Palmeiras stunned by Novorizontino, a night to forget in cup shock | OneFootball

“Let it be an eye-opener for everyone,” said coach Abel Ferreira during the brief press conference after Palmeiras' embarrassing defeat last Tuesday night. Unrecognizable, the Verdão was dominated by apathy in the 4-0 thrashing by Novorizontino, away from home, in the fourth round of the Paulistão. The green-and-white squad had a “night to forget,” as the saying goes, but needs to raise the alarm early in the season to avoid another year without titles.

Terrible first half

Abel continued the rotation policy and fielded a mixed team, with the return of some starters, including Veiga and Murilo. Palmeiras started the match taking the initiative and with ball possession. However, the green-and-white team did not show much inspiration in the first few minutes, with little support in ball transition and very little use of space on the flanks, forcing the play through the middle.

However, the Verdão could not improve offensively. The team struggled to play out from the back, largely due to Novorizontino's effective pressing, and began to suffer defensively. The home team also capitalized on aerial balls to open the scoring. Verdão's defense seemed to have a complete breakdown, and Robson appeared free in the area, heading in after a corner. Palmeiras, as a whole, was disorganized and inattentive in the first 25 minutes.

Palmeiras' offensive production in the first half was practically nil. The green-and-white team had possession but took a long time to create dangerous chances and could not maintain the same intensity as in previous games, also making many poor decisions and overusing long balls. The team's best chance came in the 36th minute when Riquelme Fillipi headed for Jordi's save.

Without direction in all tactical and technical aspects, Palmeiras, when attempting to show some sign of life, saw the situation worsen with Novorizontino's second goal. The defense failed to organize and gave too much freedom to the opponents. Mayk advanced alone on the right and crossed to the far post. Piquerez and Murilo 'clashed' and Robson appeared free behind the full-back, scoring first-time. In short, Verdão's attitude left much to be desired in the first half.

Unrecognizable Palmeiras

Even with the poor performance in the first half, Abel chose not to make many changes to the team. The only substitution was the entry of young Benedetti in place of Murilo. Palmeiras seemed to return from the break with a bit more intensity but was stopped by the few spaces allowed by Novorizontino's defense in the early minutes. Still, what was seen was a more combative team in midfield.

Faced with the deficit on the scoreboard, Abel made more changes to the team and brought on two forwards in hopes of turning the result around. However, when Palmeiras thought about staging a comeback, Novorizontino scored the third goal through an individual mistake by Luighi, who had just come on. The forward made an error in ball transition, and Robson, alert, completed the hat-trick.

The third goal was the beginning of the end for Palmeiras, who already had no desire to remain on the field. The green-and-white club saw the third goal as a cold shower, and soon after, Novorizontino scored the fourth, sealing Verdão's fate. Benedetti made a mistake in ball transition, and Léo Naldi launched Hélio Borges, who placed his shot to close the humiliation at 4-0.

Is the scenario a tragedy for Palmeiras after the thrashing? The tendency is that it is not, as the team has a good score in the standings and was coming off three consecutive victories. This squad has already shown it knows how to get out of tough situations and has a good opportunity to respond in the derby against São Paulo, scheduled for this weekend.

However, more than hurting the fans, the thrashing by Novorizontino reopened the space for strong questioning of Abel Ferreira's work. Last season, the coach was heavily criticized by part of the fans and was even insulted by supporters at Allianz Parque during the elimination against Corinthians in the Copa do Brasil. It remains to be seen how the coach and the squad will handle this tough blow.

Standings situation

With the result, Palmeiras suffered their first defeat in the Campeonato Paulista and missed the chance to take the lead, which could have happened with a victory and a slip by Red Bull Bragantino. The Verdão fell to third place, remaining with the same nine points from the start of the round.

This was also the worst defeat of the Abel Ferreira era. During his five years at the club, the coach had never suffered a loss by four goals.

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