I know I wrote that he's a rat, because he jumped off ship before anyone else and left work to be done.
But he is a hell of a manager. His communication skills are both obvious and simple. He won't tell you any bullshit to please you or to find an excuse. If it's raining, it's raining. If he has a problem he will tell you things are what they are and that he will have to deal with it.
He arrived at Sporting, 2 years after some fans invaded the training ground and hit some of the players. Some ripped their contracts and left. In the next 2 years the board only made lousy decisions, squandering the scarce money available in some really bad players. The chairman in a desperate move signed Amorim, paying money he didn't have for him.
He changed everything. The success ratio with signings changed dramatically for the better. He picked all the pieces and build something. Added some smart signings. He gave first team football to Nuno Mendes (now at PSG) and Matheus Nunes as soon as he got the job for the final part of the season.
Next season, the first planned and prepared by him and his staff, he kept Nuno Mendes, signed some Pedro Gonçalves and João Mário (on loan), brought back Palhinha (who was on loan at Braga) and signed Feddal (maroccan center back) and Adan (GK) for free. He cut the rotten flesh out of the squad and asked for a striker (Paulinho). But Sporting was squint and they offered him a number of options to which he responded "if you don't have the money, we will wait. I have some kids to develop and I will work with them, until you have the funds needed for the striker I want.". As the season went on, he inserted Gonçalo Inácio into the team until he got to own a place in the first eleven. He kept winning every match against all the lesser teams and he built a gap, that proved to be too much for the favourites). He only lost 1 match in the League, against Benfica, when he was already crowned champion.
His man management is top class. Every player in the squad is important to him. And he proves this, by using everybody, as long as they perform to his standards. For example, at Sporting he has 3 midfielders. They all have match time. If the occasion requires, he drops Pedro Gonçalves to midfield (he usually plays upfront). He "invents" players for his system.
He is very different from Mourinho. He is direct and tells what he needs to tell but he is not confrontational. He never spoke about the refs performances. It doesn't mean that he never identified referees mistakes, but never right after the match was played. Never used a referee mistake to justify anything.
He is polite and assumes his responsibilities every single time.
In one moment, he was convinced to accept Islam Slimani back into the squad, when everybody knew that the profile didn't fill his bill. He had a disciplinary problem with the player and from that moment on, he goes by his ideas and he doesn't abandon his style of man management of players profile. Even though, he has a great relationship with the members of his staff (including the scouting) and accepts their suggestions when he sees value in them. For example, Sporting signed Morten Hjulmand and he was more interested in a brazilian midfielder. He acknowledge publicly that the he had to watch Hjulmands data three times until the guys from the scouting convinced him of the players ability. He's flexible enough to allow everyone to add value to his work.
I truly believe he will be able to lift Manure again, and it won't take too long.