Silaidopoulos: “We need time and stability to create what we want.”

Rio Ave hosts Santa Clara for the 12th round of the championship after three weeks without competition. The Vila do Conde team’s coach admits that the break was not beneficial, although he took the opportunity to refine new game ideas. Sotiris Silaidopoulos acknowledges the quality and maturity of the Azorean team, but emphasizes that Rio Ave has managed to respond to opponents of a high competitive level. The match is scheduled for Sunday at 3:30 PM.

Analysis of Santa Clara

“Santa Clara is a good team that played in the Conference League. They have maturity and a lot of quality up front, they understand what the game demands of them. It’s a good challenge for us, it will be a competitive game and we want to be at our best.”

Need for time and stability

“If two of the six draws we had had been victories, nobody would be talking about the results. And we deserved it, for what we did on the field. Against Estoril Praia we played 70 minutes with one less player and, in Alverca, we could have won. Everyone wants to win, nobody more than us. But we need time and stability to create what we want.

Impact of three weeks without commitments

“If I had to choose the date to play against Santa Clara, it would be right after the match against Alverca. We had the break, things are what they are. We are prepared, we worked well, focused on being strong and competitive.”

Variations of the tactical system

“We’ve worked on some new aspects these past few weeks and we’ll try to bring them into the upcoming games. We’ll see if it happens in this one or the following ones. We have to evaluate and see where we can use the different formations.”