In a duel that presents the prospect of being one of the worst of the mediocre 2017 season of the Brazilian Championship, Santos receives this Sunday, October 22, Atlético-GO, in Vila Belmiro. Scheduled to start at 17h (Brasília time) the match is part of the tournament’s thirtieth round schedule.

Santos’s recent performance

The 50 points (13 wins, 11 draws and five losses) that Santos added during 29 days of the Brasileirão and put the team in the second place of the tournament next to Grêmio and Palmeiras do not accurately translate the football quality shown by alvinegro paulista
Without inspiration, without courage and conservative, Fish has a list of modorrenta performances in the tournament throughout the year, although some of them finished with the sum of three more points. Fruits, especially, of the spectacular season of goalkeeper Vanderlei.
The bureaucratic style of play imposed by coach Levir Culpi, however, has not been enough to arouse in the fans hopes of surpassing Corinthians, leader of the dispute with 59 points. Every time he had the opportunity to take the field after the leader’s stumble, Santos showed his lack of ambition.
This was repeated the night of Thursday, October 19. After opening an advantage against Sport in Recife, Peixe managed to manage the situation and ended up being punished with a goal from the rival in the final minutes of the second stage that caused the tie by 1 to 1. It was the third equality followed by alvinegro in the tournament and the eleventh in total. No other team has more draws than Santos.
The lack of ‘appetite’ displayed by players and coaching staff ended up provoking protests from fans, who pealed the walls of Vila Belmiro with criticism shortly after the game against Sport. This may happen again this Sunday. For the match, the midfielder Vecchio will be embezzled. It is suspended due to the accumulation of yellow cards.

The current form of Atlético-GO

Incredibly, Atletico-GO managed to show some quality football at Santos. It was, however, a time of exception. During the 29 rounds completed so far, the Dragon justified the condition of worse team of the Brazilian Championship of 2017.
This is accurately reflected in the number of points won. With 26 points (seven wins, five draws and 17 losses), the team is the twentieth and final place of the Brasileirão. No matter what happens on the 30th journey, you will not leave the lantern. It has five points of disadvantage compared to Avaí, ranked nineteenth, and seven points behind Vitória, the first team outside the sticking region.
Thus, the nine days that remain for the red-black goianiense will be like a slow walk of cattle towards the abattoir. His recent performances (two defeats and a draw) no longer allow him to imagine that the team will be able to reverse the situation and avoid falling to Serie B in the 2018 season.
One move that symbolizes this scorched earth scenario was the goal conceded in the 1-0 defeat against Vasco on Wednesday, October 18. A ball was crossed to area without great pretensions. With the opportunity to cut the pitch without major difficulties, two Athletic-GO athletes collided and ended up sending the ball against their own net.

History of the matches against Santos vs Atlético-GO

Santos won the first three matches of eight against Atletico-GO in Brasileirão. Since then, he has failed to defeat the Dragon. They were two goianienses successes and three draws, including the 1 to 1 recorded in the first round of the 2017 season.