That's exactly why I don't compare NT with club, while Liverpool did what they did with non elite players, I feel NT games are a lot more physical especially in a South American qualifiers. It was inevitable for someone to bring up Chile in the high press convo, but if you really think back to the Bielsa/Sampaoli eras, those teams tried to put the game away in the first 45 mins. If they didn't score by minute 60, they were gassed and regressed their attack. It's a double edge sword type of situation.
If you high press intelligently and are good at keeping the ball and not wasting it you tire your opponent out way faster forcing them to chase you around and defend. Look at Man City (elite talent yes) they have guys like David Silva, Gundogan and Aguero who aren't by any means all out running guys who thrive because they go out to regain the ball quickly and then they keep it for long stretches. Also they use a system that inverts the fullbacks rather then has them overlap and pushes the wide forwards really wide, this would be an ideal system for us with guys like James and Quintero giving them more freedom and shielding against counterattacks by essentially putting the FB's into the space to cover behind them. Yeah again this is going to be really hard to pull off at NT level I for sure acknowledge that. But we could hypothetically still implement an up tempo style with the players we have and the young players we have coming through. Especially if we have James and Quintero we would want to prioritize having the ball above all else and Man City would be the best blue print to achieve that, as hard as it could be to pull off with those two guys you have wizards on the ball.
How do you feel this plays in our recent trend where the NT doesn’t start playing with urgency or composure until we are down 1-0 or sometimes 2-0? the opening minutes of many recent games can best be characterized as nervousness. Tactics wise, the primary tactic I don’t see enough of is the creation of space. Too much passing to where the player is at (instead of into space) which makes it easy for opposing defenses to smother our guys and force us to the wings or rely on deep/desperate/long passes/crosses. Many of us keep referring to if/when James/JFQ are around things will be different. The number of games those two have been on the field at the same time since 2014 can probably be counted on one hand which is scary. Hopefully things change in 2020....
Once Cucho joins the senior team, it’d be as if we had 14 players on the field, so we would be able to press all over the field and recover. I envision Queiroz designing plays where Cucho gets the ball from Ospina, breaks the pressure from the opponent, then sets up James on the midfield and runs to tap the ball in for a goal.
Hard to say really, but in general over the last four years we haven't had a ton of ideas or cohesiveness in the team and we didn't play a possession based style really. We were quite often devoid of ideas and didn't have a plan or the ability to have anyone pick up the ball deep and create unless it was James, then we didn't have anyone to get on the ball and create further up since James was dropping to get the ball. Our best games were generally with Cardona and James because we had more possession and creativity on the ball which allowed James to free up into space and get the ball in dangerous areas, which is also what happened when Quintero and James played together. Having Barrios over Sanchez helps, if we can replace Falcao it will help since we'll have more of the ball and the ability to hold it and get higher up more often. Overall I think we were pretty poor for 4 years and rarely had the ability to be on the front foot in games which needs to change.
Our lord and savior Cucho Hernandez! Trivial things such as tactics will be beneath us once he joins the senior squad.
I just hope there is some sort of spark that can be found with players like Uribe this summer. Cuadrado looks like he will be ready to play 3+ games at full intensity. James is questionable and who knows if Cardona will even make the team, despite his form. if the liverpool / spurs game taught me anything this week, is that anything is possible even with your key players missing.... Getting on the 'front foot' as you put it very well is a mental block that the team and management need to focus on this cycle.
That Chile high pressing style was really perfected by Bielsa but having watched qualifiers from back in the 80s, that has aways been part of Chile's DNA. The difference was with Bielsa, they were far more efficient in front of net and easily had 5-6 guys in or/around the box who just kept coming at you...it was like chasing cockroaches as they made it very difficult to play man to man or even zone. Keep in mind that as a coach you're also going to play with a system that supports what you've been doing for past years. So asking somebody like CQ to completely change his own methodology for something he's really not used to working with, wouldn't make much sense. Lasty, even if man to man Liverpool is no Barca or Man City, the technical skill level for Liverpool in reduced spaces is very high among all their lines. They can move the ball short or long with pace. That takes a lot of time and the right type of players. For example a Davidson--Mina--Heibelton short triangulation passing scenario would down right scare the crap out of me every time they attempted to do more than they are really capable of.
Yeah its not going to happen, and I doubt we have a ceiling high enough to really do any damage with a guy like CQ. Hopefully he proves me wrong and he gets us playing really well. I'd rather have us be brave and try new things then simply try to survive, it would have been amazing to have a guy like Bielsa coaching us but ce la vie.
Yeah arguably they did, outside of Alexis and Vidal they didn't have any other great attackers and their defense and midfield was a bunch of players that weren't world beaters. Alexis and Vidal are two of the best in the business at pressing opponents with the ball but past that team wasn't exactly top end. Bielsa/pep/Klopp all implement that style of soccer wherever they go. People all would have said that Bielsa could never do that in the English 2nd tier but this season he went to Leeds and they are playing exactly his style. If you get the right coach who implements the right ideas you can do it anywhere imo. Granted these are 3 of the best managers in the world.
Desde 1990 nos comprometimos a ser más que un patrocinador, nos convertimos en hinchas y verdaderos #Creyentes de nuestra tricolor. pic.twitter.com/fcNPrkA3YN— Cerveza Aguila (@CervezaAguila) May 13, 2019
Whew no Roca. Thank you sir for all your years of service, you were an important player. Lerma and Barrios are locked in and lets see who out of Cuellar, Cantillo and Campuzano can impress the coach and make the squad. Glad that Cristian Zapata is still included, he's a good consistent old hand to have if needed. *wow Morelos not even on the 40 man list, that sounds like a message is being sent based on his on field discipline.
At least no Carlos Sanchez Morelos wasn’t as hot 2nd half of the season and was pretty awful the chances he was given. He is young will get more shots in the future
Overall list - no surprises. My 23: Ospina Flip a coin Flip a coin Davinson Zapata Mina Felipe Aguilar (Jeison will likely go if I had to bet) Arias Heiliburton Fabra Borja Lerma Barrios Uribe Cardona James Cuadrado Cantillo (Cuéllar will likely go, but I like the way the kid passes) Falcao Duvan Muriel Luis Diaz Sebastian Villa
Vargas looked good enough to me against Japan to say that he is on the roster without a coin flip. Montero probably gets the other spot because of his performance in League and Libertadores. I think it will be Tesillo instead of Murillo and Aguilar. He can play both CB and LB if need be. I would personally pick Machado instead of Borja but that is just picking poison over another poison. I am still not sure Cardona gets called up but would not be opposed to it at all. Would be nice to have his creativity along with his long shots, FKs and corners. Also is the obvious candidate to play James' position if he (God forbid) get's injured again.
Well, I think Morelos deserves a spot in the final squad to the Copa but that's just me. Obviously it's not because of his form and Queiroz(?) wants to bring a message here: If you're gonna act like a Cardona, you won't be call. period. I still think he deserved a call, surely because off the pitch he doesn't have any issues and we don't know what happened in Scotland. But I respect Queiroz's decision. No Miguel Borja as well. Unbelievable the dive of this fella. From the player of the year in Latin America in 2016 to be nominated to join Atletico Junior. Goalkeepers: Ospina, Vargas and Montero, no doubt. Ospina of course is the #1 but I wouldn't cancel the option of Vargas who will start because David is lack of matches. Bernardo Espinosa also should've be here instead of Jeison. With all due respect, the guy had the same experience as Mina. Valverde probably don't like Colombians. And even though it didn't bother Mina in the World Cup, Jeison is not Mina. At the end I don't think there will be surprise in the final squad.
Every time I see Bernardo he just looks like a tall slow defender with not much technique. On a team that is descending into the second division. He obviously did not leave a good impression on Pekerman the few times he was called up. He was basically ignored by Reyes last fall in friendlies. And Now ignored by Queiroz. Maybe his training habits are bad? Maybe he is just not good enough?
Or maybe he didn't get his chances? I don't think that he is a super defender, I do think that if he plays regularly in a Spanish first division side then he probably worth a shot more than Jeison who warms Camp Nou's stands (not even on the bench), more than Felipe Aguilar who is still adapting in Santos, more than Lucumi who is just recently started to train with the senior team of Genk. so maybe it's not fair enough to ignore him completely without giving him a real chance?