Former Corinthians winner assesses Fernando Diniz's work | OneFootball

Now a coach, Danilo Andrade, who played for Corinthians between 2010 and 2018, gave an exclusive interview to Lance! and analyzed Fernando Diniz’s work at the club from Parque São Jorge. Hired in April, the current Timão boss is under pressure, as he comes into this on the back of six straight defeats in the Brasileirão and has gone seven matches without a win across all competitions this season.

The former No. 20, who now manages Uberlândia in Minas Gerais, recalled Diniz’s arrival at Timão and said that in moments of poor results like the one the Alvinegro is going through, the blame will always fall on the coach: “The bill always comes due. But let’s look at it this way: when the team are champions and win, you can see that the credit goes to the players; little is said about the coach. And when they lose, the blame is only on the coach. So, there are many things involved. I think football is like that. Unfortunately, we live off results. You can be anywhere today. If you don’t get results, you get fired. So, we already go to the club knowing that.”

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

“You need to win, you need victories, so that you can keep going. It’s an example with Diniz: he arrived and did very well, at that moment things were good. Now he’s going through a bad spell and all the pressure falls on him. But football has been like this for a long time. When you win, little is said; when you lose, the coach gets the blame,” he began.

He then commented on whether the criticism of the Corinthians coach’s work is really fair: “No, I wouldn’t say unfair. But football here in Brazil is like that, it’s all about results. If you don’t get results, you’ll be under pressure, and most of the blame always falls on the coach. So it’s not just at Corinthians. Every club in Brazil is like that,” he added.

After working in Corinthians’ youth setup between 2021 and 2024, leading the Under-23 and Under-20 teams, in that order, Danilo took some time away from football but still kept studying. In the 2026 season, he has been having his first experiences as a coach of professional teams. At the start of it, he took over Pouso Alegre and reached the semifinals of the Campeonato Mineiro, later winning the state tournament’s interior title. Then, in the middle of this year, he took charge of Uberlândia and won Série D, consequently earning promotion to Série C of the Brasileirão.

“A memorable year for me, for my career, for the moment I’m in. I left Corinthians’ Under-20s and spent a little over a year waiting for an opportunity from another club. I had some things come up, but in the end I didn’t go. We were waiting for something more organized and Uberlândia came along. I think it came at a good moment in my life, at the right time. So, for me, this year has been a very good job, and now this achievement here. So, it’s been a year that started very well,” he said.

With the Minas Gerais side so far, he has seven wins, four draws and two defeats in 13 matches. In addition, the team has scored 17 goals and conceded eight. The success rate is 73.7%. In charge of Pouso Alegre, there were four wins, one draw and five defeats – a 43.3% success rate.

At the moment, after six straight defeats in the Brazilian Championship, the club from Parque São Jorge sits only 14th in the tournament with 32 points – eight wins, eight draws and 12 defeats, with 29 goals scored and 32 conceded. During the FIFA break, the Alvinegro resumed training at CT Dr. Joaquim Grava last Friday (25).

Timão, coached by Fernando Diniz, will play again only on October 7 at 7:30 p.m. (Brasília time), against Internacional at Beira-Rio Stadium, in a match for the 29th round of the national competition and a direct clash in the battle against relegation. The team from Rio Grande do Sul is in 18th place, in the relegation zone, with 28 points.

Danilo’s statistics in Corinthians’ youth setup – Under-20

In two years with Corinthians’ Under-20s, there were 69 wins, 20 draws and 25 defeats. In addition to the Copinha title in 2024, won against Cruzeiro, he was runner-up in the Brasileirão and the Campeonato Paulista in 2022. In 2023, he was stopped in the semifinals of the Brazilian Championship in the category, being eliminated by Palmeiras. Danilo also played a part in the promotion of Murillo, Gabriel Moscardo, Breno Bidon and Wesley to Timão’s senior squad in recent seasons.

Danilo’s numbers as a Corinthians player

Danilo played for Corinthians between 2010 and 2018. During that period, he had 35 goals and 36 assists in 359 matches (211 as a starter), with 193 wins, 90 draws and 76 defeats – a 62.1% success rate. In addition, he won eight titles: Campeonato Paulista (2013, 2017 and 2018), Brasileirão (2011, 2015 and 2017), Libertadores (2012), Club World Cup (2012) and Recopa Sudamericana (2013).

Crisis in the season, declining numbers under Fernando Diniz, and the fight against relegation

The club from Parque São Jorge has not won in the Brazilian Championship since August 9, when it beat Red Bull Bragantino 2-0 at Estádio Cícero de Souza Marques in the 22nd round of the competition, with goals from attacking midfielder Rodrigo Garro and striker Pedro Raul. Since then, there have been six straight defeats – Cruzeiro (H – 1-2), Coritiba (A – 2-1), Santos (H – 0-1), Chapecoense (H – 1-2), Flamengo (A – 2-1) and Fluminense (H – 1-3). This run of consecutive losses had not happened since 2006 and caused the Corinthians side to go from fighting for a G5 spot – the qualification zone for the 2027 Libertadores preliminary rounds – to battling against relegation.

Corinthians’ last victory came on August 20, when they beat Rosario Central-ARG 1-0 at Neo Química Arena in the second leg of the round of 16 of the 2026 Conmebol Libertadores. Since then, there has been one draw (Estudiantes-ARG) and six defeats (Coritiba, Santos, Chapecoense, Flamengo, Estudiantes-ARG and Fluminense) – the team’s second-worst winless run of the year.

Since Fernando Diniz’s arrival at Corinthians at the beginning of April, the club has recorded 13 wins, 10 draws and 11 defeats – 36 goals scored and 31 conceded, which represents a 48% success rate. In his first seven matches in charge, Diniz had five wins and two draws, without conceding a single goal. Before the break for the World Cup, the Alvinegro posted a 64.5% success rate under the coach – nine wins, four draws and three defeats.

The scenario, however, changed. After the return, there have been four wins, eight draws and eight defeats – a 33.3% success rate. In this stretch came the eliminations in the round of 16 of the Copa do Brasil and in the Libertadores quarterfinals, against Internacional and Estudiantes-ARG, respectively.

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