understand why Vítor Pereira moves the backbone of Flamengo

Coach Vítor Pereira surprised Flamengo fans in last Wednesday’s match by putting Everton Ribeiro on the bench against Volta Redonda — a 3-1 Red-Black victory. and Gabigol — absolute starters on the Libertadores winning team in 2022 —, the number 7 shirt and captain was the target of one of the Portuguese’s first experiences in search of a solution to a significant problem for Fla at the start of the season: the imbalance between defense and attack.

The team has devastating offensive numbers, with 24 goals in 10 games, an average of more than two per game. At the same time, he skates in defense: he has conceded 12 goals so far. There were nine conceded in the games against the three most significant opponents of the season. Four from Palmeiras in the Super Cup final, three from Al Hilal in the semifinal of the Club World Cup and another two from Al Ahly in the dispute for third place in the same competition.

In the press conference after the victory over Voltaço, the coach spoke about balance and explained the changes. Flamengo started with Thiago Maia, Vidal, Gerson and Arrascaeta playing in the midfield. At halftime, he used Everton Ribeiro, replacing Gerson, who was in pain. The entry of the experienced player helped build the team’s offensive, which scored the three goals in the second half, but deepened the dilemma.

“In the last few games, we conceded a lot of goals. It’s up to the coach to try to find a balance in the team. What we feel is that the team had defensive difficulties in the two games it played in the World Cup. We tried to introduce another midfielder to give greater consistency in the middle. It’s a structure that hasn’t had time to work yet, so it’s natural. We try to keep the players between the lines who can decide. We try, it’s something that has to be worked on. We can change the structure depending on the game”, commented the coach.

The departure of João Gomes and Gerson in a new role changes the panorama

João Gomes’ departure to Wolverhampton, in England, and Gerson’s arrival was not a simple change of names. The red-black lost a defensive midfielder and gained a new version of the “Coringa”, more used to offensive duties instead of defensive ones, explains Leonardo Miranda, commentator on GE and Sportv and author of the blog “Painel Tactico”.

— Balancing the Flamengo team is a task that, if it was already difficult, becomes complicated when we think that both Everton Ribeiro and Bruno Henrique, when they return, are not explosive players and that Gérson is no longer a defensive midfielder, but a playmaker , who plays in the same position as Arrascaeta after the period in France. The World Cup showed that Everton, Arrasca and Gerson together make the team very unprotected in defense. To make matters worse, the three move close to the attack and don’t look for the ball so much from the defensive midfielders. There’s a team divided into two, with no one to make the connection — analyzes Miranda.

GLOBO columnist Carlos Eduardo Mansur corroborates the difficulty of finding this balance. He recalls that both the team from 2019 to now had to make sacrifices to accommodate their starters, whether playing with a diamond in the middle or trying to defend with two lines and wearing down their midfielders more, for example, while opponents exploited this weakness. In the current version of the front quartet, without Bruno Henrique and with Pedro, he points out the recomposition as more complicated due to the characteristics of the number 9 shirt.

— It was a foursome in 2019 and remains a foursome today. But the fact of having Pedro and not Bruno Henrique makes the defensive issue worse. Bruno Henrique pressed well, he has the ability to spare Arrascaeta in many moments and make a comeback on the left to score. He has done this many times, he is a player very used to covering the corridor. Pedro has been without the ball for a while.

Of Flamengo’s games with a complete starting lineup in the season, five had the Arrascaeta quartet, Everton Ribeiro, Gabigol and Pedro starting as a starter. In all, Gerson completed a quintet, with Thiago Maia as the most defensive player in the formation. In this Wednesday’s test, the coach tried Vidal as a second containment athlete in the sector, an option made by Dorival Júnior in the second game of the Copa do Brasil final last year, against Corinthians, when João Gomes was suspended. The tendency is for the Chilean to be present in other tactical variations, especially in games that call for caution and compaction in the middle. VP himself stated that there are no guaranteed starters in his team.

— Vítor Pereira tested a 4-3-1-2 against Volta Redonda, with Vidal doing that role