Statements by Carlos Carvalhal, coach of Sp. Braga, in the press room at the Braga Municipal Stadium, after the defeat (2-4) against Sporting in the 11th round of the League:
[O que faltou para segurar o resultado?] “There was a lack of energy, that’s all. Context of the game: Sporting played on Tuesday, we played on Thursday, less than 72 hours we were already playing again with travel included. We know that in the second half, after 60 minutes, the team could get into difficulty. We think about doing well, scoring goals, and if we score goals we have to be able to support the opponent who scores goals in all teams. We had five attackers in the corner, we played forward, fearless, we handcuffed Sporting and made it 2-0. In the second half we wanted to do the same. Difficulty: physical capacity of the opponent, Rúben placed cooler defenses to prevent us from attacking. There’s a corner, we concede a goal from a dead ball. After a short time, a shot outside the area, then he conceded another goal from outside the area. Very proud of my players, we did what had to be done. It had to be everything from the beginning, it had to be this strategy, it worked well, I have to congratulate my team, they are human. I would like to be in the opposite situation, we were penalized, we could have replaced socks, it’s a reality, after the game we can do this analysis».
[Primeira parte perfeita. Foi apenas energia, ou o adversário estava muito motivado com a questão do treinador?] — We conceded a goal from a corner, a shot from outside the area – credit to whoever took the shot, but it was not built. I’m not apologizing, I’m already used to issues like players are professionals, they receive a lot of money, they have to play every three days, but that doesn’t make players supermen to play in less than 72 hours».
[O que se pode fazer para melhor a situação da recuperação entre jogos?] «It’s a complicated situation. I’ve had an identical situation, whoever plays in the Europa League or Conference League has to play on Thursday and necessarily on Sunday, because of the issue of selections. The game from Thursday to Monday makes all the difference. I think we will still have an identical situation, it already happened to us in Barcelos, where we had to suffer».
[Primeira parte com índices de concentração elevados] «I congratulated the players, they were brave, they fought, we established a plan very quickly. We used video a lot, we went to the field with players without minimum conditions, we conceded a goal from a corner, I repeat, and two from outside the area».
