Asco Pinola! I can't remember a game where he wasn't mediocre. Just terrible tonight. Just horrible defending from everyone.
With that being said, yes, completely disastrous defending in the second half... some of the worst I've seen. You just can't let that lead escape so easily, regardless of the ref's grave mistakes
The whole thing was such a disaster from the VAR, to our defense, to our pathetic bench, but let me just say that if the goalkeepers were switched, IE Lux was in goal for Lanus and Andrada in goal for River, River would have gone through easily. Lux was never going to be Fillol or Carrizo, but I certainly expected more from him than what he's given us. Last night was a prime example, he made one save and was never there to bail us out. On the first goal, he just dove out of the way of Sand's shot, had he just stood there it would have hit him in the gut. It was truly pathetic from him. Andrada made a few massive saves, the one from Scocco, the one from Ponzio when he was completely screened, and every cross into the box he seemed to claim, taking so much pressure off his defense. We need to bring in many reinforcements in January, but IMO one of the biggest needs is GK sometimes if you have an in form keeper, or out of form keeper in our case, its the difference between winning and losing.
Yes, the defense was bad and a muerto like Sand became a hero for Lanus. Plus, Silva’s PK was one of the worst PK’s I have ever seen go in, if Lux dove the other way, it was a sure save. It looked he skip kicked the ball with no power. He was scared to death and he should be thanking his lucky stars that Lux dove the wrong way. I am sympathetic for you guys because of the injustice of the handball. At 3-0, I think it would’ve over. But where VAR was brought help the game it appears it has complicated it even more, which I am sure we will see more of these issues in Russia. Lux’s GK was comically bad. So this brings me to my suggestion. I am not a fan of his and tend to poke fun at him but perhaps try to bring Romero over on loan. He’s got big game experience and I think it could do both parties some good, he surely couldn’t be any worse than Lux or Batalla. If Sampaoli puts some pressure on Romero about his lack of playing time, he just may make the move. Even though last year the rumors of him possibly joining River ended when he said his goal was to be United’s #1 and he didn’t plan to return home.
So many people have the opinion that if VAR was introduced, that all the corruption and all the bad calls would be out of the game, yet so far I have just seen it make things worse. It started at the Club World Cup last year and then the Confederations Cup where some of the calls were just as farcical as last night and I know it has been implanted in Italy, where I have also seen some laughable calls, most notably the penalty they gifted to Icardi the other day. I was never in favor of the VAR and last night just reaffirmed my opinion of it. Sadly, FIFA opened pandora's box and now it can never be shut again. VAR is here to stay and I sadly think this is only the beginning of teams being screwed over by this outrageous system. I also think football fans are too tolerant to this kind of thing. In a sport like Rugby, which I think is the fairest sport in the world, fans would not put up with this kind of thing, yet in football we do. No one should show up to El Monumental Sunday in protest, yet sadly 65,000 people will be there, including myself, we just love the game and our teams, but maybe if fans stopped showing up or stopped turning on the TV this shit would be taken out of the game, but thats not gonna happen. I know I won't be watching the Libertadores Final, but I hope Gremio tears Lanus a new one.
VAR isn't necessarily bad, but if it's going to be used, use it equally for both sides. For as much as he may have been convinced on first impression that Lanus's handball was not a penalty, it wouldn't have cost Roldan anything to accept Gallardo's claims and take 20 seconds to review the play. Now if you tell me no one had claimed anything, then by all means a mistake is permissible. But that "I know what I'm doing attitude" when River asks for a revision compared to his succumbing to Acosta & co's pressure in the second half is very outrageous
BUT according to the rules, neither a coach nor a player can ask for VAR. It needs to be the idiots watching the match on TV who are the VAR officials who are supposed to tell the referee there is a disputable play. So in last night's case, the 4 morons decided not to review River's penalty, but they did decide to review Lanus's. IMO, there is no doubt Marcone's handball is 1000x more of a penalty than the slight shirt tug from Montiel. So while I do think Montiel's was a penalty, and completely idiotic to pull his shirt, it was not enough for the Lanus player to go sprawling on the ground like he'd been hit by a sniper. So there is my problem with VAR and why I don't like it. Its completely at the digression of the guys watching on TV. If they want to favor one team, they can and they don't have to answer to anyone. The referee if he favors one teams is going to get abused by the fans, the VAR official can just hide in the booth. If VAR is here to stay, they need to take an NFL stye approach and give each team a few challenges to avoid the complete bias we saw last night.
Lets not forget, there was also a penalty on Scocco they did not review in El Monumental that came late on, and Scocco was onside and through one-on-one with the keeper early in the match, and again no review... This tells me there was a clear agenda from the VAR officials because the first 50/50 call against Lanus was immediately reviewed
Casco... What did he do in the second goal??? Oh my God, he was as far from nandez as me to Argentina... Barovero made 2-3 awesome saves in the matches, Lux is a stable GK but he hasn't got the plus what the team needs... We don't have a striker who can replace Scocco, Auzqui could go back to Estudiantes, that is in his level, he is so weak. Nacho Fernández was so idiot, he f.ucked everything. Ponzio and Enzo total CRACKS. ¡Vamos River!
The creators of "No fue corner" are already saying Pitana helped River, and I'm wondering what ********ing match they were watching. Pity Martinez got shoved in the back (and the replay -- which TNT did not show more than once -- shows that Nandez added a headbutt for good measure) and it wasn't called, and before that, Auzqui got the ball on the line, passed it back to Scocco for what would have been 2-1, but it was called as a corner instead (the replay -- which again, TNT didn't bother to show for some reason -- shows that he could just as easily have let the play stand). But no, we're crazy whingers for complaining about glaring errors at decisive moments, as if that stopped us from blasting our team for a defense that's softer than warm butter or a keeper who gets beat on his first post over and over again. I can't comprehend how Lux got beat on the near post in the second goal, and it's not the first time he's failed to stop a shot that even just a good keeper would at least tip. This has been a shit-tastic week. Not only am I terribly dissappointed in the performance of the team (bad refs or not, we still conceded 3 goals when we just needed to at least stay within one goal of Lanús, and Nacho's red was indisputable), it's frankly discouraging when refs are so blatantly ruling against us. Me dan ganas de dejar de ver fútbol, punto.
I can't even get into this... I've been drinking heavily. I hate Angelici and Tapia.... I don't like Macri, but i am Cambiemos through a through, I know he a boca fan, but i do see him being worse.... in solved, if he is, then is a big mistake on his part....
Also I know Casco isn't the only one responsible for the last 2 games -- Pinola has been beyond awful and Lux has been reminiscent of Vega and Batalla at their lowest points (porque te fuiste Barovero??) However, man should the dirigencia feel stupid now for not bringing Piri Vangioni 6 months ago because of grudges. His arrival alone could have left us with a very different outcome vs Boca and specially vs Lanus
Lux; Montiel, Maidana, Pinola, Casco; Auzqui, Nacho Fernández, Ponzio, Pity; De La Cruz y Scocco The team Gallardo tried in training today. May god have mercy on us if this is the team we actually put out on Sunday. When oh when will Saracchi be back?
So we made it to the final. Against Atletico Tucuman. If we don't win, I think everyone should go, even gallardo himself. I'm sorry if this seems absurd, but I feel this way. We have been awful since we won the Libertadores. Yes, we won the Copa Argentina, but that was thanks to a few moments of brilliants from Alario and Alonso in his last real efforts as a pro. I would go through all the transactions we've made since the 2015 Final, but it would be too depressing. Since then, this "government" of D'Onofrio has been a disgrace. Yes, I want to win the Copa Argentina, but I want it more than to avoid the jokes and memes from boca fans... that i really wanted to have over them. I really thought the copa was our's, but i was wrong, so now we must start over.
I'm just going to reiterate my feelings. Gallardo is great. I love him. I remember being one of the few chanting Muñecooooo when he was at his third spell at the club as a player. I remember a specific game against San Lorenzo where most of the crowd was booing him, disgracefully, yet we ended up winning with a goal from Affranchino, a real muerto.... Muñeco is a legend as a player and more so as a coach, yet even Labruna himself with Muñoz, Moreno, Perdernera, Loustou, and Di Stefano up front couldn't win anything with the current team we have, with the likes of Lux in goal and Casco at 3.... Back in the day, there were no players that bad. My grandfather was 90, i never heard him putear any player, not any, yet we are stuck with cASCO... probably the worst player in the history of the club. Yes, we have had worse players, like Fabbiani, but we haven't had anyone who has just ********ed us over so much. Who has just ruined our season time and time again. For me, he needs to go before we even think about winning the next Libertadores. Then we need a real goalie. I wasn't Barovero's biggest fan, as @locoxriver remembers I'm sure, and he did make some errors, but he also saved us time and time again. Thats what a big team needs. We don't 6-7 saves per game, but 3-4... In the clasico, both goals were savable. Call me idiotic, but I play goalie often in five a side and sometimes even in 11's, and my teammates would kill me if i let in goals like that.... Lux just seems like he has returned for the night life and the women. Yes, I don't blame him in some respects, the women in bs as are out of this world, but remember your main job, you ass. And don't tell us you're a River fan, bc a River fan would would've stopped more of those shots than you.... Ifeel like Fabbiani opened the door for so many people to just say "but i love shirt" or "soy hincha" and many fans excuse them... Obviously I'd love for all River players to be River fans, many of them at least become them, but I know there are even boca supporters amongst the squad. I don't really care as long as they do their best, but its sad that clubs don't even trust their own fans (I'm a River fan and have a season ticket for 21 years) Its not that I don't trust my team, I just don trust my directors, the people i pay my monthly socio bill to- And sadly amounts those people is EL Enzo, one of my idols.... His tenure as a director has been a farce
So I just saw Lux talk with TYC then heard him again on the radio... I like the guy. So I never thought Lux had looks or whits, and this last spell is proving it. I love the guy, but he's been awful... l I also know that Lux is a River supporter, I think we all know this from his first spell at the club, yet that doesn't mean he can save goals... Yet he gets a pass for his past, and the championship he won in 2004 and the win we got there that same tournament. Love you German, but please stat making some serious saves! You can do it man! I have faith
I've always been a fan of Lux, but jesus christ, he can't be a starter for this club playing like that. Bologna handled himself reasonably well (to be honest, that save on Barco's free kick was better than pretty much anything I've seen from Lux or Batalla this year), and it'll be interesting to see how he does until the end of the year. Hopefully Gallardo realizes that it's absolutely vital we bring in a new keeper, and he amends his list of requests to include a keeper. Armani or Andujar please.