Horrible article from a clueless blogger. I already read some pieces from this clown Gonçalo Lopes and they were equally bad. Do english newspapers give article space to persons with no real references and indepth knowledge, just because they are portuguese? One of the biggest mistakes on the article is this part:
"But to do a great job at centre back, he has to have an excellent covering defender at his side. Here in Portugal he did well because he played with a great partner, Mauricio - they conceded 19 goals in 29 games, the fewest in the Primeira Liga - who had more experience in that position."
Wrong. Totally and utterly wrong (and unfortunately has been proved by our defensive performance this year). The part about our defence being the best in Portugal is correct and due to three factors: First, our former manager Leonardo Jardim who is a very good defensive and tactical manager, who´s best asset is to setting up good defensive schemes (something we lacked in the previous years, was our achilles heel)
Second was William Carvalho´s beast mode year. Carvalho´s excellent performances gave stability to our defensive midfield and complemented our center backs very well, specially Rojo.
Third, it was Rojo´s obvious improvement from last year. This can be explained for many reasons. First a good defensive tactical setup, second the unbreakable Jardim´s trust (he used to say Rojo´s name was the first on the team sheet) on Rojo that gave him alot of confidence and finally the fact that Rojo was leading the line and proving himself in one steady position, the center back position.
You can ask any rival and they will say that Rojo was obviously our best defender. To prove my point you just have to watch how horrible our defence has been this year. It´s true that we changed our manager since Jardim went to Mónaco, but besides the purchase of Sarr, our defense is still the same with Cedric, Maurício and Jefferson. Maurício (the supposed defender who is hailed by this clown Gonçalo Lopes) has been the worst of the bunch. You just have to see his error against Maribor in the Champions League to realize that. Our media has been unanimous, i repeat Unanimous, in the declaring that Maurício has been missing Rojo´s influence and ability to cover him. Our messageboard has also been unanimous in wanting Maurício dropped from the lineup. Manuel Fernandes (a former Sporting glory and top scorer) said yesterday that Rojo was the only top class defender we had last year and his departure is having a negative effect on our defence.
Finally to finish my post, i never disputed the fact that for Argentina, Rojo played well as LB. He clearly has the trust of the Argentine managers for that position. At Sporting, he was always better as CB period. I know that it´s different circunstancies but Rojo was our best defender as center back. The stability of our defence depended on that. I still mantain my opinion, Rojo is clearly better as CB and has all the tools to become a world class player there. He just needs continuity and stability in the team to achieve that. If you keep changing his position and routines, of course he is prone to mistakes.