First of all, it is worth highlighting the importance of a coach being convinced. Of course, it is also necessary to be flexible to understand the contexts that a sport like football gives you, but, without a doubt, the black and white “Mister” demonstrated enormous confidence in the marriage of the cast’s characteristics and his idea of the game.
Against LDU It is cruise, we still had remnants of a team that was still physically unbalanced and with offensively unbalanced athletes lacking game rhythm, such as Jeffinho and Luiz Henrique. Furthermore, it also lacks notions of defensive coverage, something extremely important for any scheme, but especially in one that seeks to have 4 original attackers on the field. In the game in Minas Gerais, we were able to demonstrate during a moment in the second half the post-loss pressure that Arthur Jorge wants, even generating a great opportunity missed by Jeffinho.
Defensive phase
Of course, we must observe the situation of the last 3 games: technically inferior opponents intending to play on the counterattack. In other words, it was more than necessary for the Botafogo was well prepared to know how to deal with low defenses and quick transitions from opponents, fostering a behavior of pressing high and recovering the ball as quickly as possible.
In high pressure, we saw a pattern of trying to fit the marking from the goal kick. The two forwards in the center individualize the defenders, the wingers stick to the full-backs and one of the central midfielders goes up to put pressure on the midfielder. If another opposing midfielder goes down to support the ball, the other midfielder also goes up and the last line follows.
Example of variation against University, in which the opponent came out at 3 and only pulled one steering wheel to get the ball out. Eduardo, who would theoretically be the central striker alongside Júnior, drops to mark the midfielder, he does not appear in the frame, but the arrow represents him (below).
With the opponent already occupying our defense field, we have some adjustments. Starting from the bases 4-4-2 or 4-1-4-1 (when one of the attackers goes down next to a midfielder and a midfielder is between the lines), we see the attackers varying when it comes to covering the side of the field, Artur’s strategy so that no one gets too exhausted from having this defensive obligation the entire game. This way, the full-backs fight less often in 1v1 as they get closer to the defenders and wait for coverage to arrive in the area of the ball. Another importance of the attackers is to generate superiority in the central corridor, leaving the side of the field to increase the contingent next to the midfielders.
Another essential factor is post-loss pressure. This also happens as a result of a better organized offensive phase, as the team accumulates players around the ball. But the big point for Artur Jorge was to have improved the players’ perception of coverage even before the ball was lost and the rule of action was better defined in all sectors, today we no longer often see a team in doubt about what action to take in this circumstance.
The first midfielder: Danilo Barbosa and Gregore have essential functions. Danilo is more complete as a midfielder, he can set up and play short with quality, in addition to imposing himself in high-flying duels and making good defensive coverage. But Gregore is precisely the strengthening of the squad that Botafogo lacked in 2023, he has his difficulties in construction, but he is extremely competent in the pursuits he needs to make in the defensive moment and commits the necessary fouls to stop transitions.
Forming societies in between, Artur combines the characteristics of midfielders so that combativeness and creativity are never lost. That’s why the rotation of “5 shirts” needs to be done very well. And not just in the middle, Halter and Bastos’ partnership has become safer, where clearly the agility of both when covering the full-backs was one of the determining factors for them to be tested together.
Offensive phase
With such a qualified squad, getting the offensive part right would not be the Portuguese coach’s biggest challenge, but I need to highlight the way in which he has managed to enhance everyone’s qualities with intense position changes. Furthermore, working on patience to build, try to attract and then infiltrate was extremely important, given the opponents we faced.
To detail the offensive phase, it is necessary to talk about the characteristics and functions of the main attackers aside:
Junior Santos – Owner of an impressive physique, he has the ability and responsibility to recover from the sides and free up the wingers, make pivots on long balls (see goals against Universitario) and attack the space behind the defense. The best striker on Brazilian soil today, increasingly complete, makes the job of any coach today easier by bringing together several essential characteristics for the position.
Luiz Henrique – Still getting into the rhythm of the team, he has a great ability to seek the baseline despite being an inverted winger, strong in protecting the ball. He also has a movement pattern, in which he looks for the “beak” of the area and cuts to the left, making a cross in the half-space (between the defense and the goalkeeper) or behind the back of the opposite full-back. Used to form the right side, but appears several times as another midfielder (see participation in goal against Universitario).
Savarino – The striker closest to the way Eduardo builds and attacks spaces. He has been enhanced by acting more as a second striker, helping with high pressure and supporting the construction on the sides, very dynamic, always looking for associations and deep passes. He really likes to step into the area, participating with and without the ball, as he did in Jacob Montes’ goal against Youthin which he drags a defender and lets the ball pass for the midfielder to score.
Jeffinho – Still lacking a greater defensive understanding, he also makes a similar movement to Luiz Henrique: occupying the flank but entering the central corridor to generate volume. In high pressure, he has the ability to disarm frequently and adds offensively by attacking the space behind the defense, he needs to evolve his last decision. The tendency is to become a reserve due to bad times, but there is a lot of lack of confidence involved in that.
With the characteristics and functions mentioned, Artur Jorge seeks to create a rotation not only to enhance each attacker, but also to confuse the opposing defense. This only occurs because the full-backs are responsible for generating support outside and inside, so the wingers are not restricted to playing in just one zone. This way of attacking also makes the team less susceptible to missing the center forward’s support in the build-up, as all the pieces are always in constant movement.
First example, start of the goal against Atlético-GO, only Tiquinho is in his original position. Meanwhile, Júnior is on the right side, Luiz Henrique starts from the inside out and Jeffinho appears as a midfielder. A curiosity is the freedom that the full-backs also have to attack the center, in this case Mateo Ponte appears as an option and scores the goal (below).
Second example, start of the first goal against Universitario. All the wingers occupy the central corridor and the support on the opposite side is Mateo Ponte, Júnior Santos takes the role of pivot. To be continued…
In the same play, Júnior and Eduardo make an “X” movement, where they both leave the zone they were in and switch between each other. Total confusion in defense and the result: goal.
Third example, Luiz Henrique’s first goal for Botafogo. The number 7 once again finds himself in the central corridor, while Gregore provides excellent coverage in high pressure. Savarino receives it unopposed, while Júnior fixes the defender so that Luiz can attack the back (see below).
As you can see in some examples, the idea is to accumulate players so that the carrier has more passing options, with the same spaces being attacked, but by different athletes in a matter of seconds. From this, this accumulation should also enable a team with a greater number of components in the area of the ball to recover it as soon as the loss occurs.
Botafogo demonstrated a standard of play in a context that required proposition, Artur Jorge delivered very good work for a few training sessions and also benefited from the sequence without leaving Rio de Janeiro. On Sunday, against Flamengo, we will see how the team behaves against an opponent who also wants to propose and who knows how to generate advantages through the central corridor.
A great test awaits us, let’s get ready!
