How Fernando Diniz has turned Fluminense into the most entertaining team in Brazil – tactical analysis

Over the last few years, Fernando Diniz has become one of the most polarising managers in Brazilian football. The 48-year-old made a name for himself after taking an incredibly limited team in Grêmio Osasco Audax to the final of the 2016 Paulista. In this historic run, Audax eliminated two giants in Corinthians and São Paulo. Since then, Diniz has managed Athletico Paranaense, Fluminense, São Paulo, Santos, Vasco da Gama, and now Fluminense again.

Despite having never won a trophy in his managerial career, Fernando Diniz is widely considered to be one of the best Brazilian managers after Tite. Contrary to most modern managers and their constant battle for space through positional play, Diniz adopts fluid possession-based tactics based on constant approximation and numerical superiority. This approach has earned him a cult-like following, claimed by many to have preserved Brazil’s true tactical identity. While some may do so by comparing his style to Telê Santana’s historic 1982 Brazil side, his recent revival of Paulo Henrique Ganso is the best example. The death of the classic number 10 has been one of the most notorious effects of modern football. Players like Boca Juniors and Villarreal’s Riquelme or Barcelona and Napoli’s Maradona are extremely rare nowadays, and PH Ganso is one of the few left. Since his glorious Santos days, Ganso has struggled to perform at an elite level. However, 10 years later, Fernando Diniz has made him the centrepiece of this Fluminense side.

In this tactical analysis, we will examine Diniz’s tactics at Fluminense by looking at their behaviour and structure throughout multiple phases of the game. In addition to identifying key principles and ideas in this analysis, we will also be able to identify how Diniz revived the classic number 10 role through PH Ganso.

Formations

First, it is important to identify the formation and structure adopted by Fernando Diniz. The Brazilian manager is quite adaptable with his formation choices, often considering the characteristics of the players at his disposal. At Fluminense, he has opted for a 4-2-3-1 most of the time. While this is the initial organisation of the players, it is hardly a rigid structure. In one of their matches’ average positions, we are able to see how narrow and close to each other the front four is.

In a more extreme example, we are clearly able to identify the guiding principles of this Fluminense side. Their structure is incredibly narrow, based on constant approximation and numerical superiority. As a result, the players’ average positions are all near each other. A 4-2-3-1 structure can still be found, but due to different individual roles, it looks slightly different.