Santos – São Paulo: Still without Neymar, Santos concede a draw in the derby with Lucas Moura’s impact (1-1)

When we think about a Santos match and say that a player who played for PSG decided the scoreline, Neymar usually comes to mind. Instead, it was Lucas Moura of São Paulo who scored the equalizer in this historic derby between the teams. The match was valid for the second round of the Brasileirão, after the sides had already faced each other in the Campeonato Paulista, the state competition.

Tactical analysis and match report by Marcus Arboés.

The beginning of the year in Brazil is always much more focused on these regional state competitions, where local teams face each other. If Rio de Janeiro has Fluminense and Flamengo, the state of São Paulo has São Paulo and Santos. However, due to this year’s calendar, the state championship had to overlap with the Brasileirão, which started much earlier than usual. As a result, these opening matches tend to be played at a lower intensity and feature many tests by the coaches.

Vojvoda, the coach who kept Santos in the first division alongside Neymar and company, has been rotating his squad while maintaining a base built in a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 outline, with some changes in personnel. Still without Neymar, who was physically unavailable, he lined up Brazão (former Internazionale) in goal; Mayke, Frias, Luan Peres and Escobar in the defensive line; João Schmidt, Zé Rafael and Gabriel Menino (former Brazil National Team) in midfield; and Rony (former Palmeiras), Barreal and Gabriel Barbosa (former Internazionale and Benfica) in attack.

After beating Santos 2-0 in the Campeonato Paulista, the legendary Hernán Crespo, who has been trying to organize his team amid a political crisis at the club, needed to rotate his midfield and attack. He therefore set the team up in a 3-5-2 outline with Rafael in goal; a back three of Alan Franco, Arboleda (former Ecuador National Team) and Sabino; Maik as the right wingback and Enzo Diaz on the left; a midfield trio of Pablo Maia, Bobadilla (Paraguay) and Danielzinho; and an attacking pair of the Argentine Calleri and the Chilean Tapia.

How does Santos play without Neymar?

This is the main theme of the match not because of forcing protagonism on the team’s star, but because there is a clear change in the team’s playing model without him. Watching the match and comparing it to last year, it is possible to see that Vojvoda still wants two players inside, but this time without the presence of a number ten. In the early matches of the year, this was evident, and it was how Santos dominated São Paulo in the first half.

Santos attack shifting from a 4-3-3 formation into a 4-2-4 shape against São Paulo’s defense in a 4-3-2.

The best moments of a sleepy first half came from Santos’ attacking construction. Even without Neymar and with limited creativity, the team showed several mechanisms to progress and find space in the attacking half, focusing on wide play, the dynamics between the forwards and positional ball circulation.

Moves tended to start down the left. Winger Barreal stayed wide to receive in amplitude and drive the ball inside, using overlaps from fullback Escobar on the outside or holding midfielder Zé Rafael on the inside, as well as support runs from Gabriel, who played as a false nine inside. When the ball circulated, the center backs and João Schmidt acted as support to find Mayke or Gabriel Menino alternating between operating inside the half space or wide on the opposite side, while Rony acted as a penetrative forward, attacking the space behind São Paulo’s defense.

Crespo’s team defended in a low block, focusing on closing spaces and protecting themselves from width in a simple 5-3-2 shape. The fullback or midfielder on the ball side pressed the ball carrier, while the others compensated. The center backs protected the box or tracked Gabriel when he dropped. Because the team defended well in a line of five, switches of play to find Mayke or Gabriel Menino were not very effective.

In a tight first half with little creativity, São Paulo dropped their lines so deep that it gave center back Frias some freedom to step forward, shoot and take advantage of a mistake by goalkeeper Rafael, allowing his namesake Zé Rafael to score the opening goal at the end of the first half.

Hernán Crespo remains a problem for Santos

Santos were already in a difficult situation the previous week after losing 2-0 to São Paulo in the Campeonato Paulista. Even though that match was shaped by Gabriel Menino’s red card, Crespo made an impactful tactical change by placing Marcos Antônio and Danielzinho, both good passers, deeper and outside Santos’ central pressing block to seek depth. This time, he managed to overturn the unfavorable scenario with another tactical adjustment, but one that was more systematic.

São Paulo’s offensive organization in a 3-5-2 formation, using the mobility of the midfield trio to create plays out wide.

São Paulo’s playing principle remained the same: using volume through the numerical superiority of the three midfielders or long balls to find wingbacks Maik and Enzo Diaz out wide, in crossing positions. In this sense, the 3-5-2 formation relies on the wingbacks as essential outlets to supply two box forwards with strong aerial ability, Tapia and especially Calleri.

However, this was not working. When they tried to use central volume, Calleri and Tapia could not generate back to goal play for the midfielders to receive facing forward and then release the wingbacks in depth. Even though Bobadilla, Danielzinho and Pablo Maia moved a lot and were very influential near the ball side, they were not consistently able to receive in conditions to find the wingbacks free. When they did, Diaz and especially Maik were unsuccessful with their crosses. This was the case in both halves until Crespo made a key change.

São Paulo now in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2 shape, with Luciano and Lucas Moura inside, using wide players in amplitude as support.

Center back Alan Franco was already on a yellow card and Tapia was not providing much. To improve back to goal play inside, Crespo introduced attacking midfielder Luciano. Alongside him, Lucas Moura (former PSG and Tottenham) also came on, a player with excellent spatial awareness when operating inside. In addition, Pablo Maia was replaced by Marcos Antônio (on loan from Lazio), who came in as a more playmaking holding midfielder.

As a result, the team now had five players involved in support and build-up inside: Lucas Moura slightly to the right, Luciano offering back to goal support on both sides, Danielzinho drifting left or inside, Marcos Antônio as the initial organizer and Bobadilla as a forward-facing support option. The wingbacks remained wide in amplitude, but now not as the final arrows of the attack, instead acting as support. With several players capable of progressing in tight central spaces, they nearly scored a spectacular goal immediately. They could now attack through the middle, while the wingbacks served as decoys, though that did not mean crosses were abandoned.

When Santos’ 4-4-2 defensive shape collapsed centrally to stop São Paulo’s short passing attacks, the wingbacks were left free. The holding midfielders switched play wide, forcing the Santos fullback to step out and press, which in one moment opened space for Lucas to attack from inside to outside and cross for Calleri to equalize. He was now free from a role he struggled with, playing back to goal as a pivot, while still remaining the team’s best header of the ball.

Takeaways

The rest of the match followed this pattern, but without São Paulo becoming overly dominant. None of the coaches’ further changes had a major impact. At most, on the Santos side, winger Miguelito of the Bolivian national team managed to cause some concern for São Paulo’s defense.

Crespo was rewarded for taking risks and once again removing one of his center backs, making a timely tactical change to stay protected and take points away from Santos. His team reached four points in the Brasileirão, level with Fluminense and Bahia in fifth place. Even amid internal political crisis, the team continues to survive and will face Grêmio at home on Wednesday.

Santos, on the other hand, are still without a win in the Brasileirão. They lost the first match, drew the second and will need an extra effort to qualify for the second phase of the state championship. It is still the start of the season, but the team sit in the relegation zone and will play Athletico Paranaense on Thursday to address that.