“Tactical” Roger hails win over “well-drilled side”: “No ordinary team” | OneFootball

There’s nothing like taking it one day at a time. That is the motto of coach Roger Machado, who said so in his press conference after the 1-0 win over Mirassol in Campinas (SP), in the Brazilian Championship.

Despite the narrow scoreline, the coach valued the final result, praising the opponent’s strengths and how strategic Tricolor was on the field in controlling the action and securing the three points.

“An important win, it gives us some breathing room and keeps us in step with the teams at the top. It was a very strategic game. We didn’t beat just any team; they are very well coached. We controlled the opponent and had volume. In the second half, we made mistakes on simpler balls and let the emotional side take over, and along with it the tactical side as well,” he said.

“The goal came at the best possible time, with Mirassol having big players up front. Not every game is going to be brilliant, but today I think we deserved the win because of the matchups and the strategy that the players followed to the letter, both offensively and defensively,” the manager added, commenting on Luciano’s decisive goal in the 30th minute of the second half.

Regarding the scoreline, the same one achieved during the week against Juventude in the first leg of the fifth round of the Copa do Brasil, the coach admitted that the squad needs to work more to improve its attacking efficiency.

“It’s about chemistry. The players need to look for each other more. The possibility of having one more player in the middle when we have possession gives us more short, supportive play. Luciano has been performing a different role, with more freedom on the field and without staying away from the box, where he has the ability to trouble the center backs. That creates this condition when Cauly is combining with our holding midfielders. Bobadilla and Daniel can get forward, as long as one maintains the defensive diagonal. Today there were a lot of blocked shots because of the way the opponent plays. As we raise the level of chemistry among these players, we will naturally create more chances,” he said.

Even so, Roger admitted that specifically this Saturday, the fact that Mirassol sat deep made things more difficult, with Tricolor finishing with 19 shots and only one on target. That does not worry the coach.

“I don’t see it that way. The circumstances in the details of the chances are a consequence of the difficulty the opponent imposes on you. There’s no way not to count the blocked opportunities because we got into those positions. I don’t think it’s a small thing; we are still building. There will be times when we create three chances and score all of them. The volume shows that we are getting into the opponent’s box. We can’t dismiss that. Now it’s about refining that moment; sometimes we want to make the cleaner play and don’t take the shot. It’s about shooting, hitting the target, forcing a rebound. Take the chance, hit the target, make the goalkeeper pull off a miracle or spill it,” he said.

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