Pepê’s goal 92 minutes and 32 seconds into the game at Alvalade takes the attacking midfielder’s former coach to another moment in the player’s career. Thiago Gomes recalls that, in another environment, on another continent and at another level, that right-wing “cavadinha” flew over another goalkeeper, guaranteeing an important victory for the Grêmio de Porto Alegre under-23 team. Joy is not lacking in the Brazilian’s game, nor is commitment.
Current manager of Esporte Clube São José (Gaúcho state game and Série C de Brasileirão), Thiago Gomes guided Pepê in Grêmio’s under-23 team in 2018. The attacking midfielder had been promoted to the first team during the first weeks of the season, but it ended up falling into the options of integrating, again, the base steps. The Brazilian coach recalls here the player’s first personality trait: at the agent’s insistence on placing him in another club, he listened to the coaching staff and went on to act in the background, looking for a second chance.
“Pepê’s coach was not satisfied. He wanted him to stay in the first team. Even Pepê thought he deserved more opportunities in the first team. For several months, Pepê received many proposals to leave Grémio, many in fact,” says Thiago Gomes.
The coach understood that he had in his hands a sure value for the club. “I spoke a lot with him, I told him to be calm, that the opportunity was going to appear. There was a moment when Pepê almost left Grêmio. I spoke to him again, I told him that I believed that, in that same season, a new one appeared opportunity to join the first team, but he had to be prepared and training”.
It was a goal like Alvalade’s that helped create a new space for affirmation. “He worked very well, he dedicated himself a lot to training. Pepe scored great goals, even a goal similar to this one. [referência ao golo no Sporting CP vs FC Porto, a 11 de fevereiro, 0-2]. He came face to face with the goalie (goalie), and spiked the ball. Soon after, Pepê had an opportunity because some of the professional players were injured.”
A compliment to Pepê’s professionalism, at a time when anxiety was natural for a young man from a great club in Brazil, at a final moment of training.
tactically responsible
“He is a very tactical player. He has always been a very technically committed athlete. At one point I told him that it was not necessary to mark the opposite band so insistently. we had to be closer to the goal”, says Thiago Gomes.
From what he has seen of his former student, the Brazilian coach highlights that the background built in the player’s training process helped him adapt to a new context. What had also happened to Otávio happened to Pepê, a midfielder trained in his old rival, Internacional.
“I worked for a long time with tactical periodization. I like that idea, and therefore also Portuguese football. It allows me to understand the evolution of a player (tactical and mental) in Portuguese football. I faced Otávio a few times [antigo jogador do rival do Grêmio, o Internacional de Porto Alegre]. It’s a bit easier to play in the center aisle. Although they have similar virtues, there are some differences. Otávio left Brazil as a great promise that developed there in Portugal”.
With Sérgio Conceição, Pepê tried different roles in the blue and white team. Thiago Gomes believes that the role of Galen is the one that best corresponds to Pepê’s characteristics. Even so, the player’s versatility and his understanding of the game help Pepê to play a relevant role in other roles.
“I think Pepê should play as a winger on the left side of the field. He has a lot of breadth and depth. That’s the only way he can receive the ball in one-on-one situations or, many times, making a move to attack the line, especially when the opponent plays on a high screen, because of his ability to beat the defense on speed”. Thiago Gomes remembers Pepê’s shots from Pepê’s right leg, which won victories in Brazilian football.
Brazil cannot let Pepê and the new Pepês escape
Otávio plays today for the Portuguese team. Pepê is still waiting for an opportunity in the Canary Islands in the second season that he has completed in Portugal. “They are high-quality players. Brazil will go through a moment of reformulation, with the arrival of a new coach [ainda por anunciar após a saída de Tite]. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) wants a coach with a different mentality. A new generation is going to form so that Brazil thinks about winning a World Cup again.”
Pepê had a hard time establishing himself in the professional squad of a big Brazilian club. Thiago Gomes explains that the Brazilians should look at what was done in Portugal. “I was in Portugal in 2019 with the Grêmio B team to play games with Benfica, Braga, with the secondary teams of the big clubs. I was struck by the quality of these teams, ”he points out.
“I think that this is also a path for the evolution of soccer in Brazil. The B teams are a stage in the training process of the athletes, which allows them to keep the athletes longer in the clubs. Here in Brazil, the under-23 teams are over, a player from a big club who doesn’t have space has to go to a smaller club. I think the CBF still hasn’t realized that we have a big problem here.”
And the Portuguese coach. Do they justify the commitment of so many Brazilian clubs -currently seven in Serie A of the Brasileirão- or are they a matter of fashion? “I really like the game philosophy that I see in Portugal. I’ve been working with tactical periodization for more than ten years. Here in Brazil there was a lot of talk about signing Jorge Jesús, Abel Ferreira, and it worked. “However, some Portuguese coaches had Difficulty working in Brazil. For the management of great athletes, for the technical part, for the decisions in the big games. I think the filter was lost, the ability of leaders to choose great coaches. I’m a young coach, I still don’t have the level to train FC Porto, SC Braga, or Flamengo.”
“A fashion was created, after the success of Jorge Jesus, of Abel Ferreira, but some Portuguese coaches hired by the Brazilian leaders were not prepared to manage big Brazilian soccer clubs. I am a fan of Abel Ferreira’s work. Jesús did a great job at Flamengo, but we have many qualified coaches in Brazil”, explains the Esporte Clube São José coach.
Like Pepê, Thiago Gomes seeks affirmation in the professional context. With the under-23 teams extinct, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s former assistant now coaches São José, neighbor to Porto Alegre greats Grêmio and Inter. “Stadiums are a time when big clubs have to face better teams. Teams that play defensively in a very solid, very strong way. São José is in the fight for a qualifying zone for the semifinals. Neighbors of Inter ( national) and Guild.
“But it is a time to experiment, to test great young athletes, but also where a lot of pressure is created on the coaches, because the big clubs are always expected to reach the final. Just look at the case of Santos (Paulistão). Very happy for the moment the club has been experiencing, being a small club, a neighborhood club, which plays in the Brazilian Serie C championship, the third division.
Source: TSF
