In this article we take a close look at the type of football that Sporting likes to play in collaboration with Nelson Diogo Duarte, a talented young analyst who has already collaborated with important teams in the Portuguese first league in recent years, such as Porto, Boavista, and Maritimo.

Nelson has used the SportAnalytics platform to study Sporting’s playing style and their key players.

Introduction

In only a few years in management, Rúben Amorim has become one of the most highly rated and sought-after young coaches in football. Having started out at Casa Pia in the Portuguese third tier as recently as 2018, Amorim got his first opportunity at a big club when Braga appointed him as reserve-team manager. Just three months later, he took over at Braga at the age of just 34. Amorim impressed so much in his 13 games in charge – of which he won 10 – that Sporting Lisbon came calling. Then, remarkably, in his first full season at the club, he guided Sporting to a domestic double, including their first league title in 19 years. The team suffered only one league defeat all season, that loss coming in game 33 out of 34 – and after the title was already wrapped up. Season 21-22 Sporting ended 2nd in the Primeira Liga and stopped the European path only against Manchester City at the knockout stage of the Champions League. This season they were once again at the forefront in the Europa League, reaching the quarter-finals.

Sporting Lisbon, a skilled and competitive football team, stands out for its defensive prowess and effective pressing tactics. Let’s take a closer look at what makes this team so remarkable.

DEFENSIVE STYLE

Sporting Lisbon is known for maintaining a very compact team, making it difficult for opponents to penetrate their defensive block. Defensively, they vary their formation depending on the strategy defined for the game. They employ a defensive 541/523 formation or a 442 formation, which transforms into an offensive 343 (both).

Head Coach Ruben Amorim uses his wing-backs to press high in wide areas in a 541/523 formation (as we can see in the image below).

Against teams that build with two centre-backs, they could rotate the formation to a 442 with the left back moving up to the middle line and the right winger steps back to the middle line. Putting the left winger and the striker to press ahead against the two centre-backs.

The team’s outstanding ability to press their opponents is a key factor in their success. Sporting Lisbon limits rival teams to just 14.3 passes in their own third on average. They also excel in pressing duration and have a very high line of confrontation compared to the other teams in the league.

Sporting Lisbon is relentless without the ball, consistently attempting to steal possession. They display superb aggression in one-on-one duels and defend very high up the pitch, even employing the offside trap. When they play the Europa League Final Stage (Round 1/8, 16 March 2023), Arsenal had 5 offsides in a game! Similarly in Portuguese league 22-23 they used the offside trap 75 times to block the opponent’s attack. The league average is 64.

The team is highly effective in transitions too and often employs a counter-pressing style of play. They’re very strong and aggressive (again) in transitions as confirmed by numbers:

• they have a counter-pressing amount 26% vs 21% as league average
• they create on average 12.7 dangerous possessions after effective pressing per game vs 10.4 as league average

Upon regaining possession, Sporting Lisbon proactively pushes forward to link up with their forward players, such as Morita, Pedro Gonçalves, Paulinho, Edwards, and Trincao, who are also exceptional between the lines.

 Offensive Style

Sporting Lisbon boasts an average ball possession of 64% in the opposition half, while their closest competitor, Benfica, has a slightly higher rate of 66%. The team’s excellent passing skills are another standout feature, with an impressive 85% pass accuracy, surpassing the championship average of 79%.

With possession, Sporting Lisbon focuses on exploiting spaces to develop attacking opportunities. They typically adopt a 3-player build-up, with fullbacks in midfield and wingers inside with the striker. But sometimes we could see, mainly in the right side, Esgaio (the right back) inside and Edwards (right winger) too wide to stretch the opponent’s defensive line. This dynamic approach encourages complexity link-ups between the lines and the exploitation of corridors, both inside and out. The team also implements counter-movements to create free spaces for their players.

In the last 3^rd Sporting is exceptional at crossing and runs in behind. They perform about 16.7 crosses per game vs 12 as league average. Only Benfica did more crosses. Their best players for cross frequency are Nuno Santos (15min/cross) and Arthur Gomes Lourenço (16min/cross). Sporting Lisbon frequently launches crosses and cutbacks, leveraging Paulinho’s and Trincao’s exceptional ability to run behind defensive lines.

The best player in expected threat (xT) creation for the team is Edwards, as shown in the bar chart:

His excellent contribution is confirmed by the following expected threat creation map, that show the percentage of expected threat created per zone. The right channel and the right half-space channel, that are zones usually occupied by Edwards, values a remarkable 21%.

Edwards is also the best of the team for xT on carries, xT on passes and xT on pass received. While Edwards is an excellent threat creator, Paulinho and Pedro Goncalves are the two players that contribute the most to the finalization phase: in particular Pedro Goncalves is the one that took the most shots this season and also the team’s top scorer.

CONCLUSION

Sporting Lisbon is a high-performing, aggressive, and compact team that excels in several key aspects of the game. They are aware that they can push their opponents towards certain areas of the pitch, where the chances of them building up in their planned way are significantly reduced.

Their effective pressing, aggressive style of play, and skilled offensive techniques make them a force to be reckoned with in Portuguese football.