A narrow “Invicta” derby win for Porto over Boavista concluded the twenty-seventh round of Primeira Liga matches of 2021/22. Title rivals Sporting and Benfica both kept pace by virtue of beating Vitória Guimarães and Estoril respectively.
Braga followed up their European exploits in midweek with a victory at Portimonense, while Gil Vicente’s unbeaten run continued to see them further secure fifth place in a 1-1 draw with Marítimo.
Another side on an excellent run is Paços de Ferreira, a fourth win in five for them after battling past Moreirense. Newly-appointed manager Cesár Peixoto has been a big reason for their revival this year and he is under the microscope in this edition of the PortuGOAL Figure of the Week.
An accomplished playing career came to an end for Paulo César Silva Peixoto in 2014, one in which the Portuguese represented the likes of Porto, Benfica, Braga and Espanyol, as well as his national team on one occasion.
Turning to coaching following his retirement, Peixoto got some brief experience as Paulo Fonseca’s assistant coach in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk before returning home for his first senior role in charge of second tier team Varzim. Peixoto’s experiences and stature have steadily grown in quality since, rising thereafter to Acádemica, Chaves and then Primeira Liga with Moreirense, albeit all said spells being quite brief, particularly the latter as he failed to steady the ship in Moreira de Cónegos and promptly parted ways with the club just seven matches into his tenure.
Paços de Ferreira decided to gamble on the young manager in December 2021 however in a bid to reverse their then-ailing fortunes, Peixoto replacing Jorge Simão at the helm, who in turn had struggled to replicate the superb success of his own predecessor Pepa.
After a wonderful 2020/21 campaign for Paços, in which they finished 5th and qualified for the Europa Conference League playoffs, the follow up season was always going to be tricky and at the time of Pexioto’s appointment the side had won just twice in the league and found themselves flirting with the relegation zone.
Peixoto’s impact was instant, guiding the team to a vital 1-0 away win against fellow strugglers Tondela, before following up with a defeat of another high flier from the previous season Santa Clara, themselves experiencing similar issues to Paços in 2021/22.
The young coach has shown more attacking tendencies in his coaching career and generally favoured 4-3-3 formations, and while he has relied on this to a large degree with Paços he has not been afraid to switch things up tactically and play more cautiously with 3-4-3 setups, in the process adapting veteran full-back Vitorino Antunes to centre-back with solid effect.
Peixoto’s Paços bubble burst to an extent soon after his winning start, directly influenced by the loss of star midfielder Stephan Eustáquio to Porto and results predictably suffered thereafter. However, recent performances have improved considerably. The arrival to the team in the winter transfer window of Primeira Liga legend Nico Gaitán seems to have provided a lift to the squad, and the ex-Benfica star’s return to fitness in part has been a big reason as to why Paços’ fortunes have taken a turn for the better.
The manager also deserves great credit for recently giving the chances for Paços’ youth talent to flourish in the senior team, none more so than highly-rated midfielder Matchoi Djálo, who started four matches in a row recently and impressed Peixoto to the point in which he admitted he has legitimate selection headaches regarding the youngster or his more esteemed company in the shape of Gaitán.
For Sunday afternoon’s contest at home to Peixoto’s old club Moreirense the manager decided to go with experience over youth by selecting Gaitán as the creator in his 4-3-3, just behind another winter arrival Adrián Butzke, a Spanish forward acquired on loan from Granada making his first start for the club.
The manager’s selection decision paid off in the 39th minute as Butzke, starting instead of more regular forward Denílson, opened the scoring with his first for his new team. It was a scruffy affair but a goal deserving of a dominant opening period for Paços in which they had played some good football and only been denied the first goal by a combination of VAR and some excellent goalkeeping from the opposition’s Mateus Pasinato.
A response from Moreirense duly arrived in the second half and they levelled through Yan Matheus. Peixoto’s men thought they had hit back with a counter attacking solo goal from winger Zé Uilton, the Brazilian winning possession deep in his own half before driving around three-quarters of the length of the pitch before finishing, only for VAR to rule his original challenge as a foul.
Paços pushed for a winning goal and it duly arrived with twenty minutes remaining as this time a Zé Uilton effort counted, the winger in the right place to tap in a rebound after Gaitán’s header had come back off the crossbar.
A terrific win for Paços as they kept up their excellent run of four wins from their last five, and the only aberration was defeat to league leaders Porto.
Paços took to announcing the extension of Cesár Peixoto’s managerial contract after the match and on this evidence it’s a very shrewd move to keep the faith with this continually improving young manager.
By Jamie Farr
