With Gago, Boca Juniors neither plays nor wins

The xeneizes still haven’t won since the new coach took over Fernando Gago and without providing convincing football answers. This time they fell as visitors 0-1 against a Lanus that had accumulated twelve games without victories and had just been eliminated from the Copa Sudamericana in its own stadium.

Fernando Gago generated multiple hopes in Boca upon his arrival as coach. However, match by match, these expectations suffer the shooting of negative results and a football evolution that is not observed. There have been four chapters without victories and without sensations that allow him to dream. The last one, this Sunday, was a hard 0-1 loss against a Lanús that had twelve games without winning and that during the week had been left out of the Copa Sudamericana in its own home. After all, there is no “Gago Effect”…

This time Gago opted for a 3-4-3, with a midfield that consisted of Luis Advíncula and Marcelo Saracchi on the wings and with Ignacio Miramón and Tomás Belmonte in the center, and with an attack that featured Brian Aguirre on the right, Edinson Cavani in the middle and Exequiel Zeballos on the left.

With an offensive idea but almost no interpreters capable of elaboration, Boca starred in the first half, but generated very few goal situations. The most was one that Cavani kicked into the body of goalkeeper Nahuel Losada.

Miramon (Boca) and Acosta (Lanús), in a match

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Boca was definitively caught by darkness in the second half. There, Lanús managed everything, with the help of Marcelino Moreno, who precisely assisted Eduardo Salvio to finish calmly and make the final 1-0. Gago’s changes were unsuccessful. There was no construction or emotional reaction. And if the xeneizes did not lose by another goal it was due to the good production of the young goalkeeper Leandro Brey.

This hybrid image that Boca left has already become a constant as a visitor. In that condition he has accumulated 11 games without winning. And in 2024 they only won 5 of the 25 games played away from home. In La Bombonera, although it is difficult for it to shine, it achieves another productivity and transmits better sensations.

Now Boca has just 25 points in the league, the result of 6 wins, 7 draws and 7 losses. It is in 17th position. And in the annual table, thinking about the cups, today they would qualify for the Sudamericana. The simplest way to reach the Libertadores is the Argentine Cup. He should be champion and he is already in the semis. But playing like this…