FC Porto was defeat in the match at home against Marítimo, breaking the winning streaking achieved in the previous two matchdays, and, according to Sérgio Conceição, the result should be “blamed” on the Dragons. The lack of “defensive efficiency” and the “several occasions to win the match” that were missed were, according to the blue and white coach, two of the reasons for the negative result. “We don’t need to raise our head, as you usually hear. We need to lower it, think of what went wrong, and improve”, the coach concluded.

Not natural to concede three goals at Estádio do Dragão
“We lost by our own fault. We weren’t efficient in the back, they created danger every time they reached our goal. It’s not normal to concede three goals at home. In the second-half, we had numerous occasions to score. We had several occasions to win the match. The tie would have been bad. We need to realise that we always need to be suspicious of the opponent and of everything we face. Everything will be harder if we don’t realise this. Being the national champion and playing for FC Porto demands this state of mind. If not, these results may happen.”

Passivity with the ball
“We were passive in the match. I mean passivity with the ball. We did have possession, but we didn’t create good occasions to score in the first-half. We faced a team that was defending in the back, with eleven players inside the area, but we should have created more occasions in the first-half. The players tried, we were too hasty at times, but we couldn’t score. We need to stay aware and suspicious. “The FC Porto shirt is not enough to win matches. You need more.”

Pause for the national squads is painful
“Maybe we deserve this suffering of not playing for fifteen days. We don’t need to raise our head, as you usually hear. We need to lower it, think of what went wrong, and improve. That’s what we always do in the three years since I arrived.”

Opponent in the back, but scoring in every occasion
“They scored three goals in three shots on goal. They were highly effective. There were several plays that made me wonder, in a match that was constantly stopped. It’s not easy to face a team that plays fully in the area. But it’s their posture and strategy, if you want to look at it that way. It was up to us to score goals, I’m not happy at all with what we did in the first-half. Wearing the crest of champion and the FC Porto shirt is not enough to win matches.”

Lack of fairplay was not surprising
“I wasn’t surprised to watch Lito Vidigal tell his players to take a dive, to have the goalkeeper wasting time. The fourth official heard it. I know him, so I wasn’t surprised.”