The September international break is pretty much universally hated. Having been starved of club football throughout the summer, no sooner has it returned it is cruelly taken away from us. Not only are we desperate for league football to return, but with the transfer window coming to an end, many of us are also desperate to see any deadline day signings in action for their new teams.
For some clubs and managers however the break could not have come soon enough, and the likes of Chaves and Portimonense will be hoping they can now kickstart their seasons. Vitória made the first managerial change of the season and new coach Paulo Turra would have been grateful for the international break to spend some time on the training ground with his new team, putting his new ideas into practice.
The end of the international break also sees a new challenge present itself to the teams at the top end of the table, as we see the welcome headache of midweek European football come into play. As Benfica’s Roger Schmidt put it “the season starts in earnest after the break.” That is putting it mildly as Benfica, Porto, Braga and Sporting all have tough games in Europe to come. It’s a time when we’ll start to see these team’s psychological strength and squad depth tested properly for the first time.