From the whistles to John Palhinha to... The Explanations of Jorge Jesus

Jorge Jesus signed, this Thursday, an debut ‘agridice’ in the technical command of Portugal, since the clash of the inaugural journey of the League of Nations group phase, before Wales, culminated in a victory, over 1-0 (thanks to a ‘solitary’ goal of João Félix, at 22 minutes), with an exhibition that, still, did not count with great ‘artistic note’.

At the press conference that followed the final whistle, at the José Alvalade Stadium, Roberto Martínez’s successor assumed that the national team still has “a great margin to improve”, made ‘mea culpa’ for the first 15 minutes, since he thought that the opponent “would play with a different trio, in the midfield”.

“ Then we got references to defend and in the last 30 minutes of the first part we scored. Wales was well organized to defend, but offensively it only shot at the goal. I'm happy with what my team did, especially defensively. Congratulations to the players, knowing that there is plenty of room to grow”, started by affirming.

“ We're working on games, so I didn't have a basis for, after the games, having other processes where we could now be better. The Wales picker has two years of work and a very well-worked team. We have to correct this game before we go to Norway. We will try to improve, there is room for it ", continued.

“ All the players who are in the selections have different ideas from the clubs, and the selectors then pass on other ideas. But with smart players, it's easier. If you ask me the sector I liked best, it was the four defenses, which, back there, thought as a team, thought there is much more than just the ball and the player ", completed.

“Whistles to João Palhinha are not a problem”

In the individual plan, Jorge Jesus explained that the replacement of Cristiano Ronaldo with Gonçalo Ramos, at 67 minutes, was due to the need to have “a cool and pressured player to defend”, and applauded the exhibition of João Félix: “He made the goal and ran very defensively, because I asked him to cover the middle-defensive Wales and to press the center on the left. With a ball it is very serene to know how to occupy the spaces to enter the game.”.

Regarding Bruno Fernandes' position, he gave a curious justification: “With Ruben Amorim, in Manchester United, that’s where Bruno played, on the left side closed. I played in half with a ball, no ball already has to lower and help the left side. It's a position he knows. I was either playing as a middle-class or in today's position. Bruno is a central runner, he was never a side runner.”.

Finally, he devalued the whistles addressed to João Palhinha, a player trained in Sporting who last summer went to Benfica: “I didn’t realize it well, but that, for me, is not a problem. I don't think I'm gonna get a player to think they're gonna whistle. Ruben Neves was losing some game intensity, and John could give us security in the central corridor. That is why he has now entered, I will never be concerned about what can happen to the fans”.