Will the Paulista be São Paulo’s testing ground? See what Crespo thinks | OneFootball

São Paulo took the field in their 1-0 victory over São Bernardo in the second round of the Campeonato Paulista with seven changes compared to the team that debuted four days earlier. Coach Hernán Crespo even changed the tactical plan—abandoning the 3-5-2 and opting for the traditional 4-3-3.

With Cédric and Wendell as full-backs, Arboleda and Sabino formed the center-back partnership. The midfield was made up of Danielzinho, Pablo Maia, and Lucas, with the attacking trio consisting of Lucca, Ferreirinha, and Gonzalo Tapia.

Given the tight schedule, Crespo acknowledged that São Paulo can indeed use the Paulistão for testing, especially with the aim of preserving the squad and avoiding injuries. Last year, the Tricolor suffered with many players in the medical department.

“During this period, we’ll try to balance the squad, always use the five substitutions. Who deserves and who doesn’t is relative. I’m talking about planning in my head, but things change. When we arrived, we were one point from the relegation zone. The team found itself with three defenders. After that, the goal changed, it was already the Libertadores, with all the difficulties, injuries in the midfield, no center forward, inventing things. Could we change something, test something different? We couldn’t. We did it against Sport, played with a back four, and ended up with a 2-2 draw. Now, why not? Because it’s Paulistão, we can change the idea, the concept, we’ll try, because we have possibilities. To train? No, but yes, by playing,” said the coach.

“The most important thing is that the players feel comfortable. I think this is the moment. Am I saying we won’t go back to playing with three defenders? I don’t know, maybe we will, maybe we won’t. The most important thing is that the players feel good in the game. Identity is something else. Today, with the rain, everything was difficult. But I think if we have to change something in the system, now is the time. The exact moment is now, with the Paulistão. Away from home, it’s more complicated, but if they’re fine, okay. At home, in theory, we’re superior, so we can try to find an identity that is usually developed during preseason everywhere in the world. But here, it’s in the Paulistão, and it can happen,” he added.

Ideal São Paulo against Corinthians?

São Paulo picked up their first win in the Campeonato Paulista, but they are already thinking about their next challenge. The Tricolor will face Corinthians in the third round at 4:00 p.m. (Brasília time) this Sunday at the Neo Química Arena.

Crespo was asked if he could field something closer to the “ideal” São Paulo in the Majestoso this weekend, but left the idea open. It’s worth noting that the coach still doesn’t have his full squad available, as the Tricolor still has three players in the medical department (André Silva, Ruan Francisco, and Luan).

“It’s day by day. At São Paulo, every day, different things happen. You have to be prepared and see. Every day is a different choice, every game is a different choice. The most important thing is the players’ health. Trying to respect each one’s recovery time, as I said before. Not everyone ended up playing, many came back from serious injuries. So let’s see what happens. Here, it’s very difficult to plan ahead [laughs],” commented Crespo.

The technical staff’s idea, therefore, is to keep rotating the squad to prevent new injuries.

“It’s very difficult to plan when you play every three days, especially to recover the players. We do specific work so they think of this period as a preseason. We try to use the five substitutions so we don’t overload everyone with minutes, to balance the squad. Many times, things happen like the other day, against Mirassol, red card for Maik, Cédric has to start again. It’s hard to plan, because football is dynamic. We know the situation we’re in and, in the meantime, we try to have an identity, seeking positive results as well, but it’s not that easy. The priority is the players’ health and balancing the squad’s minutes, so we can have a better tomorrow,” concluded the coach.

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