Argentine NT News, Stats, Players 2009-2010 (R)

Well those were German defenders not La Liga defenders .

But Brazil have tough physical defenders who can boss players around.

The thing with Messi and la seleccion is that really he is too alone at times. Same goes for Higuain.

At Barca Messi has players around him constanly, that he can play 1-2's with or that he can feed the ball to. Did you see that pass that he made yesterday for the second goal? He passed it to a defensive midfielder that was in the box! When have you seen Mascherano or even Veron get into a position that high up? And Messi is also the player who has played the most through balls this season in La Liga. He look for players around him.

Barca play a very high line so there are constantly players around. Argentina is not doing this. I've mentioned before that I want everyone playing a little higher up, especially Veron. There's too much of a gap between midfield and the forwards and they are too alienated at times which forces them to try to take on multiple defenders by themselves or forces them to drop back too deep where they are not as effective.

 

Inter yes,Chelsea, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

 

I'm not going to disagree with you on these points but its not what I'm referring to.

What I'm referring to is his finishing ability on the NT versus his finishing ability at Barca. If you are to take Messi with the control of the ball in a scoring position with Barca vs the same position and control with the NT, Messi will most likely score for Barca and NOT for Argentina. That's what I'm referring to.

 

I have a questions for the posters. The next time that Ballack is faced, who is going to retribute for Micho?

 

Good question and to be honest, I don't know. If I had to guess, I would say Mascherano. Kind of makes you wonder who has the balls to do something on this team.

Pretty much. Nothing against Valdano, I love him for what he contributed with the NT and I get that he works for Madrid, but not once have I seen him come out and actually say something positive about the Argentine's playing there. Heinze, I can understand. What about Saviola? He was treated like shit in Madrid(Javier takes part of the blame) yet he still scored some goals(when he was getting regular minutes). But when Gago was actually on form, Valdano never praised him. When Gonzalo carried Madrid on his back last season, where was Valdano with the kind words? When Higuain was under fire for a week because of that missed chance in the Champions League against Lyon, Valdano kept his mouth shut and didn't say a damn word of encouragement in the press about Higuain. Nothing at all. Yet when Higuain comes back to score a hattrick, he's full of praise for him. He'd rather spend most of his time praising Ronaldo, Kaka(who's done absolutely zero for Madrid this season) and Benzema, while Higuain gets no recognition from him.

I guess Diego and Heinze were right when they said those things about Valdano.

 

But the fact is that recently he does not get into many good scoring opportunities for Argentina precisely because of what I said.

To be fair when Gago was on form and when Higuain was scoring a lot last season Valdano did not work for Madrid. He started his job in June 2009. By that time Gago was already crap.

And he came out pretty much right after Higuain was under fire and said that Higuain would not be sold and was not going anywhere.

 

Definitely Heinze.

 

Simeone would have laced Ballack on the next play.

In this aspect, I really feel that the Argentine NT has really lost some ground. Not that we need to be bullys or be seen as such but a couple of years back, a Ballack type player would not have attempted something as ludicrous as breaking someone's face.

Some players reported that Micho's face had dissapeared. Five fractures will do that to you.

 

Epic rant from NYC that I had the pleasure of reading. I agree with the main points you feel. I ranted earlier after watching him in Germany.

epic praise from Henry
http://goal.com/en/news/1716/champi...d-last-season-was-just-ridiculous-barcelonas-

 

Really??????????? I think Veron to be honest or Samuel.

 

Is he holding out??????????? Yeah I think he is, you just wait and see chamigos, the more I think about it there are plans behind the scenes and we will mount an epic challenge for the mundial trophy this summer.

 

Cosmos, here's where you may be missing the plot on Messi. Until last season, Messi wasn't really a good finisher. Okay, maybe he was good but I certainly don't think his finishing ability was top class just yet. And through that time before last year, he carried that same inconsistent finishing to the NT.

Currently, he's improved by leaps and bounds in that department to the point where now he can actually dominate games by just his scoring ability, rather than frustrating defenses by carving them up with his dribbling (which he does now less and less, and that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned in order to avoid injuries.)

So now that his scoring ability has gotten better, he simply DOES NOT get the opportunities at the NT. Do me a favor and really critically examine and compare the following with regards to his play at Barca and the NT:
1. Where he gets possession of the ball.
2. How many players are usually around him.
3. How many obvious passing options he has.
4. Who is making hurtful runs into the defense to make space for him.
5. How the ball gets played to him. I'm talking here about accuracy. Is it usually an accurate ball at his feet or does he have to overeach, stetch, etc...
6. The quality of defenders he's playing against.

And there are more points I could add. But after your critically think about those things, if your conclusion is that he has the same situation at Barca than he does for the NT, or that any difference is negligible, and he's not performing the same way only because he cares less about the NT than he does Barca, then we'll agree to disagree.

 

I think people outside of Argentina or their supporters are looking at Messi as the next big thing. I talked to friends yesterday(who ever non-argentino) were going crazy for Messi. I get so happy and giddy for Messi's play at Barca I forget what he does not do for us. Another thing that worries me, is that pressure he is going to be under, I have never seen such build up for one player going into a WC. I recall Ronaldinho,Ronaldo(Real Ronaldo) build up for the WC's and neither were as big as this. Now I wonder if Messi wins another CL, and scores 40+ goals(Yet again) I wonder how the media back home will build him up? I will keep my eyes and ears open for that.

 

Aguero scores two goals, one brilliant one two put two away goals on the board. Athletico defense, like always, as usual, every time blows the lead.

Athletico Madrid sucks so bad it's amazing. These guys are incompetent. Aguero should leave, this team is a joke.

edit: they hold on with edge on aggregate all thanks to aguero.

 

At the end of the day, this club depends more on Higuain, than Higuain on Real Madrid.

 

Cerezo, presi del Aleti, chicaneó: "Si lo quieren, que nos den a Cristiano, Kaká, Higuaín y algo de dinerillo.

 

That's F'N classic, a nice FU to RM.So I am guessing that is a big NO for Kun leaving to Real.

 

Well said. When you see Messi get the ball at Barca, his teammates fill the spaces around him so that the defenders cannot completely leave their assignments. Whenever I watch Argentina games, he's in an awkward position and trying to dribble around three defenders who don't have any responsibility other than stripping the ball from him.

 

People has suggested Samuel and Heinze, but i was thinking of Tevez, just look at him in last World Cup's match against Germany.

Apparently one of the considerations to exploit Messi's abilities on the national team would be to bring people that can serve to the national team and Messi would feel more comfortable with, there 3 names as of now, Milito(Messi's teammate, it's said that he was recently praised by Puyol for his value to the team off-the-pitch), Ustari(a former roommate of Messi) and the third name but less likely is Zabaleta(apparently a good friend of Messi). What do you guys think?

 

What abt El Kun? He is close to Messi as far as i've heard, as well as Gago

 

I read an article a few years ago, when Zabaleta was still at Espanyol, and it talked about how Messi and Zabaleta were very close and that, at the time, Zabeleta was the only friend messi had in the city. I don't think players should be chosen bc they are friends with Messi by any means, but when I look at these 3 players, I have no doubt they deserve to be there on merit.

Ustari is a proven GK who played with Independiente, won the U20 wc, and the olympics (although injured before the final). Meanwhile the other choices diego has in mind for the 3rd GK spot, Pozo and Campestrini, play for small clubs and have no expirience with the NT at any level. Ustari, having been in there in 2006, could be useful to the group, not just messi. I also cannot stress enough how pathetic pozo was against catalunya.

Zabaleta is a good player who won everything, like ustari and messi and aguero, at the youth level. He is a much better option at RB or LB than Otamendi or Heinze.

Milito is good. People say he has been hurt, but if Diego is going to "wait for Angeleri until the last possible moment" why not wait for Milito? Milito is actually proven at the NT level, while Angeleri has played a handful of minutes.