Statements by Roger Schmidt, Benfica coach, at the “Thinking Football Summit”, a League event that ends this Saturday, in Porto
Is the Portuguese League where players have less room for maneuver, especially in attack, compared to Germany, Austria and the Netherlands? “I don’t think we can talk about the league as a whole. Each club has its own style of play, philosophy and approach. Obviously at this point I think a lot of teams play with five or four defenders, it happened last season, we often played against this tactic , it means that there is one more defender on the line. In the Champions League we played against five last season. This means that if you defend in depth there are a lot of players in and around the box. Centers and central midfielders and not so many attackers. We have to finding space, solutions and creativity for accelerations at the right time. I am aware of this. If the defense is deeper, there are moments in the game when we have different tasks, counterattacks, for example, after recovering. It is important to look for solutions for deeper defenses. deep, further back. We have to press and make transitions after winning the ball to find moments to score.”
In 2022/23 did you feel in the second part of the season that the opposing coaches knew their choices better, even tactically, and that it was more difficult? “I think it’s very easy to analyze, we always play the same way. As a coach, we can have different approaches and ideas for a style of play. I believe the best thing is to have our own ideas for the game and not change the approach due to the opponent. Some Portuguese teams try to change in the Champions League, we believe in ourselves. If you see, Benfica doesn’t play with a style every week, we have our style, but we have flexibility to adapt some issues. But if we play intense football with many moments and transition, we played the same this season as the last. The first half is similar to the second. We tried to adjust some things and make improvements to have some creativity, but we prepare each game. The game and the feeling of football on the ground is something different. I don’t think we won every game, but most of the time we were competitive and implemented our game.”
