Raul José guarantees a strong Sporting CP for the weekend's trip to Braga

Standing in for Jorge Jesus in this Saturday's pre-match press conference, Raul José promised "a strong Sporting CP", in tribute to the Alvalade coach following the death of his father this week.

"Whenever you lose a loved one it is always painful, but Jorge will be back with the same dedication and passion and the players are with him to get the win on Sunday", opened the Sporting CP assistant coach, adding: "Winning is always the priority for Sporting CP. We are with Jorge (Jesus) and we will go to Braga to get the win with the support of the fans."

As for the weekend's opposition and Sporting CP's chances of still finishing 2nd in Liga NOS, Raul José commented: ""Sp. Braga have some great players and are always strong at home. They have shown against the big teams that they are a solid team, who are difficult to play against. We will have to be at our best to win. We are focused on winning our games and at the end we will see where we finish."

Raúl José on the weekend's draw in Chaves

Speaking with Sporting TV in reflection the weekend's draw with GD Chaves, assistant coach Raúl José, stepping in for the suspended Jorge Jesus, showed confidence in the Alvalade squad.

"We were really close to winning the game. We were losing, but we came from behind. But for a bit of bad luck, we would have won the three points. However the lads are feeling confident that we will get into the Portuguese Cup semi-finals. We have to improve in relation to a few details over the course of the match", said Raúl José.

Bryan Ruiz brushes off results to focus on pre-season positives

Bryan Ruiz took a moment to speak with the press after Sporting's loss to PSV this week.

"We played against a really good side. We let a goal in really quick and also had a player sent off. It is really hard to play with 10 men from the 34th minute until the end of the match, but now we have to psh on and get some results. We are tired and it is normal that we aren't at our best right now", said the Costa Rican.

Assistant coach Raul José also spoke with Sporting TV at the final whistle, touching on the evening's refereeing: "The referee could have analysed the situation differently and not spoiled the match. We will take some notes and have a good week of training out of this. Honestly we aren't worried about winning right now and we are focused on getting the lads up to speed. We will look at a few situations ahead of the start of the season and look to win the competitions that we are involved in."

Assistant coach Raúl José on win against Moreirense

Raúl José stepped in for Jorge Jesus in Saturday's post match interview, after Jorge Jesus was shown red in the last 15 minutes against Morirense.

“It didn't look to me like he deserved to be sent off and that is all I have to say about it", opened Rául José, adding a word on the weekend's opposition: "We were expecting a hard game. We did out job and we won the three points. Moreirense are a really aggressive side who play some direct football, but I thought we controlled the match well."

Raul José on Sporting's 3-2 win against Académica

Sporting assistant coach Raul José talked with the press in a flash interview after Saturday's win against Académica, marred by the sending off of Jorge Jesus and Nélson and a blatantly off-side goal.

“We showed that we can take on anyone, but today we had to play against more than one team. The refereeing team were an absolute embarrassment, overruling a correct decision by the linesmen, taking a penalty away from us and not even showing a yello when Arien was clearly attacked. This refereeing team are at a really, really low level. We were clearly disadvantaged and we only won because we have a great team and great fans. We will fish for the title to the end."

Ricardo Esgaio on Sporting's 3-1 win in Coimbra

Ricardo Esgaio made his 2015/16 I Liga debut this weekend, in Sporting’s 3-1 win over Académica.

“We started really strong and achieved our objective of getting the three points. We came into this after two hard results, but we did well today”, affirmed the young wing-back at the final whistle, adding: “We have to keep working hard the team. Everyone knows what Sporting has been going through right now, but we have to keep working hard.”

Assistant coach Raul José also met with the press, stepped in for Jorge Jesus after the Sporting coach was sent off just before half-time: “We started strong and quickly went two goals ahead, but the referee got Académica back into the game and we had to take a different approach in the second-half. It was an intense game, but the result could have been even more one-sided if it wasn’t for the penalty.”