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What Should Scolari Do To Bring Brazil Back On Track ?

Two games into the tournament, and the Brazilian team is yet to impress, in fact, if not for Yuichi Nishimura, Brazil would have been in a really bad situation now. The team till now has been lackluster, highly disorganized on the field & the lack of ideas in their play is so evident. They had big problems with Croatia in the opening game & again with Mexico in the 2nd, they were expected to have improved in the 2nd game, but the home nation still looked very Neymar-depended and on times Mexico appeared as the dominant team on the field and caused a lot of trouble.

So, what should Scolari change in order to improve his team’s game before getting into the real action in the upcoming stages of the tournament?

1) Fernandinho in, Paulinho out:

Felipao” depends a lot on the Spurs man as his box to box player, but Paulinho looks a ghost of the player who was superb just one year ago in the Confederations, and was one of the protagonists of the team, looks lost of his final touch. His contribution in the attacks is essential for Brazil’s gameplay since Scolari plays an additional player in the midfield, but till now he failed to produce.

Fernandinho on the other hand had a great season with Manchester City, playing the same role as Paulinho did, scoring 6 goals and assisting 3 more in his first season in the Premier League. He knows when to march forward effectively & when to stay behind & cover his centre backs. The introduction of the EPL winner could provide more dynamicity and flare to the midfield.

2) “La prima punta“, the central forward:

Fred is a classical striker, a static one who remains in the box and seeks for the help of his team mates to assist him. He’s not to blame entirely on his poor showings in the two games against Croatia & Mexico, still, he isn’t the name that most Brazilians would have preferred to have as their striker in the World Cup, but given the lack of options upfront, Scolari might have to opt for one of the two solutions.

The first is reshaping his midfield, which we will discuss in the next point, the 2nd is moving Hulk to the central forward position. The Zenit forward is more mobile than Fred and certainly a lot faster, two features that Brazil lacked during the counter -attacks because every time they tried to break , Fred had to stop, shield the ball & wait for Neymar or Oscar to arrive and pass to them, Hulk can carry the ball forward himself, he can also switch roles with Neymar comfortably on the wings and play more like a shadow striker like Muller does for Germany, making Brazil’s attack more unpredictable.

3) More Creativity in the midfield:

Neymar, and with a lesser effect Oscar, are the only two players who provide creative options for the Brazilians. When Neymar is marked, they really look out of ideas on the field, something Scolari needs to sort out. He can either shift to a 4-3-3 formation, with Oscar playing deep in the midfield not on the right wing, more in a Di Maria’s Real Madrid role, or keep the 4-2-3-1 , but with the introduction of either Hernanes as a true playmaker, giving more options to the team, and more freedom for Neymar, or Willian, who can shift easily with Neymar and Oscar, making the attack more mobile & creative, and not as predictable as in the previous games.

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