Opinion – Tostão: Tite’s big question for the World Cup is where to climb Paquetá

Tite gave a great interview to Redação SporTV. It was clear, didactic and firm. The verb “opportunize” and the “unbalanced extremes” were missing.

Tite, rightly, criticized the criticism that Vinicius Junior, in the selection, plays too far back, to help the side. He works for Tite and the coaching staff are very well prepared in the same way at Real Madrid. Mark and attack. On some occasions, this will not be possible, as in the game between Brazil against Chile and Real against PSG, when Brazil and Real were cornered, without counterattacking.

Tite, to exemplify, showed images of Brazil’s second goal against Uruguay, in the 1970 World Cup. The winger Jairzinho, top scorer in the World Cup, recovered the ball in the middle of Brazil, gave it to Pelé, to Tostão, who made the pass to Jairzinho receive the ball in Uruguay’s intermediate, dribble and score the goal. It was a class in modern football and counterattack.

The day after the interview, a commentator said it was an isolated move. It was not. Jairzinho, often, on the initiative and/or under the guidance of Zagallo, returned to score from the right. As the midfield had two players who scored in the center, Gérson and Clodoaldo, and more Rivellino on the left, there was a lack of protection on the right side, which Jairzinho filled.

Another criticism of Tite, inappropriate and repeated millions of times since the 2018 World Cup, is that he put forward Gabriel Jesus to mark the opposing side. This was part of a half-time of a game, when Tite swapped Gabriel Jesus and Neymar positions, to leave Neymar free through the center, without needing to come back to score.

Tite was asked if the veteran Thiago Silva, for playing at Chelsea, with three defenders, would have to make a greater effort in the selection, which works with two defenders. Tite reported a work done by the coaching staff on this, which showed the opposite, that Thiago Silva moves much more at Chelsea. There are no surprises. As Chelsea’s two wingers advance a lot, the distance between one full-back and another is much greater for three defenders than for four (two defenders and two full-backs).

Tite is excited about the evolution of dribblers, fast and open, like Vinicius Junior, Raphinha and Antony, who score and attack. With this, the sides do not need to advance through the ends. Tite’s big question is where to climb Paquetá, in Fred’s position or on the sides, in addition to being, along with Coutinho, Neymar’s replacement.

Paquetá played well in all these positions. There is still another option, not asked to the coach, which would be to advance Paquetá to form a pair with Neymar, leaving the center forward, something similar to what happened in the 1970 World Cup.

I am concerned about Neymar’s physical and technical form, who has been injured a lot and has shown a drop in mobility and speed. I prefer Neymar from the middle to the goal, to dribble, pass and finish. In games, he retreats to receive the ball, sometimes in his own field, and runs the risk of losing it, in addition to being too far from the opponent’s goal.

Tite and the coaching staff are very well prepared. They know, think and calculate everything. However, sometimes, in a game, unexpected facts occur, such as Lukaku’s shift to the right and De Bruyne’s entry through the center, coming from behind, to finish. Great technicians also need to know how to act quickly, without programming, with intuition, on the fly. Sometimes they are the brightest and most efficient decisions.