Simão Coutinho Quo Vadis?

Os bons velhos tempos

André

A Máquina do Rui Jorge

5 jogos, 4 vitórias e 1 empate (13 pontos em 15 possíveis).

16 golos marcados e 4 sofridos, melhor ataque e 2ª melhor defesa na Divisão Sul.

Como podem constatar o Guarda-Redes Marco Pinto (22/03/1988) que foi Campeão de Juvenis pelo Sporting em 2004/05 é o titular da baliza dos Juniores do Restelo e em 05/06 era o 3º Guarda-Redes da equipa principal do Belenenses.

Sporting Vs Belenenses a 3 de Dezembro.



André

2º Torneio de Abertura - Futebol 11 - "Desporto Jovem"

André

First Portuguese Group (Fundo de Investimento em jogadores)

Estas informações já estão um pouco ultrapassadas (não querem que eu vá para a cadeia, pois não?) mas dá para ficarem com uma ideia.
E existem mais, o "FP Football Player Fund-Porto" detinha 10% do passe do Ricardo Carvalho, também lucraram 2 milhões com os 10% que detinham em Paulo Ferreira, e lucraram 350.000 euros com a transferência de Deco para Barcelona.

E o FPG pretende estender os seus investimentos a clubes estrangeiros, nomeadamente investir em jogadores do Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, etc, clubes de campeonatos cujos clubes têm um valor negocial ao nível do nosso e eventualmente atacar o mercado Francês antes que ganhe maior projecção e poder negocial.



André

Assembleia Geral de Accionistas

Presente na Assembleia esteve o Professor Pedro Mil-Homems, Dra Rita Figueira, Dr Filipe Soares Franco, Dr Miguel Ribeiro Telles, Dr Rogério Alves, Pedro Aleixo Dias, o meu amigo Dr Agostinho Abade e mais um ou outro. Rui Meireles estava na plateia e de vez em quando deu explicações detalhadas sobre aspectos contabilisticos, Empréstimos obrigacionista e clausulas UEFeiras.

O Dr Filipe Soares Franco falou que a folha salarial sofrerá um aumento de peso ao longo da época comparada com os valores actuais fruto da manutenção dos talentos e o aumento de custos que implica aumentar os salários dos referidos jogadores. Portanto o clube sai penalisado ao não efectuar mais valias e ao ter que adicionar peso à folha salarial para poder manter como prometido os grandes talentos os quais mais uma vez referiu que são para manter no clube o máximo tempo possível.

Foi mencionado que apesar do Dr Richiardi ter sido eleito pela lista de FSF ele devido a imconpatibilidades profissionais não poderá aceitar o cargo e foi sugerido que o Dr Alberto Laplaine Guimarães irá ser o gestor desse cargo e com Alexandre Baptista como "suplente" caso ALG não aceite o cargo.

Falaram do First Portuguese Football Fund e dos jogadores que estiveram inseridos e causaram prejuizo ao fundo, nomeadamente Marius Niculae e Beto. O Fundo quando compra uma % de um jogador é só durante X de tempo e ao fim desse X o Fundo tem que renovar ou não e foi revelado que Fábio Paim e Hugo Valdir fizeram parte mas já não fazem parte desse fundo. Ricardo Quaresma, Cristiano Ronaldo fizeram parte e lucraram com as suas saidas e existe alguma pressão para vender os jogadores quando o seu valor de mercado chega a certo nível que é estipulado por vezes quandos os jogadores ainda são bastante jovens.

Paulo Sérgio, Marcello Labarthe, Carlos Saleiro, Yannick Djaló, João Moutinho (apenas 10%) e mais outro continuam no fundo.

FSF disse que ao contrário de outras administrações ele decidiu rescindir contracto com jogadores que não interessam ao clube e isso acarratou custos com rescisões de Hugo, Edson, etc mas ele preferiu libertar esse peso por completo da folha salarial.
Hugo, Edson, Edgar Marcelino, Mário Sérgio, Manoel e Luis Lourenço já não são jogadores do Sporting, desconhecia completamente que o Lourenço tinha rescindido.

O Cash-Flow para 2006/07 é esperado que seja na ordem de 10,5 milhões de euros, mais 9% que este ano fiscal.

Yannick Pupo é visto como um jogador no qual depositam grandes esperanças e o mesmo se espera do Pedro Celestino.

O Dr Pedro Loureiro da "Nova Expressão" accionista com considerável peso na SAD esteve presente.

FSF foi questionado se o Sporting tinha ou não dinheiro a receber da venda de Enakharire e se a queixa à FIFA iria resultar. Ele disse que existem de facto 2 milhões de euros a receber e que a queixa à FIFA foi feita e que este tipo de deliberações por parte da FIFA são sempre morosas mas que indubitavelmente o Sporting vai receber o dinheiro. A venda de Delfim ao Marselha já foi completamente saldada.

A venda de Deivid gerou um lucro de 0,96 milhões de euros sobre a sua compra um ano antes. A saida de Douala e Rui Fonte por empréstimo ao Portsmouth/Arsenal gerou 1,3 milhões de euros.

As saidas de Fábio Ferreira, Ricardo Fernandes, Fábio Rochemback, Enakharire e Beto renderam 6,3 milhões de euros (8,3 com os 2 que faltam receber).

O Dr FSF disse que a sua administração não vende jogadores a menos que o comprador apresente garantias bancárias para assim se poder evitar mais casos Enakharire. Excepto disse ele quando se vende a clubes Ingleses porque segundo disse se os Ingleses entrarem em incumprimento é a FPF que trata do assuto. Achei isto tudo muito estranho, o que é que a FPF tem a ver com as transações do Sporting para suportar dividas ao Sporting?

Terminada a Assembleia, estava eu a conversar com outro accionista sobre fundos de investimento de jogadores quando se juntou a nós o Carlos Freitas no átrio VIP do estádio enquanto o auditório se ia esvaziando.
Estive a conversar com Carlos Freitas (e um bocadinho com o Professor Pedro Mil-Homems) durante uns 10 minutos (estivemos a ver o final do Herenveen Vs Setúbal), muito simpático, falámos sobre os Juniores, Juvenis, Diogo Tavares, Tiago Pires, Simão Coutinho, André Nogueira, Mário Felgueiras, Pinilla, Semedo, Labarthe, Edson (já não tem qualquer vinculo com o SCP), Paulo Renato, Marco Lança e mais uns quantos.




André

Convocatória Sub-21

Guarda-redes:

Paulo Ribeiro (FC Porto).
Ricardo Batista (Fulham).

Defesas:

José Semedo (Sporting).
João Pereira (Gil Vicente).
Amoreirinha (E. Amadora).
Rolando (Belenenses).
Antunes (P. Ferreira).
Manuel da Costa (PSV).

Médios:

Miguel Veloso (Sporting).
João Moutinho (Sporting).
Ruben Amorim (Belenenses).
Paulo Machado (FC Porto).
Ivanildo (FC Porto).
Hélder Barbosa (FC Porto).
Filipe Oliveira (Marítimo) .
Julien (V. Setúbal).
Manuel Fernandes (Portsmouth).
Sérgio Organista (Pontevedra).

Avançados:

Yannick (Sporting). Varela (Sporting).
Ricardo Vaz Té (Bolton Wanderers).
João Moreira (Valência).

É impressionante como o Cícero (Dínamo de Moscovo) desapareceu completamente do "radar" dos selecionadores. Eu 2 anos atrás olhava para o Cícero, Ricardo Vaz Té e João Moreira e ficava a pensar que maravilhoso leque de pontas de lança os Sub-21 iriam ter em breve e agora vejo o Ex-Bracarense esquecido na Russia.

Felizmente o Diogo Valente já nem é convocado. Sinceramente acredito que o Rui Patricio aos 18 anos já tinha lugar neste lote de jogadores. O defesa central Antunes é promovido dos Sub-20 aos Sub-21 mas é algo curioso como o Tiago Valente que também é do Paços de Ferreira e em 05/06 foi titular indiscutivel no Gondomar e nunca mais é chamado nem sequer para aquilatar a sua qualidade.



André

Assembleia Geral de Accionistas

Para aqueles que passam a vida a reclamar por tudo e por nada com calúnias, teorias de conspiração e acusações aos dirigentes que não conhecem de lado nenhum então talvez esta tarde fosse uma boa altura para aparecerem e darem a cara em vez de andarem a questionar e insultar do lado de fora quem está lá dentro e a desperdicar mais uma oportunidade de serem ouvidos.

Claro, existe sempre aqueles que só gostam de ficar escondidos nas "sombras" a reclamar e insultar sómente quando têm a certeza que ninguém os está a ouvir.



André

Alina, a Leoa da Sibéria.

Não sei se estarão lembrados de uma user que aparece por aqui de vez em quando chamada "Aika Narazaki" que me pediu para corresponder com ela por E-mail porque tinha algumas perguntas a fazer?

Essa miuda chama-se Alina e além do meu blog é frequentadora do fórum www.bigsoccer.com e ela andava a corresponder-se comigo porque queria uma acreditação dos media para ter acesso à equipa do Sporting quando fossem a Moscovo e ela já me tinha dito que tinha conseguido e iria então à capital russa.

Qual não é a minha surpresa quando hoje a vi a capa do Record. E para quem andou a pensar no assunto posso vos esclarecer que ela realmente gosta bastante do Miguel Garcia e esteve disposta a viajar desde a Sibéria a Moscovo só por causa dele, perdão, só por causa do Sporting.

Segundo ela me contou parece que passou o Verão todo a poupar dinheiro na esperança que um dia o Sporting viesse à Russia e pudesse viajar e ela tivesse a sua oportunidade de ver a nossa equipa ao vivo. Grande Leoa.

Congratulations on your trip to Moskow, Alina.



André

Equipa de Iniciados 2006/07

Os meus agradecimentos para a jornalista do Jornal Sporting Nélida Gomes pelo excelente texto e só lamento que os artigos sobre a equipa de Juniores e Juvenis não tenham incluido datas de nascimento, altura e peso dos jogadores como ela tão bem fez neste caso.

Excelentes fotografias do Pedro Cruz e neste caso até são a cores em vez das de preto e branco que utilizaram para ilustrar o plantel de Juniores e Juvenis.



André

Spartak Moskva 1 - 1 Sporting (CL)

GOAL SPORTING, 58th minute by Nani (right foot).
Assist by Liedson (right foot.)

Substitutions:

Alecsandro substitutes Miguel Garcia at the 46th minute.
Carlos Paredes substitutes Tonel at the 58th minute.
João Alves substitutes Yannick at the 82nd minute.

Bookings:

Miguel Veloso, Yellow Card.
Tonel, Yellow Card.

Observations:

1st Half:

By playing with 2 contention Full-backs like Caneira and Garcia we are obviously lacking depth through the wings to widen our attack and as such the ofensive responsibilities are falling solely on the midfield who is funneling our attack.
In order to field 2 contention FBs and still have attacking depth the team need's 3 aggresive midfielders to compensate the lack of pressing coming through the flanks.
Rodrigo Tello is a fine player for games played at a slow pace and less pressure from opposing midfielder but not in this game and we need somebody that pressures more, we need Nani and Moutinho and somebody else to go forward and let Miguel Veloso, Caneira and Garcia secure the defence.

With Full-backs that rarely cross the midfield line we are once again falling into the trap of bombing out long forward passes and abusing the aerial game when a technicist team such as ours should keep the ball on the ground where the class of our players can make the difference.
Another option would be to field a more aggresive FB and also replace Tello with a clearly defensive unit such as Carlos Paredes and in doing so the diamond will have 2 contention units in Veloso and Paredes and now Nani and JM28 will be able to go forward without fear of spreading themselves too thin.

Right now Moutinho isn't doing anything, he wants to attack but if we get caught on the counter he knows Tello can't assist Veloso properly but if Moutinho stays to help Tello and Veloso then Nani is left all alone in the front behind the strikers.
Adding Paredes will finally free up Moutinho plus with Paredes and Veloso in place we'll gain control of the midfield and get more ball possession which can then be fed to Moutinho, Nani, an attacking FB and the 2 forwards.

Essentially we will continue to attack with 3 units (N18, JM28 and a FB) which is the same as we are doing in the first half (with N18, JM28, RT11) but the difference is spreading out our attacking units to balance out the team's ofence while still adding steel to the center-midield to gain greater ball possession and shorten the distance between the 3 sectors by having Nani and Moutinho closer to the forwards and having Paredes and Veloso closer to the Back-4, in the first 45 the distance between sectors was abysmal.

I would switch Miguel Garcia (most of Spartak is coming from our right/their left) with Abel, Tello with Paredes and Yannick with Alecsandro. I know that nobody wants to hear this but you have no idea how much this team misses Custódio, we are playing box-to-box with Veloso and Moutinho (these players do no complement each other) unable to slow the pace ot their opponents in the central corridor.

Ball Possession at Half-Time: Spartak 56% - 44% Sporting.

2nd Half:

Alecsandro (Forward) repalces Miguel Garcia (Right-Back) and the players reposition themselves as Marco Caneira moves to Right-Back with Rodrigo Tello dropping back to Left-Back, Nani moves back to the midfield and with Alecsandro moving to the front Yannick now drops to behind the 2 strikers and the team effectively switches from 4-4-2 diamond to a 4-3-3 with a very compact forward trio. With Paredes replacing Tonel we see Miguel Veloso dropping back from DM to left sided Centre-Back.

At the 82nd minute mark with the entry of João Alves the team switches back again to 4-4-2 with a mdifield diamond but now with João Alves, Carlos Paredes and João Moutinho all providing defencive cover to the lower triangle of the diamond as Paulo Bento now abdicated from attacking and switched to a more combative XI that provided more tackling/marking ability in midfield and secured his team greater ball possession.

Ball Possession at Full-Time: Sporting 51% - Spartak 49%.

Champions League after 2 rounds:

Ricardo, 180 minutes.
Anderson Polga, 180 minutes.
Caneira, 180 minutes, 1 goal.
Miguel Veloso, 180 minutes, 1 YC.
João Moutinho, 180 minutes, 1 YC.
Liedson, 180 minutes, 1 assist, 1 YC.
Nani, 172 minutes, 1 Goal.
Yannick, 172 minutes.
Tonel, 148 minutes, 1 assist, 1 YC.
Rodrigo Tello, 98 minutes.
Abel, 90 minutes.
Alecsandro, 68 minutes.
Leandro Romagnoli, 66 minutes.
Miguel Garcia, 46 minutes.
Carlos Paredes, 32 minutes.
João Alves, 8 minutes



André

Rui Fonte in England

André

Red Youth Set-up

André

L.I.A. (25/09/2006)

Silvestre Varela (Setúbal): 360 minutes.
Other Competitions: 90 minutes.

Hélder Barbosa (Académica): 270 minutes, 1 goal, 2 YCs.

Tiago Gomes (E. Amadora): 270 minutes.

Luis Loureiro (E. Amadora): 255 minutes.

Fernando Alexandre (Olivais e Moscavide): 211 minutes.

Paulo Machado (Leiria): 204 minutes, 2 YCs.

Mauricio Pinilla: 201 minutes, 2 Goals, 1 YC, 1 RC.
Other Competitions: 64 minutes
(Last updated on 24/09 game Vs Aberdeen).

Hélio Roque (Olivais e Moscavide): 193 minutes.

Bruno Vale (Leiria): 180 minutes.

Mário Felgueiras (Sporting Espinho): 180 minutes, 1 YC.

José Fonte (E. Amadora): 180 minutes, 1 YC.

Bruno Pereirinha (Moscavide): 167 minutes.

David Caiado (Estoril): 157 minutes, 1 YC.

Luis Lourenço (Setúbal): 156 minutes, 1 YC.
Other Competitions: 79 minutes.

Pedro Celestino (Moscavide): 142 minutes, 1 Goal, 1 Yellow Card.

Carlos Saleiro (Olivais e Moscavide): 140 minutes.

Paulo Renato (Real S. Massamá): 122 minutes.

Zezinando Correia (Estoril): 104 minutes, 1 YC.

André Nogueira (Esmoriz): 90 minutes, 1 YC.

Marcelo Labarthe (Vitória de Setúbal): 90 minutes.

Paulo Sérgio (E. Amadora): 78 minutes, 2 YCs.

Ivanildo (Leiria): 48 minutes.

Emídio Rafael (Real S. Massamá): 44 minutes, 1 YC.

TóMané (Barreirense): 29 minutes, 1 YC.

Rudolph Douala (Portsmouth):
Other Competitions: 13 minutes (Carling Cup).
(Last updated on 19/09 game Vs Mansfield).

Fernando Ferreira (Sporting Espinho): 8 minutes, 2 YCs.

Jorge Teixeira (Odivelas): 3 minutes.

Miguel Ângelo (Trofense): 0 minutes.

André Marques (Olivais e Moscavide): 0 minutes.

Nuno Santos (V. Guimarães): 0 minutes.

Nuno Coelho (Leiria): 0 minutes.

José Semedo (Cagliari): 0 minutes.
(Last updated on 24/09 game Vs Siena).



André

Desportivo das Aves 0 - 2 Sporting (4th Round)

GOAL SPORTING, 14th minute by Alecsandro with his right foot.
Assist by João Moutinho with his right foot.

GOAL SPORTING, 81st minute by Tonel with his right foot.
Assist by Nani with his right foot.

Substitutions:

63rd minute Marco Caneira substitutes Ronny.
64th minute Leandro Romagnoli substitutes Alecsandro.
80th minute Tonel substitutes Yannick.

Bookings: None.

MOM: João Moutinho.

After 4 rounds (360 minutes):

João Moutinho 360 minutes.
Ricardo 360 minutes.
Anderson Polga 360 minutes.
Liedson 360 minutes.
Nani 315 minutes.
Tonel 290 minutes.
Miguel Veloso 270 minutes.
Ronny 243 minutes.
Miguel Garcia 225 minutes
Romagnoli 224 minutes.
Marco Caneira 207 minutes.
Carlos Bueno 158 minutes.
Alecsandro 145 minutes.
Yannick Djaló: 125 minutes.
Rodrigo Tello 117 minutes.
Carlos Martins 90 minutes.
Abel 45 minutes.
Custódio 45 minutes.
Deivid 31 minutes.
João Alves.
Tiago.
Carlos Paredes.

Top Scorers:

Deivid, 2 goals (in 31 minutes).
Nani, 2 goals (in 315 minutes).
Alecsandro, 1 goal (in 145 minutes).
Tonel, 1 goal (in 290 minutes).

Assist Leaders:

Deivid, 1 assist (in 31 minutes).
Carlos Bueno, 1 assist (in 158 minutes).
Ronny, 1 assist (in 243 minutes).
Liedson, 1 assist (in 360 minutes).
Nani, 1 assist (in 315 minutes).
João Moutinho, 1 assist (in 360 minutes).

135 minutes without suffering goals.

Observations:

I did not like the game, we could have won 3-0 but with a bit of bad luck we could got a draw 2-2 and this was mostly due to the fact that the game was played box-to-box the whole time without anybody to slow the game down coming into our defensive midfield and impose the rhythm that better suited us.
This was because João Moutinho played as DM and he is a completely different DM from Veloso or Custódio in the sense he moves around more and often abandons his positions to try to push the team forward but when we lose ball possession there's nobody permanently at DM pivot the game back forward.

DMs like Moutinho are well suited for teams who play in constant conteur attack and teams that play at a very fast pace which is not how we play, we don't need overly fast defense-to-offense transitions like he imposes on the team, Moutinho is better as a defensive "Inside" or as the creative DM in a 2 DM system such as a defensive 4-4-2.
Sporting's central corridor was a highway last night, nobody was filtrating anything much like we played in the 2nd half Vs Boavista where there was very little constant pressure in our defensive midfield because JM28 kept going forward.

Paulo Bento this season has developed the slightly irritating habit of rotating players and rotating player's positions. Again he switched Left-Backs from the previous game and switched them again during the game, he switched Veloso from DM to CB and switched Polga from left sided CB to right sided and Moutinho from Inside-Left to DM.

After 63 minutes we were playing with 2 contention FBs and at the 80th minute withdraws a forward to insert a defensive unit and we started playing very deep in defense. Bento's pragmatism is admirable but let's hope he doesn't exaggerate.

I was happy to see the vote of confidence given to Rodrigo Tello who again played well by acting as the transition unit between JM28 towards Nani and Yannick. Defensively he's not a great tackler, marker and isn't that fast but has above average tactical culture, positions himself well and is experienced.



André

Sporting 3 - 1 Benfica (Juniors Round 5)

Goal Scorers:

João Martins at the 3rd minute (a BOMB of a FK).
Alison Almeida at the 44th minute.
Ricardo Nogueira at the 52nd minute.

Substitutions:

Adrien Silva (Midfielder) replaces Fábio Paim at the 67th minute.
Bruno Matias (Forward) replaces Yannick Pupo at the 70th minute.
André Cacito (Striker) replaces Alison Almeida at the 80th minute.

Bookings:

João Gonçalves received a Yellow Card.
Daniel Carriço received a Yellow Card.
João Martins received a Yellow Card.

Observations:

It is the task of the coach to utilize all his players so that they all have a chance to develop and not just field the best possible XI every time out.
Today Vs a serious opponent we got to see a different XI from Professor Luis Martins, an indication of what he trully considers his strongest XI for game hehad to win.
So today Vasco Campos was not in the XI and neither was André Pires but Ricardo Nogueira remained there which surprised me. And lastly João Martins thankfully started in the DM role in an XI with 10 2nd year Juniors and with only 1 "Baby" in Rui Figueiredo.

Yannick Pupo is right footed, when he needs to pass from right to left he uses the inside of his right foot, when he needs to pass left to right he uses the outside of his right foot, could he be another "trivela passer"?
His passes with the outside of the foot showed very good passing ability. Plus in his debut as a starter Yannick showed he's got no problems in helping out in defense at all, often dropping way back to help his colleagues. Not a great debut in the starting XI but some good indications.

Rui Figueiredo played well and he already has 360 minutes in 450 possible ones. When Rui Figueiredo plays with Vasco Campos he is the attacking Full-back but today with Tiago Pinto in the XI it was obvious that Tiago Pinto was on offense a lot more.
Rui is a good player but he is not that fast, he often gets beat on the sprint if he's trying to double-back to tackle the opposing winger he often gets beat on speed. The goal we suffered came from our right corridor where Rui was and in the last 30 minutes Benfica put all their attacks through that flank as they realised RF5 was the weakest link in our defense but eventually Captain Carriço realised that and he started dropping further to the right to double up RF2.

Usually when there's a dead ball situation on the opposition's side we see Luis Martins leave only the 2 Full-Backs at the midfield line to secure from a possible fast counter but today it was not uncommon to see 3 men securing the midfield line, the combination of Tiago Pinto, Rui Figueiredo and João Gonçalves was often used and Carriço also dropped back to combine with the 2 Full-backs but very rarely were there only 2 elements a sign that today's opponents were more than the average foe.
When the dead ball situation is on our side the 2 elements in midfield (preparing to start a possible counter) are as usual Fábio Paim and Alison Almeida.

When Sporting has the ball and is on offense the system is 4-1-2-3 with João Martins at DM and Yannick and João Gonçalves in midfield but when the team goes into an ofense-defense transition it switches to a 4-2-1-3 and the shifting part is João Gonçalves who switches from pairing with Yannick and drops back to pair up with João Martins.
Again today JG8 showed he is not suited for defensive tasks and keeps using short, grass skimming pass when coming out of defense when the right thing to do would be to bomb it out of there.

Yannick was clearly the team's creative engine, João Martins is the sweeper in front of the Centre-Backs and João Gonçalves is the transition unit (ala Tiago Mendes) who helps carry the ball from JM to YP and helps Yannick when the team has the ball or helps JM when the team has lost ball possession.
JG8 has some outstanding technical quality to him, it would be interesting to see the team's 3 men midfield tested with João Martins at DM, Adrien Silva as the transition unit and João Gonçalves in the fantasista role, I think he's really suited for it and looks poor when asked to defend too much.

Ricardo Nogueira is simply not a Centre-Forward, he plays sort of like Liedson in the sense he's not an ofensive reference because he rarely stays in the centre up front (and when he does he plays too deep into the midfield), he keeps dropping to the flanks (particularly the right one) like he's winger masking as a striker and like Liedson once he's won the ball in the flank he crosses to the box but the question is who's he crossing to if you consider he's the team's striker?
He hasn't convinced me at all but he scored a goal today, he's not a pressurizing aggresive sort of player but he's got some guts and he sticks to it and eventually he got it.

Fábio Paim and Alison switched flanks often and "Inside-Left" Yannick also kept switching positions with "Inside-Right" João Gonçalves.

The left footed Free-Kicker is Tiago Pinto and the right footed FKer is João Martins, TP has good technique and JM has a rocket launcher of a right one.

Daniel Carriço is the zonal-marking Centre-Back who plays closer to Rui Patricio defending the box and Marco Lança is the Man-to-Man marker who often plays slightly ahead of DC3 to close out the distance between João Martins and his 2 Centre-Backs.

After Adrien Silva, Bruno Matias and André Cacito had all entered the game the system (which was confusing from Silva to Cacito's entrance) eventually settled on the initial 4-1-2-3 variation of the 4-3-3 only now with Adrien Silva as DM, João Gonçalves as "Inside-Left" and João Martins now as "Inside-Right" and with Bruno Matias as Left-Winger, André Cacito as Right-Winger and Ricardo Nogueira remained as the striker.

MOM: João Martins.
I have to give it to João Martins again. The kid is awesome, he pushed the team forward by distributing the ball quickly like a withdrawn "regista" and when João Gonçalves and Yannick go forward he shifts from the DM to Centre-Midfield to create a situation of numerial superiority in the oppositions's midfield as the team's pressing rises up the pitch.
When one of the Full-Backs goes forward he closes out that corridor by playing closer to it, if the opposing ball-carrier comes through the flanks he goes after him like he was a Full-Back and when he converts FKs you better get out of the way because he's got some right foot on him, a real BOMB.

I'd also like to mention Marco Lança, it's getting to be an habit for everybody to praise the more energetic, more charismatic, more exuberant Daniel Carriço and forget about ML4 but Marco Lança is a VERY good Centre-back, he isn't as flashy or noticeable as our Captain but he is calm, he bombs balls forward when he needs to, he's good in the air and always does all this with a composed demeanour like he's doing the easiest thing in the world and never gets his heart rate up.
Lança and Carriço form quite a tandem at the back and seeing them play together makes it easier to stomach the loss of Simão Coutinho (who is very busy these days with Gil Vicente's hectic schedulle).
I've said it before and I'll say it again, defensively Marco Lança is better than Daniel Carriço and together they complement each other very well, a real "Wall" in our back-line.

Junior Championship after 5 games (450 minutes):

Daniel Carriço, 450 minutes.
Marco Lança, 450 minutes.
João Martins, 450 minutes.
João Gonçalves, 436 minutes.
Ricardo Nogueira, 420 minutes.
Fábio Paim, 378 minutes.
Alison Almeida, 376 minutes.
Rui Patricio, 360 minutes.
Rui Figueiredo, 360 minutes.
André Pires, 321 minutes.
Vasco Campos, 285 minutes.
Tiago Pinto, 165 minutes.
Adrien Silva, 122 minutes.
Bruno Matias, 109 minutes.
Yannick Pupo, 100 minutes.
André Martins, 90 minutes.
André Cacito, 39 minutes.
Vivaldo Arrais, 20 minutes.
André Santos, 19 minutes.
Jorge Abreu, 0 minutes.

Top Scorers:

Daniel Carriço, 3 goals (in 450 minutes).
Alison Almeida, 2 goals (in 376 minutes).
Fábio Paim, 2 goals (in 378 minutes).
Ricardo Nogueira, 2 goals (in 420 minutes).
Bruno Matias, 1 goal (in 89 minutes).
João Martins,1 goal (in 450 minutes)

Bookings:

Bookings:

João Martins, 3 Yellow Cards.
Daniel Carriço, 1 Yellow Card.
João Gonçalves, 1 Yellow Card.
Marco Lança, 1 Yellow Card.
Ricardo Nogueira, 1 Yellow Card.

Daniel Carriço, Rui Patricio, Marco Lança, João Gonçalves, Rui Figueiredo, Tiago Pinto

Bruno Matias

Rui Lopes and André Pires

Professor Luis Martins

André

Selling The Talents

It's that time again, isn't it? We all remember 4 years ago in the Christmas of 2002 when the newspapers started claiming that Manchester United, Deportivo de la Coruna, Barcelona were in the hunt for Ricardo Quaresma and a few months later Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and Manchester United made their interest in Cristiano Ronaldo very clear with a bidding war.

It's inevitable that Nani and Moutinho will eventually leave Sporting much like Ronaldo, Quaresma, Viana and Simão before them, therefore there's no need to get upset over an inevitable outcome, the only 2 things I ask is that they are sold for the right price and if possible sold at the right time.

So, how much are Nani and João Moutinho really worth? In my estimation if they are sold from May 2007 to 12 months after that the correct financial compensation should be 25 million for Nani and 20 million for Moutinho.
This will all depend on the club, the players, Scolari and a little luck as their market value hopefully increases at a steady rate over the coming 8 months if they play well and get the right ammount of exposure (in the eyes of the potential suitors) in the only really meaningfull stages, The Champions League and the Portuguese National Squad.

30 million buy-out clause for Nani? That's not too bad but 40 million would give us greater barganing leverage. Cristiano Ronaldo had a 25 million euro buyout clause yet he left us for 15 to 17,5 million (depending on whom you chose to believe in) therefore the clause itself does not reflect a player's actual value and is merely a tool to force potential buyers to the negotiating table.

Realistically Nani will very difficultly ever be worth above 25 million euros as long as he is at Sporting because team's from this country do not have that much mediatic exposure in Europe unless they win the CL and allow anomalies such as selling Ricardo Carvalho for 30 million euros or Paulo Ferreira for 20 millions.

Therefore in order to sell him for 25 I rather have a 40 million buyout clause in his contract. In a best case scenario he can be worth 25 million within 9-12 months. By best case scenario meaning plenty of exposure in the only meaningfull showcases namely the CL and Portugal.
If Nani starts in 6 games for Portugal between now and next Summer and Sporting passes the group stages of CL and Nani plays regularly (and plays well) then his market value can indeed be inflated to close to 25 million.

Cristiano Ronaldo had 3 major valorization moments:

1) When he played against Inter Milan in August 2002 using "Inter's brand" name as drawing power to attract football world's attention to him.
2) Winning the 2003 Toulon Tournament and further adding value to the "Cristiano Ronaldo" brand name in the mind of potential suitors.
3) When Manchester United played Vs Sporting and Ronaldo showcased his talents using the spotlight that was there for Manchester United's brand name and stealing the world media's attention.

Had Ronaldo been sold in May 2003 he wouldn't have gone for more than 6 million, after attaching himself to the exposure the media gave to Toulon and Man Utd his market value soared and the same might happen to Nani if his name is attached to Bayern Munich's, Inter Milan's and Scolari's in the coming months.

Nani's moments so far:

1) Portugal's best player at the U-21 Euro.
2) A spectacular debut for Portugal Vs Denmark (nobody in Europe knew who he was before this, a reflection on the unexistent exposure of our League).
3) A good performance Vs Inter Milan in the CL.

25 million is not unreallistic. I don't want to sell Nani but since he'll be sold eventually let's hope his market value can be increased as much as possible before then so we can maximize the club's gains in the sad loss of a potentially great player.

The right time to sell Nani or Moutinho would not be next Summer but the Summer after that. Why? Simply because there are no ready replacements and we can not fall into another cycle of selling "Star X" and "Star Y" comes up the Summer after that but is only at the level of "Star X" 2 seasons later and meanwhile 3 years have passed before somebody has filled the void.

Realistically are there more Nanis and Moutinhos in the pipeline? Yes, there are, but if they come up next July while N18 and JM28 leave in May nobody can expect their "heirs" to be able to fill their role, so at least one season must be available for a smooth transition.
Right now Nani is our new Cristiano Ronaldo but CR18 left in August 2003 and N18 came up in July 2005, does anybody think the heir would have been ready in August 03?
It took 3 years and in those years we lost a great deal of strenght on the pitch and only now we have recovered it and it's no coincidence that it's happened at a moment where we have held on to N18 and JM28 and let's not mince words, Moutinho is a lot more pivotal to the team right now than RQ7 was in May 2003 and Nani also more valuable than CR18 at the end of 02/03.

Fortunately our cantera these days is actually producing quality in greater quantities than 4 years ago, we are already past the point where only 1 player come up every year and it will be dificult for fewer than 4 youngsters (Daniel Carriço, João Martins, Bruno Pereirinha and maybe Fábio Paim) to come up next year so replacements are definitely on the horizon but they need time to aclimate to the pressures and responsibilites and to grow as players to the level of the departing ones.

Eventually the Bruno Pereirinhas, Fábio Paims can replace Nani and the João Martins and Adrien Silvas can replace Moutinho but they cannot arrive and be ready, they need time to grow and that's why it's paramount to hold on to the talents for at least another season as the team consolidates and replacements come up.
And make no mistake Nani and Moutinho's market value will not drop between June 07 and June 08, if anything it will go slightly up, and if possible we must make the "sacrifice" of holding on to them for another year.

As for Miguel Veloso and Yannick right now it's impossible to get a bearing on their market value in Europe, they have so far done nothing, we can have hopes and dreams but I for one cannot estimate anything out of 2 or 3 performances. We'll see.

Nobody wants to sell Nani and João next Summer but if they are sold ahead of the proper time let it be for the right price, 45 million euros, and let's hope that ammount goes directly into the banks to which we owe money.
And if that means sacrificing the entire season of 2007/08 as the new youngsters enter a transition season before we have regained strength for 2008/09 then let it be but no more selling players for 6,5 (plus 1,3 in Rochemback's salaries over 24 months) millions like we did with RQ20 or letting Ronaldo go for less than 20 million simply because his contratc ran out in June 2004.

Sign new contracts with Nani, Veloso, and Yannick and attempt the effort of holding on to them untill Euro 2008 where no doubt their importance to Portugal will be even greater and by then they might have over a dozen CL games in their resumes and meanwhile keep slowly and gradully bringing up more babies from our cantera so we are ready for the Sporting post-Nani and post-Moutinho.



André

Mister Aurélio Pereira

André

Carriço, Paim and Lança Training With the 1st Team

Paulo Bento today called up 3 Juniors to integrate the 1st Team's training session, they were Winger Fábio Paim, Centre-Backs Marco Lança and Daniel Carriço (Junior Team Captain).



In the Junior Championship in 2006/07:

Daniel Carriço, 360 minutes, 3 goals.

Marco Lança, 360 minutes,

Fábio Paim, 311 minutes, 2 goals.

In my humble opinion Daniel Carriço if needed is more than ready to play for the 1st Team on a semi-regular basis.
He and João Martins are clearly the 2 Juniors who play the most like adult players already. Either one could move on up and not look out of place in the 1st Team.



André

Leonine Identity

André

U-17 Call-up

Benfica:
Abel Pereira, David Simão, João Carmo, João Pereira, Leandro Pimenta, Ricardo Caetano, Rui Ferreira and Vítor Pacheco.

Sporting:
Diogo Amado, Diogo Rosado, Michael Santos, Nuno Silva, Pedro Mendes and Wilson Eduardo.

FC Porto:
Daniel Martins, Figueiredo and Ruca.

Boavista: Ivo Pinto and Rui Almeida.

Belenenses: Alfredo Ribeiro.

Sp. Braga: Daniel Coelho.

V. Setúbal: Bruno Bolinhas.

Estoril Ernesto Nunes.

V. Guimarães: Dinis.

Amarante: Cristiano Seixas.

Wallsall: Evandro Brandão.

Diogo Amado, Diogo Rosado, Wilson Eduardo were all Juvenile Champions for Sporting in 05/06.
Nuno Silva was the Junior Team's 3rd GK in 05/06 but is still 16 years old.

Diogo Amado, Diogo Rosado, Michael Santos, Pedro Mendes and Wilson Eduardo all played in this past Sunday's Sporting Juvenile Team victory by 8-0 over Loures.
Nuno Silva was on the substitute bench and did not play.

Strange that neither Rui Fonte nor Rui Lopes made this list



André

Barcelona and Man Utd get in line for the 4 talents

André

Much Ado About Youngsters

André