Fourty-seven year old Alexo De Carvalho retired from his playing career ten years ago when he left Serie A side AS Roma where he played as a central midfielder. The Portuguese man is set to make his return to professional football, however, as a manager this time. The rumour mill is churning, suggesting that De Carvalho has met with several Primeira Liga Chairmen over the last two weeks looking to sign a contract to manage in Portugal's top flight of football. His time as a player was largely unprolific, never having been capped for his country's national side so his legacy remains to be written. Will he take the helm at one of Portugal's largest clubs, or take a relatively small club and lead them to glory? With his future unwritten, De Carvalho has certainly got his work cut out for him.
Sporting Clube de Braga Chairman, Antonio Salvador, announced that the club have come to an agreement with former professional footballer, Alexo De Carvalho. The new manager is reportedly signed on for a salary of 16,250 euro a month. De Carvalho is set to be very excited to sign with the club. "I am very pleased to be able to manage such a well-known club, my hometown club, and I look forward to big things here," he said to reporters. A press conference is scheduled for later in the week.
SC Braga fans are in for attacking football, says newly hired manager Alexo De Carvalho. The club will be looking to Midfielder, Hugo Viana, to operate as a maestro in the midfield, too. "We will look to play an attacking, possession-based football style most of the time," said De Carvalho. "Obviously, that means we will be relying heavily on Hugo who has tremendous technical ability and represents a fantastic metronomic presence in the midfield."
The 29 year old midfielder expressed that he was excited to play under De Carvalho whose style of football suits the Portuguese midfielder well. "He understands football the same way I do and I respect that, I think playing for him will be fun."
Braga have one of the best midfields in the Primeira Liga, consistently ranking in the top three in things like decision-making, passing, and creativity. With this kind of midfield, Braga's new manager has a gold mine of talent to work with. He has expressed some concern with his defense, however, saying that he hopes to enlist the talents of a new full back to play on the right side of the pitch.
SC Braga have signed French Central Defender, Valentin Roberge. The Central Defender will provide the club with some much needed stability in the back while also offering a good ball-moving presence in the club's defensive line. The 25 year old will be locked down in this contract until 2016, earning 50,000 euro per month. De Carvalho said he was pleased to be able to sign a stabilizing factor for his defense.
Braga bow out of the Champions' League early after suffering straight defeats to Italian side Udinese. According to reports, the manager of the Portuguese side was livid with his players after their second tie loss. Many are critical of De Carvalho's decision to play an attacking style while away at Udinese despite his side being down 2-1. Attacking style didn't translate to goals for the side who struggled to put together anything meaningful in the attacking third, losing 4-0 in the end. De Carvalho has been asked to reconsider his tactical approach by a number of the club's faithful but he remains resolute in his belief that the attacking football he has brought to the pitch is the way forward for this club. "We had a very bad time against Udinese but this is not because of tactics, it is because of poor performance. Whenever there is a new manager, it takes some time to get used to the tactics," he said.
It was a month of mixed success for the new Braga manager. In domestic competition, his side couldn't lose, on the international stage, they couldn't win. In August's competitive fixtures, De Carvalho's men went 4-0-2, scoring a total of 8 goals, and conceding 6. Despite the slim goal differential, Braga logged 4 clean sheets and their striker, Zé Luis has put 5 balls between the sticks on just 3 appearances making the young striker, for my money, Braga's best player in August. In other news, Braga were given a group that they should be capable of advancing from including Malaga, Buraspor and Hannover. Certainly not a push over group, but one that I believe Braga can see off.
