"We need to win"

PREVIEW

At Benfica Campus, José Mourinho previewed the match against Gil Vicente, on matchday 7 of the Liga Betclic, and expressed his conviction that this Friday “could be a good day” for Benfica, acknowledging: “We are holding on tightly to the good things we have already done.”

How is the team doing after the last draw against Rio Ave, and with only two days to prepare for the game against Gil Vicente? I would also like to ask you to comment on this morning's Portuguese Cup draw, in which Chaves was drawn against Benfica.

The draw is good for Chaves, who have a big game at home. And it's good for Benfica fans in Trás-os-Montes, because it's an opportunity for them to have us there. For us, obviously, it's complicated from a sporting point of view, from a logistical point of view—travel, Champions League, two or three days later. It's complicated, but we look at the positive side of things, which is the Cup celebration, especially in places that this year, as is the case with Chaves, who is not in the top-flight. We look at the positive side, we took the Cup party to Chaves. The team is doing well. The team is ready for tomorrow [Friday]. I could be here now listing a dozen negative things: the short recovery time, the short training time, the disappointment of the last result... I could be here listing a number of things, but I don't want to. The team is doing well. We are preparing as best we can. We are focusing on the good things we have already done, and obviously we are discussing, without being able to work much, the bad things we have done, and I am convinced that tomorrow [Friday] can be a good day for us.

Not in terms of position, but in the starting eleven, will Lukebakio replace Barrenechea? Are there any changes on the horizon, considering next week's games at Stamford Bridge [against Chelsea] and also at the Dragão [FC Porto]? Could Benzema be a name for Benfica in January?

Benzema – it was the first time I heard his name and the hypothetical possibility. We played [when I was coach of Fenerbahçe] in a friendly match in the Algarve against his team [Al-Ittihad]. We talked for a while... I think the last thing on Karim [Benzema]'s mind is returning to European football. In this case, returning to a team like ours, which plays at the highest level. I think Karim will stay there, he has been happy, he has won titles, he has an enviable financial situation... At this age, when you leave top-level European football to go and play in Saudi Arabia, I don't think the goal is to return. If you're talking about younger kids who go there and, after two or three years, are still at an age where they can return to European football, then yes. Players like Karim, absolutely not. So, this Benfica story—even though I haven't asked anyone and no one has made any comments to me internally—I would almost venture to say that there is no possibility. I don't even understand very well how Karim's name got into this situation. Lukebakio doesn't have enough gas for 90 kilometers. There's gas for 45, and then, if you have the hybrid, you can go a little further. Now, if it's just gas, you can't. It's a choice we have to make, we have to analyze it carefully. Today is the second day after the game [against Rio Ave, on Tuesday, September 23]. In terms of fatigue, it's the worst [day]. Tomorrow [Friday], the players will surely be in better shape. We'll train in the morning, and after the morning training session, we'll make that decision, but with the conviction that there isn't enough gas to run 90 kilometers.

In the last game, when you took Samuel Dahl off, you chose to move Aursnes to left back when you had Obrador on the bench. Was that a one-off situation, or, like other coaches who have been at Benfica, do you also consider Aursnes an important player to always have on the pitch? Will Prestianni always go to the Under-20 World Cup? Why is it important for the player to participate in that competition?

He's going to the Under-20 World Cup. It's important for him, and it's important for Benfica too. It's a position where we have other options. Forcing him to stay, and possibly not giving him much playing time during that period, doesn't seem like the right decision to me. I think everyone likes to play for their national team, imagine the South Americans, with their culture. He's been called up for tomorrow [Friday], but then he'll go. Regarding Aursnes: yes, it's important for him to be on the pitch. He is a player who allows everything to happen in a game, and we always have an alternative solution that can compensate for any unpredictability that may arise. Obrador, honestly, I need to get to know him better. We've trained very little, it's only been a week, he hasn't played much. Obviously, I saw him, I analyzed him on video in the game he played with Tondela. I went further back, I went to see him in games at Deportivo. He's a player I need to get to know better. I knew that Aursnes could give me that, I even thought he could play more inside, because at that time we were playing with Schjelderup open (unlike Ivanovic, who plays more inside). Obviously, Aursnes gives us guarantees in all positions. I really need to get to know him better. had, I would say it's Obrador. Even because of his personality: he's an introverted, reserved guy, and that comes across in training too. I have to help him be more himself and lose his shyness, so to speak. Obviously, that's not the right word, which is why I put it in quotation marks, but to lose a little of his shyness and be able to show more of his potential.

During the first few rounds of this championship, Bruno Lage used Pavlidis, Henrique Araújo, and Ivanovic—all in the front line. At the end of the game against Rio Ave, José Mourinho complained about the lack of players in Benfica's penalty area. What I am asking you, and here I am splitting my question, is whether at the top of your priorities for January is a player who can provide more presence in the box, and whether, on the other hand, the fact that the transfer window closed so recently makes you feel a little tied-handed in this regard.

No, no, I'm not even thinking about the January transfer window. I said that Benfica had a good squad and I still think that Benfica has a good squad. The three strikers are three good strikers. When I say presence, I also mean a certain type of physicality, a certain type of play that is different from what these three offer. When you play against a defensive wall like Rio Ave, where in the second half we were always in the final third, not even in the opponent's midfield, but in the final third, and they were always practically inside the area, sometimes you can't get into combination, you can't get into support, you can't get into short depths. Sometimes, having a player like that is worth a goal, worth two points. And it's obvious that we don't have that. Now, far be it from me to think about the January transfer window, far be it from me to ask for anything. My job is not to ask, my job is to develop what we have to the maximum and help the players improve, collectively, obviously, but also individually. It's my mission to help them improve.

When we saw your first press conference, one of the main points that came up was that you said you were less egocentric and more altruistic, right? I believe the goal is to bring joy back to Benfica, but for you personally, do you think there is a sense of bringing happiness back to yourself, and also completing unfinished business, considering what happened 25 years ago?

Unfinished work? I haven't even started working here. I've been here for three months, played seven or eight games, and haven't even begun my work. But it's true, I feel more and more focused on others. Who are the others? The fans, the management, the players, they are the others. I think more about them than about myself. And it's a good feeling. Honestly, it's a good feeling. 

In the last game, there were a few players who underperformed, but there is one who has been the focus of criticism, and that is Richard Ríos. Do you see any reason for this player to be criticized?

I see reasons to help him a lot. I see reasons to try to get the best out of him. I see reasons to try not to ask him to do things that he finds difficult, that is, I see reasons to analyze him closely, to be very close to him, to protect him as much as possible and, at the same time, to try to get him to show his good side and hide his less good side. When you ask a player to do things that he is not known for doing, you create a situation of instability in which the player gradually sinks, even from an emotional point of view. The part of today's training session that we did with Richard [Ríos] was precisely to try to put him in a situation, to try to ask him to do things that he feels comfortable with and in which people can see what a good player he is. We know perfectly well that there is always a direct relationship between what people expect from a player and the price paid for that player. When a player takes the pitch, he always has a sticker on his back with the millions paid for his transfer. What I won't do is put more pressure on the player myself. Quite the opposite. As I was saying, it's about trying to create situations where he can shine and play better, and where his confidence levels can rise. If you ask me who's playing tomorrow [Friday], I don't want to say who's playing, because I don't know 100% who's playing yet, but Ríos is definitely playing.

After these two games, is it time to make more than just minor adjustments? And when will this Benfica team start to bear the hallmarks of José Mourinho?

It's very difficult to fine-tune, because the more we play, the more fatigue we accumulate; more fatigue means less field work; less field work means fine-tuning only in meetings, in conversations, in graphics, which is something I don't really believe in. I think it's a minimal part of a player's technical and tactical education, so in that sense, it's not that we have much more to add. Now, it helps to analyze. As I told the players, we're going to make more mistakes, we're going to try not to make the same mistakes we made, because when you repeat the same mistake, and repeat it, and repeat it, and repeat it, it means either that the level isn't very high, or that we have some cognitive problem, for sure. So, we make mistakes, but we mustn't repeat the same mistake over and over again. By analyzing the mistakes we made in these two games in detail, as we are doing with the players, we obviously hope that we won't make the same mistakes again. How long will it be before we can see a team that I really identify with and like a lot? Honestly, I don't know, because we play Chelsea on Tuesday [September 30], we play FC Porto three days later, and then the players disappear for the national team. I've been told that we're going to play some 8-a-side games here for 15 days, but there are six coaches and two players, not even six players and two coaches, so we'll be here playing games with Aursnes and... some guy, I don't even know who he is [smiles]... and there aren't any; and then they arrive. When they arrive, some will arrive on Tuesday, others on Wednesday, others on Thursday; then director Mário Branco got it right in the draw for the Portuguese Cup. I told him: Sintrense, Atlético da Malveira, Atlético Clube de Portugal. And he said: Chaves [smiles]. So, it doesn't help at all, then we go to Newcastle. It's difficult, it's very difficult, that's why you normally use the preseason to define principles, and then you work around those principles, but the principles have already been defined. Taking over a team at this point is obviously not easy for a coach, and it's even harder to answer your question about when I think... I have to be positive and say that tomorrow [Friday] will be a little more like what I like. As I said to the players, if we can do in the first half what we did in the second half, it will certainly be easier to win. You didn't ask any questions about Gil Vicente, so I'll take the opportunity to answer the question that didn't come up. Congratulations to César [Peixoto], who is one of my many players who have become coaches. The team is good, the team has a coach's touch, the team is well organized, they are not only good players, they are also a good team as a team. I think the last time I was with César was in the Champions League final, I don't think I've been with him since, so it will be a pleasure to be with him, and come on, we need to win and we have to think that it will be tomorrow [Friday].

And, if I may, Bruno Lage did not consider Barreiro a defensive midfielder. What role do you think this player can play most effectively in, and how do you think he can contribute most, if, for example, he were to replace Barrenechea in this game?

Bruno certainly knows the players better than I do. I analyzed them playing against us, he worked with them for months and hours, so obviously he knows the players better than I do. I agree with Bruno in the sense that Leandro [Barreiro] is a player who has good timing when arriving in the box. He's a player who, if he's always stuck and more positional, I think he suffers a little, but, for example, in Vila das Aves, when I swapped Enzo [Barrenechea] for Leandro [Barreiro], he went to position 6. He is a player who is available, as I often say, he is a good soldier, he is someone who tries to do what is asked of him, he is fast, he has a good defensive transition to stop counterattacks from a more defensive team, he can certainly also become a defensive midfielder, but I agree with Bruno that he is a player who has more intention and is even dangerous coming from behind.