Opinion – PVC: You can’t accuse the coach if the crisis is in São Paulo, not Ceni

Flamengo scored its first goal at 23 seconds, the second at 2 minutes, São Paulo Calleri was sent off at 10 minutes and, in a clear chance to reduce it, São Paulo had the ball touching Rigoni’s shin.

You can’t accuse a coach of being responsible for the tactical or emotional instability of a team that loses a game in ten minutes.

The attempt to be fair does not exclude the perception of how Rogério Ceni walked, in the last four years, between being innovative and common.

Nobody in Flamengo argues that their methods are more modern than those of Renato. And, however, players consider Renato’s work a positive surprise, praise the light atmosphere, while Rogério enters into an evident fight against the relegation zone, the place where he left São Paulo on his first spell, in 2017.

Rogério changed the tactical system against Flamengo. He came down from the idea of ​​3-5-2, which gave a great result against Internacional, bad signs against Fortaleza and Bahia, and returned to the line of four defenders, which gave an excellent performance against Corinthians.

Against Flamengo, a disaster.

Not for the system, not for the coach’s sole fault. The exchange of Crespo for Rogério Ceni has resulted, until now, in the same: a fight not to fall.

It has its worst attack in history at the Brazilian Nationals, on average, and the second worst offensive performance in a full season.

It’s more the club’s fault than the coach’s, but Rogério doesn’t take off. 2020 Brazilian champion by Flamengo, he was fired on charges of not living with the multidisciplinary structure set up at Ninho do Urubu.

He contradicted his speech of working only the following year, when he took over Fortaleza, on his return in 2019, when he exchanged it for rubro-negro, in 2020, and when he resumed São Paulo, in 2021. “I didn’t intend to work anymore this year, but… blah blah blah…

Nobody denies Rogério Ceni the tactical content he has or his search for modern strategies. But he left Cruzeiro with accusations about his leadership in a difficult locker room, he left Flamengo with discussions about his relationship with other departments.

“To tell you the truth, I can’t even explain it,” said Igor Gomes, at half-time, about the partial 3-0 defeat in the first half.

There is no such thing as a miracle. Replacing Crespo, who scored with individual pursuits, for Rogério, who scores by zone, results in irregularity.

Rogério could be an excellent coach for São Paulo in 2022. This year, he will have to fight relegation. Of course, the fight is for the club and not for its reputation:

“Their coach knows I like going up,” Michael said. The Brazilian’s new top scorer, with 13 goals, did not mention Rogério’s name. He scored 20 goals since joining Flamengo, 14 of them under the command of Renato.

Being technical is not simple. You have to convince the locker room that you’re good, seduce the fans, the board, reassure the press that you’re different. And the hardest part: to be good. Rogerio is good. But he still hasn’t managed to convince everyone.

The crisis belongs to São Paulo, not the technician.

But Rogério has the challenge of asserting himself. Perhaps, that of relating. Why didn’t Michael mention his name? I just said, “Their technician.”

The best friend

Renato Augusto was Sylvinho’s best friend over the weekend. He defended him for casting him as a center forward and was the highlight in the victory over Cuiabá. The only thing that opened up was that it would be much better to have Renato as a midfielder than in attack. Without meaning to, he exposed the technician’s supposed error.

Mayke’s Advantage

Mayke’s line-up against Fluminense could be a sign that he will be the starting line-up for the decision against Flamengo, in Montevideo. You can’t be sure, because Abel will continue testing until the very final. But it is more likely than the system with three defenders.