 21-11-2009
Carlos Carvalhal: "We want our team to start winning"
In his first press conference as Sporting coach, Carlos Carvalhal spoke to the amassed journalists for 20 minutes about a variety of subjects; ranging from his hiring, the changes he has made at the Club and his objectives for the immediate future.
Before responding to any questions, Carvalhal made a point of congratulating the national team on qualifying for South Africa 2010. After relaying his congratulations, the new Sporting headman spoke about the team’s immediate objectives: "In the first instance, we need to calm the team down a little bit, get confidence levels rising and to apply our ideas on the field. We can’t tackle the second hurdle until we have tackled the first; that first hurdle is tomorrow. I can’t speak about long-term objectives, but the most important thing is to take each game at a time and take a look at our results at the end of the season. I will be happy if I can develop the team into something that brings fans back to the Club. Above everything else, we want our team to start winning."
Speaking about his hiring as Sporting’s new manager and the fact that he was not the Club’s initial choice, Carvalhal said: "I don’t know if I was the first, second or even fifteenth, but it wasn’t for my a ppearance that I was picked. In these situations there are always 10 or 20 names floated around; 90% of which are pure speculation. I also know that I am arriving to Sporting having already done some good things in my career, things that I don’t think any other Portuguese manager has done before arriving at one of the big clubs. I feel like I am arriving to Sporting with a decent track record and that I have the ability and conviction to do well here. That feeling is made every stronger by the people that I have around me. I have arrived during a time that is difficult for the Club in terms of football, but it is in these moments that we see who are the great clubs and the great supporters. It’s not as if people are going to start burning their shirts because we are in a bit of a blip as I have seen at other places – the Sporting night I attended yesterday in Batalha made me sure of that and made me sure that this is a great Club."
Asked about the system he intends to use on the field, Carvalhal did not confirm whether or not he will use a 4x3x3 system and stressed that: “There is not going to be just one system”. Carlos Carvalhal also revealed that he has met with Paulo Bento and the former members of the Club’s training staff to talk about the squad and football in general.
Carvalhal also went on to admit that he was surprised at the timing of his invitation to manage Sporting, after having hoped to be invited to a big Club following his successful season with V. Setúbal. He also went on to confess that he has spoken to president Bettencourt about the possibility of bringing some new faces to the squad “but only after assessing what players are necessary”. Carvalhal also highlighted that, for him, every player, including Stojkovic, are starting on an equal footing, but that he would be “lying” if he claimed to “not already have an idea of Portuguese football and its players."
As for Sunday’s game against GD Pescadores da Costa de Caparica, Carvalhal noted that he expects it to be a tricky game, because "there is no such thing as easy games and we need to be consistent. Our objective is to raise or levels of self-belief and hopefully tomorrow will bring some nice surprises for everybody. Tomorrow, we understand that we should try to play as good as we possibly can. However, I haven’t been with the team all that long so of course I haven’t had time to change so many things”. |
|
|
