Bola Rolando: Operário paid dearly for stubbornness and now can't afford to make mistakes again

The Operário Ferroviário has reached the limit. The 2-1 defeat to Botafogo-SP was not just another setback in Serie B. It was the portrait of a team without reaction, without alternative and that had been giving clear signs for some time that something needed to change.

And it changed.

Luizinho Lopes left the technical command. A decision that, in the face of what was happening, seemed inevitable.

But it’s good to make one thing clear: firing the coach doesn’t solve everything.

The sequence was already worrying. After the 2-2 draw with Ceará, came the 3-0 defeat for Juventude, in Caxias do Sul, and then the new setback against Botafogo-SP. More than the results, it bothered the way the Worker was playing.

Luizinho Lopes Died Embracing Its Own Stubbornness

For weeks, one thing became clear: the Worker did not have a plan B.

The team insisted on practically the same way of playing, insisted on certain athletes and seemed unable to find different solutions within the cast themselves.

When a strategy stops working, the coach has to move. Test. Create. Search for alternatives.

This did not happen at the required speed.

Luizinho Lopes bet to the end on his convictions. And in football, too much conviction can also turn into stubbornness.

It was precisely this stubbornness that helped turn a bad sequence into a crisis.

The 4-3-3 remained. Players continued to receive opportunities even though they went through bad phases. Others, who could offer different characteristics, were waiting for space.

In the end, the coach paid the bill.

The problem wasn’t just in the bank.

It would be too comfortable to put everything on the back of Luizinho Lopes.

The Worker must also look at the cast he has assembled and, above all, at the choices that have been made.

There are players who are well below the level required for a Serie B. Others seem to receive opportunities for what they have done in the past, not for what they are producing today.

Football cannot be a museum of good memories.

A player may have been important two, three or five years ago. He may have scored decisive goals, won titles and created identification with the crowd.

All of this deserves recognition.

But recognition can't guarantee a place on the team.

History deserves tribute. Escalation needs to be conquered in the present.

This is a point that the Worker must urgently review.

The club cannot continue to hire or retain athletes just because they have had good passes previously. Professional football requires income.

The base must cease to be just speech

Another issue needs to come into the debate seriously: the basic categories.

The Worker has players being prepared inside the house, but often prefers to insist on experienced athletes who are little delivering.

- Why, why?

Schumacher, responsible for the base categories and the U-20 team, knows deeply the club’s environment and the players that are emerging. Whoever takes over the technical command will do well to talk a lot with him.

It doesn't mean putting ten boys on the field from one hour to the next.

It means making room.

It means understanding that athletes like Zuluaga, Miranda and young people who have been being prepared need to be truly observed.

Large Brazilian clubs resort to the base categories when they need energy, speed and alternatives.

Why should the worker act differently?

Especially when you have a much more limited financial reality.

The new coach will find a fire

Now there's another problem.

Whoever takes over will find very little time.

The next match is against Goiás, on Sunday (11), at 18:30, for the 33rd round of Serie B.

There is no magic.

An experienced, winning coach full of good ideas can arrive. Still, he will have to quickly meet the cast, talk to the standing committee, evaluate the medical department’s situation and find out who really meets the conditions to help.

And there are major embezzlements.

Without Coenu, expelled before Botafogo-SP, the defense loses one of its main references. There is also concern about the condition of other athletes.

Therefore, expecting a complete transformation in a few days would be naivety.

Worker needs to think beyond the six rounds

Perhaps the most important point is this.

The Worker still has to compete in this Series B.

As long as there is a mathematical possibility, you need to look for as much as possible.

But planning for 2027 should already be on the table.

Who really should stay?

Who has ever shown that they cannot deliver what they need?

Which base players can climb?

What coaching profile does the club want to build?

Because switching technicians and continuing to repeat the same casting errors simply postpones the problem.

The next coach can't just come to put out the October fire.

You need to help the Worker avoid another fire in January, February, or March.

It’s time to change more than the coach

The dismissal of Luizinho Lopes closes a cycle.

It was necessary.

But it can mean very little if the Worker simply exchanges one piece and keeps all the rest working in exactly the same way.

The club needs to review concepts, contracts, renewals, base usage and criteria to assemble the team.

The Worker's shirt is bigger than any coach and bigger than any player.

Technicians pass.

Players pass.

Leaders pass.

The Operário Ferroviário stays.

And that is precisely why some decisions need to be made with less thought into individual stories and much more into the future of the institution.

After so much stubbornness, the Phantom can't make the worst possible mistake:

err again.

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