With a goal from Arias, Fluminense beat Cruzeiro 1-0 at the Maracanã and is temporarily out of the relegation zone.
With a goal from Jhon Arias – who recently saw confirmation of his departure from the club at the end of the year -, Fluminense beat Cruzeiro 1-0, at the Maracanã, and gained 3 important points which allow them to temporarily stay out of the relegation zone.
This is because the matches in this round will be played mainly on Saturday (5), while the Fluminense match was played on Thursday (3). The permanence of the Tricolor das Laranjeiras in Z4 will depend on the outcome of the matches of both Corinthians and Vitória.
Coach Mano Menezes surprised all the players in this round’s lineup by facing Cruzeiro, with changes that greatly irritated the fans. The main one is Facundo Bernal, who Mano himself declared to be André’s replacement on the bench.
In addition to him, alongside Thiago Santos, defender Manoel was the starter in defence, but he had no opportunities – his contract with the club is also expiring and has no intention of renewing it. According to the coach, Manoel is faster than Antônio Carlos, the most obvious option for the defense.
In this Thursday’s match, Fluminense started the match in serious difficulty against Raposa, who adopted a very offensive attitude, despite playing away. However, even in the first half, the Tricolore managed to exploit some defensive gaps left by the opponent.
The victory came without a brilliant performance, but at a more than necessary moment, given that Fluminense was coming off 3 consecutive defeats in the competition and an elimination in the Copa Libertadores which had interrupted their dream of a second championship.
In the post-match press conference, coach Mano Menezes, who had already received criticism from the fans, praised the team’s attitude.
“The team had an important playing behavior. This is what we lacked. We had the courage to score in attack. In most cases we had a positioning to inhibit the opponent. This gave a bit of trust in the team.”
The coach also highlighted the difficulties and cheats he had in the match, making it clear that he expected this offensive position from Cruzeiro.
“I was there with two men who played deep all the time, this created some difficulties for our defense, in the second half we improved it, but the match would have been a back and forth, we knew it, Cruzeiro would have created a defensive phase difficult for us, but we created difficulties for them too I think the most important thing is that you have a response, it’s not because you suffer, because the opponent has quality, you have to hold back and not go out to attack the goal again. which was something important at the beginning of the second half, it gave the team peace of mind to try to find safer paths. But the match would always be like this, it was like this until the end, and we had the merit of winning a match important, difficult moment here, which will give us the comeback.”
More excerpts from Mano’s press conference:
From changes in the team and whistles
I won’t fail to make the decisions I need to make because I get booed. It’s fashionable, we must understand that it is like this. Now everyone thinks they can take anyone away whenever they want. But we have a good contribution to make to the team in this moment of extreme pressure. We’ve been through this many times, if I hadn’t been able to be here and understand this whole process, I wouldn’t have accepted the invitation to manage Fluminense in the circumstances I found myself in. – replied Mano.
It is important to trust each other, only we can solve our problems. There’s no point in the whole “take one for Christ” game, because then I lose a player every game and sometimes there isn’t another with his characteristics. Perhaps Martinelli was the most criticized player these days and he played a great game. He did what he had to do. You will make mistakes, but everyone makes mistakes. It’s part of the game. You can’t be afraid of making mistakes otherwise you won’t play, but Manoel’s choice is because we also knew that the opponent’s attack was very fast. Manoel is a player with more speed to play alongside Thiago (Santos) in coverage on both flanks. – Mano completed.
Facundo Bernal on the bench
I wanted to give some breathing space to Facundo (Bernal), who had had a bit of difficulty, not being able to complete the games. He was suffering a little, but Facundo is adapting. He came from a small club in Uruguay without much structure, almost nothing. We played the first few games without feeling it, then you start to feel the load as the sequence of games goes on and we can’t lose, so it was time to take a breath. It went well, it was the second change, since the other one was Keno. We thought we needed a man with a lot of dribbling speed because that would have to be the case. – Mano justified himself.
On Fluminense’s winless period
We have a little experience with this. You’ve seen that when a team is in very bad shape like we were, you get a lot of victories, then comes the quick one. Nobody likes it. It happened to us too. It was important to give an answer in terms of results today, because it is the last stretch of what we need to do to position ourselves best in the league (save relegation).
Meeting with Fernando Diniz
I see neither advantages nor disadvantages. The team also knows the coach, but the coach also knows the team. I think football is not enough to know what the other person is doing. If he does it well, he is difficult to counter. Your ideas are not enough, the most important thing is the execution and how the players do it. Today we managed to steal two balls in front, all because it’s the beginning of (Diniz’s) work, because then they don’t steal anymore. He’ll do so well that he won’t be able to steal, like we stole the ball there under pressure. We knew it was the start of the work, so it was part of the strategy we set for the game, trying to take advantage of it. I think the feeling that Fluminense has towards Diniz is very good. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things in football, this respect and admiration for those who have passed, built and won.
Source: Terra
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