Fernando Diniz owns poor run, apologises to Corinthians fans | OneFootball

Corinthians head coach Fernando Diniz took responsibility for the team’s current situation after the 2-1 defeat to Chapecoense on Sunday night (6) at Neo Química Arena. In a press conference after the match, the coach analyzed the team’s fourth straight loss in the Brazilian Championship, spoke about defensive mistakes, financial delays, the squad situation, and looked ahead to the clash against Estudiantes in the Conmebol Libertadores.

With the result, Corinthians remained on 32 points and reached four consecutive defeats in the national competition. Three of them came at home. Asked about the team’s goals in the Brasileirão and about his own work, Diniz said the immediate focus must be on stopping the losing streak.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca / Corinthians Agency

“As for the Brasileirão, what I’m looking at is that we have to win the next game. There’s no point looking at whether we’re going to play in the Libertadores qualifiers and things like that. We have to win the next match. That’s it, there’s not much point projecting things in the league right now. It’s a difficult situation. The four defeats hurt a lot. Three defeats at home, and I take the main responsibility for the team. There’s not much to question when we lose. It wasn’t the first defeat. The team even performed and has been performing. But we can’t lose four games in a row in the Brazilian Championship and three games at home.”

“As for my current situation in the job, my focus is to make the team win again. We haven’t been able to win in the Brasileirão. I’ve been giving my all in what I can do, and I’ll try to do even better. Try to get more out of the players so we can avoid the mistakes that are costing us defeats. In particular, some mistakes that we practically weren’t allowing opponents to capitalize on at the start of my work here. Things that are, in a way, easy to fix. We conceded two goals from goal kicks today. We had important attacking volume. We couldn’t turn it into goals. But under no circumstances should we have conceded the two goals we conceded today.”

Diniz avoids blaming the squad

The coach was also asked about the number of alternatives available in the group, especially given the inability to register reinforcements because of transfer bans. In Diniz’s view, the current problem is not a lack of ways to set up the team, but the need to turn performances into results.

“I don’t think I’m out of options. We need to win the game. If the team were playing badly, creating nothing, conceding goals, and the opponent were creating a lot of chances, then I might agree with you, but that’s not what’s happening. What I have to discuss now is the result. We have to win the game. But today’s match, under normal conditions, is not a game to lose, given the volume of chances we created and the few chances we gave away, especially in the first half.”

“You can’t analyze it the way it was put regarding the key players. Memphis is coming back, Garro had a very important spell with me here, with many assists. And the players are making an effort. We need to be more careful. We’re in a moment where we can’t switch off, especially in the defensive phase, which has been the team’s trademark in the good moments I’ve had here so far. I repeat to you, just as I said in the first answer: we made mistakes. The collective mistakes we made on the two goals were something very easy to fix. We weren’t suffering at all from that kind of mistake. So we have to approach games with a very high level of seriousness when we’re on the pitch, in the defensive phase. I think that’s the main problem. I’m not going to question the players. These are the players we have. The players who are with me, to me, are the best ones I have. And I’m going to get the best out of everyone.”

Coach expects a response in the Libertadores

Corinthians’ next commitment will be in the Libertadores quarterfinals. On Wednesday (9), Timão face Estudiantes in Argentina. Diniz hopes the current run in the Brasileirão will spark a positive response from the team.

“I hope that, in some way, it affects us positively. Because we have to react. We have to find a way to win games. Not only in the Libertadores, but also in the Brazilian Championship. Now we’re going to think about the Libertadores, which is the next game. As soon as the match against Estudiantes ends, we have to think about the Brazilian Championship again. We need to win every game that comes our way. We have to find a way to win games. That’s what we need to do. Reconnect with what we know how to do best and deliver better results.”

Diniz talks about motivation and financial delays

During the press conference, the coach was also asked whether the squad shows a different attitude in knockout matches and whether the club’s outstanding financial issues could be affecting performance.

Diniz acknowledged that competitions like the Libertadores have their own characteristics, but ruled out the idea that Corinthians are choosing which tournaments to prioritize. Regarding the delays, he admitted the situation is negative, although he does not see it as responsible for the recent results.

“So, on the first issue, there is something different about the Libertadores. Anyone playing in the Libertadores and domestic competitions... I was at Fluminense, and we also won the Libertadores. The Brazilian Championship was always harder to motivate for. But we are not in a position to choose which competition to play in. And I’ve already had a moment here with the team when we managed to perform in the Brazilian Championship, the Libertadores, and the Copa do Brasil. So right now, I completely dismiss what you said, that the team goes into Libertadores matches more motivated. No. But we have already had moments here, since I arrived, when we managed to play well in the Copa do Brasil. We were in three competitions and managed to play in a consistent way.”

“As for delayed salaries, that’s a bad thing, not a good thing. But it’s something that, if it’s happening, we have to find a way to overcome on the pitch. It’s something, I repeat, that has to be fixed, that doesn’t help at all, but we have to find a way to get past it, play better and better games, and win. Because I’m never going to come here and say this: in my job, if the client pays late, I’m not going to stop doing my best, the most I can, because my salary is late. Football has a huge meaning, it’s our life. Everything we have, we owe to football.”

“And I think the players are managing to understand that. I don’t think that’s the factor making the players fail to win games or fluctuate. That’s not the main factor, I don’t see that in the team. Since it doesn’t happen with me, I don’t notice it. In training, the players are committed, everyone is arriving on time, everyone who needs to train extra is training extra. I’m someone who usually gives a lot of training sessions on the pitch and I have nothing to complain about in that regard. We have to improve our ability to win games. The performance isn’t bad, but we have to keep performing, perform even better, but basically find a way to win games and stop conceding goals that are very avoidable, some of them.”

‘I’m very embarrassed,’ says Diniz about the fans

The negative run at Neo Química Arena also came up in the interview. Diniz apologized to the Fiel and said he is embarrassed for not being able to deliver the expected results in front of the support shown in the stands.

“As for the fans, we have to apologize. I apologize, I apologize on behalf of the players, because we have to deliver victories. The fans have been putting on a show here and there’s nothing like it anywhere else. Considering what the fans do, we have to deliver more. As for that, there’s nothing else to say except apologize and find a way to improve. I’m embarrassed, very embarrassed. And maybe the main reason is because of the fans, because the fans deserve more. They deserve more smiles, more wins, they deserve more of everything.”

In the same answer, the coach spoke about the outlook for resolving the club’s outstanding financial issues.

“As for your question about salaries, from what I know, they are doing everything they can to settle the salaries as soon as possible. There was an expectation of paying last week, but it didn’t happen. There was a mismatch there, but there is an expectation of sorting it out as soon as possible. But there isn’t an exact date.”

Diniz comments on Memphis’ remarks

After the match, Memphis Depay said in the mixed zone that he needs to receive more balls in favorable conditions so he can finish and increase his attacking involvement. Diniz treated the statement as the striker’s opinion and predicted the Dutchman will improve as he regains his best condition.

“That’s his view. He’s a player who, with time, will obviously get back to his best form. He’s a player who performs at a very high level, he has special quality. And working together with Memphis, it’s easier to notice things that I couldn’t notice when I was facing him as an opponent. And I’m sure that before long, he’s going to help us much more than he already is. But he’s a player with a very high technical and physical level as well, a very strong player, who operates on a very high shelf.”

“As for that, it’s an opinion he had, and that’s not the issue that’s going to echo. It’s something we know. He’s a player with personality and ends up saying what he thinks, in his opinion. But he’s a guy who is already helping in the way he can, he’s a very strong presence in the game, his week of training was very good and, with time, he in particular will improve a lot.”

Diniz indicates key players will stay

With the main European transfer windows now closed, the coach was also asked about the possibility of losing players in the final stretch of the season.

According to Diniz, the expectation discussed internally is that the group will stay together. If any deal does go through, the expectation is that the player would only join the new club in January.

“In principle, no one is leaving. Maybe one or two sales could happen, from what I know and from my talks with the board. If there is any sale, it would be for delivery in January. If anything different from that happens, it would be an exception. And I hope that before long I can count on André especially, and Yuri, who is in the medical department. He should be back soon to help our team.”

Coach evaluates attacking variety

Without Yuri Alberto, Diniz was also asked about a possible dependence on crosses to create chances. The coach disagreed with that assessment and cited different ways Corinthians got forward against Chapecoense.

“I don’t think we only played balls into the box today, nor against Santos was it only balls into the box. We had chances in all sorts of ways today: triangles down the side, cutbacks, shots from outside the box, one-twos. If you were talking about the game against Inter in Porto Alegre, that was a strategy we used in that match and it even worked out, as we ended up scoring two goals from aerial balls.”

“But I think today the variety was much greater than just crossing balls into the box. I think at the end of the game, when they dropped very deep, by bringing on Pedro Raul and Gui Negão, we used that tool, and it wasn’t a bad tool either. Gui Negão had a chance, Pedro Raul had a clear chance, and we had another clear chance from a cross. That’s not the problem. Crossing balls into the box is part of a strategy, but today, especially in the first half up until we conceded the second goal, we created chances in very different ways.”

About Flamengo, the opponent that will come between the two Libertadores quarterfinal matches, Diniz was brief when commenting on the planning.

“We’ll have four days to think about what we’re going to do against Flamengo.”

Yuri Alberto and André remain in transition

The coach also gave an update on Yuri Alberto and André. Neither player has a set date to return to matches yet, but both are already doing transition work.

In Yuri’s case, Diniz confirmed there was an issue related to fibrosis during recovery, which delayed the process.

“There isn’t a clear timeline. They are already doing transition work. You found out that Yuri had a small issue with fibrosis, something that happens. The department worked in an accelerated way, Yuri, both of them, but within a very professional work ethic. Everyone worked very well, and it’s something that happens, okay? So it set the timeline back a little, but they’re close, they’re already back doing transition work, both of them.”

“We hope to assess it week by week to see when they will be available. I don’t want to give you a specific timeline and then it doesn’t happen and you charge me and the medical department for it. But both are already doing transition work.”

The focus in the Brasileirão is to react game by game

Finally, Diniz again addressed the Brazilian Championship. Before the run of four defeats, Corinthians had moved close to the qualification spots for continental competitions. Now, with 32 points, the team sits in 11th place.

For the coach, setting a more distant target right now is secondary. The priority is to start winning again in order to climb the table.

“The goal is always to think about the best possible outcome. But for us to achieve the best, we have to win the next game. There’s no point in just aiming for things. We’ve had four straight defeats. Of course we want to aim high. At one point we had a very good tally before these four defeats started, and we were putting ourselves in a position of being very close to the G5, the G6 and even with chances of the G4. Now we have to think game by game, focus game by game to climb the table quickly, and then aim for bigger things.”

Corinthians will have their first chance to react this Wednesday (9), at 9:30 p.m. Brasília time, against Estudiantes at Jorge Luis Hirschi Stadium, UNO, in La Plata, in the first leg of the Libertadores quarterfinals. In the Brasileirão, the next match will be against Flamengo on Sunday (13) at the Maracanã.

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