With having to go through qualifying for the Champions League and the Super Cup then we keep preseason short and its a good one since we manage to go unbeaten and it sets us up nicely for the season ahead since we will use the first few games to continue to get the team ready.
Transfers Out
We had a lot of players return from loan at the end of last season which saw the squad pretty much triple in size so we've got rid of anybody that was dead wood in my eyes and we've made an absolute killing in the transfer market with some of the prices we've got. Only 42% of transfers was getting put back into the budget for bringing players in. With getting rid of them all it has brought the wage budget right down as well to save on out goings every month.
Transfers In
We don't spend too much with Michy Batshuayi being our main signing and can hopefully get us the goals next season and push Brenner further as well. Daniel Carrico is brought back to the club as well to add some experience to the team. WE also bring in plenty of young players to bolster the youth squad with players who can hopefully step up in a season or two.
Tactics
I really feel that with this team we should be able to compete with Benfica and Porto again in the league and hopefully push Benfica all the way this time. The big challenge will be Champions League football this season if we get through qualifying.
A great start to the month as we Trincao is a one man team off the right as he gets two great goals.
Champions League Best Placed Qualifier 3rd round 1st Leg
Akhmat v Sporting
This result flatters us as we were a bit poor here as our defence just didn't turn up and let in two easy goals.
Champions League Best Placed Qualifier 3rd round 2nd Leg
Sporting v Akhmat
A much better defensive performance here as we rotate a bit thanks to the 4 away goals and Cabral gets a brace from the right wing.
Sporting v Belenenses SAD
A great start to the league as we get two quick goals which pretty much put the game to bed.
Champions League Best Placed Qualifier 4th round 1st Leg
Sporting v Ajax
A big win against Ajax that will give us a big advantage going into the second leg. I was glad we were able to take advantage of them going down to ten men as we grabbed the vital second with the final kick of the ball.
Maritimo v Sporting
We did really well to come back from 2-0 down as we just didn't have it in use to get the 3 points with us resting a lot of players between the Ajax games.
Champions League Best Placed Qualifier 4th round 2nd Leg
Ajax v Sporting
A poor performance here as we concede with the final kick of the ball to lose the game but thankfully after the first leg we manage to scrape into the group stages.
League Table
So there is a final bit of transfer business right at the death of the window. We let one of our key players in Raphinha go to Bayer Leverkusen for £52 million. Francisco Geraldes also moves onto Celtic for £10 million.
To replace Raphinha though we spent £30 million to bring in Alphonso Davies from Bayern Munich who will hopefully develop really well at the club.
Champions League Draw
A tough draw as we'll have to get a result against Shakhtar to try and progress to the next round.
A small bit of rotation here due to injuries and Xadas gets his first goal of the season to grab us a well earned 3 points.
League Cup 3rd phase Group A
Sporting v Estoril
We go all out here and our power proves far too much as we still manage to win by a large margin even with 10 men.
Champions League Group H
Young Boys v Sporting
An important match here as we need to get off to the best possible start and we duly deliver with an impressive win against Young Boys to set us up nicely.
Porto v Sporting
Our biggest win of the season so far as we show we're going to push Porto the whole way again as we manage to win our local derby.
Sporting v Tondela
We fully rotate the squad here after the win against Porto and we get two late goals to get the 3 points.
Estoril v Sporting
A very nervy game here as we are pushed all the way but even down to 10 men we still prove too strong here thanks to Batshuayi.
An excellent match here to grab a big win in our fight to get our the group with a big goal right after half time to kick on for the second half.
Sporting v Braga
Trincao comes back to haunt his old club again with the first of two goals before Neto rises above everybody else from a corner to get the second. Taca de Portugal 3rd Round
Fafe v Sporting
A nice easy game which lets us rotate everybody bar the wingers thanks to injuries and we absolutely demolish them to get through to the 4th round
Champions League Group H
Real Madrid v Sporting
A 1-0 loss away to Real seems like a small victory to me as it could of been a lot worse.
Benfica v Sporting
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League Cup 3rd Round Group A
Sporting v Gil Vicente
A rotated squad goes out and gets a nice easy win to give us 2 wins from 2 so far in the League Cup
Not sure what to think of this match as we were 3-0 up after 40 minutes and then just couldn't score in the second half.
Champions League Group H
Sporting v Real Madrid
A massive win for the club with two first half goals which see's us now sit top of the group on goal difference.
Aves v Sporting
A poor win in my eyes here as we only manage a 2-0 win against the worst team in the league.
Taca de Portugl 4th Round Sporting v Tondela
A bit of a better result here as we keep progressing in the cup to keep alive our hope of defending our title.
Champions League Group H
Sporting v Young Boys
A massive performance for us as we get an excellent win against 10 men.
Sporting v Nacional da Madeira
Back to the ways of struggling to score but Wendel gets a nice early goal to get us the three points.
