"I feel that the players are embracing my way of working"

PREVIEW

Winning and feeling the home advantage as an important asset to achieve this goal were assumptions highlighted by coach José Mourinho as objectives for Benfica-Rio Ave, a postponed match from round 1 of the Liga Betclic, scheduled for 8:15 pm this Tuesday, September 23, at Estádio da Luz.

What kind of opponent do you expect to face at Luz? How is Benfica doing at the moment?

I expect an opponent that is better than the points they have earned so far. We have obviously watched Rio Ave in previous games and in several games, especially in the first three, they are a much better team than their points currently reflect. It is clear to see that they are a team with a coach, who are organized, who know what they want, and who have some, if not all, good quality players. For what it's worth, they have 24 hours more than us to prepare for the game. I expect a difficult game, I expect a game in which, obviously, we need the home advantage. When the home advantage comes into play, it is obviously a big help. I think the team is growing. If, from a tactical point of view, growth has to be gradual, it has to be progressive, I think that, from an emotional point of view, a connection with the fans that makes them feel at home, fans who forget that the last two home games didn't end well and who look at the team with the same positivity that I do... I think that could be an important empathy for us to face a difficult opponent.

Since you arrived, you have said several times that you already knew this team from what you observed as an opponent, from the two times you played officially and the Benfica presentation game [Eusébio Cup]. But was there anything in these four training sessions, and in the game at Vila das Aves [against AFS], that surprised you about the team or any of the players? Any extra skills that you didn't see as an opponent but have now noticed as a coach?

As an opponent, I was honest. More than with Benfica, I was honest with myself, assuming that I was playing against a good team with good players. Obviously, if you compare Benfica's first phase, which included the Champions League playoff games, with the last two or three games, there is a... I don't want to say a decline in performance, but there is a slight contradiction. But Benfica has good players and has good things that came from the past. It is not my intention—but even if it were—to look for negative aspects from the past. Not that it would be easy to find any. The previous management did a good job here. Now, as I was saying, we coaches are all different, we all have different ideas. It is important that players embrace new ideas with joy and confidence because, whether we like it or not, when a coach changes, the one who suffers most is the coach who leaves, but those who stay, the players who stay, the players who transition, also have a process that, in most cases, is not a very pleasant one. They have to adapt, they have to learn new things, and that's why I always say, “Calm down, calm down,” let's introduce things slowly. Surprises, surprises, I can't say I've had any. I mean... I could be wrong, it would be the players who would have to say so, not me [smiles]. But I have the feeling, every day, that they are embracing my way of working, that they are embracing my way of leading, that they are embracing the concepts that we are introducing into the team little by little. That's important to me. The team, as a group... Obviously, we're not best friends yet, we've only known each other for four or five days, but I think we're building something important from a human perspective, and then, obviously, from the perspective of the team's tactical development, we have to take it step by step. 

In the game against AFS, we saw Ivanovic and Pavlidis playing in slightly different roles than we were used to seeing in this final phase with Bruno Lage. Is that one of the changes you felt was necessary to make in Benfica's attack?

No, every game is a game, every game has a strategy. If 20/25 years ago we already had a specific tactical approach for each game, imagine now, with a whole support and analysis structure that allows us to have a thousand pieces of information and look at each game as a different game. Obviously, I didn't want to detract too much from what they were as a team, but—obviously, without criticizing, or saying “it was bad and now with me it's good,” which is not at all my way of thinking and being—I like different things. And, liking different things, without wanting to detract too much, without wanting to give too much information, especially without doing too much fieldwork—because I believe much more in fieldwork than in words and tactical-strategic meetings—obviously some things were introduced. The way we press, the timing of the press, the attacking movements, the more stable possession, the transition situations after recovery... These are normal concepts. If Bruno [Lage] had gone to Fenerbahçe to replace me, I'm sure Bruno would have changed some things too. That's how football is. But, yes, I tried to give the team a slightly different offensive dynamic. I confess, I didn't feel that the two of them [Ivanovic and Pavlidis] were very comfortable playing in a flat 4-4-2, as they say in England. I didn't feel they were very comfortable. We thought about giving them a type of role that would allow both of them to feel comfortable with what they have to do on the field. I think Sudakov also fit into that dynamic quite well, and, especially in the second half, things went better.

I remember a documentary about Tottenham, back when José Mourinho was the team's coach, in which you were very surprised by the weight of one of the players in the dressing room, I think it was Sissoko. In your few days at Benfica, have you had any surprises like that? Which players have surprised you in terms of their weight in the dressing room?

world champion, who has loads of experience at the highest level, who is the captain [Otamendi]. There are clubs where the captain wears the armband, but isn't really the captain. I've been at clubs where the armband wasn't on the right arm. It can happen. There are clubs where the armband goes to the player with the most games for the club, and there are other clubs where the armband goes to someone with the same nationality as the club itself. Here, in this case, the armband is on the arm of someone who is truly the captain, who acts as captain and who carries weight as captain. What surprised me very, very favorably—and the merit is very clear—is that those who come from the youth academy, whether they are older or younger—including players who were on the bench in the last game, including Gonçalo [Oliveira] and Diogo [Ferreira], who weren't even on the bench—come with a connected vocabulary... These are not random words, they are not isolated words. They are sincere words, words with meaning. They come from the Benfica school, they come with positivity, motivation, responsibility. And that small group I mentioned the day before yesterday [Saturday], when I said it was almost like a brotherhood... They are kids who love each other, who have lived together and grown up together. They are very strong kids in the dressing room, and, as I said before, even those who haven't been playing or are at a lower level in their development... I'll send a message to the youth academy: it's their job, and a coach of the first team, with kids like these, has to thank them, because, obviously, that's where it comes from.

Your voice reflects the intensity you have put into training, the corrections you have made to the players. How long do you think it will take for the team to play according to your ideas (because right now you talked about field work, and Benfica has practically no field work, it's play, rest, play, rest)?

Yes, the voice is the working voice. It's the same thing when people see me tanned, I always say it's a working tan, that it's only on my face and hands and nothing else. It's from work, from constantly passing on information, from still being at a stage where the assistants have to grow with the team, where I have to get to know Ricardo Rocha better and better, who didn't work with him as part of my staff... So, right now we're still in a period where I'm taking everything into my own hands, followed by meetings to analyze the opponent, meetings to analyze our own performance... I talk, I talk a lot, but after two or three days, things get back on track. When do I think [the team will play according to my ideas]? Never, never, never, because this is always evolving, it's not a static thing. When we talk about preseasons, the preseason, which is always around five or six weeks, is a period where the coach trains practically twice a day, reaching the end of the preseason with around 50 training sessions and half a dozen games. This period is not a time for building a team, but for laying the foundations. But then the situation is always progressive. For example, in preparing for this game, there are things we prepared for the previous game that carry over, that are transferred, such as game principles, from game to game. But it's always a work in progress. Rio Ave plays differently from AFS. Even if they don't play with five players and play with four, the principles will surely be basically the same. They are different teams, and we have to adapt to that. Now, honestly, I think that the empathy we are creating between us, whether from a human or methodological point of view, I think they are accepting very well, I think this can speed up the process.

I want to ask you about Lukebakio: how is the player doing? Has he recovered, could he be an option for this game? From what you've seen of the player, what can he add to this team?

Benfica lost Aktürkoğlu and Bruma. They obviously needed a winger, especially a winger... who was well chosen, because he can play on both the right and left sides. Obviously, on the right, he will look for more interior areas, while on the left he can play more openly. He can do both. He has the right age and experience—not too young, not over 30. He is, I would say, at the perfect age in terms of maturity and balance. He is a player with great potential, and we weren't expecting him to be able to play tomorrow [Tuesday]. We were preparing him to play only in the game against Gil Vicente, and now, with this new opening that allows him to play tomorrow, we have delayed the preparation process so that we can have him tomorrow without him being overly fatigued. He is on the bench, and if he has to play, he will play.