Sporting CP Interim Report Part II

What follows is our third part in the series taking a deeper look at the Sporting CP mister Rui Borges and whether the club are progressing or regressing under him. We continue from the last post with a deeper look at the comparative numbers between this season and the same point in 2024/25.

It goes without saying that the springboard provided by Ruben Amorim's winning start to the 2024/25 season proved hugely advantageous to the lions in winning a second straight league title but it should be remembered that Porto under Vítor Bruno were in the opening half of the season, also in the mix at the top of the division and their change of mister to Martín Anselmi proved ultimately to be a fatal one on their part and in turn Benfica ran the lions close right up to the final weeks. I think sometimes we forget the finer points around a title win and just concentrate on the mere fact that it was won. As good as Sporting have been in the last two seasons at points, it cannot be overlooked that they've also benefited from Porto and Benfica have not fully being at the races. 

In truth the lions should have won the 2024/25 Supertaça having contrived to throw away a 3 goal lead. They were a penalty kick away from winning the Taça da Liga final in turn. That they overcame two changes of coaches, an injury crisis and loss of form and confidence to win the league title and Taça de Portugal is nothing short of a minor miracle. Whilst Amorim provided the great start it's also worth pointing out in the final weeks of the previous title run in the players were out on their feet as was demonstrated in the loss of the Taça de Portugal to Porto in May. We'll never know had Amorim stayed in charge whether he'd have guided the club to the same level of success as Rui Borges achieved. Against teams setup in a low block we frequently saw Amorim's sides struggle until the point that they finally scored breaking the deadlock and then benefited from the space left when the opponents were then forced to push forward and attack to try to find an equalising goal. A high intensity game cannot be sustained through a period of injuries and the lions had to adapt massively under Borges and I don't think Amorim could have done that in the same manner as the new mister did after his hiring in December of 2024. I might be wrong but we know how wedded he was to his system with the lions and ultimately it then cost him his job at United. Pragmatism is what got us over the line last time around.

To simplify last season is a hard task but let's give it a shot. An incredible start to the campaign, left reeling from the departure of Ruben Amorim to Manchester United, fell off a cliff under João Pereira, tossed aside their European ambitions for domestic ones and under their third coach, by way of a minor miracle completed a league and cup double. Just a season of stability could therefore count as progression.

Let's look at some of the data and see what additional conclusions we can draw.

Total players called into Matchday squads and total players used

2024/25 49 players / 40 used
2025/26 47 players / 36 used

Both seasons we see the total numbers of players called up into matchday squads padded by inclusion of players from Sporting B into the Champions League matchday squads. In the 2024/25 season Mendonça, Denilson Santos, Justo, Pinto, Gomes, Taibo, Alves and F. Silva were all included but never featured in any competition. Those afforded minutes included Muniz, Brito, Ramos, Couto, Nel, Arríeol, Felicíssimo and A. Moreira. Many of whom including Brito and Felicíssimo were called into fill the void caused by the injury crisis suffered around the turn of the year. Those who made fleeting appearances before being sent out on loan – Essugo and Fernandes. Two departures in the winter window – Kovačević and Edwards.

This season St Juste was in the matchday squad for the Supertaça before being demoted to Sporting B. Travossos was named amongst the substitutes in the early rounds of the Liga before being loaned out for the season to Moreirense. Owing to injuries Blopa, Nel and Flávio Gonçalves have at one stage of another formed a regular part of the first team matchday squad. Anjos, Callai, D. Moreira, Justo, Ramos, Felicíssimo, Couto, Dias and F. Silva have all been included in matchday squads without making an appearance. Debuts handed to Blopa, Flávio Gonçalves, Rayan Lucas, Grombahi and Rômulo for the benefit of experience rather than a necessity as was the case for many the previous campaign. Departures of those who played minutes in any given competition – Harder, Reis and Esgaio. 

Total games missed by players in the 2024/25 season across all competitions for any given reason, be that injury, suspension or other

Nuno Santos 34
Gonçalves 32
Quaresma 19
St Juste 18*
Bragança 14
Morita 12
Edwards 9*
Inácio 8
Reis 8
Geny 7
Hjulmand 6
Diomande 6
Debast 5
Gyökeres 3
Fresneda 3
Kovačević 3
Araújo 2
Trincão 1

* Note in the case of Edwards non-selection was in the main owed do disciplinary issues and with St Juste in the main injuries forced him out but there may have been instances where non-selection was owing to form.

Any side would struggle with an injury crisis that the lions experienced last campaign. It's however worth noting that the vast majority of the above came after Amorim's departure meaning he had the benefit of a near fit squad for the majority of his winning start to the campaign. Kovačević and Hjulmand missed two games apiece. Inácio and Gonçalves missed just the one. Nuno Santos was the outlier having missed the first four rounds of the season and then having his season curtailed after the Famalicao game to miss another two before Amorim departed for Manchester. 

Total Games missed through injury, suspension, international call ups not including non-selection for Taça games

2025/26

Nuno Santos 37*
Bragança 28*
Debast 24
Quenda 22
Ioannidis 17
Diomande 14
Gonçalves 13
Mangas 11
Kochorashvili 10
Geny 8
Araújo 8
Reis 8
Hjulmand 4
Morita 3
Rui Silva 3
Simões 3
Quaresma 3
Fresneda 2
Trincão 1
Inácio 1
Suárez 1

* In the case of both Bragança and Nuno Santos total figures are for all matchday squads unavailable for selection due to long term injuries which would have prevented non-selection for either the Taça da Liga or the Taça de Portugal.

The clear difference between this seasons injury crisis and the last is that this time around the lions have suffered from start to finish with the loss of key players in all areas. Santos and Bragança missing 65 games combined, both finally returning before the former picked up another injury early on in the 4-1 away win to Alverca last time out. A run of three games without your first choice Goalkeeper. In the opening rounds Diomande was absent for 9 straight games. Araújo and Geny both missed a block of 3 games. Then we see long term injuries for Debast, Ioaniddis and Gonçalves to name but three. Absences for Geny and Diomande at the African Cup of Nations. There are times where the mister Rui Borges must have felt like he's got one hand tied behind his back since he took over the role of Sporing mister. 

Games without scoring

2024/25 - The lions failed to find the net on four occasions; twice in the league (Santa Clara and Gil Vicente) and twice in the Champions league against BVB.

2025/26 – Only twice have the lions failed to find the net, against Benfica in the Supertaça and against Bodø away in the Champions League. Otherwise they have scored in every league, Taça da Liga and Taça de Portugal game to date.

Goals win matches it's a simple statistic. If you're putting the ball in the back of the net on a more frequent basis you increase your chances of winning games. 

Longest winning runs in all competitions

2024/25 – The longest run of wins was 9 straight games plus another run of 8.

2025/26 – The longest run this campaign just 6.

Included because as I wrote at the start of the last post, it's easy to show a set of data to support your argument and narrative which I'm not looking to do. I'm trying to look at the data objectively and highlight points which can be seen as a regression in turn. I'm not however implying the above carries much weight. 

Longest unbeaten runs in all competitions

2024/25 Two unbeaten runs totalling 18 games apiece.

2025/26 Two unbeaten runs totalling 12 games apiece.

As a sidebar the lions are unbeaten away this season in the league after 14 games, having won 10 and drawn 4. In the Champions League five home games have brought 5 straight wins. Let's be real though nothing really competes from either this or last season with the 2023/24 campaign where Sporting won all 17 league games at the Estádio José Alvalade. Again a second regression but at some point you're going to come up against a side like Bayern and lose. I could pull out European games, dig down deeper into unbeaten runs in x,y and z but that's deliberately trying to obscure the narrative again so the facts remain a regression season on season.

Expected Goals

2024/25

Where data is available the lions had just 5 games where they failed to record an Xg of at least 1.

Braga (A) 0.94
Benfica (Taça da Liga final) 0.50
RB Leipzig 0.93
BVB (H) 0.71 and (A) 0.33 which was a season low after 44 games played in all competitions.

A high of 4.11 came away to Rio Ave (A).

Combined Xg where data available – 73.59

2025/26

Again 5 times where the lions have failed to record an Xg of at least 1, four of which have occurred in the Champions League.

Juventus 0.21 a season low
Benfica (A) 0.58
Bayern 0.29
PSG 0.90
Bodø (A) 0.61

The season high to date 5.01 home to Moreirense.

Combined Xg where data available 81.66 (up 8.02)

If you're not familiar with Xg then you're probably leading a far healthier and meaningful life than many of us are so well done you if you fall into that camp. If we take penalty kicks as a starting point to explain what it means in a broader sense, they come with an Xg (expected goal) of between 0.76 and 0.79 which can be converted into a percentage chance that the person taking the penalty will score. In this instance somewhere between 76% and 79%. Luis Suárez stood one yard from the goal line for a tap in will have a higher Xg than Lucas Anjos trying from 40 yards through a crowd of defenders and seeing his shot blocked. Every attempt is given a value by Opta data analysts though what their exact secret sauce is only they'll know. Far too many of the lions players end up a game with an Xg of 0.01. In layman's terms that means if they were to make the same shot 100 times in the same circumstances they would be expected to score once in a hundred. Simplified further - too many lions aren't passing the ball when all the underlying data suggests they shouldn't be allowed to shoot unless they were within the six yard box and in front of an open goal. 

Both seasons Sporting have had to contend on the domestic front with teams defending in a low block. We've seen lines of 5, 6 and in some instances even 7 defenders in a row, with a bank of midfielders screening the ball just five yards in front. Everytime you criticise the crossing of our wide players I would implore you to try remember that you're watching on from a birds eye view of the pitch. Remind yourself every so often what it is like from the players point of view when ahead of him he can see 9 opposition players concentrated in the space of 5 yards from front to back whilst he tries to pick out a teammate. The fact that domestically in the league we've only had one game with an Xg under 1 is a massive improvement, one shown in the fact that we've scored in every league game to date. If statistically you're creating the chances to score at least once then you're more likely to win games, coupled with the Xg against going down in turn. The fact we've improved without Gyökeres is probably the biggest takeaway. 

Xg Conceded

2024/25

Season high v Arsenal in the Champions League – 3.89
Season best – Rio Ave (A) 0.06 under Rui Borges. Gil Vicente (A) 0.08 under João Pereira 
13 times where the opposition record an Xg under 0.50.
21 times where the opposition recorded an Xg of under 1.00
Xg of 1 and above – 16 times.
Xg of 2 and above – 4 times.
Total XG for all competitions – 37.70

2025/26

Season high v Bodø (A) in the Champions League – 2.78
Season best – Rio Ave H 0.11 and Moreirense H – 0.16
13 times where the opposition recorded an Xg under 0.50. (Level)
28 times where the opposition recorded an Xg of under 1.00 (Improvement of 7)
Xg of 1 and above – 12 times. (Improvement of 12)
Xg of 2 and above – 3 times. (Improvement of 1)
Total XG for all competitions – 34.10 (Improvement of 3.60)

Like the expected goals figures for the lions, those for the opponents are also trending massively in the right direction. We look so much assured at the back defensively than we ever did under Amorim, especially in Europe. That's not to say the lions are perfect, far from it, but comparatively the underlying data confirms that they are improving on all fronts. 

Total goals conceded

2024/25 – 46
2025/26 – 39 (improvement of 7 on the previous season)

The fewer goals you concede the greater your chances of winning. It's not rocket engineering. Porto's defence for so much of the campaign has been tighter than a ducks arse and yet in the latter stages we see they've only conceded 4 fewer goals than the lions and the quality of football played by the lions I'd argue has been far more entertaining than a team built around their defence to watch. 

Big chances created for Sporting

2024/25 – 127
2025/26 – 135 (+8)

Big chances missed by Sporting

2024/25 – 67
2025/26 – 82 (+15)

Big chances created by opponents

2024/25 – 55
2025/26 – 43 (-12)

Big chances missed by opponents

2024/25 – 27 (49.10%)
2025/26 – 20 (46.51%)

Meaning last season 28 goals were scored from big chances, 23 from this so whilst the percentage of those attempts had decreased, the question of whether they resulted in goals did show an improvement. An increase on the number of big chances created is clearly a net positive. For clarification an Opta defined big chance being as it's suggested, one from which a goal should in theory have been scored from. The worrying data point is the failure from the lions to convert so many of their big chances. The blame has to be pinned therefore on the players themselves rather than anything that can be put upon the mister Rui Borges. 

Highest XG by player

2024/25

Gyökeres 27.52
Trincão 8.52
Geny 4.88
Harder 4.66
Bragança 3.91
Quenda 3.52

Note no data pertaining to the 19 goals scored across the 3 Taca (Super, da Liga and de Portugal = 8 fixtures)

2025/26

Luis Suárez 27.34
Trincão 9.43
Gonçalves 8.43
Araújo 3.99

Note no data pertaining to the 14 goals scored across the 3 Taça (Super, da Liga and de Portugal = 5 fixtures. Porto, Paços de Ferreira, Alverca, Marinhense and Santa Clara. Semi-final defeat to SC Vitória is however known.)

As previously mentioned the number of players who finish matches with an Xg in the range of 0.01 to 0.10 demonstrates the wrong players are shooting in the wrong positions and a general lack of patience. In the 6-0 win against Arouca however the first shot didn't come until the 18th minute resulting in a goal from Ricardo Mangas. The second shot came on the half hour converted by Luis Suárez to make it 2-0 so the lions are more than capable of playing a patient game and being clinical in front of goal, just all to often we see a lack of it in the final third. Take 120 minutes of football played against Paços de Ferreira and Bodø/Glimt. 38 attempts to score 3 in the Taça, 39 attempts which resulted in the end with 5 goals in the remontada in the Champions League. The lions need to be better at finishing their opportunities. Luis Suárez has missed a wealth of golden one on ones to date. 

Total number of players to have scored in all competitions

2024/25 - 18
2025/26 - 16

Despite the lions being labelled as reliant on Viktor Gyökeres last season, they actually had more individual goalscorers last time out. We need to find a steadier compliment of goals from other areas of the pitch. Those generally would come from an improvement in set pieces be those indirect free kicks and more over corners.

Luis Suárez v Viktor Gyökeres 

Total Goals all competitions LS 33 VG 40
XG across all competitions LS 27.34 VG 27.52
Total Attempts LS 156 VG 129
Total Blocked Shots LS 26 VG 31
Total shots off target LS 53 VG 31
Total shots on target LS 74 VG 67
Big chances LS 52 VG 50
Big chances missed LS 28 (54.55%) VG 21 (42%)
Assists LS 6 VG 6
Goal involvements LS 39 VG 46

Other than the number of goals scored, the figures that stands out is the total attempts to score those total goals for each player. Suárez having had 27 more attempts which has resulted in 7 less goals. Interestingly the number of goals scored is directly reflected by the difference in goals scored from Opta defined big chances. Both players have benefited from long term absences to Pedro Gonçalves whose inclusion would have significantly led to a cut in both players numbers. For me though there is no argument to be had on the fact that despite scoring 33 times, the Colombian is miles off second season Gyökeres who we can't forget was struggling with an injury around the turn of the new year and into January and February.

If Luis Suárez was three years younger, €10m cheaper and Almería weren't continually benefitting from the most ridiculous bonus system I'd happily concede his signing has been a success. But for his age (29 in December), the over inflated price we paid in a season we potentially come away having won nothing it is highly questionable and if we end up paying an extra €500,000 for him being top scorer with no silverware that's the ultimate kick in the teeth. Ask who I'd prefer up front given the choice - Bas Dost or Suárez? Bas Dost. Viktor Gyökeres or Luis Suárez? Gyökeres. Now should we flip him in the summer for a sum greater than what we paid for him then I'll change my tune. If he stays and we win the title then I'll happily change my tune again. The first offset is he scored one of the 3 to take us to extra time against Bodø which eventually will swell the club coffers by the best part of €12m. If he scores the goals that take us back into the Champions League next season then he'll have paid off another large chunk of his over inflated transfer fee. Look I'm every inch the pragmatist Rui Borges is and I'm the son of an accountant and the books have to balance.

In conclusion 

If Rui Borges has one major fault it's his pragmatic approach to the bigger games. That's not to say it's not the correct approach however. He'll let the dogs off the leash early on in games, see his side go ahead and then put his players back on the leash and come unstuck as in the two games against Braga. We've seen what his side is capable of when he lets the handbrake off as experienced against Bodø/Glimt which as a collective team performance is as good as any I've seen from a lions side from Marco Silva to the present day. Don't get me wrong we've had moments of brilliance but an 8-0 mauling of Casa Pia or a Dumiense had equally as much to do with poor opposition as the brilliance of the lions on the day. They were electric in the opening of Supertaça last season in the opening half hour then frankly fucking woeful for the next 90 minutes. This Bodø Champions League win was almost perfect. Sorry to hark on with the same point made in previous blogs but when you add the four points we cost ourselves against Braga conceding penalties in additional time we'd have been 3 points off Porto with a game in hand and yes it's easy to say we could have gone for it more, earlier in the game but let's not forget they went into Amorim's last game 2-0 up at half time and on any normal given game without the same context it's highly doubtful we'd have come away with a 4-2 win. It's easy to question Borges record in the so called biggest games if you blinker yourself to every other Sporting coach there's ever been, Amorim included. Sporting traditionally have largely come out second best in the Dérbi and the Clássico. That's a statistical fact. Other clubs invest, other clubs grow, that's part of the game. Winning back to back titles doesn't guarantee you winning a third one. Let's face it Borges hasn't just been playing on the pitch but in the justice system too. One week Luis Suárez is getting booked by João Pinheiro for simulation having told the referee there was no contact and the next he's being handed a one match ban for a hand gesture which is right up their with a level of ridiculousness as Conrad Harder being sent off for saying yeah. If we're going to retrospectively referee games weeks after then the league might as well just fold. That or someone give the smaller clubs a legal budget to take on the likes of Porto and Benfica for a wealth of decisions that go their way. 

Sporting haven't helped themselves in the transfer market overall in either season. Maxi Araújo clearly the standout buy which is now paying fruition. Rui Silva was clearly the jigsaw piece that Rui Borges needed last January and the lions would have ended with nothing I'd they'd stuck with Franco Israel and Kovačević between the sticks. The decision to sell Mateus Fernandes looks like one that will go down in history as their biggest ever error in the transfer market. Letting Essugo go however appears good business by comparison in a way I suspect that letting Quenda go will also prove to be the next one, especially for the fee involved. Biel was a complete disaster albeit we saw a 20 minute cameo before his exit of what he could be capable of but he looked a little boy lost. Of course the loss of Gyökeres in the summer cannot be underestimated but that of Conrad Harder too, who despite his critics, even as a bit part player produced more than his replacement in Fotis Ioannidis has albeit his season has been hampered by injury and what we have seen at least looks promising. Harder's XG above for context doesn't include data from the Taça's in which he played a pivotal part in both of the number seemed low to you. Vagiannidis, Faye, Kochorashvili and Guilherme all yet to show their mark. Losing Reis and Alisson looks terrible business short and long term. Esgaio whilst clearly good to have around the dressing room had past his usefulness on the pitch and getting St Juste and Edwards off the books was a blessing in disguise in both cases. I'd say the jury is still out on Mangas but he's not been as bad as I'd envisaged he was going to be. 

With the suspension of Luis Suárez for the Santa Clara game we go into it reliant on Nel as the only fit recognised striker, however we do at least have potential match winners in Gonçalves, Trincão and Geny. All told though will Rui Borges ever get close to having a full squad to choose from? Everytime he gets remotely close another player goes down injured. Last season Gyökeres was in desperate need of resting and for the second straight season was playing through the pain. 

I wrote before Amorim's departure last season that the wheels looked like they were coming off and that we had a problem defensively and I gave João Pereira his due that he finally seemed to be getting to grips with this before he decided he wasn't the man for the job after all. Yet it's important to point out where best defensive display of the campaign prior to Rui Borges joining came against Gil Vicente under his stewardship as is noted above in the section for Xg Conceded which was only bettered in terms of numbers but the game against Rio Ave under Rui Borges. 

I never thought we'd see one title win so to have won three was beyond my wildest dreams. If they finish second this season I'll personally be happy especially as the start of last season I'd already mentally prepared myself to start this campaign minus Gyökeres and with João Pereira in charge and fully expected us to struggle all season long. So if it's second, a place in the Champions League quarter finals and maybe a Taça de Portugal win that still qualifies as success and if Porto win the title I'll add an asterix that they only did so through a large use of underhand tactics and waging a propaganda war against the lions at every turn that we refused to countenance.

So the claim is that the mister Rui Borges doesn't win big games. Firstly he doesn't generally lose them in the league either. Still one solitary league defeat as the lions mister. He won the history making remontada. Beat the Champions League holders in PSG. Has won all five Champions League games at home plus one away in Spain against Athletic Club allowing for automatic qualification into the knockouts and a top seven finish. Won his first game in the Dérbi against Benfica. Won the Taça de Portugal final in the Dérbi against Benfica. Won the Clássico in the Taça de Portugal semi final this season. Won the Clássico in the semi final of the Taça da Liga last season. And of course he guided them to the title win in a season where the best side in Portugal had three misters and when has that ever happened before? It was unprecedented and will most likely never happen again. 

Some say that Rui Borges is a lucky coach as his side score additional time winners. One there's no such thing as luck and two when does it matter when a winning goal is scored? The same fans bemoaning those wins should let some joy into their lives and had all those goals been scored in the first minute rather than after the 90 and all finished 1-0 they'd still have found something else to moan about. The rest of us were revelling in those finishes in the same way we did with the 5-0 win over Bodø. I'm assuming they are real people by the way and not Bots on social media but you never know. Perhaps Villas-Boas has people on the payroll in the same way he seems to have in the actual media.

It's really important to add context in certain circumstances. Let's take the two games against Porto at the José Alvalade which helpfully both came on Matchday 4 of the season. If you stated that Amorim won his game and Borges lost his you'd of course be correct. But let's add sprinkling of context. Amorim beat a side coached by Vítor Bruno in what was only his fifth ever game as a first team coach. Amorim by that stage of course a two time title winning coach. Porto were a side adjusting to life under Conçeicão who'd been as critical to Porto's success in previous seasons as Amorim had been for the lions. Sporting as previously stated had won every game at home the previous campaign and had started once more in a winning fashion both home and away. Now let's add in that Amorim had played Porto twice before in the previous five competitive games. Yes he won the league encounter but lost the Taça de Portugal final in the season before’s last game. As we've already noted previously, his side also lost the Supertaça 4-3 having led 3-0 at one stage and therefore whilst Amorim unlike Borges did see a home league win, it was Amorim who presided over one of the most embarrassing turn arounds in a game ever suffered by the coach of the lions. They say Rui Borges doesn't win big games. Well please don't ever claim that Amorim won them all. There's two losses in the space of just six games in the Clássico and his side you could argue owed the fans a performance after what had happened in the Supertaça, but to their credit had delivered. This of course a side spearheaded by the talismanic Swede Viktor Gyökeres. Rui Borges side one year later were now having to learn to adjust to playing without the player voted twice the best player in Portugal and in turn not just the lions leading goalscorer but the leagues as well. Also add into the mix that Borges was trying to implement a new playing system and prior to the league starting had only three pre-season games to work on it and at that stage it was still very much a work in progress. 

Let's take an example of a poor performance such as the 3-0 defeat to Bodø/Glimt in Norway. We know what the absence of Gonçalves and Araújo meant to the team in the first leg, a game which should be noted was played on artificial turf. One idiot suggested it was so bad a performance that the players should refund the travelling fans and I'm not the only who read it that must have thought it was a performance that wouldn't even make the top ten of Sporting shit shows in Europe. Yes the lions were woeful at points but then rectified it with the remontada. I'd argue if you were to sit and watch the opening 45 minutes of the first game against Atalanta under Amorim in the 2023/24 season and then the Bodø first 45 in Norway you'd probably be thinking OK it's wasn't that bad after all. But it would also he a great example as to how Rui Borges has progressed players. Take Fresneda who made his debut in the Atalanta game and we barely saw anything of the youngster ever again under Amorim. Now he's the mainstay of Borges defence and I'd love to have the data for distance covered by every player for the lions because I'd put good money on him being way ahead of any other player in the squad. Then when they actually published the data from the Bodø 5-0 you had a section of the fanbase waking up to what he does every single game which is work tirelessly and run his nuts off. One statistic shown in an actual number that was finally the lightbulb moment for people to go - oh, perhaps he's quite good after all. Here's a lad who regularly makes it into my four choices for man of the match. In fact he was my choice for man of the match away in Norway despite playing out of position on the left of the four. A player who I've been singing the praises of since coincidentally he appeared out of position on the left flank in one of the Taça da Liga games and I started early on in my eating of humble pie in terms of the fact I'd clearly written him off too early. One thing I will always do is hold my hands up when I get things wrong. I always leave my mistakes in my posts especially in the minute by minutes because if nothing else it shows just how wrong you can be about things sometimes and just occasionally right as well. 

Some fans criticise Borges for his timing of substitutions in games. Well let's state the obvious that he trusts the players on the pitch more than he does those on the bench because if the reverse were true they'd have been starters and vice versa. If coaching was that easy then we'd all be doing it than whatever day jobs we are actually employed in. Just because you've done something on Football Manager doesn't mean it's true to life and again let's go back to the fact you're watching the game with the benefit of replays and from a birds eye view and I imagine also in the main with commentators who may be influencing your thought process and not sat on the touchline without the benefit of an elevated view.

The mister has the added benefit of the players medical data that we don't have. We rarely stop to consider the outside effects of players lives. Hjulmand was getting pelters for a dip on form not so many weeks ago and then announced the birth of his first child and if you're a parent you know how hard it is with a new born baby. Now imagine a job where you're being taken away from your new born for large chunks of time to stay in hotels in Portugal and various places around Europe. Players are just human beings and if you can't switch your home life off when you're at work don't expect footballers to be any different no matter what they earn a week. 

Rui Borges received criticism for not selecting players such as Simões at the start of the season and as he rightly explained he's having to manage the player who lets not forget missed the entire back half of the season which wasn't included in the data above because we'd not even got to that stage in the campaign to compare yet. Just because he's not doing what you think he should be doing doesn't mean he's not making the right call. 

Amongst everything thrown at him he's had to adapt players to suit his needs such as pushing Debast forward into a midfield role and then this campaign had to do without him for a large part due to injury. We don't know who gets the final call on the clubs recruitment. Did he sign off on Alisson going to Napoli or on Harder leaving for RB Leipzig? On the signing of Guilherme and Ioannidis? Chances are we'll never know. Losing Reis who can play as a centre back, left back and left wing back feels like another blow. His call or the clubs? We certainly see a greater degree of tactical flexibility that we ever did under Ruben Amorim and long may that continue and especially in European competition.

Any change in coach is always a gamble. Some are imposed such as Amorim leaving and we saw how well João Pereira did or didn't do. Martín Anselmi was a fucking disaster at Porto last season. Bruno Lage has been replaced by the most successful coach in Portuguese history and Benfica have the same points total as last season and are one place lower in the league.

Rui Borges side have more points on the board, scored more goals accumulatively year on year at the same point, conceded less goals in turn. They've improved on the attacking metrics of Xg and big chances created but with the loss of Viktor Gyökeres aren't scoring as many of those big chances. Who knew losing your best player could effect your side? Look I'm not trying to say we've not seen disappointing performances across the season but on the eye they've been entertaining in the main and as I always say a 1-0 win buys you the same total of points as a 6-0 win. Whilst the 3-0 loss at Bodø was humbling it wasn't anywhere is near as bad as having to watch the 5-1 drubbing handed out by Arsenal who made it look like boys against men. Yes Sporting might not win the league this time around but that's because Porto have improved massively and will go to any lengths to try to win the title. Which set of fans sleep better at night I wonder and with a clearer conscience there's or ours? No I don't wonder it's clearly us. Our fans aren't having to set off fireworks over our opponents hotel the night before a big game. We've not got our ball boys hiding balls around a pitch or stealing goalkeepers towels. We're not crying to the courts claiming foul play against our opponents players calling for them to be banned and in the case of Luis Suárez actually succeeding. We're not taking Villas-Boas to court for any reason as was the case for Varandas blowing kisses at the Porto fans who were throwing dogs abuse at him. Since when is being a victim and reacting in a non-combative way the crime? It's not his fault if the family dog had their fans braincells that night. Should the man just stand there and take the abuse? Is that the take away from all that? If so it's an even shitter world we live in that it was the day before. 

If we don't win the league, which its looking increasingly likely, it doesn't mean that the club has regressed. In the here and now, season upon season, the data in the main shows an upward progression. The players are clearly happy playing under the mister. As always we've not been helped by certain refereeing decisions but I'll caveat that statement by pointing out there are times where we've massively been helped in both campaigns. It's a year to the day as I write since our 3-0 win away to Estrela and the first penalty for the hand into the face of Diomande was never a penalty in a million years. Neither was the penalty against our next opponents Santa Clara in the Taça earlier this season and we know about the corner that never was that led to the winner against the same team from Morten Hjulmand. Yes we've gotten away with it several times this season but every team other than AVS at the bottom can point to those types of moments. It just so happens that Os Três Grandes get away with a lot more. That was part of the problem in Bodø when you watched the reaction of Trincão and Suárez who stopped waiting for a foul to come that would have been given in Portugal, only to find none was given. Mistakes are fine as long as you're learning lessons from them. 

The hope is that like the unjust yellow card shown to Luis Suárez in Alverca having told the referee not to award a penalty and then being so incensed by the booking that he took his anger out on the ball and scored, is replayed by the Colombian in the Dragão in the return leg of the Taça. Karma strikes in the end and you won't need to give him a team talk for Porto having caused his one game ban for the Santa Clara game. We wait with baited breath. 

Rome wasn't built in a day. Amorim didn't win the title in his second season or his third for that matter but was given time and resources. He'd admitted he wanted to leave this summer before United came in and there's nothing wrong with ambition but I feel Borges would make a longer term committment given the choice to Sporting and we'll see how things shape over the next twelve months. Winning nothing will not mean the season has been a disaster despite what some will claim. Besides life would become very dull and tedious if you continually won all the time. I was genuinely happy to see SC Vitória win the Taça da Liga because it's good for the future of the Portuguese game in the same way the new era of Porto under Villas-Boas is a stain on the reputation of the countries game which keeps getting worse with every week that passes. If Sporting ever behaved in the same manner then I'd lose all interest in the club. 

Is Rui Borges the right man to lead Sporting? Yes in the here and now definitely. Could that change next season? Of course it could, this is football. We didn't do away with Amorim when he finished second in the table and neither did they release him from his duties when he finished fourth. Borges still has areas to work on but he's a 44 year old coach and even Roy Hodgson whose returned to work this week at 78 would I'm sure admit they he's still got things to learn. Borges has for me improved Trincão’s overall game and we now see him working for more defensively as well as offensively. His system has allowed Gonçalves to look like the player that finished the leagues top scorer. He's brought on Simões and Fresneda. His patience and faith in Morita is being repaid with his return to form in 2026. He's got goals from Luis Suárez in the top flight of football which no mister had ever done during his career, noting he of course came from Liga Segunda in the summer and before that couldn't have scored regularly in a Colombian brothel. Could he have afforded Harder and Alisson more chances? Yes. We'll only know long term if the pair make good on their talents long term. Like us all there's reasons to be positive about the man and things you can question about him. 

At the end of it all you might agree with all of my sentiments, some of them or none of them at all, you're entitled to your opinions. I'm not going to force mine upon you and say I'm correct. It's just how I view an overlap of the two seasons laid out side by side. Yet don't be the person who told me at the start of the season that Borges is the shittest coach ever in the history of football. I'm more than happy to listen to a reasoned argument against any of the above points I've made but it you can't provide context and examples then please don't be offended if I pay them little or no attention. Just know when I'm wrong I'll happily always put my hands up and admit it and you're free to quote me on that. If you want to add a counter narrative or question any of the above points feel free in the comments section below.