Crespo faces pressure over São Paulo form, check out the stats | OneFootball

After a promising start in his second stint in charge of São Paulo, coach Hernán Crespo is experiencing a sharp decline in performance. With four consecutive losses, the Argentine records less than 50% of effectiveness and is going through a difficult phase at Tricolor Paulista.

Promising start

In his debut, Crespo saw São Paulo lose to Flamengo by 2 to 0. Subsequently, the Argentine led the Tricolor to six unbeaten matches, with five victories (Corinthians, Juventude, Fluminense, Athletico-PR and Internacional) and a draw (Red Bull Bragantino).

His second defeat came against Athletico-PR, which eliminated São Paulo from the Copa do Brasil. After that, Crespo strung together another sequence of five games without losing, including qualification to the quarterfinals of the Libertadores, by eliminating Atlético Nacional on penalties.

With six victories, four draws and only two losses in his first 12 games, Crespo achieved a performance of 61.1%. However, in the last seven matches, São Paulo showed a strong drop in performance.

Performance decline

During this period, Tricolor only won against Atlético-MG and Botafogo, but suffered five losses (LDU, twice, as well as Cruzeiro, Santos and Ceará). In addition to the elimination in the Libertadores, the previously positive record turned negative.

Now, only the Brazilian Championship remains for São Paulo. The team's fluctuation also reflected in the stands: the fans recorded the worst attendance of the year last Monday, against Ceará.

Crespo x Zubeldía

In his first 19 games, Crespo has eight victories, four draws and seven losses, with 49.1% of effectiveness. Compared to the start of his predecessor, Luis Zubeldía, current coach of Fluminense, the performance is inferior.

Zubeldía arrived at São Paulo in April 2024 and had a consistent start: 11 victories, five draws and three losses in 19 games, with 66.6% of effectiveness, much higher than that recorded by Crespo.

Next steps

Crespo was responsible for taking São Paulo out of the eight-year title drought by winning the 2021 Paulistão over Palmeiras. Now, the Argentine is looking to find the path to victories again and improve Tricolor's campaign in the Brasileirão.

Currently, São Paulo occupies the seventh position, with 35 points - five less than Bahia, the sixth place and the first team in the G6. Tricolor returns to the field this Thursday, at 19:30 (Brasília time), against Fortaleza, at Castelão, for the 26th round.

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