Argentine NT: News, Stats & Players [R]

Argentina has produced so many great players over the decades. Some now lost beyond living memory. Always worth trying to read about or watch clips of old players. Osvaldo Ardiles is one of those. He's not been well recently and underwent heart surgery this week. All the best to Ossie.

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🚨 - 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: First leak of Argentina’s 2022 World Cup jersey. [@Footy_Headlines] pic.twitter.com/9de9gBdTuk

— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) April 10, 2022

 

ESPN did a documentary about him a while back. Haven't seen it yet though. http://www.espn.com/30for30/film/_/page/whiteblueandwhite

 

The goalkeeper should’ve easily saved that. Late reaction. But yeah, nice goal.

The supposed jersey reminds me of the 2014 kit. Did Adidas spend 30 seconds figuring out what to do. They looked at the 2014 jersey and decided that they could tweak it a bit.

 

Looks more like 2006 to me. 2014 had a gradient in the stripes, this doesn't. The only new thing is the stripe pattern on the back which extends from the flag on the collar.

 

Anyone else watch the Feyenoord game today? Senesi looked solid but much more so Pezzella level than Romero/Otamendi/Lisandro. Hard to really judge since the team they played was lousy and it’s the only game I’ve watched him play.

 

Another masterclass from González today.

Romero, González, Molina, Lo Celso are all in top form.

The only ones playing poorly are De Paul and Lautaro. Everyone else is great or doing just fine.

 

I thought De Paul picked up his play over the last few weeks, or at least prior to the last round of qualifiers. I haven’t seen Atletico play a great deal since then.


And yes, Lautaro is struggling. Old-man, Dzeko is now Inter’s leading scorer.

 

We should try with Alvarez again as starter in next friendlies. We have no proper forward outside Lautaro. Simeone hasnt play for us since maybe 2017 or 2018, it would be bigger gamble.

Nico and A.Correa will always be seen as winger forward and more effective on that position.

Julian isnt young player for today's standard. Lautaro was already banging goals for us at that age, and he's less talented.

 

I don’t think Lautaro is less talented than Julian. Lautaro has not progressed far enough by now. He’s had some really impressive moments. But for whatever reason, he just doesn’t want to be that killer anymore. I think his confidence is a bit shot. Lautaro can be a top class forward, but he is lacking something mentally.


Julian will be in England at the latest in January 2023, where he will be almost 23. That’s the same age that Kun went to England but the difference is that Kun had already became a household name in Europe. I’ve said this before. Sometimes a player goes to Europe far too early. They’re not ready. But also, a player can also stay home for too long and his progress becomes stagnant. You have to ask yourself… What more does Julian have to prove in Argentina and in South America? The answer is nothing. But since the World Cup is in December, he didn’t want to go to and sit on the bench, where he could lose his spot for Qatar.

I just hope he does well in England. He’s an immensely talented player and a good kid.

 

I believe Lautaro has anger issue... If things dont go his way after a while, it affected his performance for the rest of the game. He admitted himself that he even went to psychologist prior to Copa America. In season leading to that tournament he received 11 yellows + 1 red in all competitions. This season he has collected 5 yellows and committed 30+ fouls despite being a foward.

He's definetely very talented and his record especially with NT speaks for itself. Even at youth level, he was joint top scorer in Sudemaricano 2017. Also managed a few goals in u20 WC , even though we crashed out at group stage. I remember him being subbed out last year in qualifier (forgot which game) and he looked mad at Scaloni, even though he has scored.

As for Julian, I like what I'm seeing against Ecuador, he missed that second chance but scored with his first chance in his first start. Also, he has the speed like Nico which could threaten on counter.

 

My Albanian brother, we beat Brazil in the Maracana in a final. Yeah, Brazil has had some historic failures at Maracana, but its a huge feat. We are not resting on our laurels, but lets not underplay what went down in Copa America.

I don't fear any team in Europe. I totally understand and believe that we can lose in the second round, or not even get out of the group stage, all those things are possible, but not probable. We have a strong team and we are confident. Let it play out

 

I feel like Julian is more talented than Lautaro. He is a better dribbler, better passer, better vision, better first touch, and better chance creator.

I like Lautaro, and Julian still has to be proven in the EPL and UCL, but from the little evidence we have, Julian seems to be the complete, modern striker that Pep so loves.




I really hope Julian can be a major player into getting us this 2022 World Cup.

 

I’ve mentioned this before. If you are an elite level footballer, you should be able to thrive anywhere. Kun had NO problems with the EPL. We’ll see if Julian can do the same. I’m hoping he does. I’m just cautious and want to see him in Europe already. The time has come.

 

I do not think it is a fairytale. I think talent does transcend to a certain degree. The players you named all had stellar to exceptional years in Europe.


But I agree, there are factors that can determine if a player will succeed or not. Players out of position are not going to thrive. I mean, Dybala is a prime example of that.

JRR for example was played way out of position at Barcelona. But found success at Villarreal where he played in his more natural position.

Age is also a factor.
Sheva was already 30 when he got to Chelsea.

So are injuries.
El Tigre was never the same player after his ACL injury.

Management as well.

Di Maria’s time at United was a strange one. ADM blames van Gaal for his time there. Prior to that, he was great at Benfica and Real Madrid and also found success in France after being in England . Angel has been top-class in three European leagues. Perhaps if he was at City rather than United then he probably could’ve had a bigger impact in the EPL.

Julian is going to to a club where attacking football is encouraged. He’s not going to be under some clown like Allegri. Julian will want to succeed. I hope he’s already began his English lessons and mentally preparing himself for the move. It can’t be one of those things where you say “I’ll worry about it when I get there.” He should be excited for this move. But I want to be a starting a good chunk of the games by latter half of his first season in the EPL. I do not mean him playing games in the Burger King Cup or whatever meaningless cup. I know this is being a bit optimistic but this should be his aim and none of this “Ill wait my turn.” He needs to go there and go after it. Be a god damn killer.

You can’t piss your career away by sitting on the bench season after season. City have the money to do that to a player, so Julian will have to work extra hard to earn a spot. He has everything that will let him do that.

I also believe if Julian does find success, perhaps more clubs will shell out more money for our youngsters rather than clubs getting pennies on the dollar for talented prospects.

 

Obviously Julian is more complete package as he could also play a creative forward role...but speaking of his role in NT, I think he'd be use more as finisher as Lautaro direct replacement.

There's already the likes of Messi, RDP, Paredes, Lo Celso , ADM in midfield to handle the creative role. What we're lacking is a goalscorer . Despite being unbeaten in qualifier, there are other inferior teams that managed to score as many as Argentina. We have less than 30 goals despite collecting close to 40 points.

If we do get to the final, I surely hope it wouldnt be like 2014 where we struggle with a single goal lead in every matches.

From what I've seen in his limited playing time, Julian is like Lautaro with Nico speed.

 

If Julian is played in his ideal position then there should be no excuses. I think Pep will use him wisely. Again, I just hope he isn’t 25 when he finally becomes a starter.

But it is important to note that some players are not meant to be in Europe.

Would you consider Gabigol an exceptional talent? I wouldn’t. He couldn’t make it in Europe and he came back to Brasil and became a star again. But the dude couldn’t make it in Portugal… Portugal!

I understand that Europe isn’t the be all and end all of the sport but it is where the best players in the world play. I think this is where players would want to test themselves, particularly since they’ve hit the highest of highs from their respected continent.

I also agree that Julian should’ve gone to a smaller club first but a smaller club would not fork out that money. I do wish that City loaned him out to an EPL side, so that he could get his feet wet with the league and the culture.

 

I don't watch a lot of the domestic league due to time differences (and the quality must be at it's lowest for years judging by the few matches I do see?), the jury is still out regarding Álvarez I think. Haven't seen anything in his few NT appearances to get THAT excited. He is 22 years old after all, doubt his development will suddenly rocket. Hopefully he can impress for City during pre-season and go from there.

EDIT: reading this post back, it came off as very negative - sorry about that! Just think we should pin all our hopes on Álvarez leading us to glory in Qatar

 

I'm with you. I'm hopeful and bullish, but carefully tempering my expectations. For every Kun, there are dozens of Higuains, Adolfo Gaich, Rodrigo Palacios, Franco Di Santos, Maxi Lopez, Guido Carillo, Icardi, and on and on and on.

If Alvarez is a bonafide star, he will make it in the EPL or anywhere.

(and please, no one quote this message to defend some of the guys I used as disappointing - you know they were/are)

 

You stop that right now, Gio, you stop that!

LO CELSO IS THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

https://t.co/Ul0dLrfezX

— giothfc (@giothfclo) April 12, 2022