Jorge Jesus on the weekend's Liga NOS action

Jorge Jesus sat down with the press this Friday ahead of the weekend's Liga NOS matchday 18 trip to Marítimo (Saturday, at 18h15).

Although a tough challenge, the Sporting CP coach is fully focused on the three points: "The match will be difficult for a few reasons. Firstly, because we are a bit behind in the league and we cannot drop any more points. On top of that, Marítimo are really strong at home. However, we are ready and we know we cannot let more points slip away", opened Jesus, continuing: "I wouldn't say that everything is lost right now, but we have to take on our responsibilities. As a coach, I am responsible for results, but this will not be a season to forget. Every coach goes through bad spells and this isn't the first time it has happened to me. The only way to get out of it is if we all show a bit of confidence, especially the players. We had a superb season last year and we created some big expectations, but obviously the book stops with me. I trust my players to get out of the situation we are in."

To finish, Jesus spoke about president Bruno de Carvalho's visit to the dressing room after the first loss in Chaves: "Presidents go into the dressing room before and after the match, which is completely normal. I couldn't be there and the president usually speaks to me at the end of the match. I wasn't there, so he spoke with the team captains (Adrien Silva and William Carvalho). The president is the head of the club and he has every right to do that, because the coach wasn't there. Our relationship honestly couldn't be better."