A season of mixed feelings for Belenenses, but the fans will agree it was an overall disappointing one. The good and promising part is that Silas brought a different approach o the team and things improved ever since the former midfielder replaced Domingos Paciência as Belenenses’ gaffer.
Despite three away defeats in the very first outings, Belenenses didn’t have that much of a bad start, mostly due to the fact that the home results were balancing the things for Belenenses. By the tenth round, ‘Azuis do Restelo’ were sitting in a very respectable sixth position, holding only 5 points less than Braga on the 4th place. However, the defeat to leaders Porto on the 11th round started a miserable streak of twelve winless games. In the middle of that sequence, Domingos Paciência left, but Silas wasn’t able to get an instant reaction from the team. It took him five games to finally pick a win for ‘Azuis’, when Belenenses visited Estoril and grabbed a 2-0 win, playing with a different formation, a 3-4-3 that Silas kept until the very end of the season with considerable good results.
From then and until the end, Belenenses seemed a different team, playing much better in almost all games. Even when losing, Belenenses was always competitive and pleasant to watch, like in the epic 3-4 defeat to Sporting in round 30, after having imposed a 2-0 defeat to the eventual title winners FC Porto.
The season was also marked by an uncommon amount of important injuries. First team option for the goal, Muriel Becker picked a knock in the 15th round and didn’t come back to play a single match in this season. Midfielder Tadjigora was also a very important piece of Belenenses’ puzzle early in the season, but he also had a severe injury that took him out for the rest of the season. Players like Bouba Saré, Hassan Yebda, Filipe Chaby, Bakic, Freddy or Benny were frequently joining the medical department as well.
Maurides deserves a special mention as the Brazilian striker was the top goalscorer of the team, with his eight league goals. Several January signings made a good impact on the team, such as the goalkeeper André Moreira, the wingers Nathan and Licá and particularly the playmaker Marko Bakic whose physical problems stopped him from having an even more impacting spell at Restelo. The most regular player during the entire season must have been the left winger Florent Hanin; the French full-back was one of the few players that was always an unquestionable pick for each match. Particularly after Silas promoted the tactical change, Hanin assumed a very important role, being responsible for the whole left wing, and providing many assists while at it.
