Pre-match: Copa América de 2019, Quartas de Final - Brasil x Paraguai, 27 de Junho de 2019

Tite needs to decide between Firmino and GJ and play them as the 9. Splitting out GJ to the right and occasionally swapping flanks with Everton isn't going to cut it. Firmino can't play on the wing either. The only true winger play we were getting is from Everton, and if that is going to be the case moving forward, we are screwed. I'd much rather have Willian out on the wing than GJ at this point, as much as I am not a fan of Willian's game at this point of his career. He'll still give the work rate that Tite is looking for and currently has GJ doing, and will provide better play on the wing than GJ will.

Coutinho went missing yesterday. If he's going to play centralized, Tite needs him to drop a bit deeper to receive the ball, especially against teams who play defensively. Even when Coutinho did touch the ball, he was making errant passes. This is why I would have preferred someone like Paqueta who plays a bit deeper and have Coutinho operate on the wing where he has more space and is a threat to cut inside and shoot.

I thought the defense is mostly solid. Filipe Luis did well defensively in the first half -- flawless in winning balls and not giving up space. He really wasn't a factor moving forward, and Alex Sandro added a bit extra in that department in the second half with his pace.

Alves had another good game IMO. There were a couple of periods (one midway through the first half and later in the second half before being subbed) where he was getting very careless with the ball, which leads to some potentially dangerous counters from Paraguay.

Overall, I thought we played decent. We lacked some quality in the final third in terms of a final pass and good finish. I think most of that was due to poor play from Firmino, GJ and the disappearance of Coutinho. I think our attacks for most of the game were too centralized. We needed to work the flanks more. Even Alves was cutting inside a bunch to distribute because there wasn't good wing player on the right for him to work with.

 

Firmino isn't a 9. He a false 9 basically and plays that way at Liverpool. I think GJ still could develop into a good 9. Confidence definitely seems to be an issue and unfortunately, a big issue for a lot of players that were developed in recent times. GJ was pretty good for us during the qualifiers. Ever since the WC, he's been poor. When was the last time we have seen him rip a shot like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aan_vIbkiz0

 

Se o Brasil acabou imagina a Italia ...