Opinion: ‘Nearly all of Palmeiras would be on resits, Abel must explain’ | OneFootball

For a long time, I’ve heard a phrase that always made me reflect and that can be applied to Palmeiras’ current situation: “If the whole class, or almost most of it, does poorly on a test, the blame usually lies with the teacher, who is struggling to teach the material.”

I decided to bring that into football and into Verdão’s last few days, months, or even years. The team led by Abel Ferreira has had, in about 18 months, only 60 days of football that truly excited the fans.

After being eliminated by their biggest rival, at home, the Portuguese coach found a solution with the Flaco-Roque duo. It was temporary and had a very short shelf life. Even before the season ended, the team was no longer working.

For some time now, Palmeiras have lived off individual flashes and very little collective inspiration. It’s common to hear that players A, B, C... and Z are out of form, deserve to be benched, or are technically struggling.

I understand that some players really are not in the best form they’ve ever shown at the club, and there does need to be accountability. But it would be too much of a coincidence for almost the entire squad to be underperforming at the same time and to be the only ones to blame.

Let me go back a few years. October 2020. The main organized supporters’ group criticized the performances of Vanderlei Luxemburgo’s team and had a “cut list” of players who were underperforming at that time.

Names like Gustavo Scarpa, Felipe Melo, Marcos Rocha, Rony, Luan, Raphael Veiga, Mayke, Jailson, and Zé Rafael were chanted, and the desire for those departures was almost unanimous.

Remember the school comparison? When everyone, or the vast majority, does badly? Well then, the coach was changed, Abel Ferreira arrived, and many of those players became key figures in the club’s victorious era.

Back to 2026.

If this were a school, almost Palmeiras’ entire class would be in remedial recovery, and teacher Abel would need to explain himself.

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