Sporting on the way to a historic collapse in Portugal?

Since the departure of Ruben Amorim, Sporting has been plunged into a crisis which could threaten its title of champion of Portugal.

After winning the Portuguese championship last season, Ruben Amorim made two announcements. The first was his intention to play one more season in the ranks of Sporting, and the second concerned his ambition to offer the Lisbon club a second consecutive league title.

And if the Portuguese technician had been able to keep his promise until his departure from the club last month, by putting together an impressive series of eleven consecutive victories in the league, the situation is now very different.

Nothing is going well at Sporting

You are missing only one being and everything is depopulated: this is a sentence that corresponds well to the current context of Sporting. If the club is still leader of the Portuguese championship, it remains in a very bad period, the start of which coincides perfectly with the recent change of coach.

Since the departure of Ruben Amorim and the arrival in office of João Pereira, the Lisbon club has plunged into a rather improbable start to a crisis. Indeed, if everything had started well for the new coach of Leões, with a great success in the Portuguese Cup against Amarante (6-0), João Pereira's men then suffered no less than three defeats. An astonishing turnaround for this team which had not lost since the beginning of August, and the stunning final of the Super Cup lost to Porto.

Swept at home by Arsenal in the Champions League (1-5), Sporting then suffered a new setback on home turf against Santa Clara in the championship (0-1). And if they had the opportunity to get back on track this Thursday, the Lisbonites suffered another defeat on the Moreirense pitch (2-1).

Leader of the championship with 33 points gleaned in 13 days, Sporting however saw the noose tighten. After these two recent defeats in Liga Portugal, FC Porto now has only three units less than João Pereira's men, who will host Boavista on the next day of the championship.

The supporters get involved

Faced with this turnaround, Sporting supporters have a ready culprit. Barely four games after his arrival, young coach João Pereira is already the target of criticism from the stands of the Estadio José Alvalade. In addition to the skills of the technician, it is also those of the sports management which are called into question, while many supporters of the Greens and Whites would have liked to see a coach of a completely different caliber replace the remarkable Ruben Amorim.

Under fire from criticism, João Pereira still tries to keep face. After the defeat conceded this Thursday against Moreirense, the Portuguese technician declared that he remained confident about the delicate situation in which the club currently finds itself. “From what I saw among the players, it’s a lot better than the last match. This tends to improve. Saying that after a defeat is always difficult, but I have confidence in our ability to turn the situation around.”he explained at a press conference.

While slogans “João Pereira, Rua!” » are starting to gain influence in the wings of the Estadio José Alvalade, Sporting's next outing promises to be decisive for the rest of the season. On Tuesday, João Pereira's men will travel to Belgium, hoping to take another step towards qualifying for the round of 16 of the Champions League. A decisive meeting for the rest of the European season Lionsbut also for the career of João Pereira, who could well be pushed out in the event of a new setback.

Photo credit: Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images