River: the five reasons that explain the worst emotional moment in Marcelo Gallardo’s cycle

“I see many long faces here. Smile, come on, hey! Stop having that asshole face, come on, eh, make us feel bad, the results are already there “…

As if he were in front of his players, with those words and a smile on his face, he is gone Marcello Gallardo the Auditorium Sala del Monumentale on Wednesday evening after holding the press conference after the defeat with banfield.

The problem is that he was in front of the reporters and maybe that kind of harangue had to do with the fact that when he finished the questions his speech ended in a low voice and What Gallardo is looking for right now is to increase energy. Not only him but also that of the club, which, accustomed to the successful honeys of recent years, in this 2022 is undergoing an unexpected football shock.

It is certainly the worst moment of the Gallardo cycle. It is that, although it is true that there have been other complicated passages in his eight years, there has not been one that has lasted as long as this one, with such a deep and marked irregularity. So, the question arises: What were the reasons explaining this River football crisis?

1. The loss of Gallardo

As never seen before, the Doll entered a labyrinth. He puts on, takes off, changes, modifies, but he can’t find a way to get around the team. And so he seems to be taking confidence in his he players, as he has previously held a lot more games for players where he saw potential. Furthermore, this year he was seen as too short-tempered, with gestures and attitudes that denoted nervousness. And what he conveys usually translates into the pitch. For better or for worse.

2. The decline in the big games

River not only lost their biggest games of the year, but they also left a pale image in them. He did not have the presence of other moments. There was no rebellion. And so he fell in the two Superclásicos against Boca; in the tie with Tigre in the League Cup and in the round of 16 against Vélez. In addition: in those five games he scored only one goal: that of Enzo Fernández against the Victoria team.

3. The glass jaw

Another factor influencing this crash is that River is easily breached and has a hard time bouncing back. A clear example is the match against Banfield in which Gallardo’s team lost, managed to equalize and immediately scored a goal from the side. After 1-2, he was unable to get up. Earlier it was said that to “kill” one had to “kill” him twice and make sure he was “dead”. Today it is anything but. Indeed, the seven games he started to lose in this tournament, he lost them. Against Colón, Huracán, Godoy Cruz, Sarmiento, Boca and Banfield, for the League and against Vélez in the first leg to Liniers for the Libertadores. Impossible to turn any of them. And only two have managed to overturn in the year: against Patronato and Banfield, in the first half.

4. The poor response of the campus

In general, the players did not respond to Gallardo. Especially most of the reinforcements the Doll has brought to the flea markets in the last couple of years. Then the technician entered a spiral of tests and changes that he could not stop. And so he went from a starting player to go to the substitutes’ bench and have a few minutes or even not enter from one match to another. For example, a player like Tomás Pochettino, frozen and not playing for two months, was one of the first changes against Banfield. On the other hand, in this semester there has been a decline in football, since he lost Julián Álvarez and Enzo Fernández and – logically – it costs a lot to replace them.

5. Lack of confidence in the champion team

After River won the championship and the champions’ trophy at the end of last year, Gallardo stated that players would arrive to add and strengthen the squad that had won the title, also taking into account the compressed and very busy schedule. competition. However, as few times in its cycle, many of those players who arrived quickly found the property without showing great performance. And he was relegating other key players in the league, such as Simón and Palavecino, for example. As if the assembly of that team had come out of improvisation due to the obstacles that River had to overcome between injuries and players called up in their teams, added to the explosion of Julián Álvarez.

In this context, with the latest negative results, the defeats against Boca and Banfield, River almost said goodbye to the fight for the championship. But it should no longer be overlooked because qualification for the Copa Libertadores 2023 is at stake.

At the same time, he is still alive in Copa Argentina. But to think about achieving the goals, he must first quickly reverse this football crisis. To do this, you may first need to lift your spirits and revitalize yourself spiritually.