Primeira Liga Jornada 3 preview: Champions Sporting travel to the Algarve

August is perhaps the hardest month for football teams. Squads are still being tweaked, players have not reached peak fitness, yet the majority of fans expect their club to hit the ground running.

We’ve seen a mixed bag so far with some teams continuing their form from the end of last season mainly due to keeping the majority of their squad together and others struggling with the number of new faces at the club.

Barney Carter-Phillips has the PortuGOAL preview of the third round of matches in the Primeira Liga. 

Farense v Sporting

Farense are a bit of an anomaly. Despite keeping the majority of their team together (key players like winger Bachir Belloumi and goalkeeper Ricardo Velho are still in the squad at time of writing) and manager José Mota remains at the helm, it’s come as a bit of a surprise that they have started the season with two losses. Perhaps the loss of strikers Bruno Duarte and Rui Costa will come back to haunt them.

Sporting’s only blot on an otherwise perfect start to the Primeira Liga season has been the two goals conceded so it will be down to experienced striker Tomané to try and make something happen for Farense as Sporting will almost certainly score. Off the back of the first statement win of the season and without a doubt the two best players in the league Gyökeres and Pote on fire this could once again be a high-scoring game for Sporting. It always feels important to be perceived as doing better than your title challengers and another convincing win will ramp the pressure up on Benfica and Porto.

Porto v Rio Ave

Porto have probably the hardest game of the title contenders, hosting Rio Ave. There are 20 new faces who have come into Rio Ave who seem to be making up for lost time having been banned from making transfers for the first half of last season. Luís Freire has a history of doing well against the big teams and has navigated the huge player overall adequately so far. They have looked solid sticking to the 3 centre-backs who did so well last year, William, Addrerlan Santos and Pantalon.

Although Porto have not made any transfers themselves, it feels like a very different team to the one that dropped points at home to Luís Freire’s 10-man Rio Ave last season. Vítor Bruno is proving he’s not afraid to switch things up for the opponent in front of him. With Taremi and Evanilson now gone, a strike partnership with over 150 goals between them, Danny Namaso and Fran Navarro have to deliver and take the opportunity they’ve waited so long for. The midfield is shaping up nicely too and with the options of youngsters Vasco Sousa and possibly even Gonçalo Borges to come in, Porto have a highly attacking team to try and keep up with the rampant Sporting. That is providing their two strikers Namaso and Navarro can find their shooting boots.

Benfica v Estrela

Benfica bounced back from their disappointing loss to Famalicão with a 3-0 win against Casa Pia. New striker Pavlidis showed signs of what he might have to offer with good link-up play, intelligent movement in the box and instinctive finishing. Benfica grew into the game thanks in part to the changes Schmidt made. Whether he will give the likes of Tiago Gouveia and Orkun Kökçü a start in the next game remains to be seen but with more players like that on the pitch Benfica looked markedly more dangerous.

Not that they’ll necessarily have to be against Estrela. Now in their second season in the top flight, they still feel like a newly promoted side. A lot of new faces have come in and new manager Felipe Martins has been bold so far playing with two strikers Kikas and ex Benfica man Rodrigo Pinho but whether he can afford to do that again against Benfica will be another question. There’s lots of attacking talent elsewhere in the form of Luís Nani and Alan Ruiz but how Martins balances the team will be important.

Famalicão v Boavista

Certainly the best two teams other than Sporting and Porto this season have been Famalicão and Vitória. Famalicão are off to a flyer with their most consistent squad in years. Apart from the departure of goalkeeper Luiz Junior and with Oscar Aranda starting upfront instead of Jhonder Cádiz, their starting 11 is practically unchanged from last year. Players like Gustavo Sá and Sorriso are developing really well and it is surprising they and key midfielder Zaydou Youssef are still at the club. Fama will be looking to make it three wins from three when they face Boavista.

Last year many people wrote Boavista off and this year with their financial situation and squad depth considerably worse they’ve been written off once again. But like last year they have started the season surprisingly well. As Petit had done last year, Cristiano Bacci has instilled a resolute mentality in the squad made up of a few key players from last year as well as youth players promoted to fill the gaps in the squad. It is those players who will have to step up to save Boavista this season. Last year Pedro Malheiro and Tiago Morais made that step. This year midfielder Joel Silva and winger Joao Barros will have to do likewise.

AVS v Vitória

Vitória have been mightily impressive both in the league and Europe. Rui Borges has brought the solid defence he was able to install at Moreirense to Vitoria and they are still yet to concede a goal this season. However, we are seeing what he can do with a higher calibre of attacking players. Tiago Silva and Tomás Handel are shining lights in midfield but also Ricardo Mangas is being transformed from an attacking full-back into a goal scoring winger. They’ll hope to continue their 100% record away to AVS. 

Three players to keep an eye on this weekend

Zaydou Youssef (Famalicão): Occasionally there are players who really stand out from a smaller team. More often than not they are either poached by one of the big three or make a sideways move to a club that can simply pay them more. Youssef (pictured, right) is now in his 3rd season at Famalicão and is getting better every year. Two goals in his first two games may be enough to persuade someone to pick him up but I’m hoping he’ll remain at Famalicão for longer. A real joy to watch.

Ricardo Mangas (Vitória): Despite not scoring in the league, Mangas has hit four goals in the Europa Conference league qualifiers. There is a big Jota Silva hole in Vitória’s attack and Mangas seems to be making the LW position his own at the club.

Luís Asué (Moreirense): The former Braga B player will be up against his old club this weekend. A big physical striker who now seems to be Moreirense’s new number 9 and a player they’ve been crying out for for a while. We’ve tipped him early to be the next small team striker to make the move up to a top team.