Analysis: ‘Defeat exposes Palmeiras’ home struggles in second half’ | OneFootball

Palmeiras opened the second half of the Brazilian Championship with a loss to Atlético-MG at Nubank Parque. The setback exposed the difficulty the team will face at home in the second half of the competition.

Defensive opponents

Verdão still has 27 points to contest at Nubank Parque in the closing stretch of the Brasileirão. It may have to leave there to play at Arena Barueri at some point, especially in the year it has played away from home the most since the renovation.

The theme of these matches, with a few exceptions, will be facing opponents who sit deep and stay behind the ball, as happened against the team from Minas Gerais. Even with 69% possession and 22 shots (six on target), Palmeiras struggled to put together moves near Everson’s goal, and he wasted more time than he was actually tested.

Attack! Down the right?

Even without Barboza, suspended, Abel Ferreira, back on the bench after the World Cup, kept the same tactical setup that had worked against Coritiba. Emiliano Martínez took the Argentine’s place, and Giay returned in place of Khellven, who was also out due to an accumulation of yellow cards.

With defensive traits and limited attacking ability, Palmeiras focused a large part of its offensive play on the side of the No. 4. Giay has 88 appearances and has still not managed to register even a single assist. The difficulties of the first half continued after the break until he was substituted, shortly after the goal conceded following Carlos Miguel’s mistake.

Sofascore reproduction

To maintain the three-defender system, which seems to be the Portuguese coach’s preference from now on, it is necessary to have players who are more comfortable going forward. Khellven, for example, is one of them. Even Felipe Anderson can occupy that space and was the option off the bench who could have started. Looking ahead, Allan is the most suitable player on that side to give the team more attacking power.

Upcoming matches

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