Fernando Santos felt Portugal deserved to win by an even greater margin in a 3-0 win over Azerbaijan in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier.
Portugal achieved four wins in five Group A matches to regain top spot from Serbia, who were held 1-1 by the Republic of Ireland.
The 2016 European champions were two goals ahead in 31 minutes thanks to Bernardo Silva’s volley and Andre Silva’s tap-in.
Diogo Jota added a third for the visitors with 15 minutes left, but only after the Liverpool forward and Andre Silva had squandered some glorious chances.
Portugal have scored in three of 21 attempts in total, a third of those on goal, and Santos is disappointed that his side have not improved the goal difference further.
“The only thing about the result that wasn’t good was the amount of goals we scored,” he told RTP.
“When the teams are not organized they have difficulty, they chase the ball a lot and get exhausted. When they have the ball they have more difficulty.
“Without a certain balance in the game it becomes difficult. We knew it was a game of patience because opponents usually defend themselves well. We knew that a goal early would force them to change.
“It happened after the second goal when they went with a 4-3-3. We always looked for the door and created spaces to enter, both central and external “.
Jota was responsible for a five of Portugal’s shots, finding the net from one of those who previously had an assist for Andre Silva’s goal.
Now he has eight goals in 21 appearances for Selecao, who have left behind the disappointment of Euro 2020 with three wins out of three in the last week.
“In these three games, one of which was a friendly match, we did our job, which was to win each of them,” Jota told RTP. “Today’s performance was good and so was the result.
“This is football. You should never give up after losing. I’m glad I scored in the end. I always want to help individually, but the result is the most important thing ”.
Portugal were without suspended Cristiano Ronaldo, who is now linked to Manchester United, but has two points clear of Serbia in Group A with three more games to play.
“Every opponent and every match is tough and it will be like a final for us,” said Andre Silva. “We drew in Serbia and we still have to play them in our last match.
“We have to focus on ourselves because we have these three finals to win.”