by The phrase
“What we do with 30% of the B team, another 40% coming from middle teams like Santa Clara, P. Ferreira, Famalicão, Rio Ave… And then my value is zero.”
Sérgio Conceição, coach of FC Porto
The content
At the end of Porto’s match against Inter Milan in the second round of 16 of the Champions League, held on Tuesday at the Estádio do Dragão and ending in a goalless draw, dictating the exclusion of the “blue and white” from the competition, Sérgio Conceição expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that the work he does at FC Porto is not properly recognized in a context of many financial constraints, namely the need for the club to comply with the assumptions imposed on the “fair play“UEFA’s finances, which made it difficult or even prevented the Porto club from recruiting players of greater quality or experience.
the facts
Based on the current line-up that makes up the FC Porto main football team shown in web page official of the “dragons”, the universe of said athletes is 31 players.
The situations are very different, but considering the team in which each player played for the most part this season and also the previous season, it seems that more than half of the current team under the command of Sérgio Conceição was already in the main team ” azul e blanco” or, having arrived at Dragão at the moment, does not fit the two cases mentioned by Sérgio Conceição. On a percentage basis, as the Porto coach asked the question, the value of this batch of players – either from home or from associations with status – it is 58.06%.
The remaining group of athletes with more emphasis on the blue and white is the one that, going back at least two seasons, comes from the “blue and white” B. Athletes like Francisco Meixedo, Rodrigo Conceição, Namaso or Bernardo Folha are in this lot. In total, and on a percentage basis, they represent 25.80% of FC Porto’s current squad.
Finally, there is a third batch of players who once again, going back at least two seasons, made it to the main “blue and white” team from mid-sized teams. And here, the analysis made by PÚBLICO took the liberty of examining David Carmo or Galeno, who played for Sp. Braga, as part of this group. Which may be questionable given the performance of the Minho emblem in recent seasons. But, following this criterion, names such as Eustáquio, André Franco or Samuel Portugal join the duo of the former Bracar. In total, again in percentage terms, they represent 16.12% of FC Porto’s current squad. A value that rises to 25.80% if we extend the period under analysis to the last three seasons of each of the 31 players in the current Porto team.
In brief
There is no doubt that Sérgio Conceição has had to resort to a lot of inexperienced players to assemble his teams since he was FC Porto manager. However, if you consider today’s “blue and white” lineup, the percentage values presented by the blue and white coach seem somewhat inflated. That’s because, according to Conceição, he would be working with a team in which 70% of his elements came from Group B or mid-sized clubs.
Now, considering the history of blue and white footballers currently at the blue and white manager’s disposal since last season,percentage reaches 41.92%. And even if we consider where these athletes were three seasons ago, the percentage reaches 51.60%.
