Five mistakes made by Santos in the game with Bragantino that cannot be repeated in the semifinals | saints

On Wednesday, Santos decides its future in the Campeonato Paulista by facing Red Bull Bragantino, at Neo Química Arena, in a single semifinal game. In the group stage, Peixe visited their opponents at the Nabi Abi Chedid stadium, had one of their worst performances of the season and was defeated 1-0.

On that occasion, in a match valid for the 11th round, on March 3, Santos entered the field already qualified for the knockout stage – and Bragantino needed the victory to guarantee first place in their bracket. At the beginning of the second half, Peixe had one more player on the field and, even so, they were unable to score against goalkeeper Cleiton.

For the semi-final, in addition to the full house at rival Corinthians’ stadium, the Vila Belmiro club has the return of midfielder Giuliano – recovered from the calf problem that took him out of practically the entire Paulistão qualifying phase.

Below, the ge remember Santos’ five main mistakes in that match.

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By far, Santos’ main problem that afternoon was the inefficiency of the creative system. Even though he finished 17 times, Peixe hit the target on just three occasions – all saved by Cleiton – and practically did not pose any danger to Red Bull Bragantino’s goal.

With the duo of midfielders well marked, coach Fábio Carille’s team was unable to advance by touching the ball and, without options, relied on deep throws, without success. The coach himself criticized what was done on the field at that time.

– We made a lot of wrong decisions. The long ball was one of them. We had players to play short and reach Bragantino’s field with the ball dominated, but we opted for a long ball.

The team’s highlight under the command of the current coaching staff, the defense was not at its best at Nabi Abi Chedid. The goal scored by Eduardo Sasha was born from a collective error that ended up creating space for the former Santos striker.

As if that wasn’t enough, in the second half, even with one more player, Peixe took risks in the counterattacks. On two occasions, Bragantino’s front men came face to face with João Paulo and, by a margin, did not extend the score. Bragança’s team ended the match with the same three shots on goal as Santos.

Santos will have a full house in the semi-final against Bragantino

The difficulty in changing the tactical scheme during matches came to light in the duel with Bragantino. Santos, despite being competitive and being the first team to guarantee a place in the Paulistão quarter-finals, finds it difficult when the ball does not pass through the feet of midfielders João Schmidt and Diego Pituca.

That was exactly what Red Bull Bragantino did to nullify Santos that afternoon. The attackers stayed on top of Peixe’s midfielder duo and left the defenders with the ball. No matter how much space they had, the Santos defenders were unable to activate the midfielders, which slowed the pace of the game.

In Itaquera, in the semi-final, the tendency is for Carille to face the same problem. So that this doesn’t hinder their plans of putting Peixe in the Paulistão final after a long period, they will have to use the sides of the field.

The Santos players’ main complaint in that match was that coach Fábio Carille took so long to change the team. This is because, in the first minute of the second half, Bragantino lost defender Luan Cândido – sent off – and became numerically disadvantaged.

Santos, who had already made two substitutions at halftime, only changed their formation in the 23rd minute. The time was considered excessive, which made it easier for the team to work at home.

In total, there were 17 shots from Santos in the match, ten of which went out of the goal. Even though there were names like Morelos, Cazares, Pedrinho and Guilherme on the field, Peixe was never in danger.

The 58% of ball possession in that match was limited to passes between the defenders and midfielders – the majority away from Bragantino’s area.