Carlos Vicens rejects external pressure and defends internal demand

Hjust over a week ago, almost 10 days after the 0-0 draw with Santa Clara, in the Azores, the president of the minhotos, António Salvador, left criticism of the performance of the team, noting that the “club requires more” than has been presented so far, referring not “only to results”, but to “a capacity to compete that is non-negotiable”.

At the press conference forecasting the reception to Sporting, Carlos Vicens, urged with the words of the Brazilian leader, noted that he is “the first critic” of everything the team does.

“The person of this building and of this club who has a level of demand and higher standards, who puts pressure on himself and addresses everything with a greater critical spirit, I have no doubt that it is me”, he started by saying.

Even when the team wins, it noticed, the first to want to “improve, evolve or improve processes” is the technician himself: “What you need to know is that, to me, the pressure comes from within [of itself] and I do not need external pressure. I have a respect and a ‘top’ relationship with the president, because it is already 15 months here. We talk every day and he, as the maximum responsible of the club, must also have ambition, courage and energy ", said.

Carlos Vicens also recalled the eight-year course in Manchester City, from the young sections of the English club to the assistant position of Pep Guardiola.

“ I come from an environment where you worked every day knowing that everything that wasn't winning and playing very well was criticized. I got it on fire in my head. Therefore, my way of working and my way of being makes me very self-required ", reinforced.

Vicens admitted that there are things to improve, recognizing a game “less fluid” in the Azores and that, offensively, the team “is far away” from what it wants – Sporting Braga has less 10 goals scored in the same number of games (12) compared to last season.

“ We looked at all the statistics and the team is not far [in relation to the last season], in many things is even better, but football is goals and we have to work for the team to generate more”, he said.

In front of the ‘lions’, Vicens wants a balanced Braga Sporting: “in games of this level everything is important, transitions, stalled balls, we will try to be right in both directions and we want to make a great game”.

With about three weeks of stopping due to the appointments of the selections, the coach revealed that the players had “a moment of disconnection of the routine”, with a week of vacation, now starting “an intense month” with nine games.

Niakaté, recovering from long injury, is the only unavailable game for Friday.

Sporting of Braga, sixth ranked, with 11 points (and less one game), and Sporting, third, with 15, face each other on Friday, from 20:15, in the Municipal Stadium of Braga, in a game that will be arbitrated by João Pinheiro, Braga's association.