Sporting CP 1 Sunderland AFC 0

Sporting CP v Sunderland AFC

Monday July 21st, 2024

Estádio Do Algarve

Pre-season friendly 

The Warm Up

Sporting welcome Sunderland to the Algarve, another side synonymous for playing in red and white at the Estádio da Luz. Not that I suppose the locals would refer to their Stadium of Light in Portuguese but you never know. Nicknamed the black cats, the club are all set to return to the Premier League after an absence of nearly a decade. Their 2016/17 campaign finished in relegation to the Championship from the English top flight. The 2017/18 season finished in a second successive relegation to League One.

Take one mixing bowl, a handful of useless owners, some poor signings, multiple changes of coach, two TV programmes charting their on and off field disasters and mix thoroughly.

The club's fortunes finally began to turn around under new ownership from February 2021 onwards. Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is the club's majority shareholder at the grand old age of 27. Are you having a fucking bubble? Twenty seven? Christ there's a fact to make me start my morning feeling old. Anyways … since his investment things have been on the up and the club have won twice at Wembley in the play offs, the second win coming in May against Coventry City. I wonder if they've any strikers knocking about that they're looking to flog to Sporting for €20m this time around after another play off defeat?

The two sides have met before in competitive competition which might surprise a few. It came in the 1973/74 season in the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup. This was the black cats first and only foray into European competition. Qualification followed their win in the FA Cup as a second division side against first division Leeds United. Hopes would have been raised for the Sunderland on progressing after a 2-1 home win at Roker Park. Sporting apparently unable to name all five substitutes after some of the players were caught stealing cassette tapes from a Boots store in Newcastle, fined £20 for the offence and sent back to Lisboa in disgrace. Sunderland's run was ended in the José Alvalade however as the lions ran out 2-0 winners to win 3-2 on aggregate. Sporting lost in the semi finals to the eventual winners Magdeburg of East Germany. Héctor Yazalde who scored in both ties for the lions would finish as the top scorer in Europe that season. Presumably unlike the modern day regulations which saw Gyökeres miss out on being named top scorer last season despite actually scoring the most goals in Europe, a goal meant just that - a goal. How times have changed; a side from the second flight of English football winning the FA Cup and playing in Europe as reward, no more East Germany and players so poorly paid that they thought stealing cassettes would be a good idea in a foreign country.

Sunderland have had a busy summer transfer window. Out have gone Jobe Bellingham to BVB and Tom Watson to Brighton. They made the loan move of Enzo Le Fée, the DM from AS Roma into a permanent one. Simon Adringa (LW) Brighton, Chemsdine Talbi (RW) Club Brugge, Noah Sidiki (CM) Union St.Gilloise and Habib Diarra (AM) Strasbourg amongst the other names brought in. Those signings now make up five of the six all time record signings for Sunderland. Didier Ndong was the previous record signing at €20m and now sits number five on the list. Despite a massive investment they remain the 1/3 favourites with the bookmakers to be relegated. Marcus Edwards' Burnley are 4/11 and the last of the three newly promoted sides Leeds United are 10/11. Contrast that in Portugal where Sporting are current favourites to win a 3rd straight League title at 10/11. The neighbours 6/4, Porto 11/2 and Braga and the rest a staggering 50/1 or more. If you're new to Portuguese football and not familiar with Os Três Grandes (Portugal's big three of Sporting, Benfica and Porto) only two other clubs have ever won the league in Belenenses and Boavista. 

The Mackam's opened their pre-season with a 4-0 away drubbing of sixth tier neighbours South Shields. 

They play Sevilla in the Algarve Saturday night. I'll be interested to see how many of their players make it through to play on Monday night because I'm not convinced that Sevilla know the meaning of the word friendly based on their game with the lions last season which felt more like watching MMA at times. 

Sporting's first full game in front of a crowd finished in the 2-0 loss to Glasgow Celtic. Another one of those games where I'm questioning whether I've watched the same game at all as other people. Gonçalves came away with a lot of praise from certain quarters whereas I had his performance marked down as highly ineffective and his contribution as little to none. Fresneda came in for criticism whereas I had him in my final three vote for man of the match. I guess the truth is somewhere in the middle. Having struggled to work out what system Sporting are playing in the loss we keep being told by the press it's a 4-3-2-1 but clearly the players aren't buying into it fully based on the Celtic game because the majority was played with an unbalanced 3 at the back. Both halves there was a giant hole on one side of the pitch of another which the opposition could have capitalised on. I'm sure Monday will look closer to a full strength first XI so we'll maybe see how effective or ineffective it is as a system. It won't matter much if it's a 3 or a 4 if you concede penalties and then allow your opposition to hit you on the counter with your defence chasing shadows. 

I wrote my first post back for the new season a couple of weeks ago and started with an update on Gyökeres. I'll hold my hands up and say I didn't think his transfer would have taken this long to sort. I can't help but feel that had he just turned up for training and also to be fair if Hasan Çetinkaya wasn't his agent that it would all have been sorted by now. Speaking of whom please note that the only way the aforementioned agent could receive 10% of this transfer is if he is representing the selling club in this deal under new FIFA guidelines for agents. Clearly he's not acting in the interests of Sporting, he's acting in the interests of his client so I'd love to know if there is action Sporting can take against him if and when a deal has been done for his clients services. Someone needs to stop being stubborn and clearly it's not going to be Varandas. Sporting hold the players' registration. The longer it goes on the more you start to think let him rot and fuck him. Really and truthfully we just need to cover the €24m we paid for him. If he doesn't play for twelve months it's not like clubs would be queuing up for his services is it desperate to sign him so at some point he's going to have to pull his head out of his own arse. This reported notion we'd send him out on loan is farcical. If you had a Ferrari you valued at €80m would you loan in to someone for 12 months knowing the depreciation you'd take on it's value and the potential of it being damaged? Come on, get real. 

Portuguese football isn't hard to understand. Clubs try to find someone they think is undervalued. If they've done their research properly the players stock will rise and go past their true value to being overvalued. That's how the clubs all survive - by flipping players. This isn't the Premier League with billions in TV revenues flowing annually into clubs coffers. It's amazing how the English media every summer will climb over themselves to report how many billions clubs have spent but Arsenal can't find a couple of million down the back of the sofa for a player who has scored 97 goals in 102 appearances? I'm going to shut up otherwise this just turns into another Gyökeres blog. We do all know though that a rising tide lifts all ships so with the success of the past two seasons comes eyes on all our talent. It's like a back handed compliment to see half the squad being linked for tuppence hay penny. 

Transfer speculation drives me crazy which is why I generally avoid writing about it. Yeah I got sucker punched with Alberto Costa in January. Lesson learned. 'Only Sporting' just like Gyökeres wants 'Only Arsenal' although apparently you can also spell Sporting with a J u v e n t a and s. Who knew? Let's face facts, most of what appears online I'd suggest is from accounts run by 15 year olds who copy and paste from every other corner of the internet. So I'm not going to launch into the names we're currently linked with. However I will add a quick note to say I remain entirely convinced by what the club said over Hjulmand. Same stance that they went public with Gyökeres over last season. If you want him here's his termination clause. If you're not willing to pay that then don't even ask. So all of you do yourselves a favour and don't read the speculation. Didn't do any good with the Greek forward last summer did it? Anyone remember his name? I mean I never bothered to learn it in fairness. 

Transfer Roundup

One deal definitely done is that of the 20 year old midfielder Alexandre Brito who has signed for Pafos, the club where Rafael Pontelo spent last season on loan. The two clubs enjoy what is described as a strategic partnership which I imagine is posh speak for Sporting being able to park players in Cyprus for 12 months or permanently if no other buyer can be found. Cynical? Me? How very dare you? He made his debut against Arouca in amd amongst the lion's injury crisis last season. In total he'd make four appearances, the last coming in the Taça de Portugal against Gil Vicente. His disappearance from the first team squad owing much you'd imagine to allegations of abuse by his girlfriend. 

Biel's departure is also confirmed as Atlético Mineiro all set to unveil the Brazilian on loan until June 2027. The deal includes a compulsory option to buy for €7m if certain objectives are met. The highlight of his brief stay in Portugal will be his cameo appearance in the Taça de Portugal win over Rio Ave where we were treated to evidence that he does at least have some talent to his game. Sadly my over riding memory of him will always be at the end of games looking like a little boy lost as he looked for the man next to him for guidance with the thunder clap timings. Still unlike the Swedish ball ache, all credit to his behaviour in what can't have been an easy six months for the man. I'm sure we all wish him well for the future. 

Afonso Moreira inches closer to a move to Ligue 1 Lyon who had their relegation to Ligue 2 for financial irregularities overturned. Like Brito still just 20 years old, he's also struggled to make a lasting impression when given a rare opportunity in the first team. His last appearance coming in the 0-0 draw with BVB in the Champions League. Reports suggest the fee set at €2m with a 20% sell on clause. 

Lots of talk surrounding the possible exit of Franco Israel to Serie A Torino for €5m which seems almost criminal to me. Regular readers will be well aware of my disdain for the Uruguayan. He's not Primeira Liga level of quality so certainly in my opinion not capable of stepping up to Serie A. Still if they're after an enthusiastic character, loved by teammates they're onto a winner. 

In the markets

Sporting 4/6
Draw 13/5
Sunderland 13/4

Team News

Starting XI

Silva, Reis, Inácio, Debast, Quaresma, Morita, Hjulmand, Gonçalves, Trincão, Quenda and Harder.

Sunderland

Nna Noukeu, Hume, Ballard, Jones, Talbi, Diarra, Sadiki, Adringa, Le Fée, Mayenda

Similar to the Celtic game, Sporting playing two fixtures on one day. Geny with the goal in a 1-1 draw against SC Farense. Starting XI; Silva, St. Juste, Geny, Kochorashvili, Fresneda, Diomande, Allison, D. Moreira, Simões, Rayan Lucas and Ribeiro. Subs used; Esgaio and Travassos.

I'm having to have one of those pep talks with myself that it's pre-season, results don't matter. Playing two games in one day is what we did last season and it allows more players to get close to being match fit. Then there's the voice in my head that questions the logic of not fielding your strongest XI when you're implementing a new formation. You've this game, Villarreal and then the Supertaça against the neighbours and then it all starts again for real. We don't get to see the behind closed doors game and what we did see against Celtic last time out wasn't entirely convincing. No, in fact it wasn't convincing at all. Out go Fresneda and St Juste. A change in the central pairing as in come Inácio and Debast. Reis will go left of the back four. In central midfield Morita in for Simões. Quenda swaps in with Geny and harder for Ribeiro, otherwise as you were. Quenda and Harder both featured heavily for the Portuguese and Danish U21s during the summer and found the net for their respective countries although the less said about Quenda's penalty technique the better. Maybe that's unkind, he put the keeper down and sent him the wrong way, just clearly didn't legislate for actually putting the ball in the back of the net. We saw plenty of industry from Harder in the second half of the Celtic game and he hit the post with his best opportunity of the game. I'm really curious to see how Quenda steps up this season and whether he starts to live up to the hype because I wasn't overly impressed with him last season. Mid season his confidence was shot to bits and taking the number 7 shirt shows he backs himself but post Chelsea announcement he was a bit part player under Borges. No one will be more thrilled than me to see him have a successful season but I've got to be honest in that I've not seen him really do it in a Sporting shirt. It's not like I didn't watch every minute he played either unlike some who will tell you he walks on water and have probably watched a cleverly edited highlight reel and the odd wonder goal for Sporting B or against Polish U21 players from clubs no one has heard of outside of their native country. If I've not seen you do it against a team the level of an AVS or a Nacional you'll forgive me if I'm not convinced you can do it in the Premier League from 26/27 onwards. Time will tell. A lot of voices saying Harder is to green. Yes he's like a golden Labrador puppy too excited and prone to smashing into people, but he proved his quality of finishing in the Taça de Portugal final. Please let him be Conrad Harder. He doesn't have to be the new anybody. I said I'd be happy two seasons ago if a certain forward scored 20 to 25 this season. I'll go in and say I'd be more than happy if Harder gets to 20. I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility. 

First Half

Sunderland in checked blue, a kit only slightly better than the pavement inspired bollocks Nike want Sportinguista's to part their hard earned money for this time around. Was it nine kits they put out in total last season? Ticket prices might be more reasonable in Portugal but they'll get your money somehow. Portuguese TV have Le Fée down as Le Free. You had one job!

Sporting get us underway in white with green trim and attack right to left. 

2 #5 Ballard dumps Harder on his backside. Free kick to the lions. 

2 Lively start for Quenda on the right but his run blocked by two defenders 

3 Vital interception from Silva who rushes off his line to smother a pass into the box 

4 #5 Ballard penalised for a second foul from behind on Harder in the last two minutes 

5 Retribution from Harder on #27 who gets clattered for his troubles 

6 Scrappy opening from both sides. Debast penalised for a foul. 

7 Inácio concedes a corner. Sunderland's player wide open on the right with the closest player to him somewhere in Lisboa 

8 Header wide from #32 from 10 yards. First chance to either side. 

9 Hjulmand mopping up in midfield again. We saw him having to do that too many times against Celtic 

10 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Sunderland 0. Debast pumps a long ball forward for Harder to chase down. His first touch rounded the keeper but the chance looked like it had gone begging as he ran close to the goalline. However he cuts the ball back to Trincão to slot home inches outside the six yard box with a neat finish. 

12 Hjulmand breaks down another Sunderland attack. He's been the most impressive player in the opening exchanges 

12 Quenda brought down as he tries to break on the right. Not sure there was a huge amount of contact from #27

13 Sporting playing with a 3 at the back for now. Old habits die hard 

14 As Inácio went forward Morita dropped back seemlessly into the back 3. 

14 Trincão with a lovely flick to get past #5 but dispossessed on the edge of the area by a sliding tackle 

16 Hjulmand in a one man rugby scrum drives the ball forward out of defence holding off his marker 

16 Another long ball finds Reis wide left but his pass flashed across the area 

17 This time Sunderland go long from defence to attack. Ball collected wide left. The player beats one man and eventually gets a shot away from the edge of the six yard box which deflects off Debast over Silva and the bar and out for a corner. 

20 Comedy of errors at the back. Quaresma misplaces a pass, suspicion of a foul from Debast not given but referee finally blows for a foul on Morita. 

21 Harder finally gets his revenge on #5. He's like an elephant and never forgets 

22 Best chance for Sunderland as #12 fails to find the target from 8 yards and his shot goes wide left. Lions were in trouble there. Great pass from the left wing. 

23 With more bodies in the Sporting half, the defence has reverted to a back four. Now it's a back 3 with Hjulmand as an out just in front. 

25 Drinks breakfast they replay the goal. I've done Debast a disservice by suggesting he pumped the ball forward. He's hit that pass like a golfer chips onto the 18th green chasing a championship. Trincão’s one touch finish a thing of simplicity but beauty at the same time. The only thing off the heavy first touch from Harder but he took the keeper all the way with him which was the difference maker. 

27 Close up of Varandas enjoying a joke in the sunshine. No wife looking fucking miserable this pre-season accompanying him. Geny, Diomande, Alisson, Fresneda, St Juste and Ribeiro amongst those watching on. Kocho and Maxi too. 

28 Game back underway. 

30 Silva down to save smartly as #7 drove low from 16 yards. Sporting cut open once more at the back 

32 Stoppage in play as Harder falls back onto #23 Seelt who clutches his right eye. 

33 #28 Le Fée cross on edge of 18 yard box narrowly avoids the heads of two players waiting in the box as they look for an equaliser before half time 

37 Wild shot from #19 outside the box flies behind Silva's goal. 

39 Silva to the rescue again as #19 smashes a shot from 8 yards to the right of the area. Corner to the visitors. Silva not happy with his defence for giving him the time and space to shoot there. 

41 Reis shelters the ball out for another corner to Sunderland 

41 Quenda fouled by #29. Little Tet a Tet from Harder in the aftermath. Quenda had moved out to the left. Whether that's deliberate of just where he was when the counter attack started I'm not sure 

43 Corner from the far side. Keeper with a poor clearance to Gonçalves who hooks an awful shot into the stand from 19 yards 

44 Quenda back wide right. 

Plus two indicated 

+1 Debast with a perfectly timed interception puts the ball out for a corner 

+1 Quenda shoves a Sunderland player in the box whilst they await a corner. Not sure what that was about but the youngster clearly hasn't happy 

Half time 

Sporting CP 1 Sunderland 0

The visitors with the better chances in the opening 45 but it's the Lions who go in one goal to the good. I really wish I'd written down the Sunderland players numbers before the game started so apologies for the minute by minute where numbers are shown and no names. Imagine putting shirt names on the back? It'll never catch on. 

Silva it has to be said has been imperious for the opening 45 and that the scores aren't level are mostly down to him and the Debast block late on in the half. Debast has lost none of his passing range and a sign of his quality having played most of the second half of last season as a midfielder that he can slot back seamlessly into a defensive role. Quaresma however doesn't look at the races again and we were fortunate not to get punished for his misplaced pass halfway through the half. 

Hjulmand looking a class act once more both in midfield and as a shield in front of a back 3 or 4 as they swap between the two. Reis hasn't really been involved in the game and it wouldn't surprise me if he was swapped out. 

Quenda has offered little down the right wing and Morita has been steady if unspectacular. Harder has been in a running battle and making a nuisance of himself. See my opening quote about being a blonde Labrador. Neat finish from Trincão and we've seen a few tricks from him in the opening 45. Gonçalves performance best summed up by his shot high into the stand.

Black cats certainly not out of the game as things stand. If Silva comes off again at half time you'd have to worry. Defence has been cut open far too easily at times and lack of finishing is the only thing that has really stopped them from scoring other than a fine save from Silva and when he rushed off the line to stop a move. 

Second half

Mixture of shirts in the crowd. Manchester United, Arsenal and a few Sevilla shirts. Their fans clearly taking full advantage of a holiday in the Algarve having drawn with the black cats 1-1 on Saturday night in the same stadium. 

Silva back out for the second half in goal for the lions. No changes from Borges. 

Sunderland get us back underway.

45 #11 with a driving run finally dropped by Debast who concedes the foul 20 yards out centrally. 

46 #8 with the free kick which hits the head of #29 and went wide. Think that was given as offside which you won't see often from a direct free kick

47 Cross from the right deflects off the boot of Reis and into the hands of Silva. Visitors started brightly 

48 Quenda cross palmed away to safety by the keeper. Finally some life from the youngster who beat his marker in the buildup 

49 Close up of the Sunderland keeper whose shirt looks like it should be on Strictly Come Dancing 

50 Visitors look like they made a few changes at half time. Not that TVi would let us know watching at home. As helpful as the black cats having no names on their shirts

51 Cross into #29 who couldn't get his head onto the ball and it goes out for a goal kick 

52 Keeper remains the same. Lavery, Triantis, Johnson, Jenson Jones, Roberts, Browne, Neil, Aleksic, Abdullahi and Tutierov outfield for the black cats second half. Still no idea of names to a squad number. Apologies 

55 Jenson Jones goes down on the edge of the box but nothing given 

55 Sporting counter. Ends with a blocked shot from Gonçalves wide left from 8 yards 

56 Trincão down holding his ankle after a challenge from #8. He's back to his feet and limps off 

59 Debast quickly out to break down another attack. Lays the ball off to Hjulmand. Still partners in crime. Both players having good games for the lions 

60 Quenda’s body language leaves a lot to be desired as he loses the ball wide right again 

61 Again Quenda loses the ball. Sunderland then lose possession and Morita unleashed a shot on the edge of the area straight into a Sunderland player. 

61 Free kick Sporting 30 yards out. Passed to Gonçalves whose shot from 25 yards is identikit of the long pass from Debast for the opener. If this was NFL that would have been 3 points. This isn't NFL and frankly that was fucking awful 

63 Corner Sporting far side. Debast on duty for all set pieces 

63 Corner eventually found it's way to Trincão whose curling effort from 20 yards just passed the top left hand corner. Gonçalves with the pass mentioned only in fairness as it's about the only thing he has contributed tonight

65 For the first time tonight Sporting fully in charge of the game. You can tell that not just by the possession but the fact the back three are sat around the half way line

66 Clever bended ball in from Quenda towards Harder but just avoids the Dane. Better from the youngster 

67 Quenda shot from the edge of the D deflects for a corner. Throws his arms up again. Bad enough when Gonçalves thinks he's Bruno Fernandes we don't need another one 

68 Quaresma dispossessed again puts the lions on the back foot. Gonçalves of all players back comes to his rescue as lions get the ball clear. 

70 Quenda now wide left again fires his cross straight into the legs of a defender. I'm allowed to do the Bruno Fernandes arms thrown in the air. 

71 Morita involved in and around the box. Just doing the simple things really well. Footballs not a hard game 

72 Keeper swap for the visitors. 

73 ➡️⬅️ Morita's involvement finished as #60 Rayan Lucas comes on. 

73 Debast with a low pile driver from 35 yards or more into a crowd of players. That was flying 

76 ➡️⬅️ Quaresma withdrawn for Travassos. #29 off for Sunderland. Pretty sure that's the half time substitute being yanked off after 32 minutes. At least I didn't have to look up who Travassos was. 

78 Harder with a turn and shot far side of the left of the area deflected for a corner 

80 Good play from Lucas who capitalised quickly on a poor touch from a Sunderland player and neat lay off. 

81 Harder with a poor reaction again. Reis shoves him away. #25 had hold of his shirt and clipped him as he fouled him in the follow up. Showed excellent strength to hold his marker off in the first instance, turn the man and drew the foul. He just needs to temper his reaction 

83 Trincão with the clever flick almost fools his marker who recovered to cut out the danger and clears the danger 

84 Quenda with a first touch like a trampoline passes the ball straight to a Sunderland defender. Infuriating 

85 Quenda draws a foul on the edge of the box. Much better and a 10 from the judges for the fall when contact was made 

86 Trincão beats the wall from 20 yards… and the bar. Goal kick 

87 Lucas penalised for a challenge outside the box. Free kick to the black cats 26 yards out in a dangerous position 

88 Lions clear the danger. Debast went down in the area. Bit of play acting there. Reis is now down and receiving treatment. I hate to accuse our players of time wasting but…

Plus 3 shown 

+1 Silva juggles a cross in from the right but recovers to claim the ball. He's had far less to do this half 

+1 ➡️⬅️ Reis replaced by David Moreira. The Brazilian does show a bit of discomfort as he leaves the pitch. I'll wash my mouth out with soap and water 

+2 Quenda draws the foul wide right. 

+3 Yellow shown to Gonçalves for a really poor lunging challenge on the achilles of a defender. That's a red card in the Primeira Liga all day long. Poor call from the referee who has done him a massive favour there and only because it's a friendly and there's ten seconds on the clock. 

Full time 

Sporting CP 1 Sunderland AFC 0

The final word

Sporting's first win of the season gets the monkey off their backs. They benefited from poor finishing in the first half and a raft of changes from the visitors the second who came flying out the traps but offered little after the 50th minute onwards in truth. I couldn't tell you what the black cats starting XI was last season but I'll assume the side that finished the game are unlikely to resemble anything like the side that will open their Premier League fixture. I really wish they would show the behind closed doors games. It's quite infuriating trying to work out how this side is progressing before the season starts. 

Let's pick our way through the bones backwards. If someone had done that challenge that Gonçalves had got booked for on a Sporting player I'd have been calling for the red card. Call a spade a spade. A Bola gave him man of the match against Celtic. Do fuck off and don't insult my intelligence. He was piss poor against the hoops and frankly dog shit tonight. Other than a clearance to get Quaresma out of jail and the squared pass to Trincão that my Nan could have done he wasn't at the races again. He should be fresher than anyone given his pre season started really and truthfully at the end of March. 

Moan one out the way onto moan two. Harder's reaction to the foul second half. If they send you off for saying Yeah you can bet your arse to a barn door if you do that in the league there will be repercussions. Clearly he has a lot of growing up to do. He needs the same fire burning but someone needs to teach him how to temper it. You've done your job, drawn the foul. Do your talking with the ball in the net. Moan three - Quenda's body language. Wearing the number 7 shirt of your hero does not give you an automatic right to wave your hands about when decisions don't go your way or when you're the one constantly giving the ball away. Chelsea may have paid over the odds for you and you may well believe sun now shines out of your arse but if it does then show it. One or two flashes of brilliance in areas of the field that look great on a highlight reel but have no effect on the game don't wash with me. If that was in a years time and you're in a Chelsea shirt putting it that type of performance you're going to be found out very quickly. At the moment you'll be a Gelson wondering where it all went wrong one day sat in the Olympiacos squad and not even featuring in the first team. Whatever happened to that kid that Sporting sold to Chelsea for a fortune? 

Right positives. One the result. A win is a win. Second half from minute 50 onwards they looked the better side but that's because Sunderland took about €100m of new signings off. Still you can only beat what is in front of you. Enjoyed Rayan Lucas's cameo off the bench. Silva looks untouchable at the clubs number one. That looks a great bit of business in the same way Adán coming to the club did in his first season. If he stays fit and avoids suspension not much is getting past him which is handy whilst the defence is still looking shaky at times. Quaresma was poor again. Reis didn't blow me away but if he was a 6, Eduardo was a 4. He's not the solution at right back. Inácio looked comfortable enough and certainly had enough in his locker second half against inferior substitutes. Debast hit a wall around the 80 minute mark but he was imperious at times. Personally I'd have him Diomande and Inácio in a 3 but I'm not the mister and Palace may still have a say in the Ivorians destination before the end of the summer transfer window. 

Morita came into the game more second half. Again a player that does the really simple things well. It sounds really stupid to write but it's a big skill to do. To slow down time, be able to look around and pick the right pass especially in the final third. He makes it look easy and it's really not and that's the mark of his quality. Hjulmand impressed hugely again for the entire 90. Came to the rescue of the defence a couple of times. His reading of the game is as good as any midfielder you'll watch currently. Sporting I'm convinced keep him this summer. Next summer I don't think they have a hope in hell. Still we have seemed to have worked out like Brighton do that you bring the replacement in twelve months earlier and Kocho looks like we've a real player on our hands of his debut against Celtic was anything to go by. 

Trincão contributed enough, scored the winner and his other decent chance whilst off target at least looked like it was on target originally when he curled it and didn't miss by much. I don't know what age we're told not to lean back when striking a ball but it's certainly before the age of 10. If someone could remind Gonçalves of that fact before the season kicks off. I wrote a piece on his finishing early on in the 23/24 title winning season. His ratio of shots on target to goals scored was appalling, something like 1 in 8 after his first 40 attempts and he'd had more shots than any other forward player. At some point I wrote something like - If JFK was watching down on this game he'd have wished Gonçalves had taken the shot that day in Dallas. The only player that infuriates me more is Quenda. If left in a room with those two for a day I'm pretty sure I'd end up throttling one or both. Bruno Fernandes petulance was legendary but my God the boy could play football on his day. Yes Gonçalves has finished as the league's top scorer but he can't dine out on that for the rest of his life. Continually linked to West Ham and Aston Villa over the years, he needs to look at Trincão, know his level and really commit to the club. At least unlike with Quenda we've seen his talent in a Sporting shirt. Maybe having a baby will be the making of him and he'll finally realise there's only room for one toddler in the house? Who knows. As for Harder. I'll reserve my judgement on him after he finally gets a decent run in the side. He's going to unfairly under the microscope more this season because of who we presume he's going to follow in the footsteps of. As things stand I wonder if the Portuguese bookmakers start giving you know who odds on him being top scorer in Portugal. 

So time to whittle down my vote for man of the match. I'm going to try give four options again. Silva, clean sheet and apart from juggling one cross he did every thing else right. Debast, as highlighted maybe ran out of steam towards the end. Delivery from set pieces needs some work, especially corners but the weighted pass in the buildup was a thing of quality. Hjulmand was solid throughout. 90 minutes in his legs. The leader you want him to be as captain, the one who sets the standards of what is expected from all outfield players. Colossus. Well that's two from the back and one from the centre. If this was Countdown I'd have one from the front so I'll go Trincão to complete the four. Scores the winner, looks sharp enough that with game time in his legs he'll have a decent impact from round one onwards. In truth though still way off my first three choices. I'm loathe to give it to Silva because that would suggest Sunderland were at the races for the full 90 and they weren't. They did look good creatively at points in the first half and caused our defence all sorts of issues. They were simply undone by all their changes. So Denmark or Belgium? Efficiency against a bit of flare. Look Hjulmand should take it and the statistics would no doubt testify to that but I enjoyed watching Debast more. So Zeno gets my man of the match. 

Jamor up next for the lions. Maybe by that time we'll have some money in the bank. I won't hold my breath...