The coach wants more effectiveness from his side against Casa Pia AC

On the eve of Sporting CP's match against Casa Pia AC, coach Rúben Amorim talked in a press conference before the visit to the Estádio Nacional do Jamor.

“Playing against Casa Pia AC is always difficult, because they're a team who concede few goals. On the other hand, when we know that we are going to play against a team with three centre backs, our preparation can be easier, because we train for many hours against our own formation, against ourselves. It's thus easier to determine which player plays off the centre backs and the wing backs," he began by telling journalists.

“I think their system is identical, but Casa Pia AC might field a 3-5-2, as they did in the second half of the game in Alvalade. We have trained for everything."

Casa Pia have 38 points and are in eighth place, just three points off fifth. Sporting CP are looking for a return to winning ways, and the coach took stock of the team's situation in the table.

“We come into this one off a performance in which we controlled the game, but took a negative result, and I think that is a good sign. After several victories, having a draw at a difficult ground felt like a defeat, so we have to improve. We need to stifle the opponent's game, as we did with Gil Vicente FC, but we have to be much better in front of goal."

“We conceded a lot of goals at the beginning of the season and now we have gone five games with clean sheets, so we have improved. Not only because we are more focused, but also because we have more options. We continue to create many opportunities, and we have kept that up throughout the season, but we have to score more goals, obviously,” he reflected.

Amorim confirmed that striker Paulinho will remain out of the squad, without giving any timeframe for his return.

“We have Youssef [Chermiti], who is young, recovers quickly and needs to play to grow, but we also have other players who can play as a striker. We will be prepared for the game ."

“We have paid attention to the sequence of games that we have coming up, and looked at the characteristics of the players to try to manage them in order to win all the games. It is this type of squad management that we will continue to do. A false nine is a possibility and Youssef playing is also a possibility."

Full-back Héctor Bellerín will be back from injury, confirmed Amorim, saying “he will be called up, but I don't know if he will play. He's coming back in and he's stronger and more confident. The Medical Department have done an excellent job, because I think he is even better now in training than when he arrived from FC Barcelona. I would say that he is one hundred percent fit and is an option to play."

As for the final stretch of the season, he remained open minded.

“Anything is possible and everything can change. Now I don't want to do any more maths, as I'm fed up with it. We want to win every game. Right now, the objective is to beat Casa Pia AC and then move on to the next competition [the UEFA Europa League]. I want to use all the training sessions to keep improving and at the end of the season we'll count the trophies, as that's what matters. The  priority is the league, and the players know that if they do not perform well against Casa Pia AC, then they will not play against Juventus."