Argentina vs Portugal - Friendly, 18 November 2014

Argentina team in training:

ROMERO; RONCAGLIA, DEMICHELIS, OTAMENDI, ANSALDI; PEREYRA, MASCHERANO, PASTORE; DI MARIA, HIGUAIN and MESSI.


So in tatas plans only one natural DM and playing with high back line...?

am i missing something here..?

 

Pereyra will play as a CM supporting Mascherano and the offense as well. Remember Pereyra is very fast which benefits the midfield but Tata will do whatever to keep that 3rd midfielder as a creative option so if he doesnt find a CM with both good D and Offense then he will opt for a playmaker.

 

If u judge based on performance, Otamendi has been the best Argentine CB in Europe this season. Besides he was only 20 and playing out of position in 2010 but thats not way of judging a player and Valencia are where they are in La Liga because of his performances

 

While I like that Tata is going for such an attacking line-up, I still shudder back to that 2010 QF where we played one only defensive mid.

I know a lot of things have changed since then, but I am not even sure how everyone is fitting in at this point. The reason is because Pereyra has a natural tendency to be more attacking than defending, while Pastore is also more of an attacking midfielder than Banega.

It seems to me that unless Pereyra is specifically told to stay back and hold the fort with Mascherano, this is too attacking a line-up. Maybe Tata is trying to convert Pereyra into a more defensive mid? Because Pastore is horrible at tracking back.

On the other hand, if everything clicks, this attacking line-up is wow.

Messi probably clicks better with Higuain than any other of his colleagues, and Messi has to be sacrificed on the right wing because Argentina has too much attacking talent to waste.

Second, Di Maria really needs to re-discover his role in the team, because he's doing the headless chicken act the past few games.

Finally, why, oh why, can we not get past Di Michelis and look to the future? This is a friendly game, so why not try to forge a partnership that we'll be playing in the next few years. Because Copa is not going to be the time to experiment.

This Copa will be one of the toughest to date, I believe.

 

Another piece of puzzle is , Dimarias position.

We all know , when he played under mourinjo and before sabella he was notorious of inconsistency , he had the habbit of loosing the ball at crucial places because of over dribbling.

Bu thanks to sabella and Ancelloti , they brought the best out of him , they both played in LCM [left center midfielder] . there he tracked well , recovered well and made excellent through balls.

But under tata now again he moved to Attacking winger role and even with manu he played in that role for 1-2 matches and he was terrible.

I think we have to place him in the same position where he played under sabella.

 

I wonder what channel in the UK it will be shown on and lets hope for the same result as 2011 when we last played

 

Problem is if he plays LCM with Messi on the right wing he needs to click with his passes but hes not that type of a player which is why Tata is trying to find a pass-first LCM who can make those little passes with Messi. I still think Cartabia is the perfect fit there as hes known for his passing and pressing game and defends better than both Pastore and Banega.

 

Have no problem with Otamendi being one of our CB's (either starting or first substitute), but we have to cement a partnership. For me it's Fazio-Garay. But wouldn't mind seeing Fazio-Otamendi if Garay is not available.
Have no problem with Demichelis going to Chile as an emergency sub but he doesn't need any matches. We know him and he is a veteran.

Like Roncaglia's inclusion and would like to see Ansaldi again. But looks like we have 2 attacking fullbacks again.

Midfield looks bad. Both Perreyra and Pastore dribble far too much to be playing alongside each other. This is the same midfield (when Lamela was subbed for Pastore) that was a sieve when we played Brazil. Gave up a million counterattacks. Playing another team with fast wingers. We weren't even good offensively when Pastore came on.

ADM better not try to occupy the center forward position like he did in the last match. Higuain should knock him out if he starts drifting into his space.

 

Yes, two players with the so called free role is crazy. With messi its understandable to drift to center forward. Adm is crazy doing that. That is not his game at all. He wasn't doing the headless chicken act (which was bs anyway. Adm has been our 3rd best player since the Olympics). He was standing around looking for glory. Adm will not go back to sabe

 

Ya , thats the point.

-----------------masch-----------
------Biglia--------------Dimaria---
--------------pastore-----------------
----Messi---------------Higuain-----


This formation may help him to play more centrally and it will restrict his free role.

 

I concur ----- Di Maria looked like a headless chicken throughout most of his Argentina career, until Sabella took over.

As far as the Batigol clip is concerned, that shot is also while having no ligament left in his ankles.

Man, things did not align right ---- Bati needed Messi, and Messi needs Bati.

What we got was that Bati had Ortega, and Messi has Higuain.

 

I like that formation Jimmi......I believe we need to have at least two defensive minded mids.......especially against fast teams.

Otherwise, we risk too many counterattacks against us, like against Brazil last game.

 

Adm was always great for Argentina. His mistakes were unimportant since he lost the ball in the attacking third. His pressure was always there and so was his creation. He was made more effective by sabella only cause we counterattacked. His game didn't change. Players rarely change after 23 years old. In the wc 2010 he was told to play too wide too compensate for our bottleneck from playing 2 similar players. That's why he wasn't as effective there.

Its only since he joined utd that he's been playing bad. Tata's sys doesn't help either.

 

Please beat Portugal!

Line up:

G

21Nahuel Guzmán
D

3Cristian Ansaldi
D

6Nicolás Otamendi
D

13Facundo Roncaglia
D

15Martín Demichelis
M

5Lucas Biglia
M

7Ángel Di María
M

14Javier Mascherano
F

9Gonzalo Higuaín
F

10Lionel Messi
F

22Javier Pastore

SUBSTITUTES
POSNoName
G1Sergio Romero
G12Wilfredo Caballero
D2Santiago Vergini
D4Pablo Zabaleta
D17Federico Fazio
D24Jonathan Silva
M8Enzo Pérez
M16Roberto Pereyra
M19Ever Banega
M20Nicolas Gaitán
F11Sergio Agüero
F18Erik Lamela
F23Carlos Tevez

 

I don't know about this formation but let's see. I think Aguero should have started.

 

Put Aguero in for Higuain.

 

HT: 0-0.

 

Were very spaced out to the point where passing becomes even more difficult. Pastore looked good though but Messi cant seem to buy a pass. Fideo looks lost again but i like the DM/CM combo in midfield