River de Demichelis’ first assessment, after its 10 initial games: solitary leader and an idea that consolidates

In one of his first press conferences, Martin Demichelis He had noted that, to draw the first conclusions from his work, he needed between 8 and 10 games. Against Sarmiento, in Junín, the River coach reached ten games and, in general, after three months of work and almost sixty days of matches, he has more games in credit than in debt. Therefore, the balance is positive.

From the numerical, the boot is very promising. Of the 10 games, River won eight and lost only two, so they picked up 80% of the points and so equaled the record at the start of the cycle by Marcelo Gallardowho had also brought out the same number of units, product of 7 wins and 3 draws.

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Of the eight wins, six have been in Lega Professionisti, which places him very high, with 18 out of 24 points on the line. The other two were hand in hand. One, against Banfield, for the semi-finals of the 2020 Champions Trophy (they will play the final against Boca) and the other, against Racing de Córdoba, to advance to the round of 16 in the Argentine Cup. In addition, he scored 20 goals (two per game), scored 7 (under half a goal per game) and in 6 games he kept the goal undefeated.

As for the operation, it went from minor to major. After some ups and downs and weak performances, the team mutated and gradually found an identity. The click came after the defeat against Arsenal at the Monumental. For the following match, against Lanús, the formation was more compact, with a more armed midfield and apart from not having played a good game in La Fortaleza, the victory served to ease tensions.

Then, River began to rebuild and came strong performances against Racing de Córdoba, Godoy Cruz and Sarmiento. And with a more orderly team, and betting on ball control, passing, partnerships, playing shorter between the lines, paying more attention to one’s own characteristics than those of the opponent, solidity began to appear.

The returns of Paulo Díaz, Nicolás De La Cruz (aside from his injury) and Rodrigo Aliendro, plus the talent of Nacho Fernández and the experience of Franco Armani, Enzo Pérez and Milton Casco helped welcome the squad. And other players, in whom Demichelis put a lot of trust, have strengthened, such as Leandro González Pirez, José Paradela and Luca Beltran, scorer with 5 goals so far this year. And Enzo Díaz, one of the reinforcements, establishes himself on the left side.

As for the debt column, it still needs to fit better defensively. Beyond the specific positive moments of some of its defenders, collectively there are still some shortcomings, due to the way they date back. It happened with Sarmiento, for example, in a strange counterattack that Junín’s team generated from an individual failure and a bad defensive position in attack.

Another problem to solve is the efficiency to be defined. Although he has scored 20 goals, there are games where it is difficult for him to score based on what he generates. And beyond the great moment of Beltrán and the midfielders who came to trample the opposing area, Borja has lowered the level and Rondón hasn’t finished getting hooked for the moment.

“Both the good results and the bad ones made us go looking for, review and support a mechanism, that sometimes from the details you can win or lose, they score goals, you score… We constantly correct to be close to excellence, that in “Football is impossible. The team finished back to zero, that’s gratifying. I am convinced that from back to front, for the amount of volume we have, we will end up being a super competitive team” said Demichelis.

In short, the coach is aware that there are always things to improve, but he is satisfied with what has been done so far. He knows that he is making confident steps and that he is gaining trust to pass it on to his players. And, after his first assessment, he dreams of his team becoming “a machine” in the future, something River fans will be happy to see.