Sorry I missed last week's game. I took a much deserved vacation over St. Valentines and headed over to Half Moon Bay. I guess I didn't miss much, although I noticed that at least the defense held for a change. Hopefully this week will be better for the good guys. vs Saturday February 23rd 19:15 (Hora Argentina) Stadium: All Boys Ref: Ceballos VAMOS BOCA!!!
Bianchi has been unwilling to give any clues about his starting lineup. As Boca plays several games in the next few days, it is expected that he will start rotating players, and several starters will not be playing today. What is clear is that Orion is injured and Ustari will take his place at goal. Other than that it's anyone's guess, but I'll offer this possible starting lineup and alternatives. Goal: Ustari Defense: Albin, Pérez, Caruzzo, Clemente (Evangelista). Midfield: Fernandez, Erbes (Ribair), Somoza, Erviti. Forwards: Burrito (Blandi), Silva (Viatri). I guess we'll find out soon enough.
I will probably only watch the first half seeing as how the game of the week starts at 8. I watch so much shit football that I deserve that Lanus-Velez game. ******** my commitment to futbol Argentino, it brings down my weekend watching half of these teams.
Yeah same here. I'm surprised my wife doesn't want to divorce me. I guess she got used to my spending time watching games and my futbol-induced mood changes.
Penalty to All Boys. Can't see why it was given though. Converted 2-0. Edit. Should be 3-0 great save.
Well that was depressing. No threat in attack at all and a defence that is about as bad as I have seen at any level. Its getting to late to go into great detail in this part of the planet. But that performance has riledme up so much expect a rant tomorrow lol.
Yeah, very depressing. I trust Bianchi, but he's got his work cut out for him. The team looks lethargic right now everywhere -except goalkeeping- and it will take more than Riquelme, even if he's 100 percent, to turn it around.
I stopped watching at half time and went to bed, its the first time in three years that ive made the decision NOT to watch boca. Admittedly i had an awful stream. But after 30 minutes or so i could see where the game was going. What the hell is going on? We are playing no better than under falcioni. Riquelme is part of the answer, but people like silva and martinez really need to wake up soon and start playing. You can have a shaky defence as long as your forwards are putting the ball in the net, but we are off the pace in all departments. Rivero is back from injury, he scored in the reserves yesterday, maybe he can put some fire and stability back into the midfield
Well after the match and some time to digest what I saw I can't help but predominantly feel disappointed. As an attacking threat Boca where none existant. I'm starting to get frustrated with Silva. His goal scoring record ain't amazing and he is compensating for this by running hi,self int the ground every game. Now usually I would comend a high work rate and praise it, but with Silva I feel it is perhaps more running for the sake of running with no thought process or thought into it. The defence well what more can we say, shambolic, inept, among other words. They were beaten by straightforward long balls, run of the mill pass and move attacks time and again. We are desperate for a leader in the backline. This I feel is the most important area of the team that needs loking at. The midfield is a tricky one, I feel they are up against it at both ends, a) they have a leakey back 4 behind them so there is no confidence they can go forward and rely on the defeders to do their job, and b) the attack isn't firing to say the least so the midfielders have got to get forward to help out with creating/ scoring goals. The problem this creates is that they leave the back four exposed with a huge gap between midfield and defence which is easy to exploit, it also congests the attacking third making space harder to come by so attacking moves either break down or become overly elaborate. And with one misplaced pass or lazy touch the opposing team can break in a counter attack and square up a poor, unorganised defence and we end up concedeing, which starts the whole cycle off again. I think Roman will add some stability and enable us to hold onto the ball better. Boca as a whole though need to follow his lead if indeed he does have that effect. Bianchi will get it right I think, he has been away from Boca and management for a little while so maybe he is finding his feet again himself, working out how the league has changed and what his best side is. Problem with the League being set up in two 19 game tournaments, you have to get it right pretty quick.
The question is how much Roman does Roman have left in himself? I will put nothing past his genius, but how much can we rely on a 34 year old, who hasn't always taken his training very seriously throughout his career, and coming off a long layoff? On the other hand, he hasn't nearly the amount of mileage that a player his age should have. So maybe he's got some left in the tank. What I'm hoping for though is the inspirational effect of his presence. Maybe by him just being there, he'll provide the start of leadership and have the rest of the team fall in line. I especially liked your analysis about the midfield. I missed this match, but from the other matches, I agree with assessment. Unfortunately, the backline is the backline. I don't know we can expect much better for them. The team simply has to compensate on the other end and shield the defense, which when you include Orion as a part of it, should be considered adequate. I don't know what's up with Silva. He's simply not the guy I thought we were getting. Ditto for Martinez so far. I keep hoping that Roman is the tonic needed, but we'll see. Finally, Bianchi needs to get it right quickly...not so much because of the local tournament, but because of the Libertadores. Not to say that the clausura isn't important. Rather, with a loss at home already, we can't afford a less than positive result in the Libertadores. There will be time to catch up in the clausura, but even if we don't, Liberadores success would more than make up for it.
The thing that sucks about Saturday games is that they happen during my training runs. After getting home and watching a replay of the match, my shin splints at mile three of 13 ended up being more enjoyable than the match. The optimist in me would rather we start slow and build up as opposed to start fast and fade at the end. Also Bianchi has been making many changes from one match and training session to the next that it may take a little time to find all the right pieces in the right places. RiverGaucho with all your little trolling posts in this game thread you'd better hope riBer doesn't fall flat by the end of the torneo because if they do I'll pull up all the deleted posts of yours and rub it in your face. Three matches into this torneo and you're acting like a virgin that finally copped a feel. Typical sad pathetic existence of a gallina.
Im not coming in here to be a dick, you guys I assume know I prefer to just talk football above all else. Doesnt it feel a bit like theres a bigger issue at hand, one bigger than a few more tactical changes can fix? I know JRR Tolkein is coming back and will be a serious boost, well nothings garunteed but all logical signs point to it. I just think they built a team of players who they valued higher than their actual skillsets are. Silva has been a dud, Martinez for the most part too. I actually like Erviti but once Roman comes back what do they do with him. the defense is in shambles and like whats been said it takes a toll on the midfield who cant be in one place or another because it leaves the other side of the field completely screwed. It may be premature but I just dont see them having a very good shot at the Libertadores barring major turnarounds from quite a few guys. I mean they could get into knockout rounds but whats the Libertadores if you dont win for a big club? if appearences meant anything River really would be El Mas Grande instead of it just being a catchphrase. Idk guy, Im just not feeling it. Understand I am here to debate not be an ass.
To address some of your views Steazy I would say I agree with much of what you said. Silva has been a flop and from one torneo to the next has gradually regressed. What really sucks is that prior to getting hurt Viatri was really coming on and looked to be ready to ease the burden of losing Palermo. Even now I'd take him over Silva. Burrito Martinez is a busy player and at times looks to be finding his way but he doesn't seem to know what everybody else is going to do which to me tells a bigger story. Defensively we still look lost but I think with some continuity in player selection we should eventually see an improvement. On the upside I'm not so sure how much worse it can get. I have a lot of faith that Bianchi will get it sorted out, tactically we know what he brings but it's his ability to get in to players heads and sort them out where the dividends will be paid. Moving on the what impact we can expect or hope for from Roman is that his being in midfield will slow the tempo down which this side needs really bad right now. He will also do what he does really well which is hold up play which in turn will help keep the defense from getting exposed as much as it has been. Quick temp leads to quick counters which has hurt us. His ability to move the pieces around the pitch will benefit our attack as well. As for Erviti, I am expecting to see him move out left where I think he's been relatively effective throughout his career. Of course that is where JSM plays but JSM is also capable of playing anywhere upon the left side which really is a good option to have in a player of his potential caliber. I'll be in Jamaica for this Superclasico and based on history that is good for us. On three other Jamaica trips the Super has fallen while I was there and each time we've won.