This would be my starting XI vs Colombia --------------------Armani Saravia--Pezzella--Otamendi--Tagliafico --------------------Guido ----------Lo Celso--------Paredes Messi---------Aguero-----------De Paul EDIT: After the game, Scaloni said that he will make 2-3 changes vs Colombia. For me personally, I hope he chooses my XI
Guys, I've been here for 2, 3 years already. It's not my fault that our national team does nothing but play awful since 2016. I'm more positive in threads about Libertadores and club competitions. I'd give anything to see Argentina win this Copa and screw the brazucas but it just seems like something impossible to me right now.
I think if Dybala is going to have some minutes in the game, he should take the freekick. I'd rather have Messi lurking upfront ready to tap the ball in from deflected shot.
If I could make one change to the squad, I would drop Suarez for Joaquin Correa. I'm not a fan of Paredes or Di Maria, but you can see their qualities when they play. Paredes can make nice forward passes, ADM has speed and dribbling. What does Matias Suarez offer? He's too slow and limited to dribble past Nicaragua defenders. We have found our Meza successor.
Maybe its tradition, we always bring some passangers to every tournament such as Meza, Palacio and Biglia. M Suarez is given similar task as Lavezzi few years ago except he's only half as good.
Lo Celso looks like a guy that has been working out and eating healthy. He looks fit, strong, and can run for days. Dybala on the other hand looks like a skinny little boy. He needs to hit the gym and get serious about his career. I fear it is too late for him.
To be fair, Dybala has always been kind off skinny . Messi is also small and never looks like a gym freak , yethe's still able to beat multiple players at once. CR has all those muscles , yet he's going down from slightest touch.
I do wonder about Dybala's fitness as I've never seen him go 90 minutes. He's always been subbed off early or come off the bench. But I don't watch much Serie A at all so I could be wrong.
According to google both dybala and Messi weigh more than Lo Celso and I doubt they are fatter. They might actually have more muscle mass on their frame.
I'm surprised at some of the negativity about that match. Yes, it's only Nicaragua but I was delighted to see crisp passing/1-2's/and fluid cohesive football!! Messi didn't have to drop so deep anymore and we actually looked liked we had some chemistry out there. I wish Lanzini got a call up even though he's coming back from injury but all in all I was happy with what I saw from the team. My only qeustion is, do people really rate Otamendi that highly? I never liked him and he seems like a bit of a hot head.
If Messi could roaming in similar position as today during Copa, we will have no problem scoring goals. Let just hope Lo Celso and Parades could play at their highest level thus Messi doesnt have to drop back to halfway line. Otamendi is one of those tough character that often has that roughness in his game (sometimes could be reckless). Think about players like Masche or Gattuso (who earned alot of bookings, gave away FK or penalty), doesnt mean they're not quality player. A great team usually have at least 1 or 2 players like that. Also, he has good aerial ability.
I think that one of the Guidos should start so Paredes and Lo Celso are freed of too much defensive responsibility and can express more creativity going forward. Real Madrid always played better when Casemiro was behind Modric and Kroos.
Otamendi was in really great form at one point but has lost it all over again. When he's bad, he's just an overaggressive hot head that goes for speculative tackles as you say.
Yea, but at least I dont think he's as dumb as Rojo who did cost us in crucial games more than once with his recklessness. Scolani probably think its important to have at least 1 veteran at the back line. Also, players like Ayala & Masche used to command the team but now we dont have any of those characters since we all know Messi's armband is merely a formality.
COuldnt watch the game , but watched the highlights. looks like Lo celso , martinez were stand out in the match. 2 goals by martinez were so effortless , we desperately need these kind of players.
Colombia is playing Peru today for anyone interested. A good chance to see Queiroz's team against a good team.
I was amazed as we were all were I expect. Zero minutes. The guy is a world class player in the making even then and played well in the friendlies. He, Asascibar and Palacios should be the engines of that midfield for years to come. It is mightily disappointing not to see Palacios and also Santi. I think we need an out and out destroyer and we do not have anyone with the stamina, speed and determination that Santi has to knit the defence and also bring the ball out. I would be tempted to play Foyth as a DM to bring the ball out and win it. I don't have much trust in Rodriguez. I sincerely hope Tagliafico is not going to be behind Acuna. Quite aside from being a classy LB he covers for his CBs. It is a real shame Kannemann is missing and Romero was not picked. Otamendi has regressed back to his old ways as Burr mentioned. To ready to dive in and not stay on his feet. Suarez played well enough but I would prefer de Paul out there because not only he is a goal scoring threat and excellent winger but can drift and swap with Messi in the centre if required and he is also a very hard worker. Kun and he need to work hard to cover their fullbacks. Saravia despite fitness concerns looked decent enough. The main thing to draw is Lo Celso as playmaker and Messi left upfront to make and finish plays with less coverage on him. Ideally we need a third axis. de Paul wide or someone in midfield. I don't trust Paredes at all. And we have to bear in mind it was Nicaragua. The midfield will not get the time or space to breathe as it did. El Toro looks hungry as well which is pleasing. As for Icardi the man is an idiot. His so called wife will ruin him. When he is retired he will bitterly regret what is happening.
Brazil looking good aswell, although its weak opponent just like Nicaragua. I think playing good team thats going to attack will make things easier for us. We always have trouble when opponents are playing defensively and counter attacking like Chile did in last 2 finals and Croatia and Iceland . We had no problem scoring against Nigeria and France because they didnt park the bus like most teams would against us.
Suarez proved he should not be a starter. Too many wasted balls. Martinez would be a nice threat on that left hand side but I'm afraid he is here only to be a sub for Aguero. If they both start, who can sub in for striker? Maybe Dybala, but I really think Martinez will be a sub this tournament as long as Aguero stays healthy. So that leaves De Paul to be the starter on the left. I would be very happy to have him start as he is a hard worker, can track back and help win the ball way more than Suarez would, and he can create offense and finish goals. Solid player. Needs to start. ---------Guido - Paredes Lo Celso - Messi - De Paul ----------------Aguero Also I'm afraid Saravia had a few poor passes that lead to giveaways after he pushed far up field. Give aways in that area of the field will lead to deadly counter attacks against us in this tournament. From this friendly match it was clear that the weakest members of this NT were the two domestic league players, Suarez and Saravia. Need I remind everyone of WC2018 and Meza/Pavon playing tons of important minutes while Lo Celso rides pine. Sick corruption here boys.
There's always this obligation to play some of those local league players in every tournament , I dont think there's anything we can do about it. Even 2014 WC final, Palacio made a useless appearences aswell...although he did helped directly to win the ball before we scored against Switzerland.
What "obligation" do you speak of? Maybe Pavon and Meza got the chances of their lives vs. France when they shouldn't have, but other than them which local players represented us in major tournaments in the past few decades? I can't recall any, other than Palermo's deserved brief appearance vs Greece in 2010 (goal included). Ortega in 2002?? And Palacio wasn't a domestic player, so I don't get why you brought him up. If anything, he kind of counters the argument that European-based players are more of a guarantee, since he had been playing in one of the top European leagues for 5 years already when he gave that pathetic performance vs. Germany.
Well he still got picked in 2006 WC , despite we're stacked with great players at the time. Instead of fielding Messi in first game , Pekerman subbed out Crespo for Palacio instead. We never threaten their goal for the remaining 30 minutes. Meza inclusion was the worst in recent time. Pavon at least had some good matches in friendlies. I have no problem with local league players getting picked, only when we've seen them being not good enough but we still trying to believe they're as good as the've been hyped.
The superliga is a pile of dogshit. I would call no players from it except right back because we simply don't have any other options. Much less I would call mexican league players...
A pile of dogshit that sells players to Europe for millions... I do think the way guys seem to get called up to try to boost their value is crap though. Or calling up older guys just for their workrate..