Copa America Opener: Argentina vs Bolivia (R)

Oh BTW, lets all give some credit to Romero yesterday. He save our butts yesterday. Romero and Kun were my player of the games.

You can't blame Tevez for his performance.

In the 1st half, he played on par with everyone else.

In the 2nd half, because Batista had a brain fart and changed his position, Tevez was taken out of the game.

He was given the job of replacing Cambiasso on the field and giving Di Maria his position.

The smarter thing to do was keep Tevez as a forward instead of midfielder and have DiMaria play MF. This would have allowed both DiMaria and Tevez to remain playing at higher levels.

We can't blame Tevez for his performance but we can blame Messi?

Well it seems that Messi is above blame, Tevez should only get the same respect, don't you think?

Yo no creo que Diego dirigio al Al Wasl todavia.

What are you talking about? Batista did not change Tevez's role to replace Cambiasso. That is absurd. He changed the formation to a 4-2-1-3, with Tevez moving up as the front point man, Di Maria on the left, Lavezzi/Kun on the right, and Messi in the middle behind them. The problem was that for much of the second half, Messi & Tevez seemed to be occupying the same general area and were both taken out of the match. Tevez, whom I love, did not play on par with everyone else in the first half and completely disappeared in the second. He and Lavezzi were clearly 2 spots wasted. It should be a wrap for the Messi-Tevez partnership as they simply don't work well together. Bring Tevez in as a sub. But of course, Tevez can never be blamed because he has the hearts of the people.

Messi played better than Tevez, don't you think?

Sure, there were parts in the game yesterday I wish Lio released the ball a second earlier rather than hold it, but I do not think he had a bad game. Lio also lost the ball, that almost led to Bolivia scoring and making it 2-0. However Messi was a bit active in the game compared that to Carlitos. Messi movement in the game that freed him from defenders was crucial. I hope we see more of this. I just wish Tevez looks up for a change instead of having his head down and running at players.

someone should post a compilation of Messi's every touch of the ball. Having watched the game again I still think he was amazing. The first half wasn't nearly as bad as the second, Bolivia did not threaten and we looked in control. I think Batista got desperate with the Di Maria sub.

btw I wish Tino costa was selected...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1GJ8aqsyZ0"]YouTube - ‪Lionel Messi vs Bolivia‬‏[/ame]

lol, compile this sort of vid for tevez


http://www.youtube.com/user/MessiBarcaNL#p/u/6/X69hiWHBFoQ

ppl on here expect him to dribble the whole team and chip the keeper every game. Or else he should be benched lol. Truth is Bolivia got a shitty goal and Tevez&Lavezzi were useless

Hey Andres, how come most Argentine stars these days all play "cabizbajos", they look like ramming bulls. Saviola, Tevez, DiMaria, Lavezzi, Zarate, Messi all play like this, even Riquelme did too. The only ones who move "la frente en alto" are Pastore and Aguero, which is why I wrote in an earlier post that these two must be key players for the NT to give it variety and change the dynamic a bit.

By the way, I remember watching a youtube video of Diego's second goal to England - after Diego's half-turn leaves the two opponents floored and he starts strutting, the Argentine commentator says something like this: "Esta enchufado, va con el pecho ergido"...The rest is history, it's amazing though how Diego could transmit that swagger to all watching, the commentator sensed something special was going to happen. The way Messi, Tevez, etc. play is not similar to Maradona.

Probably, but we should've scored before them and we failed to do so, oh well. Add Di Maria to those, he didn't really bring anything.

I don't know why it's like that, maybe it has to do with the lackluster support they get when they play in Argentina, though that wouldn't excuse Tévez since he's the one that gets the most attention, so no idea.

Another thing i noticed is that the pitch condition was awful.The players couldn't control the ball with one touch as it bounced a lot and this of course slowed down severely our game, as we couldn't play those quick one-twos. It is a shame for a country like argentina not to have a proper football stadium in terms of pitch condition.

I noticed that too. The ball just popped up from the grass. The pitch was awful.

Yes, for whatever reason that there always been problems with the pitch of that stadium, today in the match of Jujuy the pitch looked fine, I don't know if the weather in the recent days didn't have to do it, think that at the time of the kick-off the temperature in La Plata was roughly 2ºC.

It is a big factor.Probably (aside from money) why so many play their club football in europe where the pitches are pretty good.

Yeah right... Because all the pitches are like that and the players really think of that when they move.

tough to play good football on a crap pitch, at any level. players like the best surface possible in order to show their abilities.

Sure, but to say that's a reason why players leave is absurd at least, specially just because of that pitch in that particular stadium.

Fair enough but you know, if you've played the game at any level, that it's much more enjoyable and increases your chances of success if the pitch is excellent.

Lol come on now, saying Maradona was the best player after 1990 is revisionism at best, but comparing him to messi when he is at his peak makes me think you have some agenda. Maradona after the 90 was past it and he was already 30 years old, he played fewer matches for napoli and was even banned for 15 months due to failing in drug tests then he went to sevilla, while messi came from a season in which he scored 50+ goals and 20+ assits and is waiting for is WPOY award. I mean what was you reaction after Diego's performance in 1982? Throw Maradona out!

Because Messi is cuter. But seriously Tevez is more annoying to watch than Messi, it seems he is jealous of him and wants to outshine even though the coach wants him to be his sidekick.