Regarding the difficulty level of the league Amorim manages in, it shouldn't be forgotten/overlooked that he had to break the duopoly of Benfica and Porto. Not sure how much most know about the Sporting squad but if you do, then perhaps you might be less "harsh"/"critical" about his European record.
Players used this season in Liga Portugal:
Benfica - 30 (joint 2nd most)
Porto - 28 (joint 4th most)
Sporting - 24 (joint 2nd least)
Top 16 players with most minutes played this season & their transfer cost:
Record signings for Benfica, Porto and Sporting (top 2 signed this season thanks to the €100m from the sales of Porro and Ugarte; 3rd placed Paulinho signed back in 2021):
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To save time repeating/retyping, here's what I posted in Jan 2024:
@dee Can we add Xavi Hernandez?
www.sixcrazyminutes.com
Shared my view abt Amorim earlier in the thread. I think it would be rather harsh to just dismiss him due to the standard of the domestic league he manages in.
In his 1st managerial job at Braga at the age of 34, he "won 10 out of 13 games after replacing Sá Pinto at the Quarry at the turn of the year, including beating Porto twice, Sporting twice and Benfica once, and won the Taça da Liga (Portuguese League Cup)".
He was Sporting's 4th manager in a season when he joined them in Mar 2020 and won the title in his 1st full season in charge - their 1st in 19 years. Breaking the Benfica-Porto monopoly was no mean feat, esp. since financially Sporting are much weaker than those 2 sides. Before this season's record signing of Gyokeres (€24m), his most expensive signing was Paulinho (€16m) back in 2021
Rúben Amorim and the Sporting Resurgence
Point diff of Sporting CP vs. 1st placed team
23/24: 1st, +1 lead after 19 matches
22/23: -13
21/22: -6
20/21: 1st, +5 lead
19/20: -22 (took over in Mar 2020)
18/19: -13
17/18: -10
16/17: -12
He managed to achieve decent results in European competition against some bigger clubs too:
21/22
0-0 vs. Man City
3-1 vs. Dortmund
22/23
1-2 aggregate defeat to Juventus
3-3 aggregate score, knocking out Arsenal on penalties last season
2-0 (H), 1-1 (A) vs. Tottenham
Developed/bringing the best out of players: Palhinha (rejoined after being on loan at Braga for 2 seasons), Nunes (signed for €500k & sold for €45m), Goncalves (23 goals in 32 league apps in his first season at the club, which happened to be the one they won their 1st title in 19 years), Porro (initially a loan move from Man City, signed for €8.5m & sold for €45m), Ugarte (signed for €6.5m & sold for €60m)
(notable) Debuts for: Mendes (sold for €38m), Inacio, Chermiti (sold for €12.5m after 22 1st team appearances)
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View: https://twitter.com/SawkurGod/status/1774028802911265000