Argentine NT: News, Stats & Players [R]

Messi got bloody nose against MU but assisted Barca winning away goal.

 

The u17 keep improving. They beat Paraguay 3-0 and has qualified to u17 WC. Not only that, but they conceided zero at final stage so far after 4 games, while other teams has conceided 4-6 goals.

Hopefully they will win this SA u17 championship by showing a winning mentallity and not just settle with qualifying.

 

This is an excellent point, Argentina is the NT that has historically shown the least respect to the dimension of its great players. Such journeymen as Claudio Lopez, Enzo Perez, Biglia, have played in two WCs, more than Bochini, Bianchi, Brindisi, Alonso, JJ Lopez, Trossero, Ramon Diaz, Barbas, Gareca, Redondo, Riquelme, D'Allessandro, Lucho Gonzalez, Cambiasso, Lavezzi, Banega. Historical legends like DiStefano and Sivori did not even play at one World Cup, on the other hand, Maxi Rodriguez played in three!

This needs to change quick if Argentina wants to lift the WC trophy again.

 

I was thinking something like this:

Aguero - Messi
De Paul - Palacios - Paredes - Lo Celso
Tagliafico - Pezzella - Otamendi - Saravia
Benitez​

That midfield has a lot of workrate but is also good technically. A few weeks ago I rewatched the the 4-3 loss against France. The biggest difference between the two sides was midfield. Pogba and Kante provided endless energy and excellent technical ability. Mascherano and Biglia couldn’t deal with them at all.

 

Good lineup but I hope Argentina just takes players of the newer generation. Replace Otamendi, Messi and Aguero with Kanneman, Dybala and Icardi, and hope that Paredes does not screw up (or find a better option). The older players, including DiMaria and arguably Banega and Higuain, will be needed for the qualifiers.

 

You forgot to mention Tevez who played almost 80 times for NT and scored less than 15.

 

The person we all dream to be. Btw, who the hell is the guy on the right?

 

Messi most likely will be rested this weekend.

 

Cheers Loco. Bobby P was delighted to make the final and was celebrating wildly at the end with Penaranda. River have won the Libertadores perhaps we can win the FA Cup and the seleccion wins the Copa and the age group sides their respective World Cups. That would make up for last summer a little bit.

Pereyra was excellent in his central midfield role last week. Worked very hard and also kept and distributed the ball well.

Lanzini is improving slowly but surely another useful player to bear in mind for the summer for Scaloni.

Foyth once again was wonderful on the ball and did make a couple of valuable tackles and interceptions. Bear in mind it was Huddersfield. He still got caught flat footed on the break and under the ball. We have to give him time and patience but at he minute I would play him as a defensive midfielder. He has the skill and elegance to become a Redondoesque player.

I would still have Lo Celso and Asascibar or Dominguez as the midfield heart. Lo Celso can play anywhere in midfield but he has certainly shown he can be a secondary playmaker if required.

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As ever the seleccion and it's followers are caught between two stools. Often a disaster as in 1958 precipitates the shift to pragmatic football which is then deemed too sterile and prompts a move to the gambetta and pase corto style. And on it goes. The manager needs to find the right balance of the two. His player selection will be crucial this summer. There must be the right balance of experience in it as well. Hence I would take Otamendi although he has relapsed into his reactionary tackling, Banega to come off the bench when needed and Messi and Kun upfront.

 

The youth lads seems to inherit the senior team choking mentallity , always losing the final game, ended in low note.

Still a champion though , congrats to them

 

To be fair, I believe they were practically champs, they just couldn’t have lost by 5 goals or something.

But overall it is a good run. They won their last game in the group stages 3-0 v Brasil in the dying seconds. And they pretty much handled business when they had to.

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Lo Celso within another goal over the weekend. Kid is really doing something great work.

Icardi picked up an assist today. He was kinda bad in front of goal today. Perhaps he is still a rusty. Interestingly enough, it appears Perisic took the PK for Inter today. I’m not sure if Icardi was trying to extend an olive branch or what but he took it.


Dybala started over the weekend v SPAL. It was him and Kean up front. I don’t know why he continues to drift away from his forward spot. Picking up the ball from deep, not being in good positions. Just all around bizarre. He needs to stay put. Just look at these highlights and you see where he picks up the ball. I’m not sure if he can’t shake this or what and I think it’s exactly the reason why he and Messi can’t play together. You can’t have two players drifting in and out of spots. Wherever he goes, his manager needs to tell him to stay put. He can easily be a 20+ goal scorer if breaks this bad habit.

 

Yea only 5 goals margin lost will prevent them from being champ, but the fact Ecuador almost pulled that kind of upset by scoring 4 one half proof how shaky and panic the team was.

Icardi seems to be doing pretty decent since returning, as you said he still need to shake up his rustiness. I dont really have much expectation on Dybala until he leave Juve. Dybala does tend to drift away from his actual goalscoring position. Its also why Tevez and Messi cant work together in national team, both of them would spend most of time outside the box chasing for the ball.

Lo Celso has been showing consistency throughout this season, he certainly should be in Argentina starting 11 in my opinion.

 

I wouldn’t say so, looking at Ecuador’s third goal was pure luck. You only see that in some type of amateur division or something like that. And I didn’t see the game but just judging by these highlights, we had our fair chances to score than a single goal.

Matias Palacios looks pretty good. I know he’s only a kid but he’s impressed this tournament. He’s still 16, so who knows what the future holds. Maybe in a couple years time we’ll get a better understanding.



Off-topic, but has anybody seen @cigar_city ? I kinda want to tease him about his Bolts but I sense they could still come back and win this series and the entire cup. Regardless, I hope you’re doing good, buddy.

 

The kids just got nervous after Ecuador tied and started going all out attack for no reason, leaving holes in defense. Also Aimar may have understimated the match (played some subs, in particular the goalie).

 

Jonathan Silva scored in 1-1 draw against Real madrid.

 

Tagliafico was suspended but his team won the second leg so he's in CL last 4.

Juve came close to win treble with Tevez 4 years ago , reached a final 2 seasons ago with helped of Dybala's brace against Barca, but then they sold Pogba, made Dybala a second strings player and bought CR for unlimited amount of $$$ only to reached QF... congrats to Allegri

Meanwhile, Messi destroyed MU yet again.

 

I've been saying it for a few years now, Juventus has no midfield, they are absolutely clueless. They sold Pogba... for a 100 million or and brought in Fatso for 90 million and Pjanic... That has worked out just great!

Then they brought in Cristiano for no other reason but to raise their brand and sell shirts and there is nothing wrong with that. But when this becomes your priority then you will be destined to fail. Especially when the player doesn't make anybody around him better.

What a clueless club. And Allegri, what an absolute moron. But, I am glad they crashed and burned and people finally saw the fraud that he was. He'll get fired, surely.

Dybala is a ghost of himself nowadays. When the season started to play out, I had already noticed a dramatic change in Dybala's game. He didn't have those great runs, lacked any passion. I said it here, he'd be lucky to hit 12 goals this season and sure enough, that is what it looks like he'd be lucky to get. And honestly, I don't think he should be going to the CA. I'd rather take Kun, Lautaro, Messi, and Icardi at this rate.

And his value has surely plummeted, he went from being a player valued over 100M, to a play they'd probably get 65 for.

But again, I think at the right club, with the right players and manager around him, he'd be back to the player we saw carry Juve to the title last season and the player that showed up at Juve. Just don't end up at PSG.

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But congrats to Ajax. What a god damn team. And they did it the right way, either promoted within or found diamonds in the rough. Hell of a side. I'd be happy to see them winning this entire thing.

 

Dybala is just an ok player, not the crack many here wanted me to believe he has no balls, he's fragile. He hits the ball well and has skill but that is not enough to become a world class footballer. You also need an iron mentality in adversity, adaptability to what your team needs and most important, consistency. He's becoming Pastore 2.0 at this rate.

 

I wouldn’t say he’s been a flop in the last few seasons. Last season he started red hot, hit like 10 goals in the first 7-8 games then he went quiet for a while but came back and finished strong. But he’s been just awful this season.

But I agree, there is something clearly wrong with him. In the past it was something in the lines of splitting with ex which hurt him and now he appears to care about his Instagram. He seems to enjoy being a celebrity more than a footballer. I think this with Allegri’s incompetence have been factors.

I honestly don’t know where he’ll go after this. I was going to say City but he’ll on the bench most of the time unless Pep gets something out of him. I think Dani Alves was right when he said Dybala will never hit the heights if he stayed at Juve. He should’ve taken his advice and bolted after his second season, where signs were already there that he didn’t get along with Allegri.

It is a god damn shame, he was and is an immense talent but game by game it appears to be fading away. He’s still young enough to turn it around though.

 

He got 26 goals last season, only few behind Icardi in all competition. Yea , thats a flop.

 

Dybala is way better than pastor ever was and he is a goal scorer. He just needs another team and no Ronaldo