Without blaming absences or valuing defeat, Fla remains confident
Rogério congratulates his opponent for playing a better game and shows calm when talking about the result
By From the team at Flamengo's official website - in
Flamengo took the field against Fluminense on Wednesday (26.05) at Maracanã with a team that fans were not used to seeing. Without Michael, Petkovic and Willians, who are injured, Kleberson and Fierro, who are with their respective national teams, Adriano, who is still negotiating his departure or stay at the club, and Álvaro and Maldonado, who are not 100% physically, Rogério Lourenço had to resort to other players in the squad. But this was not used as an excuse for the 2-1 defeat by the red-black coach.
The reigning Brasileirão champion, Flamengo, already knows it needs every player in its squad to succeed in a long, points-based competition. Precisely for this reason, the absences weren't to blame for the team's defeat.
"I'm not going to blame the absences. We didn't play well today. Our first half was poor, we made a lot of misplaced passes and, consequently, we couldn't follow up on our attacking plays, in addition to our poor defensive positioning. Fluminense deserved the win. We improved in the second half, but we ended up conceding an early goal. Today, Fluminense deservedly won, and Flamengo didn't play well," explained Rogério, noting that even though they weren't decisive in the defeat, Flamengo missed the absences.
"If we're going to talk about absences, it's not just Kleberson and Adriano, as people are saying. There's Pet, Fierro, Michael, and several others. The players who played today are part of the group, but without five or seven players, any group feels it. But, as I said before, that wasn't what caused Flamengo to lose. We performed poorly as a whole, but that doesn't mean these players aren't good enough."
When asked about the impact of a defeat in a classic, Rogério made a point of minimizing any pessimism.
"Any game is worth three points. That's how I see it. Every game in the Brasileirão carries the same weight. Obviously, there are direct clashes, when we play against those teams that will fight for the top spot, but we don't have that group assembled yet. We're still in the fourth round of the championship. I don't see any major consequences from this defeat," he concluded.
The reigning Brasileirão champion, Flamengo, already knows it needs every player in its squad to succeed in a long, points-based competition. Precisely for this reason, the absences weren't to blame for the team's defeat.
"I'm not going to blame the absences. We didn't play well today. Our first half was poor, we made a lot of misplaced passes and, consequently, we couldn't follow up on our attacking plays, in addition to our poor defensive positioning. Fluminense deserved the win. We improved in the second half, but we ended up conceding an early goal. Today, Fluminense deservedly won, and Flamengo didn't play well," explained Rogério, noting that even though they weren't decisive in the defeat, Flamengo missed the absences.
"If we're going to talk about absences, it's not just Kleberson and Adriano, as people are saying. There's Pet, Fierro, Michael, and several others. The players who played today are part of the group, but without five or seven players, any group feels it. But, as I said before, that wasn't what caused Flamengo to lose. We performed poorly as a whole, but that doesn't mean these players aren't good enough."
When asked about the impact of a defeat in a classic, Rogério made a point of minimizing any pessimism.
"Any game is worth three points. That's how I see it. Every game in the Brasileirão carries the same weight. Obviously, there are direct clashes, when we play against those teams that will fight for the top spot, but we don't have that group assembled yet. We're still in the fourth round of the championship. I don't see any major consequences from this defeat," he concluded.