Ganooooo la baaaaandaaaa! Morita, exactly 1 year after his last goal, got the winner with a near post header, which is his specialty and one of the reasons I always got pissed when I saw him taking corners. Hopefully, we won't wait one year until his next goal. The good: The midfield dominated for the most part. Nacho and Pity were both really good. Ponzio was imprecise, but cleaned up. At times, our play was absolutely breathtaking. Really good going forward The bad: The defense in general and Battalla. Moreira was really poor and had a head backwards towards the middle of the field which nearly cost the game. However, Quarta and Maidana were both bad IMO and Battalla too, even though he made a really good save in the first half. We need to finish our chances. Mora and Alonso both missed chances to liquidate the game. We're still in the fight for the league title, 8 points off boca and just 2 points off the top 4 VAMOS CARAJO! On a side note, the amount of hard fouls out there tonight was absurd. Ex-River Abacasis definitely deserved a red for a foul on Casco. There were a few other hard fouls by them, one on Maidana in particular. We also had some hard fouls, can't deny, and even though I prefer when the ref lets the teams play, tonight was a bit out of hand
We started off poorly and in the first 15 minutes Quilmes was all over us. We got better as Pity and Nacho started to assert themselves more and get on the ball. These two guys are so key for us right now. Driussi seems off, he is imprecise and is making poor decisions as well. He took a few ill advised shots. The defense looks all over the place at times. Maidana is struggling again. I'm also really pissed about the weather. I decided not to go to El Monumental because of the rain which is clearly hurting us, and helping Quilmes, a much weaker side. On a dry surface, we'd wipe the floor with them, but this rain is evening the playing field a bit. We've had so much bad luck with rain and bad weather since Gallardo took over as coach, and today is no different. Hopefully we can overcome this and get the win. I'd think about putting on Mora for Driussi to see if his goal last week has given him confidence.
I said to bring on Mora, and he ended up being the difference, playing a big hand in both goals, but so did Driussi so I'm glad el Muñeco left him in. Alario is just a killer. Give him a chance and he buries it. The second goal in particular was a thing of beauty. Perfect counter attack. Text book. Now lets hope Velez can take some points off the Bosteros tonight. We're currently 5 points back. Vamos River todavia!
God damn, the kid Martinez Quarta has so much technique for a defender... That splendid volley goal vs DIM, the clean control and assist in Nacho's goal today, and now a magnificent bicycle kick goal. Really, really impressive. Theres even a lot of forwards out there that dont possess half of his technique. Defensively, however, he still has some work to do... I said before that I would like to see him back in his DMF role as an alternative to Ponzio (I think he'd nail the role much more than Domingo, Rossi, or Arzura), but I figure Gallardo has him as a CB since he always likes to start playing from the backline (much like Balanta and Funes Mori).
Fantastic game from Pity. He's inspired and finally playing to his potential. Lets hope he keeps growing, because he's fundamental to the team when he's on, as seen in the past month. Driussi has become such a clinical finisher. He had two chances today and finished them both off subliminally. Not as easy as they may have seemed, either. 17 goals so far this season for the pibe. I don't think any of us were expecting him to score so much, and really without those goals our reality of the 2016/17 season would be sooo much different. Good stuff from Nacho and Rojas too... I'm really liking the amount of players which we arrive with to the rivals' box, in comparison to our 2015 and 2016 teams. We still need to patch up the defense a bit, but River has been showing some very interesting stuff this year.
Other than the first half defensive lapse, this is the River we all want to see. Attacking constantly, playing good football, playing triangles and 1-2's, and scoring golazos. It was really thrilling to watch at times and the work Muñeco has put in is really showing. Like Loco says, the technical ability that Martinez Quarta has is truly remarkable. I said he reminded me of Pezzella since he first started playing, but his skills on the ball are far better. (and this isn't a knock on German, who is a highly technical player, but he never showed what Quarta is showing) That chilena was truly amazing and the assist to Nacho was top class well. Obviously, he needs to work on his defensive game a lot, but Maidana was also off form, while Casco was also asleep the first half an hour. Luckily, we improved the second half and they didn't create a single chance. The nucleus of Nacho, Pity, and Rojas is a joy to watch at times. I can't wait to se how this trio can grow. Its worth the price of admission just to watch them play. Overall, spectacular match and victory. Now, we have 6 points, Melgar and Emelec both have 3, and Medellin is stuck with out a point. Next, we go to Guayaquil to face Emelec. Its not played at altitude luckily , but it won't be easy. If we can get 3 points there, we will be in complete control of the group. But until then, lets enjoy this brilliant victory tonight. VAMOOOOOS
I saw the match and River played well but defensively had a shocker. Melgar are with all due repsect, not very good at all but still scored on the chances they had. Defence is very worrying. Batalla is unconvincing and makes me nervous. Martinez Quarta is technically skilled but lacks the nous to be a defender at the moment. I would rather see him in midfield. Luckily 90% of the match was played in the opponants half. Clean sheets are still a rarity and it puts pressure on the forwards to score. Against better teams, this could be a big problem. Luckily going forward, the team is playing really good. Hopefully Gallardo has got the formation and the first XI settled on and build on it. Really important to do so after players leaving and arriving all the time. Let us smash Tigre and keep the pressure on San Lorenzo, Newells and Estudiantes.
Boca, Estudiantes, and Newell's all tied this round, while San Lorenzo lost their match.... great opportunity for River to minimize the point difference. A win today would leave us just one point away from second placed Newell's, and 6 from the top. It is worth noting that of the 10 rounds left, Boca still has to play us, Newell's, and Estudiantes, as well as tough trips to Bahia Blanca and Rafaela, so they'll probably be dropping more points along the way. Vamos Millo!
Galmarini did more for River last night than he did in his two years at the club. As loco says, que perro por dios.
Just like Gallardo was screaming in the air, I knew this shit would happen when they just couldn't get that second goal against Sarmiento. At least Boca lost points on their match as well so we are still 6 points behind.
It was an opportunity to cut the lead to 4 points and we blew it, no way to sugar coat the draw when River was far superior. We have dropped so many points from winning positions this season, we have only ourselves to blame if we don't win the title. I thought Alario was very poor today. He seemed slow and indecisive, and other than one snap shot that Chiarini saved miraculously, he couldn't get shots off. On the flip side, Nacho Fernandez was amazing today. The only way Sarmiento could stop him was by constantly kicking the way Casemiro was kicking Messi in the Madrid-Barcelona match. They were lucky to finish the game with 11 men, at one point it seemed like Nacho would have to come off with a bad kick to the shin, and I immediately was worried about the game against Emelec, but he soldiered on and was our best player. He needs to look for goal himself more, he has a good shot and so often he is in a shooting position but chooses to pass. I'd like to see more killer instinct, but he is a hell of a player. We need to turn the page and think about Thursday. If we can beat Emelec, we'll be securely in first place in the group. We can't afford to be as wasteful or take our eye off the ball defensively as we did today against the Ecuadorian champs.
Is Mina that bad? I haven't had the chance to see him play since he left for River and I keep hearing all these rumors.
I liked Mina a lot when he first came. Sadly, yes he is that bad. He is a very rustic player. He was also a big reason why River lost the superclasico to boca in December. If you're going to have an off day, its best that it not be in the superclasico. I agree he should at least be called up and make the bench, but Gallardo is the one who watches him day in day out. His lack of ball playing ability clearly plays a big part. I'm not sure if something happened off the field, but it is strange he doesn't even get called up. That being said, he will be gone in June. The question is who will take him? What sort of test does River face on Thursday? I don't know anything about Emelec, but I'd like to know a bit about them if you have a chance, even though you're a barcelona supporter
D'Onofrio has come out in recent days, and reiterated this morning, the need to either remodel El Monumental or to build a new stadium all together. I know neither of these is going to be easy considering the financial realities of Argentine football and the country as a whole, but what would you all do in an ideal world? Personally, I'd love to have a new stadium on a few conditions: That it remains in the Nuñez neighborhood. River is the heart beat of the neighborhood, not just for the football team, but for the many other sports practiced there, the school, the museum, the university, etc. I don't want to go anywhere else, like san lorenzo who went to Bajo Flores when they historical neighborhood is Boedo (or is it Almagro? De que barrio sos ) and I would not like to see our stadium get a corporate name put on it. One reason why building a whole new stadium could work is that it would mean we could keep playing in El Monumental until the new one is finish, and as D'Onofrio said, the sale of the land where El Monumental is located would help fund the stadium. A few other things I'd like to see if we stay in El Monumental- get rid of the running track. This should have been done decade ago, but better late than never. I also think the each stand should be renamed. Other than the Sivori stand, which is named so because it was his transfer to Juventus to allow River to build the stand, the stands are named are Argentina's national heroes. Personally, this makes no sense. Instead of the Tribunas San Martin and Belgrano, they should be changed to Amadeo Carrizo and Angel Labruna. For the Centenario, I think many people would fight over naming it after Alonso, Francescoli, Ramon Diaz... But in order to keep any one currently in the club from getting a stand named after them, I'd call it Adolfo Perdernera, who was the greatest player ever according to some, or even Bernabe Ferreyra who was purchased by River from Tigre, earning our name "Los Millonarios" All this being said, this is the usual discourse a River president has before elections. I k have no idea how feasible it is for us to do either. Even Passarella was talking about remodeling the stadium during his mandate
I'd prefer they remodel the stadium as well.. It would be odd seeing River play anywhere other than the historic Monumental. Anyway, before anything I'd prefer they maintain the team itself before thinking of modernizing infrastructure. Too any other teams fall in debt because of stadiums and then are "forced" to sell players to make up for it, whether that was truly the plan or not. With the financial side of the club finally balancing out after decades, it would be a huge shame to see Alario, Driussi, etc. go just to "cover the costs of the stadium" If they include corporate sponsors and other third party investments, I'm all for it... I just don't want to see sacrifices being made on the pitch in order to have nicer stands....
Unbelievable, the worst player on the field, ends up scoring the goal to tie the game, but my god Moreira has no idea how to defend. We can still win this game. Emelec isn't that good, they have already had to turn to just kicking us, much like Sarmiento on Sunday.