X-ray of Diego Martínez’s debut on the Boca bench: reason for enthusiasm and role of the “hook and tip”

The first presentation of Diego Martinez: Mouth beat 1-0 Gymnastics and shooting in Salta with an excellent initial stage and an opaque complement.

They have the right get excited The Boca fans, obviously. After all, fans of all the teams in the world do this at the dawn of the new year. But those of Boca have another reason: the arrival of a coach, Diego Martinez, without a nice poster, although with good references. And at his debut we began to glimpse something of what the 45-year-old coach is looking for: an essentially offensive team.

First of all it’s worth saying Gymnastics and jumping shooting, who is preparing to play the First National team, was not a strong rival. Furthermore, the Salta team had played another friendly match (with other players) on Friday evening against Gimnasia y Esgrima in Jujuy.

But apart from this, and the poor state of Father Ernesto Martearena’s playing field (shortly after the duel was interrupted to bring in an assistant to cover a hole in the middle of the field), Boca’s performance was good. And offensive. And also sometimes showy, aesthetic.

As announced this week, Martínez opted for a 4-3-1-2. with Ezequiel Bullaude as the hitch and Miguel Merentiel and Luca Langoni in front. In the middle Campuzano was the axis with Pol Fernández on the right and Juan Ramírez (who curiously is always in his coaching career) on the left.

What was observed? That the interiors sounded closer to Bullaude than Campuzano. The image of Pol taking the ball from the midfielder’s feet was not repeated. With that idea, Boca secured themselves populate the rival area more.

The Xeneize attacks were good and massive. There is another point to highlight. On a couple of occasions, Advíncula scored the center after touching the bottom and there were five Boca players who were in final position. A true fact.

Bullaude is not catchy, but floated behind the attackers and he did it well. “We call it attack and football,” Martínez summed up after the match. Godoy Cruz stood out in that sector. His characteristic is to reach the goal rather than connect with the attackers. In the 8th minute he scored the 1-0 from a cross past Langoni.

Boca generated many dangerous situations in the first half. Merentiel was not well: he failed in two very obvious situations. Langoni’s performance was very good, as he moved across the entire attacking front. Martínez’s intention is not to confine him to any flank and take advantage of his speed. The recurring theme for the youth team is injuries: they left at half-time as a precaution.

Boca lined up with the full-backs at the same time because their rival allowed it. We’ll have to see what happens with a team with more offensive weight. Marcelo Saracchiwhich relegated the bank to Franco Fabrahe scored a great ball for Langoni in Bullaude’s goal.

On defense, Cristian Lema He came on in place of the injured Marco Rojo and didn’t suffer. Yes, he proved to have a great aerial presence: he came close to goal early on with two headers, one of which was blocked off the line by a local player.

Martínez didn’t like the completeness of his team. He shook his head uncomfortably. The players got tired, perhaps due to the pre-season pace, and the seven substitutions contributed to making the process of play slower and uglier. Martínez will stay for the first 45 minutes. And from there he will work.

Martínez’s words after his debut

“The sensations were good, especially in the passages of the first half. The team had volume of play, intensity, intention to finish the plays; in a short time of work I appreciated the predisposition of the group, they respected Gimnasia y Tiro. It’s a good start” , said the former Huracán and Tigre coach.

Regarding captain Marcos Rojo’s injury in the warm-up, the strategist expressed: “Marcos is angry and sad. He really wanted to be there, but now we will have to analyze it and do some studies, let’s see what these studies show.” He is our captain, our leader and I hope this is as minor as possible,” he said.

“The logical difference that there must be between the teams was noticed above all in the first half and in part of the second. Then the tiredness, the trip and the week of preparation did not allow us to finish as we would have liked, but it is normal because it is the moment where we find ourselves,” the technical director analyzed in statements to ESPN

“I am very happy for Juan (Ramírez)’s match, also for Ezequiel (Bullaude) in that attack and rollover function“As we tell him, he understood it very well,” he added.

“In general we are happy with this start and above all with how these two weeks of work and preparation have been. Sometimes it takes a lot, for the way of working, for the commitment of the boys and for the truth that they are doing it wonderfully , and this gives us excellent expectations,” concluded Martínez