It was a strange season for Peixe, this one. After the top-3 finishing in the previous two editions, and never been out of the top-half of the table in the last nine years, Santos found themselves in the awkward position of being on the bottom places of the table for a significant amount of time, in this 2018 season. Under Jair Ventura’s guidance, Santos had an awful start, accumulating six defeats in the first eight rounds. A robust victory in round 9 made Ventura survive some more weeks, but the two consecutive draws after the World Cup break saw him being replaced by Cuca, who led Palmeiras to 2016 title.
After an bad start with three games without winning, Cuca finally drove Santos into a good second half of the season, taking them away from any danger of being relegated and even getting really close from a top-6 position, which seemed impossible when Cuca arrived at Vila Belmiro back in July. A series of six clean sheets was the evidence of Santos growing stability. The arrival of ‘Gringos’ Brian Ruiz, Derlis Gonzalez and particularly the industrious midfielder Carlos Sanchez had an immense impact, leading Santos to a great sequence of 28 points in 13 games. A series of bad injuries on crucial players (forcing Cuca into improvising in key areas) took Santos out of the race for continental places, as the final seven rounds were catastrophic: five defeats, one draw, one win.
Despite the shaky season of the club, the striker Gabigol reencountered himself with his best form. After a couple of very disappointing seasons in Europe, Gabriel was back in Brazil to be the top goalscorer with 18 goals (5 away from competition). The Uruguayan Carlos Sanchez was absolutely instrumental in Santos recover after his arrival in August. Vanderlei was once again one of the best goalkeepers in the country, and the wonderkid Rodrygo consolidated an irrevocable first team place, despite his 17-years old.
