Dorival explains rotation, expects Corinthians to struggle in the Paulistão | OneFootball

Dorival Júnior justified the decision to rotate the Corinthians squad after the 3-0 defeat to Red Bull Bragantino this Thursday in Bragança Paulista, during the second round of the Campeonato Paulista. The coach spoke about the short pre-season and believes the team will face difficulties in the State Championship.

“We have no other option [rotation], fans will have to get used to it. We had a minimal recovery time, and even less time to prepare. It wasn’t ideal. We’re facing three Serie A opponents after the first match. We finished a competition on the 21st, had very little time to rest and prepare,” said the coach at a press conference.

“Get ready, because we will face difficulties in the Campeonato Paulista, which could even compromise the start of the Brasileiro. We are looking for some names in the market, players who can fit into Corinthians, without making major investments,” he added.

Dorival took responsibility for the negative result and expects a stronger team for the tough stretch that Timão has ahead. The next matches will be against São Paulo and Santos.

“I have to be conscious and balanced. I am responsible for the results. The choices were ours, I can’t change that. I couldn’t put the same team to play in practically two consecutive derbies. We are dealing with the difficulties and working to ease them. I warned that we would face difficulties because of all this. We all want immediate results. I hope we can have a stronger team for these two matches,” he commented.

Why Cacá?

The Corinthians manager also explained the decision to play Cacá out of position at right-back, instead of giving a chance to João Vitor Jacaré, a youth academy player who was on the bench. Although the center-back was at fault for two of Bragantino’s goals, Dorival does not believe he had a “bad game.”

“We are preparing Jacaré. When we think it’s appropriate, he will be on the field. Cacá is there because he has been training for that role. I don’t think he had a bad game, it was difficult to mark the player he was up against. Even so, he gave us some good things. I know that maybe a good part of the fans won’t accept it, but he’s a player who deserves respect. He’s working very hard to get back to his best,” he assessed.

Focus on the derby

Corinthians’ focus is now on the Majestoso, scheduled for this Sunday. Dorival asks that the defeat not affect the team and guarantees the squad will be ready for the sequence of two derbies.

“It shouldn’t affect anything, just as we didn’t bring last weekend’s victory into today. We need to stay calm and play football similar to what we did last weekend. We’ll have a ready and recovered team so we can play two great matches in the sequence of the competition,” he concluded.

Standings situation

Corinthians suffered their first defeat in the Paulistão and dropped down the tournament standings. Timão is now in eighth place, with three points.

Corinthians’ next match

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