FC Porto was defeated for matchday six of the championship in Paços de Ferreira. The blue and whites were beaten by 3-2 at Estádio Capital do Móvel and, in the end, Sérgio Conceição congratulated the home team, for being “better” than the Dragons. “Things didn’t go well. It wasn’t for this or that player, it was for the team and for the coach, who wasn’t able to set up the best strategy”, the coach of the national champions added. After being sent-off by Nuno Almeida, the blue and white coach went to the press conference to set the tone for the remaining battles the team will face in the rest of the season: “We have to keep working, realise what went wrong, and look ahead. There is no other way. We have to look ahead, with courage, determination, ambition and make sure that we never give up”.

Congratulations to the opponent
“A lot went wrong. We weren’t able to remain solid and consistent, like I stated at the preview of the match. We made a lot of mistakes, and congratulations to Paços, as they were better than us.”

It’s not easy to change the mentality
“Obviously, the players have routines and automatic behaviours. It’s normal and natural. We had organized, prepared and worked the team including Pepe. Unfortunately, this morning, we received the news that his Covid-19 testing was inconclusive. That changed our plans, and we live in a time when it’s difficult to manage that. Things didn’t go well. It wasn’t for this or that player, it was for the team and for the coach, who wasn’t able to set up the best strategy to beat an opponent we knew has talent, and that had the full week to prepare for this match. We were coming from the Champions League, it’s not easy to change the mentality and to come here with the determination and attitude needed for this type of matches. That’s what pushed the team back. Obviously, I’m the one to blame.”

Team problems and individual mistakes
“This is my fourth year here. We have been through difficult moments, and I know that, in those moments, all guns are turned at us. Sometimes even inside our home. I’m never intimidated by this type of situation. I have a strong character, in the way I work. Nothing will stop me from working in the same way tomorrow, to prepare for Marseille. Obviously, no one likes to lose and fall behind at this point in the season, but it’s up to us to recover from it. We know this, we know we have many new faces, a lot to teach, a lot to work on, and we have been working on top of mistakes we have been making in the defence. It wasn’t because of the midfield, it had nothing to do with that. It was a problem of the team, with many individual mistakes that cannot happen at this level. Each time Paços de Ferreira went near our defence, they created danger. That’s not normal in my teams, even when I trained teams that had more financial difficulties. We have to keep working, realise what went wrong, and look ahead. There is no other way. We have to look ahead, with courage, determination, ambition and make sure that we never give up.”