River Plate 2012: La Vuelta a Primera? - News & Comments (R)

Has Ponzio been playing as CB recently? Last time he was at River, he was still playing as DM, and occasionally RB.

At Zaragoza he has been playing as a DM I believe. He was very important to that team, if you recall he almost came last year but el Vasco Aguirre wouldn't let him leave b/c he was the main man in the midfield. He's been taking some penalties as well

I don't know if he'll be a full time starter, but he will be a really good fit to fill roles and most importantly, it means domingo will have even less chance of playing

Ponzio means Ledesma and Domingo won't be playing most likely, which is best for everyone involved.

Could Ponzios arrival see a change of tactic such as
CHICHIZOLA,
GONZALEZ PIREZ,MAIDANA,FUNES MORI,
SANCHEZ,CIRIGLIANO,PONZIO,OCAMPOS,
CHORI,
CAVENAGHI,TREZEGUET

I agree that change would be hard on Abecasis who has been a revelation but its good for Almeyda to have options.On the other hand neither Ledesma or Domingo have shown any form so when there are any injuries/suspensions to either Cirigliano/Ponzio we would have to return to 4-3-1-2.

http://www.bolavip.com/30767/la-nueva-camiseta-de-river-segun-bolavip/

this new shirt looks really nice. I hope they keep the alternate jersey, that one is just beautiful. much better than the black one we had last year.

But yea, if this is indeed what the shirt looks like, I will be adding it to my collection

I'm always glad to see Gonzalez Pirez given a chance, we all know he is a crack. However, he should have been tried out in this position during the summer friendlies, rather than thrust onto the pitch when points or on the line

Hopefully this works, but each week I grow more and more skeptical of Almeyda's coaching

I dont know about his coaching but he needs to find a team.It was always a possibility after buying Ponzio that the option of useing three at the back with a double cinco would be used.It should have been tried in the friendlies instead of trying it out with points at stake.It smacks of desperation

Exactly, i was going to write something similar yesterday.

I talk about his coaching, because the team has rarely been "outplayed" this whole span since we went down. That includes the Boca games. We created so much more, then 3 passes and they had a counterattack goal. The team is disciplined when defending the counter. Discipline reflects coaching and leadership.

Far too often we have been bombarding our opponents goal only to lose on a quick counter- Boca Unidos, Boca Juniors, Aldosivi... its quite worrying

I like the team for the most part but would have Abecasis for Vella and Funes Mori even I am losing patience with the pibe.

Wait, really? Funes Mori has kind of shown me why Pasarella was so adamant to keep a hold of him and why people were so keen on the kid in the first place -- he is ridiculously talented. If you watch him play, he has really spectacular close ball control. He can both trap the ball and dribble out in very difficult, very tight spots, and his positioning is pretty impressive given his youth and the lack of role models he had at the club when he first started (no Cavenaghi-like striker around). Not to mention the fact that, in general, his shooting and his finishing isn't that poor, he just has really tough luck sometimes (he's had a few good goals called offside, he's hit the post and the crossbar many times...). And finally, he really has heart -- he gives it his all on the pitch every time. The one thing I'd say he needs to work on is his passing; his long passes are pretty bad, and sometimes his short passing doesn't seem much better.

So yeah, sorry this turned in to something of a rant, but I've really warmed up to the kid this past semester. To be honest, if we sold him, he'd probably be another Higuain (who showed a lot of the same "deficiencies" Funes Mori is showing now when he first debuted), going out there and absolutely exploding a year down the line. For once, I'd like to see the explosion at River.

I disagree. Until he starts putting the ball in the back of the net, which I don't see happening, then maybe I'll be convinced. But as of right now, he's a muerto.

I agree. Funes Mori will be 21 in a month. Higuain was 19 when he left River and he had already had some incredible games, against Boca and Corinthinas especially.

Higuain did play with a better team, and he did miss chances as well, but you can't say Funes Mori doesn't get many of chances to finish. I ccan think of various games where he just completely screwed up time and time again.

Its not that FM can never come good, but he still has so far to go

Theres no doubt he has serious talent and that we are very impatient.Lets be honest over the two matches with the bosta who missed more cjances el torito or FM.Its not easy for this kid with 60000 on your case in the Monumental but lets hope now with Trezeguet and Cavenaghi he learns

Actually, Torito missed several goals against Bosta, and IIRC, is the only striker of the three "starters" who didn't manage to find the net in any of the friendlies.