Rúben Amorim explains Paulinho on the bench, Gyokeres needed “some time” to adapt to Portuguese football

Statements by Rúben Amorim, Sporting coach, to Sport TV, after the triumph against Moreirense (3-0), at the José Alvalade Stadium, in the 5th round of the Primeira Liga.

Game analysis: “It’s a very complete performance, with some difficulty in the first 10 minutes, with Moreirense having the ball. They played with Pedro Amador and it looked more like a line of five than a line of four and it took us some time to understand that. Moreirense, with a lot of confidence, a very well-worked team and with good players in midfield, created some difficulties for us. They had one opportunity, but from then on we took control of the game. A first half, against a well-organized team, we have to tire them [os jogadores adversários] that’s what we have to do. Sometimes it’s difficult for the public to understand this, but the players have to do it, it’s mandatory. When Seba stops the ball, and everyone goes to their position and the fans want it faster, those are the coach’s orders and not the players’ orders. From there we have to develop the game and we created chances, both in the first and second, where we looked fresher than the opponent. Then, with the quality of the players, we scored three goals but I think we should have scored more.”

Paulinho on the bench: “We thought that Moreirense would play with a line of four, as they did in the game against FC Porto and SC Braga, but they didn’t. And when there is a line of four, I thought they would feel more comfortable with two references, so we put a reference there and more mobile players to make it difficult. The idea doesn’t always work because they came with a line of five and maybe two references would be more useful, football is like that. But we always make the team to win the game. We came from a stop. It’s not important to rest them now, it’s important to rest them when they’re tired. I chose the best team and that was the idea.”

Gyokeres: “Not everyone was sleeping. He wanted to come to Sporting. Viana showed me the proposals he had. He’s a very ambitious player. Maybe there were Premier League clubs he didn’t want to go to. That was very intelligent, but he has a lot to improve. Today he was much better than he was in the game against Sp. Braga, he didn’t always go to the goal, he played and connected more. God gave him that physique and that allows us to stretch the game and make the team more physical.”

Europa League: “It’s going to be a different game. We remember LASK. These teams are dangerous, they are intense and we have to match that intensity with players who can keep up with the opponent’s physical power.”

Statements by Viktor Gyokeres, Sporting forward, to Sport TV, after the victory against Moreirense (3-0), at the José Alvalade Stadium, on the 5th round of the Primeira Liga.

Goal scored: “The most important thing was that we managed to win. I think it was good that we scored three goals and that is excellent for the goal difference [na tabela]. We played well for most of the match.”

Return to goals: “I didn’t score in a few games, but I tried to produce other things for the team. I needed some time to adapt to the Portuguese League, it’s different from what I was used to in England. Now I’m better adapted.”

Fight for the title: “We want to win as many games as possible. We want to be at the top and fight for the title. We’ve started well, but there’s still a long way to go. I’m not thinking about that now, we’re thinking about the games we have.”

Europa League: “We need to recover. These are back-to-back games and we need to take care of our body, be physically well.”