Fernando Diniz on defeat to Coritiba, absentees and Corinthians run | OneFootball

Corinthians returned to action on Sunday night (23) and suffered their second straight defeat in the Brazilian Championship. At Couto Pereira Stadium in Curitiba, Timão were beaten 2-1 by Coritiba in the 24th round of the competition. Raniele scored the only goal for the black-and-white side.

With the result, the team coached by Fernando Diniz remained on 32 points and dropped to 10th place in the Brasileirão standings. After the match, the coach gave a press conference and analyzed Corinthians’ performance, while also commenting on the absences, the fatigue caused by the run of matches, and the options available in the squad.

Photos: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

When assessing the performance, Diniz viewed the opening minutes of each half positively, but acknowledged inconsistency over the course of the match. The coach also highlighted the physical and, above all, mental impact caused by the demands of the season.

“Speaking about the match, I think we started the first half well, and the second half as well. The starts of both halves were very good. Then we dipped a little. There was also something that was predictable because of Thursday’s game, which is physical fatigue. But the psychological and emotional fatigue is much greater than the physical. So getting the players ready again to play today’s match is always a challenge. We knew we wouldn’t have 100% energy to play today, especially psychologically.”

He then lamented the goals conceded and felt Corinthians could have left Curitiba with at least one point. Diniz also spoke about the players currently in the medical department and highlighted Memphis Depay’s performance, as he stayed on the field for 51 minutes.

“I think we managed to have a very good first half, and the start of the second half too. We conceded two goals that were, again, very avoidable. One from a set piece—I think they got the play wrong in the buildup and we still ended up conceding. Then on the second goal, we already had the team sitting deep. In the two matches against Rosario, for example, when we theoretically had to defend, we had no problems, we didn’t allow a single scoring chance. Today, because of a lack of attention, we wanted to win the ball back too quickly instead of marking properly, and we ended up conceding the second goal. Otherwise, we could at least have drawn.”

“As for the absences, I think we’ll gradually get some players back. Obviously, when we can count on everyone, the result is much better. But I’m not going to put it all down to the absences, because we had a lot of absences against Rosario, which was a hugely important tie. We got through in the Copa do Brasil, in the Libertadores. But getting those players back will be very important. I think that for the Santos game, we may already have some players from the medical department available.”

“As you said, Memphis played 51 minutes today and, in my opinion, played very well. Since I’ve been here, it was his best performance. He’s a player who brings a lot of weight to the team, who puts more pressure on the opposition. As I said before working with him, and now I’m confirming it from the few training sessions and few matches we’ve had together, he’s a world-class player. So it’s very good for us to be able to count on Memphis.”

Diniz explains Lingard’s current situation

Another player discussed during the press conference was Lingard. Asked about the player’s performance, Diniz recalled his period of improvement after arriving at Corinthians and mentioned personal and physical issues that interrupted his run.

“I even say that, since I arrived here, he’s been with me, he was improving at first and then had his best moment. I think that happened with me, about a month after I got here. He scored goals, got assists. Then he had a family problem, with the death of his grandfather, who was like a father to him, and he had to be away for a while. Then there was the Cup, he went back for the funeral afterward, and now he’s trying to get back into rhythm.”

“He had a bad ankle, he had sprained it in training, and he couldn’t play against Rosario or be available. He made himself available for this match and played a few minutes. But today, compared to the other games, I think he came on and managed to contribute a bit more. I hope Lingard, who is a player with a great story in football, gets back to his best, and we’ll do everything to help him.”

Memphis could play centrally in attack

With Yuri Alberto among the absentees, Diniz was also asked about the possibility of using Memphis as a more central reference point in attack. The coach confirmed that he is considering the option.

“It’s one of the possibilities. He can play there. The position he has played most in his life is the one he played today. With Yuri Alberto’s presence, we have two players we need to fit in, because they are two very high-level players. But he is an option. It’s not that we’re going to do it all the time, but if it’s what’s best for the team at this moment, it’s a very real, very concrete possibility.”

Diniz talks about the squad and possible reinforcements

The number of unavailable players also led the press conference toward squad planning. Diniz again said he is satisfied with the current group and mentioned young players who have been getting opportunities, as well as the players who underwent surgery.

“I’ve said more than once that I like the team, I like the squad. I think we have the possibility of introducing players little by little. Dieguinho is getting minutes, Gui Negão came on again today, there’s the youngster on the bench that we’re bringing along slowly, João Pedro, and Iago himself.”

“What happened with my arrival is that, for now, we lost three players to surgery: Labyad, Kayke and Vitinho, who is also out for the time being. If it weren’t for those three players as well, plus Yuri coming back, plus André coming back and now Memphis, the team is a team that has... I don’t like an enormous squad. I like Corinthians’ squad, I’ve said it more than once. We have to take care so there aren’t injuries, and most of the injuries were a bit down to bad luck. We don’t have much control over those knee injuries.”

The coach also explained that some of the muscle injuries happened precisely after periods in which the players had a lighter minute load.

“And, oddly enough, the two muscle injuries we had... Today, for example, you could suggest that a player might get injured because of the run of matches. But there was no injury in that sense, when we put the team out to play continuously. When Yuri Alberto got injured, we had given him a rest. He came on for 20 minutes against Atlético-MG and got injured. And André too. He had also had a rest, he hadn’t played against Atlético, against Inter he only played 60 minutes and then another 60 minutes. He ended up getting injured.”

Despite showing confidence in the squad, Diniz acknowledged that any reinforcements would be welcome if Corinthians manage to resolve the transfer bans currently making new registrations difficult.

“So, I believe that with the players coming back and managing to keep them on the pitch, without them going to the medical department, we have a team we can manage with. Obviously, if we can pay off the transfer bans and bring in one or two signings, they will be very welcome.”

Workload management and Corinthians’ situation in the league

Diniz also detailed the reasons behind the absences of Matheus Bidu, Matheuzinho and Hugo Souza. According to the coach, the decisions were made with each player’s specific physical issues in mind.

“About this workload management, I’ve said it more than once. I’ll repeat a phrase I said once, I think it fits well: a player isn’t just muscle and bone, but he is also muscle and bone. At certain moments, Bidu had already been playing for some time while somewhat sacrificing himself because of pubic pain, and he was out more because of that than because of workload management in the physiological sense.”

“Since we came back from the Cup, Matheuzinho has played every match for 90 minutes, and his body was already asking for recovery. So Matheuzinho was already in my plans for this game to get some rest, because that was everyone’s perception, including his own, which is the most important thing. If he had said, ‘I’m fine, I want to play,’ he would have come. But he was already exhausted from so many matches and training sessions.”

Regarding Hugo Souza, the coach revealed discomfort in his knee and explained the decision to start Kauê.

“Hugo felt a bit of a strain in his knee, he was a little unsure, and we thought it was better to put Kauê in today and give him time to recover fully.”

Finally, Diniz avoided setting a specific target position for Corinthians in the Brazilian Championship. For the coach, the team needs to aim for the best position possible and treat every match as decisive. He also lamented the points dropped in the recent defeats to Cruzeiro and Coritiba.

“As for the league, I think we have to approach every match in a decisive way. I can’t say for sure. Corinthians always have to aim for the maximum possible. We lost two games, against Cruzeiro and in today’s match. At the very least, we should have drawn because of the way the games unfolded. We had chances to win both one and the other.”

“They were two defeats that, in my view, were very painful. We should have made better use of the chance to play at home and beat Cruzeiro. And today was a game in which we had to take at least one point from here.”

After this run of fixtures, Corinthians will have a week without matches before returning to the pitch. Their next challenge will be against Santos on Sunday (30) at 4 p.m. at Neo Química Arena, in the 25th round of the Brazilian Championship.

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