After winning three months without getting a victory in their domains and immersed in the relegation zone, the Vitoria has this Sunday, October 29, the opportunity to break this negative series against the worst team of the 2017 Brasileirão. Will face in the stadium Manoel Barradas, Barradão, Atlético-GO. The confrontation is part of the thirty-first round of the Brazilian Championship and begins at 18h (Brasília time, 17h local time).
The recent performance of Vitoria
The last time the rubro-negra crowd witnessed a success of their team at Barradão was on August 2 when the Lion beat Ponte Preta 3-1. Since then, there have been four defeats and a draw.
Vitória has the worst performance compared to the results in their 20 A-team domains. They were just nine points (two wins, three draws and ten losses) in 45 games.
The staff even has compensated for this fragile performance in their home with expressive results as a visitor. With 24 points (seven wins, three draws and five losses), the Lion is the fifth most efficient club in the Brazilian Championship when only the results are considered as column two.
That has not been enough. Unable to win for four rounds, Vitoria opened the 31st day in seventeenth place, the first in the relegation zone with 33 points (nine wins, six draws and 15 losses). Only one point less than the Avaí, which is the first outside of the sticking region.
The aerial moves were one of the main targets of the coach Vagner Mancini in the preparatory training for the confrontation of this Sunday. In the last seven matches, it was leaked, on average, twice per game and 64% of the 14 tries suffered originated in crosses to the area.
This problem of fragility of the defensive system, however, did not begin with the coach. Even before his contract, Vitória was very fragile in the battle against opponents. In total, he suffered 47 goals. It is the most leaked defense of the tournament along with Atlético-GO.
The current form of Atlético-GO
After a reaction that fueled hopes of an upset in the final stretch to avoid falling to the Second Division, a draw and three losses in a row ” woke up ” Atlético-GO fans interrupting the dream.
Parked in the 26 points (seven wins, five draws and 18 losses), the Dragon is the lantern of the Brasileirão with eight points less than the first team outside the relegation zone. Using the projection that 45 points are needed for the fall, with 24 remaining in contention, this would require the team to have an unrealistic advantage given its extremely limited technical ability.
In practice, Atlético-GO will make eight preparatory ‘friendly’ matches to compete for the second place of the Brasileirão in this final tournament. To face Vitoria, interim coach João Paulo Sanchez should only promote a change in the team compared to the team that was beaten by Santos, 1-0, at Vila Belmiro in the thirtieth round. Ronaldo, who due to muscular problems was out of the last two games, return to the team in the vacancy of André Castro.
History of the bouts between Vitória and Atlético-GO
It was only six duels involving the red-blacks of Bahia and Goiânia in the Brasileirão. The tie was the result with the highest number of occurrences being recorded on three occasions. The Dragon won twice and the Lion took the best in a match, just the 2 to 1 set in Goiânia in the first round of the 2017 edition of the Brazilian Championship.
PREDICTION: Vitória win @ 1.85
