Argentina vs. Colombia

Long term if Banega realises that sheer talent alone won’t get you where you want to go but plenty of hard work then he is the deep lying playaker rather than Gago.

Gago is too often trying to pick out a miracle pass. He cannot be blamed in certain circumstances as the appalling lack of fluidity infront of him makes it hard to find space.

Masche can attack. He does posess a long range bullet as he has shown at Liverpool but then again he has confidence in the abilities of Agger & Carragher behind him.

Aside from Dimi none of the players behind him inspires confidence so he is no doubt requested to just sit and keep sitting as a shield.

Messi as Procrastinator says needs that movement to play his one two combo’s but is non existent.

Again Tevez always has linked up with Messi well as has Aimar playing at a similar pacy tempo. Tevez /Aguero need to be rotated as subs playing in a deeper lying media punta role where they can run from deep with a real nine up top.

Both Higuain and Cavegol offer so much upfront aside from their finishing (aerially they are not as good as Crespo or Batigol) in terms of movement , intelligent movement off the ball and the ability to link up with the midfield and hold the ball.

Width is always needed. Only once during the game against Ecuador and it was Heinze of all people get to the byeline to turn the defence.

The other crosses even if we had a decent target man were long diagonals with little pace or whip. Maxi needs to do what he does at Atletico or in 2006 and di Maria too .

The personell is there its just not being selected,

Unless this fool resigns no doubt we will have a new formation and new personell (no doubt good buddies of Diego so no Higuain or Pastore then) and another cock up.

Even the water carrier has a plan that he is determined to follow despite this being one of the dullest Brazilian sides ever to take the field.

Saludos.

Man, I can’t believe that Argentina is having a hard time qualifying. I don’t understand why Maradona is trying out players like if he was playing an exhibition game instead of all too important games like the qualifiers. Maybe he’s very close with them or something, but it is time that he wises up and gets Crespo, Cambiasso, Aimar, Gonzalez, and Riquelme in there or else there’s no improvement at all. I can’t fanthom not seeing Argentina in the World Cup, and I would be totally crushed at their missing out. Our previous coaches have mismanaged the potential roster of this team, but this is worse and then before. Oh well, I guess I don’t have anything to look forward to with Argentina next year if Maradona remains the coach with the same players. Barcelona has given me something to look forward to next year since I’m a fan of Messi.

Mion “In the world cup matches are usually won before they start”
I think you’re spot on about that. It’s why coaches like Lippi are so successful, because they anticipate the kind of players they need for each match. The players know exactly the kind of game they need to play before they even step on the field.

Procrastinator, I agree with the majority of what you said. But I’m not sure I agree regarding Milito. He was the focal point of a very attacking Genoa side that played 4-3-3.

The real tragedy (among others) of this side is we actually don’t know who our ideal #9 is because they are NEVER SELECTED as starters. Maradona talks about how Argentina simply missed their chances against Ecuador. But that just further emphasizes the glaring absence of a true finisher in the starting line-up. We needed to score off a set-piece at home from a defender who otherwise had a bad game.

I don’t think we even have a coach who is willing to accept that the zeitgeist of the modern game is expressed in the richest teams. It would be interesting to see Bilardo’s approach and whether or not it’s outdated.

this is turning into a re-occuring plague for Argentina. I like Pekerman’s style but he did not choose the right playersat the right time. But now, Maradona has a bad formation and bad selection for argentina… I will not be able to watch the world cup if argentina isnt present.
THIS IS THE LINEUP MARADONA… PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!!!!!!!
————–fRANCO——————
Zannetti—–Samuel——Militio/demechelis——-Diaz
——————-Mascherano————————
———Messi———Riquelme—————Cambiasso
—————-Aguero/tevez———–Higuain/crespo

Posted from  United States

Maybe if we start a new thread, who knows…
Argentina might even win a game…

Posted from  United States

Albo! good point, start a new thread…this might change our luck…also, find out how to send Maradona a message… someone in his camp has to be asking him or beging him rather to choose higuan, cambiasso, zarate, etc.

Posted from  United States

Regarding Gago I agree that he is the one who has good off the ball movement, but its gets useless when he tries that miracle pass which always gets blocked he should try it simple keep the ball in play let the game tick.
So either he is not used well or he needs some growing up to do. But surely its not his mistake as he is used as every possible role of midfield that just do not give finally any output.
Milito is not used as a No.9 in NT that is the whole reason that he is not succeeding atleast not giving the the same results as of Zaragoza or Genoa.
Maxi has dropped his form even for club and country its the same thing like Gago too much responsibility with no support from the team.
Aguero needs a Forlan to shine, in case of NT he will need Crespo or Milito to be used a #9, but if we dont use a #9 I dont see how Aguero will be useful.
May be its my crazy eyes, but looks like Argentina NT is changing its style of play where the forward line is keeping the ball with themselves for too long. Tevez, Aguero, Lavezzi(in previous games), Messi all are keeping the ball too long with themselves resulting in getting either surrounded or loosing the ball eventually for a counter or the worst , loosing our well positioned other players on the right time.

Where is the tango ? Not even hard worked results

I do remember when Gago played under Basile against France. He was genius. Absolutely phenomenal. He kept guys like Makalele in his pocket. He needs to rediscover that form again. Otherwise start the ever reliable Cambiasso who also scores on a regular basis from Inter as a defensive midfielder!

Letter to Maradona:

Dear Diego Armando Maradona,

1. Call Higuain up!

2. Put Messi in free role behind 2 strikers!

3. Pick a solid midfield – Mascherano, Cambiasso, Lucho/Maxi!

4. A proper defense, none of this Heinze bullshit. Zanetti – Demichelis – Pareja – Monzon!

5. Discuss tactics with the great Bilardo. Take his input seriously, because chances he knows a shit load more than you. Actually he created a system that enabled to shine ever so brightly, so just fuckin’ listen to him!

6. I understand giving domestic players a chance, but why would you leave out guys like Pastore, and call up Veron? Where’s D’Allesandro? Forget your allegiance to Boca players – because this is the national team! If you’re biased towards Boca, go kiss Roman’s ass, and bring him back.

7. You might havs single handedly defeated Brazil in 1990, but come September 5th, showing your players a video of yourself to motivate won’t help, if your tactics are absolute shit.

8. Get your head out of your ass!

Regards,
ajNYHC

Posted from  United States

ajNYHC,

well put, i was thinking the same thing…someone needs to get a hold of maadona and sit him down for this discusion…

Posted from  United States

LOL.
If you talk to Maradona he’ll look at you, but he won’t listen.
He’ll be thinking about his next phrase for posterity.

Posted from  United States

ajNYHC……..Very Clever

regards

ps…really is time for a new thread….How about Confederations Cup and Argy would play (dismantle) every team?

Posted from  Germany

Look, form is temporary, but talent is permanent. I believe in Heinze, though he is now out of form. I wish he will be in his killing form by 2010. And he is the one who adds some dimensions during attacking like Zennitti does. No way without Riquelme. He is the heart of argentine midfield. To me Packerman did a great job. I enjoyed killer Argentina against Yogusovakia. He built the team that looked promising except some controversial changes against Germany. My preferred team is-

——————–Romero/Franko———————-
Zannetti——–Demechelis———Samuel——–Heinze
————————Mascherano———————
———Maxi————Requilmae————Luco—–
—————–Massi—————-Higuain———-

Posted from  United States

messi should not be played as a striker in an lineup,,,..never… he is too goood as an attackin mid field winger that roams, creates chances for other players, or attracts defenders and lures them in for the kill… we need one tall striker for sure… it has to be higuain or crespo….I think it is time to fire maradona…. in his last press conference he said ” i am proud of my players”…proud of what??!? the only reason you are proud of the loss is because you made the selection…. its time to bring in Basile… overall he is the best coach for argie

Posted from  United States

ultimately i meant to say that Messi should play in the mid field.

Posted from  United States

Yes , I agree with you regarding Messi not to play as a striker. I think that would be better. Messi and Tavez can inter-change position between them. But for sure, I dont like G. Millito as a defender. He is such a defender who may gift opponent a penalty.
————————–—————Romero/Franko———————————-
Zannetti———–Demechelis————-Samuel/Otamendi————-–Heinze
————Mascherano———–Cambiasso/Luco—————
Maxi/Tavez——————Requilmae———————Messi
—————————-Higuain—————————

Posted from  United States

Letter to Maradona:

Dear Diego Armando Maradona,

1. Call Higuain up! Call Zarate up ! Call Cavenaggi up!!!

2. Play all of them!

3. Put Messi in free role behind 2 strikers! Zarate and Cavenaggi

3. Pick a solid midfield – Mascherano, Higuain , Maxi!

4. A proper defense, none of this Heinze bullshit. Zanetti – Demichelis – Pareja – Insua!

Carizzo
Zanetti——Demichilis——Pareja——–Insua

Higuain———–Mascherano————Maxi

—————–Messi———————

Cavenagi——————————Zarate

I gurantee you that we would beat Brasil with this line up. And if you want finishers none are better right now than Zarate, Higuain, and Cavenaggi. And yes this is the position that Higuain mainly plays with Real Madrid.

Posted from  United States

hey, I’m entitled to my letter to Maradona too:

Dear Diego,
Lareputamadrequeteremilparióporquenotelastomásdelaselecciónynosdejásunpocotranquilosaloshinchasquesóloqueremosveralaselecciónganar.
Albo (the shy guy next door)

Posted from  United States

My message got sniped in the middle.
well, I shouldn’t use such long adjectives…

Posted from  United States

Albo,

Can you please translate for us? And stop holding back!

Posted from  United States

i really don’t think firing maradonna is the solution to our problems. for bad selections have been kiling us for nearly a decade and i think a new coach would do the same thing. remember bielsa refusing to play 2 #9’s when we were down. to pekerman who had a starting line of 2 left backs, 2 #5’s and no right back. and his omission of zannetti and samuel allegedly because they struggled against riquelme in a champions league game, i can never forget that one. omissions have been a huge problem which continue to get worse. then we had basile who clearly showed preference to former boca players. crespo went down then he gave cruz chance after chance, that didn’t work, so what does he do he plays with 2 sometimes 3 small strikers. when he stepped down i actually thought, well this is it we finally got a manager who will not be biased, who will call the best players and play them at their correct positions and guess what happens this guy turns out to be the worst of them all.

OK. Now this is interesting guys! I like it!!!

Posted from  United States

i love the way aguero doesn’t play but still gets criticized, it’s absolutely amazing. Since he had the misfortune to be diego’s son in law(to be) all of a sudden he’s being persecuted, amazing.
If Diego goes now, we won’t qualify for anything, so u guys who r calling for his head, need to rethink. No matter who the coach is, there are going to be selection and formation issues that you don’t like. My suggestion is have faith.

carrizo or andujar in goal?

aimar 10, agreed on most of your points but a couple of points you mentioned have been reverberating here, so I will counter as I feel it addresses a few our deficiencies:

“pekerman who had a starting line of 2 left backs” – true, b/c in Pekerman’s formation, Heinze played as a Central Defender and Sorin as Left Back when on defence; and when we attacked Sorin moved up high on the pitch either to MF or in line with Roman depending on which side we attacked from. Hence to cover his movement up, we needed a CD who could also play LB in a 3 man defence. We had no one else at the time, and in fairness, Heinze was our best choice to play that role.

I bring this up b/c even though Zanetti has used by Basile/Maradona, he has not been used in the Sorin capacity and we have sorely lacked width and face down the flanks. Just think of the number of times Alves, Evra hug the touch line high up the pitch and over their players the option of going inside or pass to the wide man. It opens up the game so much. Just look at Heinze this last game going up the pitch and creating 2 really good chances. It has been an element that we’ve missed.

Width on the pitch in modern soccer comes from a LB/FB/RB which is integral to allowing your wingers/MF space to find a wide man, but also to cut inside as defenders will have to be honest about covering the player with the ball and the outside winger (who is FB who came up). People here wonder why we don’t take long shots, well, when you have no movement and strikers all being cramped up top, then the defence doesn’t have to stretch and they can cling on to players much more easily thus rendering the long shot to the periphery.

“2 #5’s” – again, it’s a slight truth. Pekerman usually played with a #8 alongside Roman, that being Lucho. When he was hurt, Cucho came on b/c Pekerman felt there was no one else that could do the job. And even though Cucho is technically more of a #5 than a #8, he played as a #8 in terms of positioning. He was higher up on the pitch than Mashe, was asked more to be a release valve for Roman, go up when needed when one of Sorin/Maxi dropped back and obviously track back to help on D. Basically, a true number 8. He was much more advanced up the pitch and ventured into the opposition’s territory a lot more than a #5 would.

This issue, along with no genuine #9, has been one of our biggest issues when going forward in the Maradona/later part of Basile era. In the Copa, Basile used a MF that included Cucho/Veron/Roman. Admittedly, Cucho and Veron were used out of position, but along with Roman and Mashe provided an element of balance, both in attack and in defence. You had 2 outright offensive players, 1 defensive, 1 hybrid. Then of course, Cucho ended up more as a winger and we got exposed to a team that neutralized that formation. but that MF diamond worked in helping us retain some sort of shape and position. Pekerman’s idea was pretty similar in that he played with 1 #5, Roman to steer, with Cucho playing as a #8 not a #5 which allowed either Maxi/Sorin to move up on the flanks based on the side of the attack.

My point is this notion of #5 needs to go away. Gago, I like his game, is simply killing the supply of balls and oxygen a good #10 needs. Ever since Gago and no #9 came about, Roman disappeared and the team went into dire straits. Atleast ask Gago to step up the line and move in front of Mashe. By staying in line with Mashe, it creates a void in MF between our 2 #5 and our wingers and our strikers. It’s why we have no MF. B/c the D is so close to the #5 that it not only leaves us vulnerable to counter attacks as the other #5 can’t chase the attack up high as opposed to his own box, but it stifles our movement and passing as dictated above.

“and no right back. and his omission of zannetti” – this is one of my pet peeves. I am in no way defending Pekerman, I felt he should have picked Zanetti but at least I understand why. There was no room. Sorin played that role. You can’t have both Sorin and Zanetti. Count me amongst the millions who were amazed that Zanetti wasn’t preferred, but I saw the logic and given the way Sorin played, Zanetti wasn’t going to step on the field. You did raise a point about Samuel or even Di Michi who at the time was playing well who should have got the call. I mean Colochinni, Cufre, Scaloni. That was hard to understand then, even now. Obviously, politics played a part.

We will win against brazil in september n everything will be ok after then. Without argentina there wont be a worldcup so relax guys!

Posted from  Australia