F.C. Arouca 0 Sporting CP 3

F.C. Arouca v Sporting CP

September 13th, 2024

Estádio Municipal Arouca

Matchday 5

The warm up

Where does one even begin to start to round up the comings and goings during the international break? Should I start with three more goals and two assists for Gyökeres? A goal for Geny Catamo, two for Morita? How about the fourth signing of the summer transfer window in Conrad Harder and whether the signings of Stronger, Better and Faster will follow in the upcoming transfer windows? It's all been going on that's for certain. Thank Christ league football returns, I can't abide the international break.

Let's instead start randomly and go with an injury to Kovačević which is set to keep him out of the next two games. One envisages that it will mean the return of Franco Israel between the sticks. Regular readers will know my feelings on that score. I'm trying to be nicer this season. Let's see how long that lasts. 

There were several departures during the final days of the transfer window; Koindredi was loaned to Lausanne. I predicted he'd be straight out the door with Rafael in my round up of last season. I still can't understand either signing quite frankly. Maybe there's an agent link and a conspiracy theory to be written. Tanlongo joins the latter at Pafos in Cyprus. Hardly a glowing reflection of the abilities of either player - apologies to Pafos fans. Ribeiro has joined newly promoted AVS on loan which will probably see him depart next summer a la Fernandes without ever finding out what he can do in the green and white. Cynical? Me? What a preposterous notion. Muniz has gone on loan to Rio Ave and finally the sale of Jovane Cabral to Estrela. I might be the only Sportinguista gutted about the Cape Verde Michail Antonio leaving. Sometimes your face just doesn't fit as I've frequently found out in my own life and career over the years. 

Conrad Harder Weibel Schandorf has come in from FC Nordsjælland. No points for guessing why they don't put his full surname on the back of his shirt. You'd certainly need some broad shoulders let's put it that way for starters. The more observant will notice he's not the Greek yoghurt, sorry Greek forward we'd been after all summer. I'd name him but at the time of writing he'd scored against Ireland in our second defeat of the week so quite frankly he can go fuck himself. I'm only kidding. No actually I'm not he can go fuck himself. Harder at the age of 19 had attracted serious interest from Premier League Brighton and they've not got much wrong in the way of signings the past few years but I'll reserve judgement, once more citing the hype of Fresneda from the previous summer as a warning sign to not just believe the hype. I'll tell you how well his career with Sporting is going. I remembered his name started with a F but it had totally slipped my mind and had to look it up. No one forgets the name of Esgaio though do they who remains on the books after a summer move to Braga never materialised. Can I just say for those who criticise Esgaio how many of you can lay claim to winning a Portuguese league title? He'll retire with more titles won in his career than Harry Kane. Let him be people's. 

There is talk that Trincão will be the next in line for a contract extension. He was called up back into the national side along with Gonçalves and Quenda who had he played I think would have become Portugal's youngest ever starting international. Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. Didn't happen so… 

The club are also keen to tie Quenda to a contract but given his tender age of 17 it means they'll be restricted to a maximum term of three years and a buyout clause of €45m and the fear is quite rightly that this figure wouldn't be enough to ward off potential suitors for his services going forward. 

Viktor Gyökeres continues his ridiculous numbers at the start of the season with a goal and two assists and then a brace in the follow up game for Sweden. He gave an interview about the summer transfer window which has started the speculation again in England about a possible move. It also started an argument on my part after a village lost an idiot. Some Chelsea fan who stated that after the English transfer window closed on the Friday that they should still sign Gyökeres because the Portuguese window was open until the following Tuesday. I couldn't work out whether he was trying to be funny or not. It transpired that he really was just fucking clueless. Then he assumed I was Portuguese and told me the problem with you Europeans is that you don't understand PSR. I'm pretty sure being Portuguese isn't a hindrance to knowing how PSR works. Anyone Portuguese who wants his @ let me know so you can correct the halfwit. 

So anyways, the English media will tell you that no one signed Gyökeres because the price was too high. I'll tell you the same reason framed through a different window, namely they didn't sign him because they couldn't afford the fee. Same point but one way of framing it doesn't get clicks on pages. I don't have advertisers to worry about. The Chelsea fan worked on the assumption that they could just write a cheque for €100m and then amortise it over 5 years and thought they'd be able to pay him £40k a week. If I was the Swedes agent I'd be saying 'we want a three year contract and a minimum of £100k a week and if Antonio is on £80k a week at West Ham then actually you'd better start around the £120k a week mark and a big fat signing on bonus as well.' That three year contract would then put him in an ideal position when he should be hitting his peak at 28 and get the maximum pay day if he's proven his worth. That would mean Chelsea only being able to amortise his contract over 3 years at €33.33m per season. It's all very well amortising it but you have to balance the numbers on the other side as well every season. The new financial rules being trialled and likely to come into effect in the Premier League will see clubs having to adhere to wages, transfer fees et al not going above 85% of income. Currently clubs in Europe had to not go above the 90% threshold, that was reduced to 80% and will then go to 70%. Chelsea I believe were at 89% last season. So if you wonder why £350k a week Raheem Sterling was shuffled out the door with Lukaku and his £325k a week this season - there's your answer. But as the bloke said to me I've no comprehension of PSR and the fact that to meet the £105m maximum loss over three seasons Chelsea had to sell two hotels for £76.5m to themselves to reduce their financial losses from £166.4m to £89.9m. Apologies for getting that off my chest. Had Twitter (now X) had more characters I'd have done it there but it all got too painful. It would be easier to get more sense from a toddler on the subject. So do I expect Gyökeres to go in January? No. That cleared that up a lot quicker than the last explanation. Just to be childish, would you have given up Champions League football at a title winning club to go to a club playing Europa Conference football who are a total fucking shambles on and off the pitch and clearly have very little respect for their players and coaching staff?

There's bound to be important shit I've missed but you don't come here for a news round up let's be fair. Oh - the club have launched a documentary on their title winning season. You know if you want to grow a brand maybe stop with the CR7 bollocks and start making your media accessible in English. Or just only interview Gyökeres, Hjulmand and Edwards and I'll be grand at least. 

Onto Friday nights game, Hurrah you say. Arouca away at the Estádio Municipal de Arouca. In my head in English that translates as the Arouca Council stadium. See Sporting this is why you need English subtitles. See the danger it causes when we just guess at what shit means. 

I cannot say Arouca without adding a Shooting Stars style ca-ca-ca-ca at the end. Sorry any Arouca fans reading this, it's my age. If you've no idea what Shooting Stars is, it's a TV comedy programme in England starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer and featured Ulrika Johnson who at one time was the partner of the late Sven-Göran Erikkson and she'd be introduced as Ulrika-ka-ka-ka-ka. Yeah so that's how my mind works. Arouca fans are now taking to their message boards in droves; 'Stupid non Europeans they think we play in a council stadium and our Club name is named after a comedy sketch.' My career in the diplomatic service clearly won't be a long and fruitful one. Anyways… 

Arouca have certainly been a lot busier than Sporting in the summer transfer market. I make 13 new faces coming in during the summer window. Sadly I can't bend my legs at the moment to get to my toes to help me count past ten. 13 new arrivals and a game played on Friday the 13th, what could possibly go wrong for either side? Amongst those 13 our very own Chico. No not the guy from the X Factor who sung Chico Time that was Slimani. NO! Not that Slimani who looked like sloth from the Goonies and was booted out the door by Amorim almost as quickly as he had arrived for a second spell with Sporting. It is Chico Lamba of course, he of one solitary appearance fame. Sorry Chico your mother loves you I'm sure. Other notable arrivals include Dante from Sturm Graz. I hear his unveiling was an inferno. Ndiaye the centre back who was a free agent. I hear his father was a massive Rizzle Kicks fan which is why they named their son Mamadou but apparently his mother drew the line at the middle names of the Hump Hump. 

I'm going to stop now before I really get myself into trouble. 

Whereas Sporting go into the game top with a 100% record, Arouca have recorded 1 win in their opening 4 games coming against newly promoted Nacional 1-0 at home. Other than the 3-1 away loss to Moreirense, goals have been sparse with the other 3 games all finishing 1-0. Sporting go into the game having scored 11 times away with a goal difference of +10. Overall they've scored 16 times at an average of 4 per game compared to Arouca with 2 goals at 0.5 per game. Any guesses as to who the favourites to win this game with the bookmakers? Yes you in the back row with your hand up. 

Last season's corresponding fixture saw Sporting leave with a 3-0 win but in fairness they had to wait until late to put some gloss on the scoreline. Gyökeres opened the scoring on 19 minutes before Geny and Hjulmand finally added the 2nd and 3rd in the 91st and 96th minutes respectively. At home Sporting won 2-1 with guess who opening the scoring? Yep you guessed right - Gyökeres again. A rare Morita goal in the second half won the game after they had equalised after half time. Arouca have won a solitary game against Sporting which came in October 2022 1-0. Their only other positive result in all competitions was a 1-1 draw in April 2023. Sporting have won the other 15 competitive outings.

Oh isn't karma a bitch. After starting with two goalkeepers on the bench against Porto it transpires Diogo Pinto is also injured leaving Israel and Callai as the two fit. That'll fucking learn you Ruben. 

In the markets 

Arouca 13.00

Draw 5.75

Sporting 1.22

Team news

Starting XI

Israel, Reis, Inácio, Debast, Santos, Hjulmand, Bragança, Quenda, Gonçalves, Gyökeres and Trincão

Substitutes

Callai, Diomande, Quaresma, Morita, Geny, Fresneda, Edwards, Harder and Araújo

Despite claims to the contrary by coach Rubin Amorim that his focus is fully on the visit to Arouca and not the forthcoming champions league fixture against Lille his starting XI would suggest otherwise. Enforced change in goal with Israel preferred over Callai. Inácio the only player to retain how position in a back three and he moves into the centre with Diomande and Quaresma dropping to the bench. A first start of the league campaign for Nuno Santos and Bragança coming into the centre makes it a total of five changes from the win over Porto. Only the front three remain unchanged. On the bench the big news is the first time inclusion of new signings Harder and Araújo. Given Amorim has kept the same front three you imagine the hope is to put the game out of reach of Arouca and afford each some rest but the home side will of course have differing ideas I'm sure.

First half

Arouca get us underway. Sporting will be attacking right to left

1 20 seconds played and a long through ball has the Sporting defence in disarray but one on one with Israel, Jason couldn't convert the opportunity. Massive let off for the league leaders.

2 Good run into the box from Gonçalves, his pass found Gyökeres who turned and shot low on the swivel from 10 yards but his shot was straight at Mantl

5 Arouca are defending with a well held line of 5 and very little space between 3 in midfield and the 2 forwards. With Sporting playing their usual high line space is definitely at a premium in the centre of the pitch

8 Gonçalves left one in on Rodrigues rather stupidly but escaped with a word from the referee. You couldn't have blamed the official had he shown the yellow card, there was intent and spite in that challenge

9 Clumsy challenge by Ndiaye on Gyökeres. Again the referee chooses just to have a word for now. Reminded me of Martin Keown flapping at Van Nistelrooy. Reference there for the kids.

10 Beautifully squared ball from the left by Bragança into the six yard box just whipped off the toes of Gyökeres by Mantl.

16 Quenda shot blocked. Arouca defence coping admirably against the league's most potent attacking force

18 Gyökeres bursts in between two defenders. Not sure if it was a cross or a shot but it deflected off the defender into the arms of Mantl.

19 Gyökeres with five defenders in his way carries on a run from the left wing just looking for that gap but his shot was blocked again. He beat the first man close to the left touchline, went in between another two, left another two on the floor. He is a pure joy to watch

22 For now Garcia will be the happier of the two coaches with the score still 0-0. For all their dominance in possession Sporting can't find a way past a resilient defence

23 GOAL Third time this season I now go 'ignore that' having just finished typing the last sentence. Trincão chips a ball onto the edge of the six yard box for Gonçalves to score with a rare headed goal to make it Arouca 0 Sporting CP 1. I used to do this with Slimani all the time. I'd criticise him and bang - goal. Reverse psychology once more working its magic. Do note how I leave these things in. I'm not here to make myself sound clever.

29 On the rare occasion Arouca have gotten forward, Reis has calmly headed the ball back to Israel in the centre twice now. He has really grown as a player and I was impressed with him every time I saw him last season.

35 Trincão and Gonçalves linking up well again. Gonçalves shoots from half a yard outside the area and his shot just goes a yard over the top right hand corner of Mantl's bar.

39 Two quick corners from Arouca came to nothing but were fortunate that Nuno Santos managed to find a defender in the box and failed to capitalise on a quick break as Arouca struggled to get numbers to defend the counter attack.

40 Trincão goes down in the box. He was struggling to keep his balance after an initial challenge which left him off balance and he then appeared to get shoved in the box but the referee didn't agree. Probably not enough on the penalty appeal but more than enough for the initial challenge surely

42 Oh Hollywood's woken up as he brings a diving save from 25 yards

+1 Just time for one last chance as a free kick into the box finds Inácio on the edge of the six yard box but his header is straight at Mantl.

Plus one indicated

Half time

Arouca 0 Sporting CP 1

Arouca have heart, they have discipline, they hold their shape well, they don't however seem to have anyone capable of sticking the ball into the net and that is a problem for them. Sporting have done enough to have their noses in front. I mentioned somewhere above that space has been a premium. I'll also do my broken record by pointing out once more at half time that with Sporting winning if Arouca want to take anything from this game they'll have to push forward and that will leave space for Sporting to run into. There was a touch of fortune about the goal just watching the replay as the ball bobbled up off the defender which enables Trincão to get his foot under the ball to cross for Gonçalves but no one will care what they look like if they come away with another three points. Sporting B who kicked off later have just gone 1-0 up.

Apart from the chance in the opening seconds Israel hasn't really had anything to do. I'm never convinced by Inácio going into the centre so it's been a relief to see Reis occupying the same space and marshalling the defence. He obviously trusts Inácio as much as I do. I don't know why they don't swap positions to be fair. Neither wing has really got themselves going in the opening 45. Everything good has come through the link up play between Gonçalves and Trincão. Gyökeres has been his usual industrious self but for no reward yet. Would be an odd game if he doesn't finish with an assist or a goal. Plenty of time to come in the second half.

Mauro Couto with the goal on 5 minutes away to Caldas in case anyone is interested in the B team with ten minutes played.

Second Half

As we wait for both sides to come back out we're treated to the sight of Morita doing stretches on the bench to the sound of Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight. Just when you think you've seen it all in life.

Sporting get us back underway. Double change from Arouca as they look to find a spark of magic from somewhere to get them back into this game.

46 Long ball from Reis for Gyökeres to chase. He's so good he even beats himself and knocks the ball out of play.

47 Two minutes in and Nuno Santos and Bragança look like they've signed for Porto rolling about. Regular readers will know that's my pet hate.

49 Good save low to his left by Israel from a Trezza shot 20 yards out

50 Nuno Santos shot from 20 yards is deflected up off the leg of a defender and brings a save from Mantl out for a corner

53 Sylla shown the yellow as he clips the heels of Trincão. A minute before that Trincão had another shot blocked and I was trying to guess how many shots had been blocked until then. I went with 8. Close, Sporting have had 7. It's been that type of match.

55 I'm guessing Sporting have a drummer in the crowd tonight. If they could get the fans to shut up, with the rhythmical clapping you could probably sample a really good disco beat. Hint - you can always tell when games start to bore me. Did you pick up on the subtle clue? This game needs another goal and preferably one to Sporting.

59 Oh Hollywood's doing his hair.

59 Fontãn remonstrated with the referee as he's booked for pulling Gyökeres shirt. Not sure why he was complaining as he'd almost taken it off over the Swedes head.

61 GOAL The ball is in the net. I'm not sure how exactly and not sure if it'll count. Nuno Santos looked offside in the buildup by a good half yard. Scorpion kick by the defender he couldn't do that again if he tried 100 times. I don't think this is going to count so it'll spare his blushes. Why it's taking so long I've no idea, it looked clear cut to me. Wow this is going on for quite some time. Referee nods as if he's just been asked is anyone actually checking this or have they gone off for a cup of tea. Referee turns his mic on, makes the universal Play Days symbol for through the rectangular window. No idea what the referee said as per usual but no goal. That went on forever and you could see with the naked eye he was offside. Correct decision but for something that obvious it took far too long.

65 First real bit of class we've seen from Quenda. First touch took him away from his marker, beat another defender and found Gyökeres but his shot was blocked again.

67 Checking for a penalty to Sporting in the last passage of play. Referee is going to the monitor so you assume this will be given. The arm was definitely high as the ball connected. This game will still be going on at 11pm with the stoppages in play for VAR. He's clearly blocked it. How many more angles do you need to see it from referee? Gonçalves heads the ball down from the corner and it goes straight into the raised arm of the defender. The offside was clear. This is clear.

70 Penalty. Fuck me three minutes to clear that up.

72 GOAL Gyökeres with the opportunity to make it 2. Clears the mud from the bottom of his boots and spots the ball down. Mantl goes left and the ball goes right. Arouca 0 Sporting CP 2. He makes it look so easy. Gyökeres encourages the travelling support to just raise the noise some more. Really? I mean they've barely stopped all night.

73 ➡️⬅️ Diomande and Geny replace Reis and Nuno Santos. I've been a lot more impressed by Reis than I have Nuno on their return to the starting XI.

75 Not for the first time Sporting just looking a little shaky at the back. Arouca cross evades everyone and out for a throw and Sporting just slow the game down and take their time. I don't think we've seen the last of the goals tonight.

77 ➡️ ⬅️ Hjulmand hands off the captain's arm band to Bragança. Morita comes on for Hjulmand and Araújo makes his debut in place of Quenda.

78 Long range effort from Sylla draws a save from Israel but in truth it looked like it was going wide. Surprise Surprise. One for the Liverpudlians to mull over there. I'll leave it with you chucks.

79 GOAL I said I didn't think we'd seen the last of the goals. Trincão darts in between two defenders and then whips in a shot in to the bottom right hand corner between the legs of another two defenders. Arouca 0 Sporting CP 2 and my build a bet of Gyökeres anytime, Sporting to win and over 2.5 is surely safe now with 10 to play.

81 Trincão is having a ball out there. First with a crafty flick, then he leaves his marker on his backside. The crowd were giving it the olé with each pass. How does Amorim reward him? ...

82 ➡️ ⬅️ Edwards on for Trincão. Really mister?

85 Geny tries to get in on the act as he cuts inside but skews his shot wide from 14 yards. He does need a sighter it appears before he then has a knack of whacking it into the net on his next attempt.

Additional time - plus 9

This game doesn't need another nine minutes. Who says men are indecisive? Well done you, the officials have proven that tonight with the time it took for the two VAR checks to be completed. As my Dad says I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure.

+2 Edwards tries from a narrow angle but the defender was well across. I think that might be Chico Lamba. It's Chico Time. It's only taken me 92 minutes to work out he's on the pitch. In my defence watching on a phone, unless they show a close up the players are all 2mm tall most of the time. I also type this on another phone as I go. Excuses, excuses I hear you cry.

+7 Loum yellow as he clips Gyökeres

Finally the referee brings the game to a close

Full time

Arouca 0 Sporting CP 3

The final word

No deliberation over man of the match, job done early doors - Trincão. Goal, assist and some great old school taking the piss with the ball at his feet. His link up play with Gonçalves all night was equally as pleasing on the eye.

Does the scoreline flatter Sporting? I don't think so but if you wanted to take the opposing view I'd not argue hard against you or necessarily disagree. The statistics will suggest a very different affair if you didn't watch the game in conjunction with the final scoreline. Had Arouca scored after 20 seconds I don't think it would have really affected the end result. It would have just given their fans something to cheer about on a night you wouldn't even know they were in the ground if it wasn't for the fact you can see them quiet as church mice in the stand on the far side. I think the travelling fans have been quiet for about 30 seconds during a brief lull in the second half. There were an incredible amount of blocked shots for Sporting but that's because Arouca defenders in the main did their job.

I think the question you have to ask is would I watch that game again given the chance and the answer is a resounding no. I will say it was the best Franco Israel performance I've seen but I'm going to caveat that with the fact it was against the backdrop of a somewhat lacklustre attacking performance by Arouca. He kept a clean sheet though and that's the important thing. Sporting did look disjointed at times but they made five changes to the starting XI from the win over Porto and won 3-0 and if you can rest players before Champions League ties and still win 3-0 that's hugely impressive and shows growth because this side couldn't have done it in seasons gone by that I've watched them play. Five games, five wins, three straight clean sheets and a Gyökeres who can't stop scoring. He now has the opportunity to prove himself on the biggest stage in European football on Tuesday night and if the Lille manager was watching tonight his first thought has to be how do we stop him? No one in Portugal has really figured that out even when he was playing with an injured knee.

Quenda has now signed his contract and contrary to what was reported earlier this week about not being able to have a release clause above €45m it has been set according to A Bola to €100m so note to self do some extra due diligence before you include these things in your buildup. I'd be surprised if he starts against Lille but we shall wait and see. He's started six straight now and at 17 you can forgive him for looking slightly jaded at times tonight. It is still a massive jump up in terms of levels for the youngster and the fact he's been called into the Portugal squad so early in his career is testament to what he has produced to date since his debut in the Supertaça. Will he be the next Nuno Mendes and Sporting find themselves looking at an offer of €60-70m next summer which is too good to turn down? Time will tell. You'd certainly hope not but we know to survive in Portugal it means selling and selling well. Special mention to Gonçalves who looks like the player of old. He frustrated me for most of last season and I felt his form only really improved in the back end of the campaign. I still think it's time to move Nuno Santos on. He doesn't offer enough for me. Reis is adept in the same position. I've been so impressed by Gent to date out on the left. Didn't really see much from Araújo when he came on but he's flown Mexico to Lisbon, Lisbon to Urguay and back again so we'll give him a pass for now.

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