Marcelo Gallardo It’s been a month since his return and River continues to find no game. Once again, like last week against Newell’s at the Monumental, they tied 0-0, this time in Avellaneda against Independent. And so he has four consecutive draws in the Professional League. But apart from the concern about moving away from the top (he is tenth, 9 points behind the leader) Velez) and the qualifying positions to the Libertadores Cup (in fifth place in the South American zone) in the annual table, the concern is in the (non) generation of football.
Anyway, the coach, like Lionel Scaloni in a drink advertisement, chose to look at the glass half full“I don’t want to be so dramatic about not winning the championship. It’s strange because we haven’t been able to do it since I arrived. But it’s not all negative, we are a present team. We have corrected and improved,” said Muñeco in the press conference after the classic with Independiente.
He added: “I see an improvement in the team, especially physically. Since we took over I see a present team and we have not suffered defensively. We have put together a solid defensive structure that is fine and will get better.” Still, he clarified: “We are not happy. Don’t be mistaken.”
Gallardo He had stressed that he needed to find mental, physical and footballing answers. So far, he has found the first one. And it is not minor. The second one is there at times. On the other hand, the third one has not yet appeared. And that is what keeps the River coach up at night.We still lack football flight, we need to win“, he admitted. He added: “We want to be a team with much more fluidity in the game, without getting into the chaos of everything being urgent. I am cautious and optimistic that this team will find footballing momentum because I have the players to do it.”
Of course he has them. And he put almost all of them on the field. But against Independiente, neither Simón, nor Echeverri, nor Meza, nor Colidio, nor Lanzini nor Mastantuono could give River any playmaking in the Libertadores de América, nor a different touch. What’s more, the one who ended up trying to filter passes was Nicolás Fonseca. A symptom. Although the problem was not the Uruguayan, who held his own, and even tried to filter the passes himself, but the playmakers. The creation failed and there were almost no arrivals. And if there are, if Miguel Borja doesn’t score, nobody does.
The lack of goals in the team is already alarmingSo far in the League, he has scored 15 (in 13 games) and only 2, against Huracán and Gimnasia (in 4 games) have been since the arrival of Muñeco.
On the other hand, on the other side of the glass, the defensive sector, Gallardo has already hit the nail on the headSo far, they have only scored three goals against them, two of them (the other in the Copa Libertadores) in the League and one of them (against Gimnasia) was with a substitute defense.
Gallardo intends to take advantage of the four-man line and a goal that is practically unbeaten to give his team confidence and strength.
Now, Muñeco will have two weeks of work until the next match against Atlético Tucumán, due to the break in the double round of the South American Qualifiers. And from there he will try to start to find some footballing momentum. So that his team can start to take off.
