Estela Silva / EPA
João Pereira during a Sporting game
New game, new setback, this time in the Champions League. New coach achieves negative historical records – and takes Gyökeres with him.
Another game, another victory. Until November 10th, the day of the last game with Rúben Amorim, Sporting’s trend was this.
One more game, another defeat. This became the trend of Sporting since João Pereira it arrived. They still beat Amarante but lost all the other games that followed.
This Tuesday, another defeat: this time they lost against Club Brugge, in the Champions League.
The has already been highlighting the various João Pereira’s…negative recordsin just one month in Alvalade’s main team.
This record stands out: João Pereira is the first Sporting coach to lose four times in the first five games officers. Throughout the history of the Lisbon club.
And, also in history, it is only the sixth time that the Alvalade team has lost four times in a row – four of them from 2005 until now.
As they were winning against Brugge and Moreirense (in the previous game), this was the first time since 2016/17 that Sporting lost twice in a row after twists, at the same time.
Just 8 shots in Belgium, against Club Brugge: lowest number of the season in the Champions League.
And this sequence, and above all the change in playing style, led to an unprecedented “drought” for the team’s top scorer: Viktor Gyökeres hasn’t scored a goal from a running ball in over a month. That had never happened this season. In between, he scored four goals in one game…for Sweden.
Is this phase the result of some strong change in such a short period of time? “What changed at Sporting was the coach. The players are the same”, replied João Pereira, in a press conference after the game in Bruges.
Despite the injuries, the coach does not hide: “I’m not a coach of making excuses. We were conditioned in preparing for the game with the events that happened, but I leave the excuses to others. I have to take responsibility for what is happening, it is my responsibility. I’m here to show my faceI will always show my face. At this moment I am the main responsible”.
