With only victories in the five games played since returning to Luz, Bruno Lage warned the Benfica squad about the dangers of overconfidence in their approach to this Sunday’s visit (6pm) to Nacional. “We talked about it with the players, just for them to understand what football is, where we go from 8 to 80 and vice versa very quickly. Our focus is consistency.”
The red coach insisted that regularity is needed to obtain good results. “I want the best version of the team (for today). Consistency and winning. This comes from the personality and character of each one, and the way I see these players working. It’s about following the last game, seeing what we did well and moving on to the next one. It was on this basis that we made this journey of five games. We have to close with another good, consistent performance and win the three points”, he explained, adding: “Our message is to have, whether in our career or in life, a certain balance and a certain winning mentality. At every moment we have to give a response. The preparation for this game was in that sense. We have to present the best version of the team to win and we won’t shy away from that. It’s about closing the game as we have done so far and thinking about the next one in the same way.”
Asked if Benfica is going through the best phase of the season, Lage insisted on looking to the future instead of the past. “What I want is for the team to be at its best focus ever, that’s what we have to take into the next game. It’s important to stay focused because Nacional is a very interesting team. We have to be prepared to close this month of work of six games with a victory.”
“FOCUSED ON THE FIELD”
Bruno Lage commented on the statements in which Otamendi revealed that he had already been sleepy in training due to staying up late to watch River Plate’s games. “What interests me is that he is completely focused on the field and I asked him to help align his teammates so that we are all focused on what needs to be done.”
“ENJOY”
“I’m enjoying football, with a coach who has a mentality that I identify with, with football in search of goals”, said Carreras to the newspaper ‘La Voz de Galicia’, where he has the objective of “winning everything”.
Akturkoglu only thinks about Benfica
“His objective at the moment is to have a beautiful career with Benfica and be consistent”, Bruno Lage responded yesterday when confronted with Man. United’s interest in Akturkoglu, as reported by the CM. The winger left with complaints about the last game and only today will the coach decide whether the Turkish player will play.
Source: www.cmjornal.pt
