Sporting coach happy with improving performances with two weeks until official action

Jorge Jesus was understandably satisfied with his side's performance against Wolsburg this Saturday night, conquering a fifth consecutive Five Violins Trophy in the process. Happy with what he saw from a much changed squad, the Sporting coach opened: "We calmed a lot of nerves today. I know what team I have available to me and I know what players I have, so I am not worried at all about pre-season results. What we need to do at this stage is push the pace and the lads will be ready. We brought Adrien and João Mário off at the break, because they were already really fatigued. It was an intensive match tonight, but we still have two weeks and the squad will be better when the 13th of August comes around."

Reflecting on the game itself, Jorge Jesus again praised his team and spoke about what the trophy means to him: "This is a tribute to the Five Violins. They were known for their quality, it was like music when they played together. Today we played our own kind of music too. We showed quality in attack and defence, against a good side to be honest. We made a lot of changes and that makes it harder, but we steadied again in the last 10 minutes. You could see a huge difference in the lads tonight compared to the start of pre-season. They know where to position themselves now and are tactically more creative."

Finishing with a word on new signing Marcelo Meli, who was presented to the fans yesterday, Jesus foi was direct: "From a financial point of view, these players are good finds that need a lot of work. It is easy to go out their and spend millions, but we want to bring in players and get the best out of them."