Opinion – Tostão: Taking off in short distances has become an important marking feature

In modern football, starting with impetus, in short distances, from 5 to 20 meters, which was a quality of attackers, has also become an important characteristic of marking and of success of the teams. The opponent cannot receive the ball without being pressured. That’s what Corinthians and, especially, Flamengo did in the last round of the Brasileirão. This is a routine in the big teams in Europe. You need to get the ball back quickly.

Young midfielders, such as João Gomes, from Flamengo, Queiroz, from Corinthians, Danilo, from Palmeiras, and Allan, from Atlético, assimilated this evolution more easily. The more veterans, who never had this habit during their careers, such as Renato Augusto, from Corinthians, and Diego, from Flamengo, have more difficulty.

Flamengo improved because of that and because they put some players where they feel better, like Éverton Ribeiro, on the right, and Felipe Luís, more advanced than before, to take advantage of his lucidity and technique. When Bruno Henrique returns, the team will be stronger in the attack, but will have difficulty in marking from the left, where the young Lázaro plays, because Bruno Henrique cannot be a winger and top scorer at the same time.

I didn’t see Rodinei’s failure in São Paulo’s goal. Tall centre-forwards and good headers, like Calleri, love to take momentum and head over the winger, who is usually low. Cristiano Ronaldo, at Real Madrid, scored many goals with his head against Barcelona, ​​over sides Daniel Alves and Jordi Alba. This type of goal is one of Bayern’s favorites.

Flamengo and Palmeiras face each other this Wednesday (20). Abel Ferreira will certainly be very careful when leaving the defense, not to lose the ball, because of the pressure from Flamengo, in addition to trying to exploit, in the counterattacks, the spaces on the right, with Dudu, Raphael Veiga and, probably, Ron.

Corinthians, due to the quality of the squad, will, throughout the year, be equal to Flamengo, Palmeiras and Atlético. The coach has alternated players every match, to avoid physical wear and tear. Róger Guedes is neither a striker nor a winger. He is a striker on the left, who enters diagonally to score goals, as he did at Atlético and as Bruno Henrique does at Flamengo. With Guedes on the left, Willian should play on the right. He’s good on both sides.

Corinthians works with a trio in midfield, with a more central midfielder, usually Queiroz, and a midfielder on each side, who scores and advances like a midfielder. There are several very good ones. This is how the main European teams work. In Brazil, most teams, for decades, have played with two midfielders in line and with a liaison midfielder in front of the two. Is different.

In Europe, as the teams are more compact, there is no space to have a classic link midfielder, as in Brazil, who works between defensive midfielders and opposing defenders. As coach Klopp said, much better than having a talented attacking midfielder is having a trio in midfield that presses and recovers the ball close to the other goal.

When Liverpool signed the Brazilian Thiago Alcântara, a naturalized Spaniard, many questioned why Thiago likes to decorate the pass, to try special shots, to look one way and play the ball to the other, since Liverpool’s midfield is very combative and likes to put pressure on the opponent. Klopp replied: “Liverpool need a little fantasy in midfield.”