Carpini defends James as a starter in defeat to Talleres in the Libertadores debut

São Paulo debuted in the Copa Libertadores da América this Thursday (04) against Talleres from Argentina with a 2-1 defeat and after the match the team's coach, Thiago Carpini was asked about his option to start the game with James Rodrigues as starter. This was just the first time that the midfielder started playing in a game this year.

What Carpini said about James

The coach stated in the press conference after the game that he chose to select James Rodrigues, as he had thought about the best way to play, combining the Colombian with Lucas and Wellington Rato in midfield and with the early injury, in the first half of both , did not cooperate so that the athlete could perform better.

He also explained that at some point in the season James would start a starting match and chose the Libertadores debut because it was a big game, and according to the coach, big athletes have to play important games. Carpini defended the Colombian saying that while he was on the field, he was participative.

Other questions

Thiago Carpini was also asked about the period in which he only trained, São Paulo was eliminated in the quarter-finals of Paulistão against Novorizontino. The coach stated that during this time, he only had 14 athletes, because due to the FIFA date, many athletes were representing their teams and recalled that some players were also injured.

Regretting the injuries to Rafinha, Lucas Moura and Wellington Rato, who left in the first half of the match, Carpini said that until then the team had been playing good football, also stating that in this game they were counting on Lucas to make a difference, due to the training he had done. they had.

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_{James started his first match of the year for São Paulo (Photo: reproduction/Getty Images Embed/ Diego Lima/AFP)}

About the bad phase

The coach also spoke about external pressure, mainly from fans who ask for his departure, stating that he does not see the team acting badly, and that this is controversial, as he has his convictions, there is support from the players and management. Thiago said that “I don't live in the past or future, I live in the present. Unfortunately, we didn’t start as we would have liked today.” He ended the press conference justifying that the opponent, Talleres, is second in the Argentine Championship and that his team sought a draw until the end of the game despite the difficulties. Football is made up of ups and downs, concluded Carpini.

Featured Photo: Thiago Carpini lamented his injuries in the first half (Reproduction/Getty Images Embed/Hernan Cortez)