Three problems not solved by Gamero: Will Millonarios be blamed?

The Blues are experiencing their worst season in 20 years and are in serious danger of not qualifying for the Home Run.

Millionaires and crisis. The one who solved bad games through effective finishing at times, the one who suffocated his opponents and frustrated them with intensity and pressure, the one who played well and won and added even when he was not doing so well. was, it became predictable, ineffective and unsafe.

how do I get there? What did they do or not do to move beyond the model everyone in the BetPlay League wanted to emulate and fall victim to teams far below the quality of their rosters, like the Patriots or Jaguars? Like a perfect storm, everything came together at the start of 2024 to put the success of the longest process in Colombian football into question.

The only thing that has not broken down to this point was: DT’s confidence in the competence of the people it directs, which the Board had in DT’s good judgment; A large part of the fans believe that the rain passes soon, ideally before the start of the Copa Libertadores (early April) and the same players that they graduated from ideally, as positive results. I return my loyalty. There are cracks in the remaining structure which require immediate intervention.

Why did Millonarios reach the crisis it faces today? Three basic reasons:

1. Lack of goal

The goals for the Superliga title against Junior (2–0) and the 5–0 win against Independiente Medellín were a kind of last kryptonite recharge: after this the blue team could score only 5 goals in 9 games, one of them against Jaguares. There was a penalty. , but nothing more. It is true that the spaces that some opponents leave allow the team to make substitutes and this made Gamero calmer, but now it is more important to close the spaces well, cover the half and protect the wings. Enough, as La Equidad and Jaguar did, and it is enough to disconnect the blue’s offensive circuit.

It’s true that injuries affected, but even before going to the hospital, Santiago Giordana had already lost in the Double 9 because he was the sacrifice fly leaving the field, Leonardo Castro had entered his own bad streak in finishing, Beckham Castro had his own. Took the bar down, Daniel Ruiz looked tired and without his old fashioned punches

When Silva and Caetano returned they found it easier to reference speedy midfielders and defenders.

Emerson Rivaldo Rodriguez’s hopes have been nothing more than that and there are indeed doubts about the level of good that was expected from MLS.

2. Major defensive failures

Ah, those were the times when scoring a goal against Millonarios was an almost impossible mission: two national team center backs like Llinás and Vargas, Arias or Bertel on the left and the much criticized Perlaza on the right became an insurmountable obstacle. On the other hand, today, the blue team has lost protection and is so permeable in its territory that the Patriotas, Águilas, Once Caldas and Equidad understood the key and scored goals without difficulty.

After defeating Atlético Nacional and América, Millonarios did not return to zero in his goals and there are several explanations for this: the level of defenders certainly dropped, the three-date sanction for Álvaro Monteiro was akin to climbing Everest as he returned. Has not been able to return to his level and in fact he is conceding goals that he had not allowed before.

And no small thing: the midfield, which was previously impenetrable and worked backwards, protecting the defenders, and forwards, facilitating the task of creatives, has serious cracks: Daniel Giraldo, Steven Vega and Larry Vasquez’s level is not what he is in general and Juan Carlos Pereira has been in the hospital more than on the field. This is where the defensive problems start and this is where all the depth players start to get exposed.

3. A series of injuries

No one could have predicted that Millonarios would have 10 players (half the team) on the injured list in 2024, but that is what they have had to face and Gamero, who previously looked for solutions in basic forces or multifunctional players, is now looking There is one side and the other side and sees no one, as the song says.

When the results were at their worst, he replaced all his creatives (Caetano, Silva and Ruiz were out at the same time), two of his forwards (Girodana and Castro), one of his defense leaders (Llinas) and the man Lost, which he brought an immediate solution for the left wing (Banguero), who still does not play. Today Ruiz and Caetano are available but at a lower level and McAllister suffered another muscle problem, the same case as Pereira, who was injured in Monterrey but fortunately is now fine.

That is why in Monterrey, with all the obligations, Gamero had to go to the boy Juan Carvajal and save Beckham, knowing that he was not doing well, that is why without Llinas he had to play on his own ground. Despite Moreno Paz’s lack of consistency, Brochero was the only option when he was down on the scoreboard. Currently in hospital are: Silva, Giordana, Leo Castro, Banguero, Valencia, Paredes and Bertel.

Now the question is that if this style of play is the same as in the last five years and there was no problem of physical problems at the present level, then what is the responsibility of the physical preparation and physical department? An uncomfortable but inevitable question when the crisis has already made its home in the blue.