“WWith the opportunities created, we should have scored more goals. However, we also have data that helps us understand that we can still create more opportunities. So our focus should be on variability and the way we attack”, explained the coach.
Despite having one of the least leaked defenses in the championship, Luís Pinto considered that Gil Vicente can also improve in this chapter, namely in the ability to press further forward, but highlighted these changes as medium-term objectives.
“The performance has been interesting, but I believe that we still have room to be more capable, to be a team that can move from an area that is lower on the field to a higher area, in a more aggressive way, in a more pressing way”, he added.
Regarding Santa Clara, the coach praised the Azoreans’ performance and identified similarities with Vitória de Guimarães, the Gilistas’ last opponent (0-0 draw), which could help in preparing for the match.
“It’s an opponent that is in the position it deserves to be in, for everything it has done. It has a very interesting idea, a very rich way of competing. It’s an opponent that has some similarities with Vitória, in terms of some of the players’ individual characteristics”, he analyzed.
After a sequence of games with little recovery time, Luís Pinto considered that the break for national team commitments will be beneficial to recover from the accumulated wear and tear, regardless of the result against Santa Clara.
“I always believe that we can get some good things out of the break. There will be, for example, three days without training, in which the players can have the freedom to be with their family and friends and decompress. Whether it’s winning or losing, it’s always important,” he said.
The coach also revealed that Elimbi remains a doubt, while Espigares is available again for Sunday’s game in the Azores, after serving a suspension.
When asked, on the sidelines of the game, about Cristiano Ronaldo, Luís Pinto expressed his desire for the Portuguese national team captain’s farewell to take place under other circumstances, recalling the footballer’s importance for the country.
“I would like the exit to happen in another way, other than Cristiano Ronaldo’s last game as it was. He is a player who gave us so many good things, who made us able to dream and aspire more as Portuguese, and believe that it was possible to achieve much greater things”, he stated.
Gil Vicente, ranked seventh, with 15 points, visits Santa Clara, fourth, with 21, on Sunday, in a match scheduled for 3:30 pm, at the Estádio de São Miguel, in Ponta Delgada, refereed by Diogo Rosa, from the Beja association.
