I am going to be captain obvious and say our leftback options are pretty bad. Diaz can't provide anything offensively and even defensively looked lost at times against Uruguay and Chile. Fabra was one of the main reasons we lost to Chile in the Centenario at Soldier Field. I wish we could get the old Armero back. At least he was entertaining and could provide some excitement with his runs while not being that bad defensively.
Diaz wasnt so bad in first presentations and in copa america..........actually with him, only we lost agaisnt brasil. Put balanta instead of him was maybe the main reason we played so bad agaisnt argentina
We ended up with an improvised back line, so it was not just one player, but Balanta and Barrios were the worst.
y sanchez que no se olvide........que nadie se atreve a hacer una observacion de un tipo que lleva dos años sin rendir de manera ideal en esa posicion, salvo a hacerse notar. Ese partido lo jugo bastante mal Lo repetire hasta que se cansen aqui, los mejores partidos con balon de colombia donde fluia el balon por el mediocampo y el equipo estaba corto coincidio con un mediocampo sin sanchez......no precisamente por la ausencia de el, si no porque se coseguieron jugadores que se complementaban entre si tanto en funciones defensivas y ofensivas....... Eso si sanchez y aguilar se complementan muy bien.....pero no pasa lo mismo con los otros.
Sanchez es un caso complicado de leer. Llena el ojo porque quita, marca, pero el equipo sufre con su inclusion. Y creo que lo mismo le pasaba a la Fiorentina, hasta que lo metieron de zaguero en linea de 3. Concuerdo en que seria mejor tener alguien con mas salida y que ayude con posesion, al fin de cuentas eso era la esencia del juego en el 2014, mantener posesion. En ese partido en particular, no digo que jugara bien, pero creo que las fallas empiezan en el costado de Balanta y la mala marca de Barrios, que ademas de entrada regala una falta en posicion ideal para Messi.
I agree that he was good at first. But going forward and if/when we advance to Russia I see him as one of the weak links and Fabra is also not a good alternative.
I would take an out of shape Zuniga on one leg before Fabra. Diaz is good when he doesn't need to mark world class wings, in other words against tough opposition no bueno.
No lo han probado mucho ...los partidos contra Chile y argentina se los perdió con los de Ecuador que son muy buenos jugo muy bien yo no llegaría a esa conclusión
Has Pekerman ever used a 3 Man defense? In that comeback game vs Chile (where we won 1-3) and Yepes was pulled out during halftime , Valencia I think was put in defense as part of a 3 man block? I mean if we have more than enough to field 3 solid CBs - Murillo x2/Zapata/Mina and Sanchez. Give them enough DMF support (Uribe, DTorres) and have Arias and have C4 play outside attacking backs with Muriel and James exploiting speed and Falcao finishing....ha! And i dint even play Xbox -------Ospina ---Zapata--Mina--Murillo--- Arias--------------------------C4 --------Uribe------DTorres---- ---------James -----------Muriel -------------------Falcao Both C4 and Arias have quite a bit of back and forth and Uribe I've seen play pretty high up the line but supports quite a bit. You always need an enforcer of some kind in DTorres and than you have the 3 henchmen in the Back. We need to be able to attack with at least 4 in motion.
I know that the odd is 0% bit Dorlan is in excellent shape and it has been passed 5 years. It's time for Pekerman to forgive Pabon and invite him. He surely deserves it.
Did you see the olympics? That dude has no business wearing yellow, it's no wonder he never got called again. Hasn't been the first time he's in excellent form in those 5 years so I doubt he gets a nod anyway.
I disagree. The Olympics doesn't matter to me, it's not the stage to test him. He did a mistake but for me everyone deserves a second chance. And he is a good player whether you like it or not. I know that he won't get called, I think that it's a mistake.
i'm 50/50 on Dorlan. while he has been beastmode at the club level for quite some time, he's probably not that high on the depth chart for a winger role? I'll put it this way, I am not against him playing in a friendly for the NT Foward/Winger Options: Cuadrado, Muriel, Marlos, Dayro, Berrio, Copete, Ramos, Ibarbo?
My memory is a little fussy, but IIRC Dorlan did not show much maturity or team spirit, which is the main reason Pekerman banished him. No need to call him up when chances are he'll be the same individualist he has always been. I think just one of them can be counted on. Not sure who is the top among them. I'd drop Ibarbo and give Izquierdo a try.
Beside Cuadrado and Muriel, Izquierdo should be in front of each one of them. As for Dorlan, I guess we'll disagree. Maybe you will right regarding him but we'll never know unless he'll receive another chance.
The failure of olympics is clear that isnt his fault...but the acctitud that he shows toward othe toher players playing against oyuth teams......show that he is not prepared for NT football
it's all irrelevant, who plays or gets called up, if we continue to play in such a disconnected manner and without an offensive team approach to the game. For the past 6-7 years, we've had some of the top MFs, Forwards and strikers in latin america so that's not the problem...and yet,thru 12 matches played, we only have 15 goals to show for it? In comparison, thru the entire 2014 WCQ campaign, thru only 16 games (and 1 less team to play), we scored 27 goals. We currently rank #7 out of #10 in the scoring department. Pretty pathetic numbers considering the type of talent we carry. Our defense, while at times shaky, due to injury setbacks, changes and different defensive tactics, is still keeping our net relatively secure. And Ospina has been pretty solid. But none of this matters if we can’t start to pick up some major points ....and we can only due so by scoring. I would rather look back and see an attacking Colombia who brings the game to others and fails to make the WC and not one that waits in their defensive half and still fails to make the WC. We have no real 'savings' in these qualifiers. 6 points is not only doable but a must if we are to keep our heads above water. Lastly, James has to be a bigger part in these last 6 games. I don’t want to see him complain and rather assume a true role of leadership on the field. He doesn’t need to ‘carry’ the team but when his game is ‘on’, every player improves dramatically. That’s how much of an impact he makes to our team. Add Muriel, Cuadrado, Falcao and an another attacking midfielder to support the link up play and we will see a better Colombia. It's been done with Pekerman before and I hope he realizes it's time to take a bit more risk and give these boys a reason to fight.
James or Falcao captain if both are back? I prefer James will be captain longer and single handily wins us points
Agreed on all points except the first. Who gets called up is totally relevant. IMO, the inconsistency in our starting 11 is a huge part of why we look so funky. Guys going in and out of form for both club and country has lead to Pekerman changing things up constantly. We need those 3 points against Bolivia, but, more than that, we need to get things sorted. That's a match where we can and should put in a lot of goals. Pekerman needs to put in THE lineup that's going to be our go-to 11 for home AND away matches going forward. Enough of this 3 DM midfields when playing away. Enough of this waiting around for guys to recover club form.
We've discussed this many times. James is not a good captain, and why give our game changer even more responsibility? Regardless, James wore the armband against Argentina. He's going to keep it.
El equipo estaba bastante bien conectado en los partido de marzo de hace un año y los primeros partidos de copa centenario.....depsues de eso hubo unos cambios que no han corregido......y estamos como iguales... Se esta utilizando de volante central, un jugador que ha sido descaratdo en esa posicion desde hace 3 temporadas en dos ligas europeas....para mi eso tiene mucho que ver
I get what you mean but much of our 'consistency' has been Pekerman's defensive midfield stance. I mean, yes, we expect their to be +/- throughout a WCQ campaign but in essence, he's been at this for a while and while he may not have his starting 11 memorized, the team should have a cohesion that allows some pieces to slip in and out. This use with a starting 11, is the same issue for pretty much every team. And when you look at the table, with the exception of Uruguay and possibly Brazil, no team has a definite 11. But it surely helps when there's an identity of sorts. When we started the Pekerman era with that beautiful win vs Mexico in that friendly, he had some semblance of what he wanted to do and so did the players. In the next 2 matches, which were for WCQ, we won @ Peru with lots of fight but not too much clarity in attack and then lost vs Ecuador at home. His next moves were pivotal and required a bigger step up into transition.... and he hit gold. I thought we had managed to do the same after Ecuador/Vzla wins but the team looked really flat and very predictable. To me that's more of tactics and planning than it does with execution.