Bracarenses lost in the previous round against Arouca, by 3-0, at home, in Rui Duarte's debut as interim coach after Artur Jorge left for Botafogo, a defeat that interrupted a series of six consecutive rounds almost 100 percent victorious for the Minhotos (five wins and a draw).

"We have to do much more than we did in that game, especially in the first half. We have to show another attitude, another mentality, and that we really want to reach third place. Show another way of being to fight for something", he stressed in the press conference previewing the trip to Estoril Praia's ground, on Saturday, on the 29th round of Liga I.

Rui Duarte considered that the technical team understood what went wrong in that match, as well as "some kind of problems that were in the group" that were "faced head-on".

The coach rejected the idea of problems in the dressing room, but stressed that if Sporting de Braga wants to fight for "something more, it has to have very strong values as a team" and gave the example of Arouca, coached by Daniel Sousa, the future coach of the Bracarenses.

"Arouca is a team with that identity, everyone runs to the same side and everyone is very strong in the commitment, in defending", he said.

The coach revealed that he had conversations with the group, and other individual ones that served "to tell the truth".

"The problems are not new, they come from the past, but the team was winning and that is the most positive sign that one can have", he said, still showing himself "confident" in a good response, especially showing a "more solid identity".

"The quality exists, I believe a lot in my work and I believe in them, they have incredible quality", he reinforced.

The coach said in the previous press conference that he wanted to improve the team's defensive aspect, but they conceded three goals against the Arouquenses.

"It didn't go very well because we didn't defend well. Things can't be achieved in three days or a week. The team concedes many goals, that's a fact, and the teams that fight for the title concede less, they are solid and consistent. The defensive commitment has to be the same as with the ball. I am confident that we will be much more solid on this point because we cannot concede this type of goal", he said.

Rui Duarte believes that the reaction to the loss when the team is in a positional attack "has to be better" and that this was "worked on a lot" this week so that the team "is balanced and doesn't concede goals".

Regarding a possible lower quality of the 'Gunners' central pairs, the coach said that the problem is collective and "everyone has to defend", but admitted that "the relationships between the central defenders have to be as if they were one, there has to be a very big connection and, if there has been so much movement in the central defenders, obviously that takes away consistency, the process takes longer".

The Estoril players have been scoring for three consecutive rounds (a draw and two wins), but they are still at the bottom of the table, with only three more points than 16th place, which implies playing a play-off with the third-placed team in Liga II to guarantee a place in the main national championship.

"Estoril is a good team, they have played good games throughout the season, they like to play, they are very well worked and they have quality players. The position in the table ends up influencing the performance and the approaches to each game. We have to be at our best to overcome it", he said.

The coach has all the players available, with the recovery of Adrián Marín, Borja and Paulo Oliveira.

Sporting de Braga, fourth place, with 56 points, and Estoril Praia, 13th, with 29, will face each other from 8:30 pm on Saturday, at Estádio António Coimbra da Mota, in Estoril, a game that will be refereed by Fábio Veríssimo, from the Leiria association.