In the Brasileiro Série A 2019, Cruzeiro saw their worst nightmare become reality.
The Belo Horizonte giants were relegated to Série B after a disastrous campaign.
Two seasons later, they are still trying to find their way back to glory after failing to reach promotion for two consecutive years.
More shockingly, though, they found themselves in the Série B relegation zone for a brief spell in 2021.
It is fair to say the many years of financial and sporting mismanagement has caught up to them.
However, in December 2021, Cruzeiro fans gained a reason to have hope again.
Real Madrid and Brazil legend Ronaldo bought his boyhood club with a promise to take them back to the top.
From financial to sporting duties, Ronaldo and his team have been very busy for the past three months.
One of the first decisions of the new ownership was to appoint a new manager.
They have gone with the promising 38-year-old Paulo Pezzolano, despite only having five years of managerial experience.
Only three months later, the Uruguayan has already drastically improved Cruzeiro’s performance.
In this tactical analysis, we will examine the defining characteristics of Pezzolano’s tactics at Cruzeiro.
Through statistical analysis, we will be able to identify what has changed for the fallen giants and how they have performed so far.
Statistical overview
Data in football is able to describe a team’s approach to the game.
Patterns in their behaviour can be found through a quick data analysis.
Additionally, data will also tell us how effective the approach taken is.
Key metrics in football are able to indicate whether performance has generally been good or bad.
Cruzeiro’s case is no different.
Cruzeiro’s 59.73% average possession since appointing Pezzolano highlights his controlled approach to the attacking phase.
He likes his teams to dominate the game through control of the ball.
In addition, attacks are controlled and organised.
A pass-first approach can also be seen by the fact that they average the fourth-lowest number of 1v1s and dribbling per 90 in the Mineiro (20.99).
Their area of focus in attack is also demonstrated by their league-leading 19.03 crosses per 90.
Other key statistics show a high tempo game due to a high passing rate (13.8 passes per minute of possession), and an organised approach to progressing through the zones with a league-leading 75.54 progressive passes per 90.
Defensively, a few patterns are also noticeable.
Cruzeiro average the least amount of defensive duels per 90 and interceptions per 90.
This very minimal amount of defending can be attributed to their possession-based approach, where they have the ball for long periods of time.
A 7.1 PPDA shows the emphasis on recovering the ball back as soon as possible.
In summary, we are able to identify a few patterns in Cruzeiro’s approach through data.
Finally, the drastic improvement in performance can be seen by comparing their current metrics to last year’s.
This season under Pezzolano, Cruzeiro have averaged 2.3 goals per 90 compared to 1.02 from last season.
While they are currently overperforming their xG per 90 (1.86), it is still better than last year’s 1.31.
Additionally, they are currently averaging about the same amount of shots per 90 as last season.
This highlights the improvement in the quality of chances created – 0.143 xG/shot vs 0.093 xG/shot.
Lineups
In the first few matches, Pezzolano constantly rotated the team as he was still getting to know the players.
More recently, he has settled on a few key players.
The back four is fairly consistent with Rômulo, Lucas Oliveira, Eduardo Brock, and Rafael Santos.
Willian is usually the first choice as the single pivot.
Canesin, Machado, and João Pedro have rotated between themselves for the two centre-midfielders.
Upfront, Pezzolano is still constantly rotating and giving opportunities to youngsters.
As far as formations, Pezzolano’s favourite system is the 4-3-3.
However, he has also used the 4-1-4-1 at times.
In the last five matches, he has used the 4-3-3 75% of the time compared to 25% of 4-1-4-1.
Key metrics during both of these formations can be seen below.
Note it is only for the last five matches.
Controlled approach
As we have seen in a brief statistical overview, Pezzolano’s Cruzeiro likes to attack in a very controlled manner.
They look to progress through the zones with maximum control of the ball, key spaces, and more.
