Awaiting Dorival, São Paulo's defence gifts Fluminense win, six winless | OneFootball

Dorival Júnior was not present at the Maracanã, but from what he must have seen on television, he should be certain of one thing: he will have a lot of work to do to set things right at São Paulo.

On Saturday night (16), the Morumbi club was under the responsibility of the eternal (and questioned) assistant Milton Cruz. And he even tried: he doubled up at left-back, set up a classic 4-3-3 with wingers staying wide, in a team that was intense to a certain extent, with plenty of movement through the attacking axis.

But São Paulo’s problem really was not the attack. Despite all the offensive effort, the defense decided to have a nightmare of a night. And it played a direct leading role in the 2-1 defeat to Fluminense in the 16th round of the Brazilian Championship. It is now the sixth straight game without a win for the Morumbi club.

It was a São Paulo side that started out fairly lively up front, managing to show up regularly in the opposition box, but running into a lack of efficiency.

And that may be part of the problem. Because whenever São Paulo pushed forward, an old flaw from Roger Machado’s time showed up again tonight: the lack of initial pressure in midfield, which gives the opponent far too much ease in transition play, almost always leaving defenders in one-on-one situations.

And then, my friends, the center-backs need to be alert and the marking has to be sharp. That was not the case…

In the 19th minute, Dória mistimed his challenge on Canobbio down the left and the ball was lofted into the box. Rafael came out badly, misjudged it, and John Kennedy, free from Sabino’s marking, only had to slide in and poke it into the net.

With the lead on the scoreboard, Fluminense used another old anti-São Paulo tactic from Roger’s days: it handed possession to São Paulo, who did nothing productive with it. Tricolor got to the byline against the Rio side, but almost always the solution was either a poor cross or an ineffective run into the box.

And then, my friends, if you do not score, you concede. Especially on a day when the defense is far from inspired. In the 44th minute, Dória, again, made a mistake playing out from the back and gifted the ball to Nonato. He combined with Lucho and once again Rafael came out badly, leaving it for Canobbio to fire home and score the second.

In the second half, the scenario remained discouraging for much of the match, with an apathetic and unproductive São Paulo watching a somewhat bureaucratic Fluminense fail to take advantage of the lethargy.

And then it was time for the saying to be turned around. After Cruz’s changes, Tricolor woke up in the 34th minute, managing to reappear in attack. After two excellent saves by Fábio from shots on goal, Dória got a touch on a corner with his body and cut the deficit.

It could have been a trigger to chase something better, but that was all. Fluminense soon went back to controlling the action. And it almost scored a third in stoppage time, with Soteldo finishing off a cross. But the refereeing team ruled it out for offside.

With the defeat, São Paulo remains on 24 points. It goes to sleep in fourth place, but depending on the combination of the remaining results this round, it could end up in sixth.

Now it is time to think about a new life with Dorival in charge. The coach arrives on Monday (18) and makes his debut on Tuesday (19), at 9:30 p.m. (Brasília time), against Millionarios at Morumbi in the Copa Sudamericana. In the Brazilian Championship, the next commitment is against Botafogo, at 5 p.m. (Brasília time) next Saturday (23), also at home.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.