Oh and Benitez started for Nice and he let in 6 goals lol. Palacios could have done a little more to prevent Nice's 1st goal? Not sure. Great press and tackle by Palacios to create their 3rd goal! We can definitely use some of that in the Argentina midfield. I can't wait to see Lo Celso and Palacios together.
What's interesting is Palacios played exactly where I want him to be at the NT. He was very good. Take off Paredes and put him in would be what I would try to do. Side note, once the future of Argentine on defence Foyth debut for Villareal he scored and got an assist. His team let in 3 goals to some no name team. Rulli also someone who was thought to be NT level played. I didn't watch the game though so, I cant comment if they were as bad as the scoreline suggests on defence. I picked the Feynoord game to watch and looks like i picked wrong lol.
I hadn't seen Alario's Europa League goal vs. Nice until now.... nice finish LUCAS ALARIO 😳😳 The goalkeeper was not saving that, what a finish. it is 2-0 @bayer04_en. Wow. pic.twitter.com/0beZlsLdpn— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 22, 2020
Lisandro Martinez with a goal and Tagliafico with an assist in Ajax's .......... 13-0 (!!) win today vs. Venlo 1320033806154432517 is not a valid tweet id
While I was searching for that video of Lisandro's goal, I ran into this mini-compilation on Twitter showing his defensive abilities: Lisandro Martinez has a very agressive style of defending, quite similar to Arsenal’s Lucas Torreira! He’s currently completing nearly 3.6 tackles and interceptions per 90 which is very solid for a side like Ajax who have a lot of the ball most of the time! pic.twitter.com/5AQwuv6lPk— Gen Z Scouts (@GenZscouts) July 18, 2020 (for some reason the link takes you to the main twitter thread rather than the specific video if on desktop... scroll down 5 or so tweets and the video appears) -- His versatility is also highlighted, showing the variety of functions he has served for Ajax (these numbers were as of July 2020): Lisandro Martinez has a great skill set for a defensive minded player. He’s very clean in possesion and distributes very well! Completing 3.8 long balls per 90 with a 61% success rate. pic.twitter.com/Oktp83TK4w— Gen Z Scouts (@GenZscouts) July 18, 2020
He’s an insane player elite potential. The Ajax coach is on crack, not starting him every match. As good as any defender for Argentina right now. He’s on par with Perez for me in terms of talent.
Cristian Romero has been sent to the bench for Atalanta. From what I’ve read over the last couple of weeks, he’s been poor.
Kun Aguero injured again and practically ruled out for the November WCQs, when he was expected to return to the NT...
That whole team play sucidal footy its not his fault nor the defence's fault... you can put VVD/Ramos and Varane there and they would leak goals. Last game he played they won 4-0 with him notching an assist. He had a 8.5 rating on who scored highest among the defence and I know that's not really a good way to judge but today he didn't play and the lost 3-1. Soo.Mind you he wasn't great last year. He's probably 5/6 for Argentinean defenders his age group if I were to rank them.
L. Martinez should really be considered as one of the main candidates to start as the LCB when Otamendi is hopefully phased out after the CA 21 (Ideally that process should happen now...) He is proven at the highest level and he already has an established chemistry with Tagliafico on that left side of defense.
I really hate VAR I also don't necessarily like 5 subs it changes the game too much They should change the penalty rule. If it's not a direct scoring opportunity then implement a foul inside the area again. It's ridiculous to give a completely unearned penalty for a shirt tug that happens almost every play.
Atalanta played with substitutes yesterday. I actually think that proves he's a starter for the coach.
Sigh.... it looks like Scaloni is seriously considering calling up Roberto Pereyra for the next round of WCQs.... In other news, Pezzella suffered a muscular injury in today's game vs. Udinese... Martinez Quarta replaced him and played a little more than one half, making his official debut in European football.. De Paul also participated in said match, providing an assist (with deflection) in Udinese's second goal.
From what I've heard, Molina played well first as a right wingback and then as a rightback for Udinese. If that's true, I hope Scaloni takes a look at him to improve the depth of RBs in the national team.
Angel Di Maria to return to Argentina national team. https://t.co/dI1i59cBSb— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) October 26, 2020
Alario and Palacios starting now for Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. Alario connected on a decent header from a corner kick and won a penalty as it went off an opponent's hand. He then scored the penalty. He is above average in the aerial game. We need that.
aaand Alario just scored a wonderful header in the 75th minute to give Leverkusen a 2-1 lead. Palacios had a poor showing and was substituted off. He had a good chance on goal and shot it so far sideways it went out for a throw-in.
It's only a preliminary list: of the 35 players currently included, 6-7 are expected to be cut.... we'll have to see if Di Maria, Aguero, etc. still make the final cut. As predicted, Roberto Pereyra has also made the initial list... Other returns include Kannemann (previously excluded due to covid infection), Balerdi (Marseille didn't let him travel for the September games), as well as the trio that missed the previous round due to injury (Lo Celso, Nico Gonzalez, Marchesin) Musso remains injured and out, while Pezzella was included despite his injury and will have his fitness analyzed last minute (much like Aguero). The injury Renzo Saravia suffered at the end of September was confirmed to be quite serious (cruciate ligaments), meaning we won't be seeing him for the rest of the year.... considering how his expected recovery timeframe is for April/May, I don't know if he'll arrive in condition to make it to Copa America. The rest is the same as always... seems Scaloni has had his mind set on who to call up for a while now.
Skip what loco had to say. You’re welcome. Arqueros (5): Franco Armani, Esteban Andrada, Emiliano Martínez, Agustín Marchesín y Jeremías Ledesma. Defensores (10): Gonzalo Montiel, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Germán Pezzella, Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico, Juan Foyth, Walter Kannemann, Leonardo Balerdi, Nehuén Pérez y Facundo Medina. Volantes (10): Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo De Paul, Giovani Lo Celso, Marcos Acuña, Exequiel Palacios, Nicolás Domínguez, Alejandro Gómez, Roberto Pereyra, Eduardo Salvio y Guido Rodríguez. Delanteros (10): Lionel Messi, Lucas Ocampos, Lautaro Martínez, Sergio Agüero, Ángel Di María, Joaquín Correa, Nicolás González, Lucas Alario, Gio Simeone y Paulo Dybala.
Balerdi had arguably his first real test in Europe today as he started vs. Man City for the Champions League, and his team lost 3-0...... Did anyone catch the game? Was he shit, or was he just simply a victim of an overall poor team?
He gifted a ball (due to a really poor control) that didn't end in a goal by miracle. He also got overrun by I think Foden in the second goal. He looks slow and very raw for this level. I like all our other young CBs a lot more.
Yeah, I get the feeling he is getting preferential treatment simply because he was sold to a European club for 14 million at just 19 years of age before even earning a spot in Boca's first team... Don't get me wrong, I wish him the best and expect him to continue growing, but really what did he do to earn a senior NT spot at this point in time? He didn't get playing time in Dortmund last season and is just now getting minutes for the first time in his career at Marseille (even then he's still alternating between starting and being on the bench for the French). I get including him in the U23 team and keeping a close eye on the kid for the future, but for now his hype seems to be exaggerated and unwarranted. No way they'd be calling him up if he was still in Boca's reserves or, say, on loan in a South American team... Kind of crazy that they're calling him up ahead of players like Lisandro Martinez, Senesi, Romero, etc tbh.....
Yeah Balerdi looked great in the couple games he played for Boca before being sold but has done nothing since then. Feels like we made out like bandits so far. I don't know if they're calling him up just to give him some training with better players but it's definitely not on the merits.
At times it takes year for a player to finally find a home. How old was Ocampos when he was sold off to Europe, 17-18? He didn’t breakthrough until last season.