As always with such articles, I want to commence by stating that this is not a match preview, nor the discussion piece for Tuesday’s trip to Lisbon to take on Sporting Clube de Portugal (CP) – this will be uploaded later tonight – but rather, an insight into our opponents and what we can expect from them for those unfamiliar with the Portuguese outfit, as I am.
This will follow the insight piece I wrote on Marseille ahead of our match against them last week, with another one to follow when we take on Eintracht Frankfurt in a doubleheader after the international break.
With that said, let’s have a glance at Sporting CP, also known to many as ‘Sporting Lisbon’. Ranked 25th in the Euro Club Index at the time of writing, Sporting are statistically our toughest opponents in Group D.
Indeed, they won their first Primeira Liga title in 19 years under head coach Ruben Amorim the season before last, who then proceeded to guide them to a second-place finish and a Portuguese League Cup victory over bitter Lisbon rivals Benfica last season.
Indeed, their coach is so highly rated that Sporting paid €15m to Sporting Brage to bring Amorim to the club in 2020: according to The Analyst, this was the third-highest release clause paid for a manager ever at the time (although Graham Potter’s move to Chelsea has seen that now slip to fourth). Nevertheless, given the relatively modest finances of Portuguese clubs, Amorim’s release clause certainly constitutes a startling sum.
However, it has been a mixed start to the campaign for the Lions, who only won one of their opening four league games, losing two of them. More recently, however, Sporting seem to have been getting back on track. Since losing 2-0 to Chaves at the end of August, they have won their last three matches in all competitions without conceding a goal, with their most recent victory a 4-0 dismissal of Portimonense last night, a side currently one place above them in the Primeira Liga.
The Portuguese giants currently top Group D after an impressive 3-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt last week. This result was the club’s first win in Germany in the club’s history and their joint-largest victory in the Champions League proper (level with a 4-1 win vs Besiktas in last season’s group stage, via UEFA). Last season, Sporting CP made it out of their Champions League group, only to get knocked out by Manchester City in the last sixteen by a 5-0 aggregate scoreline.
Regarding personnel, there are some names that will no doubt be familiar to supporters, not least Marcus Edwards, the talented youngster who Poch once likened to Messi before his Spurs career fell off a cliff. Edwards was one of the trio that netted in Sporting’s victory over Frankfurt, as was Francisco Trincao, who spent last season on loan at Wolves. Supporters may also recognise Sporting’s club captain Sebastien Coates, the Uruguyuan centre-back formerly of Liverpool.
Tactically, Amorim sets Sporting up in a 3-4-3 formation, with his side looking to increasingly pressure their opponents in their defensive third more frequently. This is something that Sporting are still working on as Amorim tries to impose his style on a slightly different set of players to those who won them the 2020/21 Primeira Liga, with experienced midfielder Joao Mario, and influential pair Matheus Nunes and Joao Palhinha – who were all key to Amorim’s title-winning system – all departing.
Nevertheless, The Analyst notes how despite such departures, Sporting have still been improving in this regard over the past several years. Indeed, Amorim’s emphasis on pressuring opponents further up the pitch has been coming to fruition, as evidenced by the increase of Sporting’s average start distance of possessions on the pitch by an average of two metres since the 2020-21 season.
The same report provides further evidence of an improvement of Sporting’s pressing under Amorim – their improvement in “pressed sequences”. These measure the number of sequences starting in their defensive third where the opposition has three passes or less, and the sequence ends in their own half. In 2019-20, Sporting ranked 11th for this in the Primeira Liga, averaging 11.6 pressed sequences per game, but have shot up to 3rd with 15.8 per game since 2020-21.
Despite improving slightly in our ability to play through an opponent’s press under Conte compared to the last days of Poch, Jose and Nuno, we still generally don’t do too well when playing through an opposition press (see Chelsea, West Ham, and the first half vs Marseille).
Whilst this is something we are and should be constantly working on in the training ground, these are opponents we should be wary of, but with all due respect, this is a game we really ought to be winning if we’re harbouring serious notions of winning Group D. The right attitude should see us through here, keep your eyes peeled for the pre-match preview…
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