Grêmio FBPA - Season 3: Eternal Glory

@Oz96 I am confident of my talent, but in a G12 club you need more than talent: you have to be able to fend off every opportunist trying to bring you down

@TheLFCFan well, as soon as the results come, we will be able to breathe a little. But until then, I'm burning on a stake!

@Jack I know exactly what to do. Being able to go on with it, that's a different story

Ngl, it sounds like the president of the club is quite the knob.

With that being said, as someone who cares for the club as much as you do, the responsibility of turning the club around is something absolutely incredible: the fanatical supporters will be rejoicing. I look forward to you telling all the overpaid twats to gtfo, and their subsequent reluctance as no other club will pay them the same type of wages.

Good luck overhauling the squad: you're gonna need it!

Opinion of Ítalo Faruk

Internacional wins another Grenal derby, putting a justified pressure over the shoulders of Marco Schwartz Ph: Félix Zucco / Agência RBS

The Clássico Grenal is famous for its aversion to goals. Teams study each other for the whole match, afraid of exposing themselves, collecting hard tackles and yellow cards, arguing and even fighting all over the pitch. Winning the Clássico lifts a heavy burden off everybody's shoulders. Losing it means more pressure and people starting to ask questions.

Usually this pressure comes in a rather exaggerated and even unfair fashion, and we have examples in the past of good managers that had been thrashed over a bad retrospect at the Clássico Grenal.

This is not the case of Marco Schwartz.

When Marco Schwartz was sold as “the renovation that this club needs” and “a revolutionary young talent”, I waited to see a few games. And after the 3 first comfortable triumphs against rivals of a very low pedigree, a lot of fuss has been generated about his “revolution” at Grêmio, and I hope they will stop saying so abhorrent things after seeing what happened this afternoon.

I haven’t seen a team this comfortable on the pitch during a Grenal since Grêmio had their golden age with Renato Portaluppi, with Arthur, Maicon, Luan, and Éverton. This time, however, it was Inter who was feeling at home at the Arena do Grêmio, with a squad that is not even close to the squad Grêmio had in their last golden age. In fact, that’s the only reason why the match ended 2-3, instead of the 0-3 that would sound like a more appropriate result..

If Mr. Romildo Bolzan really wants to apologize to the Gremistas after the shameful relegation last season, he should start by not making more mistakes. And a raw manager such as Marco Schwartz is an obvious mistake.

I think an opinionated piece like this doesn't help things in the slightest: Marco Schwartz has barely had any time! Sounds like Ítalo Faruk may be friends with someone within the squad that's disgruntled, and would like to see Marco moved on ASAP.

I've no doubt that Marco will turn things around at Gremio, but Ítalo needs to stfu imo. Also, Ítalo isn't allowed to be happy when Marco DOES turn things around: a consequence for him being a twat

Sounds like someone has a slight agenda

Wow. Not got a fan in Faruk then...

@J_ames I: you are mostly right, although you'd be surprised to learn how many fools are out there

@J_ames II: I guess he's not happy that I'm trying to get rid of some people that he may use as source

@Jack it would seem so, eh?

@TheLFCFan one can not please everybody, rite?

@General: interesting to see your reactions for what was made to emulate a normal opinion article written by a regular pundit. It explains a lot about why managers just can't keep a job in Brazilian football

@mrgriffin2012 (down below): it does worry me. Renato stayed for 4 years, but I am the 5th manager in 365 days since then

Hopefully you can break the trend of sackings in Brazilian football and go on to create a dynasty

III. Under new management

2022: The Calvary, part 1

Campaz in a training session. I deposit a lot of hope on our youngsters Ph: Lucas Uebel/Grêmio

The first thing I wanted to guarantee from the start is that we can break patterns. After the success of Renato Portaluppi, no one dared to break the pattern from his work, and I knew we were marching to tragedy every time a new manager would mention the word “continuity”, trying to continue a project that evidently had seen better days.

One thing that does hinder my plans, however, is the fact that most transfer windows around the world were already closed when I finally got the board’s blessing on the decision of letting some people go. Because of that, even though I did manage to find new clubs for most of our leftovers, they will take a while to leave. If you see our u-23 squad playing some 35 year-olds, now you know why.

In the meanwhile, let’s talk about the best ones who will stay:

Brenno, goal-keeper, 23 - one of the only good news of 2021, I have a lot of faith that Brenno will develop to be one of the great goal-keepes in Brazilian football.

Vanderson, right-back, 20 - it is just bizarre that this kid was benched because of Rafinha. Far more talent. Far more potential. Doesn’t sabotage managers.

Pedro Geromel, centre-back, 36 - given his old age and his deteriorating physical condition, I felt in doubt about keeping Geromel with us. But he’s been a loyal servant of this club and our captain during the 2017 Copa Libertadores title, so he deserves to be a part of the rebuild.

Douglas Costa, right-wing, 31 - I don’t know if I would kept him if I thought it through, specially due to his age and salary, but he has expressed his wish to make part of the rebuild, and his undeniable talent convinced me that he could be a part of it.

Arrivals

We have a lot of talent in our youth academy, and I plan on using it. One sector, however, lacks depth: the defense. Even though we have the amazing Vanderson and the competent Guilherme Guedes at the sides, the core of our defensive system has only Geromel and Rodrigues, and this latter, although enough for Série B, doesn’t have the potential to be a star in Série A. And I’d rather play players with potential to do well in Série A. So I brought two extra defenders:

Saúl Salcedo, centre-back, 24 - despite an unsuccessful venture in the Argentinean football, the 24 year-old Paraguayan is still deemed as a player with a lot of potential, who I think can profit from his last chance to develop in great facilities.

Sabino, centre-back, 25 - after the departure of Kannemann, who still had market for European football, I missed the presence of a left-footed centre-back in our squad, so I poached the best one from Sport Recife, who were relegated alongside us.

For our future, I also brought the midfielder Liedson, the Paraguayan right-winger Erik López, and the Paraguayan striker Fernando Ovelar, whose talents are yet to deserve a full comment on a post.

Tactical-wise, I decided to keep the 4-2-3-1 that the club has been using for ages. Even though I don’t like it specially, it seems to be the tactical figure that suits our squad best, specially in a season in which we will need more players out front. What I will definitely change, though, is the strategy, switching from an innocuous Tiki-Taka to a more intense Gegenpress.


Gaúcho Championship

State championships are a peculiar characteristic in Brazilian football. In opposition to Germany, who managed to transform their regional championships in part of their pyramid, Brazil did it only partially, much to the political power that state federations hold to this day.

I prefer to consider it as a pre-season tournament, an opportunity to play our forgotten younger players whose time is running out to have some playing time and develop their abilities, and most importantly, get myself acclimated to the new signings and the new playing style.

Despite the terror preached by Ítalo Faruk, we weren’t that bad. Despite a terrible display in our first Grenal and a disappointing tie against our fellow releguees in Juventude, we smashed the smaller clubs, and our wonderkid Elias even managed to get 9 goals in a single game.


With our performance against the smaller clubs, I was positive that we could find the gears to make sure we can present the same offensive prowess against stronger squads. A team that can score 5 against Caxias and 10 against São Luiz surely has the potential to score at least 1 on Juventude. And I am glad to be able to find these gears for the knock-out stages and push this squad forwards. In fact, much to the delight of Ítalo Faruk, we actually won the thing:


You won’t see me celebrating this accomplishment just yet. State Championships can be deceiving, as 2021 has shown us. We won 2021, and ended up relegated. So there is still a lot of ground to cover.

Copa do Brasil

This year specifically because of the World Cup, the Copa do Brasil will be played in one-legged match-ups, which is an interesting situation for us. Given that our squad is not that bad, one-legged match-ups give us the opportunity to play for just one surprise against the greatest squads in the country, instead of only two. With some luck, we can be competitive in this very - VERY - lucrative competition.


We started off with two great rounds, beating the non-divisioned side Boavista by 0-7, and then beating the Série C side Botafogo (PB) by 4-1. Next round will be against Coritiba, our first match-up against a Série A side.

Brasileirão 2022 - Série B

Last but not least, the Série B season is about to begin. We are appointed as obvious favorites, but we are not the only G12 club playing this Série B, as Vasco and Cruzeiro both failed to get back to Série A in 2021. We still can make some more additions to the squad in the following weeks, so it can be that we play a different - and hopefully improved - team throughout this season.

Early results have been quite fantastic in my opinion, and any detractors of Marco early on must be rushing to eat their words! I'm quite pleased to see that Geromel still has a place at the squad, and I'm also looking forward to seeing how Douglas Costa does for you.

Keep up the good work

Interesting to see Geromel is considered to be apart of the rebuild which normally focuses purely on the youth. Perhaps he is in line to become a coach some day and he will be good for those younger players coming through.

about Geromel: he is a legend of this club, and even though I think he ran away from some of his responsibilites as a captain, I still think he's done way more good than bad

@J_ames: although we faced weak opposition during the state championship, I did enjoy to see Jean Pyerre and Campaz coming alive in the finale

@TheLFCFan: definitely. It is really important to keep one or another exemple of success in the squad to show our youngsters what this club can achieve

IV. Hit the road Jack (don’t you ever come back)

2022: The Calvary, part 2

In this episode I will bring you some of what you were expecting since day one: blood.

Departures

When a club is relegated, it is really important to yeet the main characters of the relegation, no matter how good they can be. If in the first months we managed to clear the salaries of Cortez and Everton from our budget, in a window that I completely forgot to bring you, the winter window (summer for most of you) allowed me to make some good cleansing. I would like to send a special thanks to three of them:

Rafinha: thank you for obliterating what was left of our dressing room and sabotaging pretty much every manager that arrived with the promise of cleaning out the squad. The points we lost during the sabotage job on Tiago Nunes and Scolari have cost us dearly.

Paulo Miranda: thank you for conceding penalty kicks and/or getting sent off every time we would reach a crucial moment in a match. Your 33 years of age don’t make you experienced. They just make you old.

Alisson: understand that if you are being booed, it’s not because we personally hate you. It’s because you’re playing awfully. If we do personally hate you, it’s because you celebrated a goal telling the fans to shut up.


I never had any particular feelings for the French side RC de Strasbourg before, but I suddenly came to love these guys. They actually paid us money for Victor Ferraz, who was forgotten in the U-23 squad, and they also gave us 20 million BRL (€3.2M) for Alisson. The other important player to leave us was Walter Kannemann, who had a high salary and still had a market in European football. Sad to break up his successful partnership with Geromel, but we need to rebuild.

Arrivals

Not all was a bitter riddance or a sad goodbye. We also had time for hope, bringing new additions to our squad that we expect that can make a difference. Those were all of our signings for the 2022 season:


Igor Paixão, striker, 22: a rather short lad, but he runs like the wind. I brought him as an option for Borja, given that Ricardinho and Elias are not quite there yet, but he has potential to become a great striker as well.

Kenedy, 26, both wings: I still can’t fathom how easy this signing was. After a disappointing stint with Flamengo, the former Chelsea man came free of cost and with a rather manageable salary. Huge signing for a Série B side.

Brasileirão 2022 - Série B

In the conditions of favourites, we are not playing only for the return to Série A. Our pride is just as well at stake. We have to win, we have to dominate, and we have to become champions. If possible, beating Corinthians’ Série B record with 85 points in 2008. Overpowering our rivals is a matter of pride, as we know that they will be just as motivated to beat us.

Schedule - First half of 2022


We got away with a fantastic start, collecting 14 victories in the first 14 matches, including a couple of dominating 4-0 wins over Cruzeiro and Vasco, the other former Libertadores champions to take part in this Série B. After the return of the Copa do Brasil, I gave myself the luxury to spare some of our best players in order to let them rest for the Cup, and it cost us a 3-game winless sequence, as the Série B showed to be not as easy as we would have foreseen, but the next paragraphs will show why this decision made sense at the time. After the cup games, we got back to our cruising pace and Remo immediately paid for it, as did Novorizontino in the sequence.

Borja came alive in this first half-season, as opposition to his exhibitions in 2021 that would make one think that he was actually dead. Playing easier opposites also did wonders to Jean Pyerre, one of the most talented players that ever played for Grêmio, although equally lethargic. One thing that worries me by playing at this level, however, is that some of our promising players are struggling to evolve. I’ll pay close attention to this situation in the upcoming months.

Standings after 19 rounds


Although the fixtures may give the false impression that we probably got away with it, the surprising Náutico is keeping us somewhat honest. Vasco, with their mix of disgraceful older players and promising talents are looking good for promotion, after the embarrassment of not being able to go up in 2021. Cruzeiro, the last G12 club in this Série B, still struggles with their financial situation and will stay so for years to come. Their fight is against relegation.

Copa do Brasil - 3rd round

In a tough encounter, we needed a penalty kick for Borja to send Coritiba away from competition. It was a weird match, of a strong Série B side against a struggling Série A side, and it shows that our offensive prowess is still short of optimal level against stronger opposition.

Remember that I promised that you would understand my decision of letting some of our players rest? Next round is against Internacional. Another Grenal, and this time in a one-legged knock-out competition, with a lot of money on the table, as the Copa do Brasil is a very rewarding competition. Not only is it about the pride of getting back at our deadly rivals, the cash prize for this win alone is R$3.44M (€550k).

So you tell me if it’s worth the rest.

Plenty of departures from the squad already, and the money that's been brought in via their sales is quite astronomical too. I assume that the bank balance is looking quite healthy at the moment, which will put the club in a good position for a bit of a 'splurge' upon promotion. You're doing extremely well in the league, unlike Cruzeiro!

Hopefully you can show Internacional what you're capable of this time around. Good luck!

Looking like you are well on the way to breaking that record you have your eyes set on. Kennedy is a fantastic signing too.