Life after Amorim: rookie Sporting boss Joao Pereira prepares for Gunners challenge

The new Manchester United boss gave his successor in Lisbon his blessing before his departure to the Premier League.

New head coach Joao Pereira of Sporting CP before the start of the Portuguese Cup match against Amarante FC. Pic:  Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

RUBEN AMORIM’s presence can still be felt in the corridors of power at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal (they do not like being called Sporting Lisbon). Amorim is the man who returned them to a footballing power in Portugal. He has now completed his first match in charge of Manchester United, having left here with the parting gift of a Champions League thrashing of Manchester City.

For Tuesday night's visit of Arsenal and the foreseeable future, he has been replaced by one of his former league-winning defenders and ex-reserve team coach Joao Pereira. The 40-year-old, who came through the ranks at Benfica and won 40 caps for Portugal, looked at ease as he fielded as many questions about Amorim as he did himself when he addressed the media ahead of the biggest and only second match of his managerial career.

He scored a 6-0 victory win against minnows Amarante in the Portuguese Cup last Friday and star striker Viktor Gyokeres, much admired at Arsenal, was among the goalscorers, but still they wanted to know how he was managing to cope without the mighty Ruben at the helm.

Luckily, for the international media here, at least, we discovered he had been in touch with his predecessor and all was well in Lisbon. Pereira said: “I spoke with Ruben before his debut game with Manchester United and he wished me good luck. He wished me to have a good career as a coach. I told him: ‘If I can do half of the things that you have done here, then it’s not a bad start.’ He was always open and he always opened the door for us to watch him. It is a big challenge but I put pressure on myself every day and I challenge myself in every training session and in every match.” 

Amorim, perhaps mindful he needed to find a successor should he want a pathway to the English Premier League, picked out Pereira at the end of last season when he said: “Joao Pereira is making his mark, I think he is an excellent coach.” Now the fanatical Sporting fans will want to find out if Amorim’s blessing is enough to dismantle a Mikel Arteta side fresh from a morale boosting weekend win over Nottingham Forest. Unbeaten Sporting sit second behind Liverpool in the new look 38-strong European league table. Arsenal are 12th after losing at Inter Milan last time out. The top eight automatically qualify for the knock-out stage, with the further eight coming via a play-off system.

Either way, it is a big step up for Pereira. He added: “I’m very comfortable to sit here, it’s a great pleasure to do the job and we also know that Arsenal are on a different level with all due respect to Amarante. The greatest difficulty is the little time we have to prepare and practice but the positive in sport comes in terms of being in all the major competitions.

“The players are used to our style and the way we want to play. Even before the Manchester City game, the players were aware of our targets and to reach the knock-out stages. We have given ourselves a big chance to do that.” 

Pressed to reveal his tactics for more Premier League opposition, Pereira concluded: "Taking away Sporting's identity would mean taking it away from the players. We know that we won't be able to press the entire pitch for 90 minutes, and we can't do that in Portugal either. There will be moments when the opponent will have more of the ball, but we want to have the ball and play good a good game. We are not afraid. I am not afraid.” 

The star player out here is Sporting’s highly coveted striker Gyokeres. Their equally admired winger Trincao will also have a host of Premier League, Italian and Spanish scouts watching on Tuesday night.

He diplomatically insisted he was happy to stay plying his trade in Portugal’s Primeira Liga amid the transfer interest and also backed the appointment of Pereira. The 24-year-old explained: “Little has changed. We have the same schedule; the same tactics and he has the same jokes as Ruben Amorim. There have been some small changes but we all still know what we have to do.”