When Jurgen Klopp departed Liverpool it presented a question of what to do next for those who had worked as his assistants at Anfield.
Pepijn Lijnders had always been confident in his own abilities and was repeatedly happy to remind others that at least some of the credit for Liverpool’s success should be sent his way. He, along with Vitor Matos, set off for Red Bull Salzburg. Lijnders was to be the manager and Matos his assistant, but things failed very quickly and the pair have already been shown the door.
Matos has now been speaking to Portuguese newspaper A Bola about his ambitions to become a manager himself, and he was asked how he sees the work down by other coaches from Portugal in the Premier League. Those are Fulham’s Marco Silva, Nottingham Forest’s Nuno Espirito Santo, Vitor Pereira at Wolves and Manchester United’s Ruben Amorim.
On the Fulham manager, Matos is quoted as saying: “Marco Silva did a fantastic job at Fulham, getting them promoted four seasons ago. More than keeping the club in the Premier League, he made it competitive, he managed to create sustainability and, for us, at Liverpool, the games against them were always very difficult.”
Next up was Nottingham Forest: “Nuno Espírito Santo is having a dream season. It’s incredible what Nottingham has done this year, it’s a fantastic example of looking at what the players are like and getting the best out of them, being collective and super efficient in what they do. They are the opponent no one wants to face this year.”
Then Wolves: “Vitor Pereira has been at Wolverhampton for a shorter period of time, but he has managed to have an immediate impact on the team’s performance and also on the way they play. Above all, he seems to me to have created a new beginning, a new collective desire.”
And finally the more troublesome situation at Manchester United: “Ruben Amorim has a huge challenge, in addition to creating an identity, to create a culture again, a culture of victory and success, and that takes time.”
Vitor Matos is now looking for his first opportunity as a senior coach, and says he wants to play football which leaves fans looking forward to the next match.
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