It's over, the tale that had started a couple weeks before the season ended has finally reached its conclusion, as Benfica formally introduced Jorge Jesus as our new coach.
I don't have anything against the Jorge Jesus, and little by little, I have accepted the fact that he was the best choice for Benfica. After Quique was left out to dry and there was no turning back. The choice makes a lot of sense, and is the lesser of the two evils when it comes to disrupting the continuity of Rui Costa's project.
Bringing in another foreign coach would mean going back to the start, while with Jesus' choice, Benfica brings in a man who can hit the ground running. Jesus not only has a vast knowledge of the Liga Sagres, but he's also very familiar with Benfica's squad.
Jorge Jesus' wasn't necessarily the choice of many fans out there, but with the deal being done, the vast majority, myself included, will be behind him.
He is not your typical "silky smooth" talker, and his vocabulary would not be a threat in an average game of scrabble, but is that really important? Jesus is a sort of an idiot savant, often times putting his foot in his mouth, or not finding the best words to describe a situation, but flashing signs of brilliance in the same context.
As a Benfiquista i would like to see a well spoken person in front of the media, but i'd trade a championship winning blabbering fool for a failed road scholar any day.
Jesus is known as a master tactician, a student of the game, a self proclaimed innovator when it comes to tactics, but as yet to coach a team of Benfica's stature, where the players' egos are a big part of the locker room chemistry.
Despite being on the way to gather the support of majority of the fan base, Jesus will not enjoy the same type of error margin a new coach would have. A lot of that has to do with the fact that he already knows the team and league. Come December his objectives have to be on track or he will risk losing a large part of the support from the fan base.
Jesus likes to play in the diamond 4-4-2 disposition, and has already stated that he thinks of Aimar as a third forward, your modern "10" if you will, which is the role i feel Aimar is best suited for, the role in which he had success with playing for Argentina and Valencia.
He as also praised Amorim, who he had coached at Belenenses in 06/07, as a tactically smart player. Certainly two important figures in Benfica of Jesus.
As far as a technical staff goes, Jesus will carry over his technical staff which is composed of three assistants - defense coach, forward coach and fitness coach, but will close out this team with two more coaches, whose names are not known at this time.
Little is known about what players, if any, Jesus will want in this team, Eduardo(current Braga and national team keeper) has been talked about by the media, as well as Weldon(played for Jesus at Belenenses), but they are merely media speculations at this point. More speculation will ensue in the coming days and weeks i'm sure.
I'll finish by wishing Jesus a lot of luck, and that his wishes and statements about taking Benfica to a championship become true.
Welcome, Best of Luck
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Jesus Takes Over
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Quique Flores Introduced
Benfica introduced its new coach today during a press conference at Estadio da Luz. It was the formalizing of what the Portuguese media had reported yesterday.
Quique had a low profile arrival in Lisbon last night, making his exit through a back door of the airport.
Quique was introduced as a young ambitious coach, who fits the profile Rui Costa wanted for a new coach. In his first words, Flores promised a lot of hard work and a competitive team, whose main goals for the upcoming season is to get back in the Champions League and fight for the league, with hard work and coherency.
At 43, Quique Flores does not have an extensive curriculum, but the little there is, is respectable for such "young" career in coaching. He coached Getafe in 04/05, obtaining a respectable middle of the table position. He then was hired by Valencia where he coached in 05/06, 06/07 and was sacked at the end of October 07(first part of last season)when Valencia entered their downward spiral, Ronald Koeman took his place, but wasn't able to do much better. At Valencia, he qualified Valencia for the Champions League group stages in the two years he was there, an important achievement considering the competitiveness of La Liga.
As a player(right back), Flores represented Valencia for most of his career(84-94), Real Madrid(94-96), winning La Liga in 95, and finished his career playing for Zaragoza(96/97 season). He was part of Spain's 1991 World Cup team and compiled 15 caps throughout his career.
As a coach, Flores is known for being a student of the game, with a emphasis on his analytical capabilities of the game.
According to the media, one of the conditions that was requested by Quique was the signing of 4 important players of considerable talent. One of the names already being called is the Frenchmen Hassan Yebda, a 24 year old midfielder, at the end of contract with Le Mans. Quique spoke briefly about the player at his introduction, which is a sign Benfica might be on the way to signing him. Maisfutebol reports that both Quique and Yebda spent the night in the same hotel in Lisbon.
Also being speculated are, Gouffran, Caneira, Carlos Martins.
An interesting tidbit of information - Both Flores and Camacho will be the commentators for a Spanish station during the upcoming Euro.
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Friday, May 23, 2008
Quique Flores is the new coach
Benfica has yet to formally confirm, but all of the Portuguese dailies report Flores is the new Benfica coach.
Apparently Quique Flores and Benfica have reached an agreement, and only need to get minor details resolved.
It's the end of the new coach soap opera which starred many names. In the end it was down to two - Laudrup and Flores. With Laudrup wanting to go in a different direction, Quique Flores was the chosen one, being that he was one of the names that fit the profile for the head coaching position.
Quique Flores' formal introduction, should take place no later than Monday. He will most likely travel to Lisbon today or in the next few days to put the black on white.
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Eriksson Approached
Maisfutebol reports that Luis Felipe Vieira, Rui Costa and Paulo Goncalves were in Manchester today in a meeting with Eriksson. Portuguese Tv station Sic, has also shown video of the three Benfica representatives leaving a Hotel in the city of Manchester today. Eriksson and his agent left the same hotel a bit later.
Eriksson is currently under contract with Manchester City, but has been the target of much criticism. There were talks that Eriksson would be on the outs, but those talks have yet to materialize into something conclusive. Under his current contract, Eriksson earns 4 million Euros a year at Manchester, a salary that is very far from Benfica's possibilities.
I'm sure we will hear of more developmenst in the next couple of days
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Friday, April 4, 2008
Now We're Talking!
Erikson is on his way out of Manchester City and contacts have already been made by Benfica to test the interest of the Swede. The biggest obstacle would be wages.
With his 2 spells at the helm of Benfica(82-84 and 89-92), these were his accomplishments:
3 league Titles(82/83, 83/84 and 90/91)
1 Portuguese Cup (82/83)
1 Portuguese Supercup (88/89)
UEFA Cup Finalist(82/83)
Champions Cup(now Champions League)Finalist(89/90)
totals
233 games; 159 wins; 47 ties; 27 losses.
He was the man that debuted Rui Costa in Benfica's senior team, at the time claiming that Benfica had found a worthy substitute for the Valdo's #10 jersey.
Queiroz who?
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