André Villas-Boas addressed the media after the match FC Porto-Olympiacos
Moments after the home defeat against Olympiacos, André Villas-Boas went to the press room of Estádio do Dragão, where, in front of the media, he started by "apologizing to the fans of FC Porto" that "have been very supportive in trying to reverse" "a moment that is difficult to understand and accept" that the club is going through in terms of results.
Going through an unimaginable situation "in the worst scenarios" just "a few months from completing a year of presidency", the club's president clarified that Pepê "was subjected to a disciplinary process" due to the "social media react posted before the former coach left" and that José Tavares "believed that sending him in the starting team could be a moment to find confidence and redeem himself of the mistake he made". Even though the team is experiencing “a phase of lower confidence”, the president was also convinced that “it is still possible to fight” for the Europa League and “for the qualification in a game that will be decisive in Belgrade”.
“We invested in the team to fight for all the titles. We won the first one, lost two in the meantime and we have the objective of continuing to fight for titles”, he stressed when asked about the root of the negative moment, as the main leader of a team that “already gave good signs”, could have reached the “first place” in the League, but lives a “sad” reality in which the team is not living "up to" expectations. However, everyone still "believes in the national title", which will be fought for "with all strength, knowing that doing so requires more commitment, confidence and work".
About Vítor Bruno, a coach whom the president trusted to “take the club forward with the project for the future”, André Villas-Boas thanked “all his work and dedication to FC Porto, not only during this season or half a season in which he was in charge” of the main squad before revealing that he is “in process of negotiating and talking to Cruz Azul regarding the signing of coach Martín Anselmi”: “At the moment, I don't want to talk too much about it because the conversations continue in the sense of reaching a successful negotiation. There is a clause in his contract regarding European clubs of a certain dimension and other clubs of a different dimension, we are in talks with the legal department of Cruz Azul to reach a successful conclusion in these negotiations and release the coach. It's a negotiation, we want him to join us. We will soon have news about this change”.
The message to the fans
"I want to apologize to the FC Porto fans, as we are again going through a period of four games without winning, all in the same sporting season, it is a difficult time for the club and the last time it happened was 60 years ago. It is a difficult moment to understand and accept, so I want to apologize to the fans that has been very supportive of us in this attempt to reverse results. It is a time of reflection, of patience – which is difficult to have – of unity – which we hope to achieve very soon. Usually that confidence comes with victories, that's what this team needs. The players, the coaches, the technical teams need it and that's what we're looking forward to. That victory didn't come today due to small details, no doubt there was more commitment from the team, but we were still short and we have to regret this bad moment, focus on work and apologize to the fans that don't deserve to go through this moment.”
Pepê's punishment
“This is a greater responsibility of the president. I am a few months away from completing a year in the presidency, and even in the worst-case scenarios we couldn't imagine a situation like this, a repetition of a cycle of four games without winning and, this second time, with four losses. We punished the behaviour of the player [Pepê] for his social media post before the former coach Vítor Bruno left. He was subjected to a disciplinary process and we have already notified him. The player admitted his guilt, reflected on it, the recent coach believed that playing him in the starting team could be a moment for him to find confidence and, in a way, redeem himself for the mistake he made. All the players are trying to find themselves, it is a moment of lesser confidence and this is clear in what happened when we conceded the goal. A victory is what will make us have confidence in the players and in each other to overcome this bad moment. It is important, without a doubt, that the fans have some patience, I know they have had it, we are taking them to the limit of that patience, but we still believe that it is possible to fight for this title, qualify to the next stage of the Europa League in a game that will be decisive in Belgrade against Maccabi and hope that the results will be reverted. There is only one man responsible for this, me, because I am the one who makes the decisions and I hope to always make them in a way that shows respect to the greatness of FC Porto. That moment will come, but we have to admit that we're not up to what we want.”
The ambition to fight for every title
“We invested in the team to fight for all the titles. We got the first one, we lost two in the meantime and we have the goal of continuing to fight for titles. We believe in the competence of the team, the players already gave us good signs. As you know, FC Porto was in position before the game in Madeira to reach the first place, it did not and, if it had managed to achieve this leadership, it would have ended almost a thousand days without reaching the first place. It is a new and sad reality of FC Porto, we have to admit that we are not up to it, however this squad was built to win titles. We continue to believe and we will keep believing in the national title, we want to compete for it to the limits of our strength, knowing that doing so requires more commitment, more confidence, more work and knowing that what we are doing is not enough to achieve the victories that will bring that confidence. A very hard moment, of reflection, of knowing that we are not up to it. We need more work, more commitment and more demand. We gave an insufficient response and the result ends up penalizing us.”
Vítor Bruno
“I didn't really want to go there because, as you know, I was a coach myself and I had to make the decision of changing coaches. As this is my first statement regarding the former coach, chosen by me, a coach I believed in to take this club forward with our project regarding the future, unfortunately this didn't happen and we had to make a decision. All issues of indiscipline are being addressed and players are doing their self-analysis and realizing that they cannot overstep the boundaries. Here, the sports and executive structure will always address these issues. Regarding the departure of coach Vítor Bruno, we eventually made the decision to do so. I want to thank him for all the work and dedication to FC Porto, not only during this season or half season in which he was in charge, but during the seven years at the service of this club. We have always given him the conditions to carry out his project and we have always supported him, but coaches depend on the sports results and we ended up deciding to make the change to continue fighting for the title. We will soon have news regarding this change.”
Martín Anselmi
"We are in the process of negotiating and talking to Cruz Azul for coach Martín Anselmi. At this moment I don't want to talk too much because the discussion continues to reach a successful negotiation. There is a clause in his contract regarding European clubs of a certain dimension and other clubs of a different dimension, we are in talks with the legal department of Cruz Azul to reach a successful conclusion in these negotiations and release the coach. It is a negotiation, we want him to join us, however we understand that Cruz Azul wants to defend their interests and we continue to talk to the club to complete these negotiations.”
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