6 pecados de Tite durante a Copa do Mundo. Por Murilo Augustohttps://t.co/UfMVf4FW8N pic.twitter.com/Ro1yiVCtsA— ESPN FC (@ESPNFCbra) July 11, 2018 #1 - Agree #2 - I don't see an issue. #3 - I agree about the players, but not the tactics. They changed in game. I also think it's overblown that Belgium surprised us tactically. We adapted after a few minutes and unfortunately, they got an own goal that allowed them to sit back and counter. #4 - I agree to an extent. I don't think Firmino was going to solve the goal scoring problem. We didn't have any alternative to Paulinho on the squad. RA wasn't in form in the group stage and Fred wasn't either. You can knock Tite about those things (#1), but his hands were tied with the squad he had. He did pull Danilo for Fagner and I think he would have done the same with Willian had DC not got hurt. #5 - Not his fault. Rafinha may have been a better option than Danilo, but he wasn't going to balance our right side with our left. The lack of options in the midfield made him keep Coutinho in rather than deploying him on the right. #6 - Even if Tite settled on a captain, it still wouldn't have made a difference. We do not have a proven captain on the squad. We saw what happened with Thiago Silva in 2014. Miranda isn't vocal enough. Marcelo doesn't really lead by example. We've tried Neymar as a captain. Daniel Alves was probably the best option, but he was hurt. Once again, not Tite's fault.
100% on both comments. We really are only left with the age old discussion of whether talented teams have an obligation to be more enterprising. http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-wor...-so-deschamps-wont-change-for-world-cup-final
For me, the main negatives for Tite are (i) Selecting Fagner (who is not only not good but also so short!). It was a terrible pick because he was awful when chosen earlier. (ii) Picking injured players (Fred, RA etc. but this is on the medical staff as well) (iii) Choosing players he was never going to use and who are also unlikely to contribute to Brazil in the future and will likely be forgotten (instead he should have chosen one or two younger but superior players who are likely to contribute in the future) (iv) Not replacing GJ with Firmino in the knockouts (since GJ was not working out) (v) Not bringing D Costa sooner vs Belgium (like he did against Costa Rica) (vi) Replacing Felipe Luis with Marcelo against Belgium (Marcelo was the first choice though) (vii) Naming the squad and the first XI months before the event (viii) Showing blind faith in players playing the qualifiers and possibly not on players who are in form and in better condition/competitive environment prior to the event (this has been a problem with Brazilian coaches of late) (ix) Changing the formation during the event without attempting it before (maybe it happened because of Alves’ injury or the pressure to be more creative but why fix something that has been working well?) The democratization of captaincy, media exposure etc. are non-issues I think. The best thing Tite did was get rid of Neymar dependency. Also, Brazil under him looked much better than under Dunga, both offensively and defensively. The next WC will be in the middle of the European season I think. So, there will be less concern with fatigue, injury etc. Assuming that he will remain in charge, among other things (such as finding scorers), he also has to think about compensating for the height disadvantage Brazil nowadays has against European teams and also some disadvantage in strength and acceleration. There is an obvious need to find goal scorers and playmakers urgently (and also wingbacks).
Who would you have selected over Fagner? Rafinha is only an inch taller. No one was clamoring for Filipe Luis prior to the tournament.
It’s not Tite fault his first choice right back got injured before the tournament and his second choice right back got injured during the tournament. Fagner was Brazil 3rd choice RB. You can fault him for not cutting the injured players though. Too many weren’t fit and therefore wasn’t useful options off the bench. Sticking with Jesus for so long was also a mistake IMO.
I was hoping Croatia could have finished it in regular time. Do they have the legs for a third consecutive OT?
Unfortunately I don’t think Croatia has a chance in the final. They’ll face a superior and more physical team with one day less of rest and having played more intense matches.
Holy crap Croatia. Winning 3 consecutive overtimes, all 3 after having been down a goal. That's an incredible physical and mental feat. (They've effectively already played 7 games) They want it.
All this talk about Belgium's SUPER GOLDEN GENERATION was pretty much crap. It's Croatia that has a super golden generation and they did it quietly. I'm pulling for Croatia, I hope they beat France. Also, I think we should revisit the "Yugoslavia question", i.e., what would have happened if Yugoslavia had remained whole and would they have been able to win multiple World Cup's. I vote maybe.