units at the beggining of the game.

61st minute substitutions:
Leandro Romagnoli replaces Carlos Martins.

74th minute substitutions:
Ronny replaces Caneira.
Miguel Veloso replaces Tonel.

Sporting now with 2 attacking Full-Backs (Ronny and Abel) and 2 Zonal-Marking Centre-Backs (Polga and Veloso), Sporting still maintains the initial system but now has 6 attacking units in Liedson, Deivid, Romagnoli, Nani, Ronny and Abel; with 2 in the forward line, 2 in midfield and 2 in the flanks as the team looks to increase pressure further up the pitch.
Moutinho is playing slightly closer to Custódio as they seek to filter out the Centre-midfield with Nani and Romagnoli going forward and with 2 attacking Full-Backs coming up the flanks. I expected the 2 Centre-Backs (both slow CBs) will now compensate by playing deeper and closer to Ricardo as the 2 CBs and the 2 contention midfielders attempt to compensate the team as it unbalances forward and leaves itself more susceptible to counters through the flanks.

Am I imaginaning things or am I the only one that thinks Deivid is playing his best game for Sporting in QUITE A WHILE? He's moving very well, he's losing his marker, passing the ball, his dynamic of movement tonight is considerably better than usual.



André