A Superclásico always leaves fabric to be cut. And much more so if it is a head-to-head with direct elimination, where there will be consequences. Either for better or for worse. You either come out strengthened or hurt.
And in River they know it
. That is why they believe that the confrontation against
Boca
, on Sunday, in Córdoba,
could be a turning point .
“It's Paris or Devoto
,” says someone close to
Martín Demichelis
. And a member of the coaching staff doubles down:
“Either Demichelismo is born or it becomes complicated for us
. ”
Anyway, there will be no cataclysm.
If River does not go to Boca, Demichelis will continue in his position because the leadership fully supports him
. But where those closest to the coach point is towards the relationship with the fans, something that 'Micho' still could not or did not know how to develop. Although these links generally occur naturally and are not built.
It's a matter of skin
.
In any case, if the people of River Plate are looking askance at Demichelis,
the coach has a lot to do with their decisions
. Whether in terms of football, with a team that is far from filling the fans' eyes for now, or externally, with strange statements in press conferences or the already known and archived problems in the locker room.
One of the phrases that left him in a bad light was related to Boca coach
Diego Martínez
, precisely. It was after the Superclásico that they tied 1 to 1 at the Monumental, on February 25.
"If I end up with seven defenders, I don't respect River's history
," said 'Micho', alluding to how Xeneize had finished the match.
Days later he sent a private message to Martínez to apologize
.
Although Demichelis' numbers are in his favor (he won three titles and has 69% effectiveness), in River - it is known - there is a greater demand, which has to do with the game. And Justiniano Posse from Córdoba is in that search. In the last two games, the victories against Instituto and Nacional de Montevideo, for the League Cup and the Libertadores, respectively, there was an improvement, which had to do, mainly, with the change of scheme.
With the 4-3-1-2 we saw a more organized, balanced team and the players felt more comfortable. Football flowed more: there was greater and better circulation of the ball
.
In this way, Micho went from making a large number of changes from game to game, to only making one and due to injury, which was the modification of Facundo Colidio for Miguel Borja. It hasn't happened since the first dates. After the third game, the 5-0 defeat of Vélez, he began to make between two to six changes from match to match.
The support for Borja was precisely a success of Demichelis in this semester
. In principle he was going to be a substitute, but with Pablo Solari in the Pre-Olympic, the attacking duo at the beginning of the year was Colidio-Borja. And the Colombian took advantage of the opportunity with goals. He scored 13 (12 in the League Cup, of which he is one of the scorers and 1 in the Argentine Cup) and is the team's top scorer.
Between the coach and Hummingbird, they also intelligently left last year's quarrels behind
.
Although, on the other hand, he became entangled in variants in other positions,
especially as a central midfielder, a key position
. There,
Nicolás Fonseca, Matías Kranevitter, Rodrigo Aliendro and Rodrigo Villagra
played alternately
. The former Talleres is the one who seems to stay with the place, playing with Aliendro nearby. And the other was on the right side, through which
Andrés Herrera
,
Agustín Sant'Anna
and
Sebastián Boselli
passed . And the one who is winning the fight is Yacaré.
Within the defect that Demichelis sometimes falls into, of having insisted in some games with the 4-3-3, his favorite tactical system, even without having all the characteristics of the performers to make it work, there was also a virtue: he did not He pigeonholed and looked for variants. As happened last year, when after the defeat against Arsenal at home, he started playing with five midfielders and the team did much better and was champion of the Professional League.
In some matches, Demichelis also knew how to correct some initial formations that had failed in time with the changes.
And he gave a shock of confidence to his players with the talks at halftime that later bore fruit
. For example, River reversed the last two matches of the League Cup, against Central and Instituto and thus achieved the classification in first place in Zone A. Previously, it had been complicated with the defeat against Huracán, when it went excessively to search the victory and in a counterattack he lost it.
In short, beyond his ups and downs,
Demichelis arrives at the Superclásico with optimism
. He relies on his immediate antecedents. Of three River-Boca matches that he already directed, he won two and tied one. Although, you don't trust it, of course. And he knows that this duel can be decisive for his future. By the way, Marcelo Gallardo was strengthened by eliminating his greatest rival. And Micho, in his own way, will seek to follow the same path. So that his cycle is filled with light.