Flamengo faces Sport, this Saturday (15), at 6:30 pm (Brasília time), for the Brazilian Championship. The game is delayed, but it is worth a lot for the red and black team, as they could end the weekend as leader of the Brasileirão depending on the combination of results. Given this, fans have been demanding more attention from the players at the end of games and coach Filipe Luís commented on the latest failures: “Against Estudiantes, we had Plata’s unfair expulsion. We were inside Estudiantes’ area to score the third goal, we had chances. It’s not fair to talk about that. Today is a separate case. Today it was 3-0, it was in the 42nd minute and we conceded a goal. We have to try to understand the moment that is happening on the field, which is Santos “
Furthermore, Flamengo will have to overcome 12 absences for the match. Among them, defender Léo Ortiz. The athlete still feels pain in his ankle and João Victor will be his replacement. Mais Querido’s coach spoke about the situation: “What specific defensive errors? Each goal had a different context. We conceded with one goal down, goals on the counterattack.
Of course, Léo is a defender for the Brazilian national team. The same way as Danilo, the same way I see Léo Pereira, who is at a better level in Brazil. Mistakes happen during games, but each goal has a different context. If we were always conceding goals between the two defenders or if it happened again, I would say there is a problem in the defensive sector. But the goals happened in different ways. The opponent’s merit, individual errors, as was the case against São Paulo, several other reasons. My job is to identify what can be improved, even without having scored a goal. Every game there are defensive errors, even when we don’t concede a goal. Of course we hope that Léo returns as soon as possible because he is an important player for us.”
Finally, Filipe also responded about what he should do in the middle and in the team’s formation with the absences: “Our squad is designed in a very concrete way, with two full-backs per position, with defenders, six midfielders. Within this structure and the game model, we make variations. We often change the system in a way that goes unnoticed by the eyes of many throughout the game. Certainly, one of the possibilities is to place one of these players in that role, for sure. However, other players would have to perform other functions that have not been performed and, perhaps, we would not have the right pieces to act in this way. During the night, many ideas come, my head doesn’t stop thinking of ideas and solutions to put the pieces in the best way that fits, and the game is fluid in the best possible way.”
