Tite Revives the Seleção with New Tactics
Brazil’s new boss, Tite, changed Brazil’s lineup and formation in a brilliant way. He used three central midfielders knowing that Brazil’s famous outside backs would provide plenty of width in the attack while Neymar and Coutinho up top gave the team plenty of creation and free-floating attackers to score and pass.
Let’s not forget that Brazil have found a new Number 9 in Gabriel Jesus. Brazilian soccer had been devoid of dangerous center forwards until Palmeiras’ and now Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus emerge as an excellent striker. Brazil hadn’t had an exciting center forward in years, but now the Seleção has one.
Tite separated himself from his predecessors by starting Coutinho as well, rather than starting Douglas Costa and Willian. Those are two great attacking midfielders or wingers, but Coutinho is a more creative attacking midfielder who is even harder to contain. Tite set both Neymar and Coutinho loose to play as Number 10s or wingers as they saw fit, and both know how to play free-flowing football.
With Casemiro injured, Fernandinho, Paulinho, and Renato August proved to be a winning trio of central midfielders where Fernandinho played as the defensive midfielder, Paulinho played as the box-to-box midfielder, and Renato Augusto played as an attacking midfielder. Of course the team was really built around Neymar and Coutinho running the attack with Gabriel Jesus being a dream of a center forward. Without Gabriel Jesus, the team’s roles might have lacked enough definition, and he allowed Neymar and Coutinho to play in their preferred roles.
The most surprising thing about Tite as coach of the Seleção is that by going with a formation and a lineup that looked more defensive because it had three central midfielders he was actually taking Brazil back to free-flowing, attacking, and creative soccer. Tite must have decided than Coutinho was too good not to start in an attacking role with Neymar, and Coutinho brings more to the team than Willian and Douglas Costa.
Brazil is back to dominating South American soccer, and the Seleção also appear to be the best team in the world again. Germany, Italy, France, and Argentina will always be Brazil’s biggest competition, but Brazil is back to be the national team par excellence under Tite.