GD Estoril Praia

Estoril is coming from a poor season in 2022-23. Canarinhos failed to live on expectations for a great year. The high number of inexperienced players was explored by opponents and there was a ridiculous number of crucial mistakes, especially in defence, throughout the entire season. Things improve a bit after Ricardo Soares arrived, nonetheless. Soares won't remain at the helm, which aren't good news, but Canarinhos brought an exciting name for the dugout: the charismatic Álvaro Pacheco. The "man with a hat" is back to business after having been an exciting figure when coaching Vizela in recent years. Pacheco is known for employing a very attractive 4-3-3 attacking system, which can be a good match to Estoril's uncompromising philosophy. There are more problems for the fans to worry about, though. There was a big number of important departures, such as midfielders João Carvalho and Francisco Geraldes, the winger Tiago Gouveia and left-back Joãozinho. 'Canarinhos' will rely even more on the youth, this year, as most of the replacements for those departing players are coming from the U23 squad. Dani Figueira will remain the man for the goal, which are excellent news. For the back, Pedro Álvaro and Bernardo Vital will continue the duo, but now without the cover from Mexer, that provided experience and positional ability whenever needed. Álvaro and Vital will need to improve a lot, especially in concentration, to avoid the amount of mistakes from last season. Mangala could be the ideal addition, providing experience and quality, but he has been out of action for more than a year... In midfield, the youngsters Finn Dick and particularly Ivan Pavlic are great prospects for the future, but will they hold up to the pressure of being references in a top flight team already? In attack Rodrigo Gomes is a very adjusted pick to replace Tiago Gouveia. Cassiano is the most different player in the squad, very experience and much more physical than technical, but coach Pacheco knows him and loves him from when both were in Vizela.