Argentine NT: News, Stats & Players [R]

The Moroccans are playing dirty.

Let's leave this shithole that is Morocco without any serious injuries.

 

How are we playing so far ?

 

Dreadful match. Super windy, which is disrupting the play, the Moroccans are kicking our players every two seconds. No rhythm at all.

 

Pretty badly. The wind is not helping.

The Moroccans are treating it as their World Cup final and fouling like savages. Should have a red card by now.

Guido Rodriguez and Paredes offer little in midfield. Pezzella and Kannemann have been untroubled. Montiel okay and Acuna too.

Pereyra very good along with de Paul. Martinez cannot play the central striker role at all and Dybala has been appallingly bad.

Andrada needs to learn that at corners if you cannot claim or clear the ball let your defenders do it. Our set piece defending is shocking. They need to get an experienced defensive coach. Scaloni needs help coaching.

 

I agree there should be continuity. Which is why I find the omission of Saravia puzzling for example. And pick on form so no Romero for example but Mercado.

I think it was unfortunate, we had chances the defence had hardly played together and it was experimental but Scaloni has to learn from his errors and not make basis mistakes. Why no Kannemann a rugged defender on Rondon. It's pretty basic coaching.

Nonetheless with a proper selection, proper training camp we should still do very well. I posted by Copa squad and I think it's something Scaloni would do well to emulate. And bring in some coaching help. He is inexperienced and it's wise to admit you need help rather than muddle on. Beccacece would be my first choice.

 

The lack of intelligence from most of our players is worrying. Also the need to take extra touches and the inability to play simple football. Always trying too much won't help. Paredes is unable to execute any passes forward with any accuracy.

 

I guess Paredes will be the new scapegoat / fall guy in these parts.

This team has been unintelligent, but most of all, clumsy. Watching Kannemann, for example, who seems to be a sure tackler but changes directions so laboriously, is painful to watch. The parts of the team seem disparate, and not allowing for cohesion at ANY level.
This is worrisome! Can't even venture a guess as to which of those fires is most alarming.

 

Nice goal by Correa.

 

Paredes deserves criticism. Utterly failed to stamp any authority in midfield in either game. Lunged into several challenges, lost the ball in several and failed to provide any accurate service upfront.

de Paul, Lo Celso showed why they should be selected. Even Matias Suarez showed far more and was worth his call up. The players selected by Scaloni must play together in a training camp and pre-Copa friendlies. The cohesion will come but he must choose the right players. For me Paredes does not deserve to be anywhere near the squad.

Others and there are several really need to step up and take responsibility and display their club form for the seleccion. Dybala is one of those. He also needs to relax. He is playing with anxiety.

 

I think we will be reverting back to Messi, Kun, and ADM as leading the attack. That will mean that either, Lautaro, Icardi or Dybala will miss out. My money is on Icardi missing out unless he comes back and goes on a rampage.

Lo Celso perhaps helping the midfield. Then it is basically a toss-up what will happen, outside of Nico getting a start.

 

I wouldn't disagree that Lo Celso should be ahead of Paredes in the pecking order, at this time. You might even make a case for Perreyra or De Paul today. Sure, Paredes has not distinguished himself, but pray tell, who has? Following him throughout his club career, I think it's indisputable that he is a fantastic passer of the ball. Even if he's struggling in this mess of a selection so far, to say that he doesn't belong anywhere near this team is outrageous to me. Like this team is suffering from an overabundance of options that HAVE impressed!

The future to me is a pairing of Lo Celso and Paredes. If this team hopes to do anything in the next generation, we better hope that they both figure it out, individually and collectively.

 

Magic 4:
Aguero messi icardi di Maria

Any chance of that

 

Doubtful. You’re going to need a team that can transition quickly. Not to mention, Icardi pretty much struggles when he’s got a partner up front.

 

We can narrow down the Copa squad to this:

Goalkeepers
Rulli, Armani, Benitez, Musso

Centerbacks
Otamendi, Pezzella, Kannemann, Romero

Wide Backs
Tagliafico, Saravia, Montiel, Acuna

Central Midfielders
Ascacibar, Paredes, Palacios, Banega

Attacking Midfielders
De Paul, Di Maria, Lamela, Lo Celso

Forwards
Messi, Dybala, Correa, Martinez, Aguero

That’s 25. I suppose I would have to drop one attacking midfielder and one of the goalkeepers to get it down to 23.

 

Saw the highlight only, the team still looks like a mess. Good things its winning result which at least give the team more confidence.

Correa pulled Messi type of goal but obviously a goal like that wont happen often.

Yes, like it or not, Aguero is best choice for time being. Icardi can still be last minute call up or maybe Scolani will stick with Lautaro but Correa perhaps will take Benedatto's place.

Parades hasnt been what we're expecting aand we can only pray ADM will stays fit like he did in recent WC. Lamela will also be a good edition and he linked well with Icardi last time around.

 

From what I read , Zaracho seems to be doing good as a sub. Almost 30 fouls in friendlies? Africa cup would be fun to watch.

 

For a friendly match, the match was very unfriendly. The weather and pitch condition didn't help at all. Defense, pereyra and the zaracho cameo was decent imo. Good goal by Correa. Let's hope everybody is not hurt after this match and they are fit in June.

 

This was meant to be a friendly. We were their guests and they spent most of the game trying to kick our players. I would've understood if it was some type of qualifier or tournament or even if we were playing a rival. It was a terrible representation of what a friendly was meant to be. I am glad Lautaro went in one of their players after being hacked over and over again. He showed balls.

And I agree, we are not finding any type of identity. I don't think we can play a possession game either, not enough players who can hold onto the ball and move. Far too many times the ball is stripped or the passes are off and leaves us exposed.

I believe we need to go back and play a counter-attacking game. We have the players who can outlet the ball and attack defenses. Once a team sits back and organizes, we have no way of breaking them down. The team is lost, and once we lose the ball, the opponent attacks our slow defense.

 

We should play in more Sabella's style than anything. We have fast attacking players who can hit on counter with pace. Dybala's and Icardi's goals against Mexico were direct play, or Lautaro's goal against Venezuela, we're clearly better scoring with more direct play rather than build up play that Sampa tries and failed miserably.

We should never have the defenders to make overlapping run cause we all know we're going to get countered so easily regardless who we face.

 

Of course, smaller teams are going to be up against some of the bigger teams in the world. Maybe they're getting for their own tournament in the summer and wanted to showcase something to their manager, I don't know, but the entire match was a mess. I don't think our players went in thinking they were going to get kicked, which is why they reacted with such anger. Their reaction to the goal was also evidence of that.

And I don't think the AFA cares who we play, it is whoever can write the biggest check.

As of right now, I don't think there is another friendly scheduled for us. They'll probably organize something before the Copa but hopefully, a long training camp can help them figure out certain problems.

I am still hopeful, I think we still have enough talent to make some noise.

CONMEBOL has not looked all that great in the last couple of friendlies.

Brasil drew Panama 1-1 and escaped today with two lates goals v the Czech.
Colombia got past Japan 1-0 and lost to SK today.
Peru lost to El Salvador.
Ecuador drew Honduras.
Chile lost to Mexico 3-1 and drew the States 1-1.
Uruguay played the Uzbeks and Thailand...

 

Not just against Argentina but against a team other WC champions aswell... look at how Mexico & S Korea dominated Germany while Russia reduced Spain into a passing practice mode. Brazil cant even beat Belgium & Switzerland despite flying in qualifier. The gap between powerhouse team & non favorites are getting smaller these days when those smaller teams play with determination and takes the match seriously. Last time around, Netherlands didnt even make it to the WC.

Apart from Brazil with their home adventage , other teams has been equally woefull as Argentina.

 

Is this your personal taste or a prediction?

Either way...

-Romero has no chance, he hasn't been called at all. Foyth will go instead.
-Banega has 0% chance to go.
-Agüero only has chance if Icardi doesn't play any game until the end of the season.
-Lamela also has little chance, it'll be pity Martínez and not him in the squad.
-Ascacibar wasn't called this window, I think that's a strong indicator he has fallen out of favor. Stuttgart is doing terrible after all. It'll be Guido Rodríguez or Marcone in his place.

 

Sometimes I wonder if Tata Martino was so bad for us?

Maybe it was just that our players were not good enough.

Messi, Aguero, Di Maria, Lo Celso still remain our best players. If we get an organized back line/block of 6, we can scrape results.

Liked Zaracho as well in this game.