Giving Thanks

Higuain is not a #9. He’s a forward. Lisandro, Cavenaghi, Milito deserve a call far before him (for me, Cavenaghi is the man, by far).

I am not trying to transform what you wrote nor is this personal. I am only stating my view that Higuain should be given a chance. yes i love what Milito has done this year but the chances he has been given he has not shown for the NT. I like the pace and power that Higuain would bring and yes since he is younger and yet on the same level as the others why not prefer him so that we have a front threesome of messi aguero and higuain for the next 8 years? Higuain has more pace and more power than all three of the others and his touch is coming. If anything the fact that he is the fourth leading scoerer in the league when he is played behind the legend of Raul crys out even more for him to be given a chance.

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Interesting points Maxi, Todd & ajNYHC. Here are my 2 cents

We are talking about our NT and all I want is the best personnel to do the job at a given point of time. There is no queue and ticket system (Maxi I beg to differ here with you). If you are good and delivering, I will put you right in front of the line. I do not care if Milito, Cavenaghi, Higuain or whoever came first. Who is red hot at this time and we believe could deliver for us in 2010?

Higuain, seems to have it in him (I actually laughed when he said he will score 15 goals for RM last season). Also, this does not mean Higuain in and all other out. There are different games in a tournament & 90 different minutes in one game. Milito, Lisandro, Cavenaghi or Higuain anyone can start and can be subbed.

Everyone has a personal preference. My personal favorite is all argentines. I get up 6:30 am on a weekend to see if Middlesborough is playing Julio Arca? Anyways, my actual favorite right now would be like

1. Aguero & Higuain
2. Aguero & Lisandro
3. Aguero & Milito
4. Aguero & Cavenaghi
5. Aguero & Cruz (YES! He is the same boat as Milito, great for clubs, chokes for NT).

I can explain the rational of my selection. If you guys are interested :).

Off course if Aguero is not playing, we have other options too. E.g. Tevez is a super favorite of mine, but based on current scenario, he has to be on bench perhaps.

I love Cambiasso, Lucho etc. but they may have to be on bench.

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Debasish

Please explain your rational. Thanks

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Also I am assuming that Messi is pushed back since he is not in your front two?

—–Carrizo—–

Gonzalo-Demi-Heinze

Maxi–gago-mascherano–Di Maria

messi

—-aguero-higuain—

Maxi slides back on defense. You could also put lavezzi in place of Di Maria for a real offensive team or Lucho in place of Di maria for a better defensive line up.

The way i see the future is a fast quick paced tema that shift from offense to defense and i have come to the decison that for the NT Roman should come off the bench

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i believe this #9 situtation will always be a constant debate for us. honestly the above mentioned just have not performed well or not given the chance at the nt level. i personally like all of them: milito, higuain, dennis, cavenaghi, lopez in that order and would be thriller to see any of them start. what i don’t want to see any more is 2 small forwards or even worst a starting line up with messi, aguero and tevez. milito and higuain scored two outstanding goals over the weekend and maradona should be taking notice. also maxi why so much criticism over higuain, i remember at the olympics when he was left out you said he was not good enough. well there is no way i could pick a squad with buonanotte and acosta infront of him. for him being a former river plate this really suprise me. as u usally have the most positive things to say about river’s players.

A #9 has several chores for his team.
Of course the first one is to score.
But also has 2 important jobs.
1. To become a reference for the enganche and the wingers, kind of a light-house, either coming from the weak side or holding the opposite CDs to receive and shoot on goal.

2. To generate openings by pulling the CDs to one side for a fast media-punta to enter the box at full speed.

A tall and strong striker is ideal for this job, especially if the team has a couple of wingers who exploit the full length and width of the pitch.
Too many goals are scored by heading a cross or a corner kick.
And a tall striker will be a nightmare to his CDs.
This is the best case scenario because a team that uses every inch of the field has an advantage.
Only when a real striker is not available, you choose a fast, small and smart media punta. But this alternative comes at a price because the game becomes more frontal and as a consequence more predictable.
We have DeMaría on the left who looks like he could be our left winger, but on the right side we don’t have a player who will go all the way and take a cross back to our #9. Messi could, but he doesn’t do that. He prefers to cut to the inside to use his left foot.

Just like in basketball you have to have a good jump-shot in order to be able to take the ball to the hoop. That way your defender has to be aware that he cannot give you an inch. You have to have both games to become dangerous.
In football is the same. We have to have #9 and the full wingers to keep the opponent busy, and that’s how the enganche and the #8 (and even a fast fullback) can enter the box with some space to score.

We still don’t have a right full winger (a la Caniggia).
Messi should add the cross from the right corner to his arsenal of tools.
Only when you have both alternatives you become a headache to your defenders and the talent of the little ones shows up.
Saludos

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We need a pure fox, a #9, someone always in the box. We need someone like Crespo who just has to push the ball in the net, at the right place, at the right moment. We don’t need another forward who likes to track back in midfield. We already have Aguero, Tevez, Messi, Saviola, Palacio, Lavezzi to do this. We need a pure striker (Cavenaghi, Denis, Milito) not another forward like Higuain.

I agree with you DEBASISH. There is only one date: 2010. Competition must be brought by Maradona (unfortunately no more time to test the strikers we use to talk about) and every single player must be at his top level in june 2010. It’s not going to be easy for sure but Maradona must decide quickly.

My choice:
1. Aguero & Cavenaghi
2. Aguero & Denis (against physical opponents)

Lopez & Cavenaghi must be given a friendly each ASAP. Give 90 minutes to Cavenaghi and he’ll be the new Crespo we are all looking for.

One thing is sure, this is what Maradona/Bilardo have in mind.

——-Aguero———
——Riquelme—Messi

Albo I think that Maxi in the lineup that i posted could make many runs up the right wing. All you have to do is watch barcelona and the addition to Daniel Alves to see how much sapce a player is given when he runs in behind Messi . All the focus is on Messi. The same would be true for maxi if he were to make runs up the right wing.

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Thank you ALBO for your post.

maxi since you love cavenaggi so much put him in my line up i nplace of Higuain and give me your comments on if you think that it would work. Thanks

ps I still think Higuain will be a great number 9.

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Also I love Riquelme but can everyone see that with our current group of players it becomes very difficult to produce our best lineup when you have to account for the slow magician who no longer is at his peak by the way.

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Maxi is not the kind of winger who runs on his wing and try to dribble and cross like a dutch winger such as Robben. Instead of this, he keeps the ball.

In 2006, Pekerman’s strategy was basically to keep the ball and attack from the left with Sorin and Roman (Saviola moving around him). Maxi was on the otherside, trying to be forgotten and when the team reversed the game, he would benefit from some spaces. This kind of action led him to that fantastic volley against Mexico… This is Maxi Rodriguez, what a player.

Todd, Maxi Rodriguez certainly can do the right wing but to me he is our perfect #8.
Maxi is to much of a player to have on one far side of the pitch.
His work as a defender and supporting the enganche is too important in my opinion.

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In addition to this, Maxi can score gols. He really has a great positioning.

We can’t defend 4-4-2 if we use 3-5-2 because we don’t have a player who can have the “Sorin” role (Zanetti is too old). We must admit it TODD, we are not in a videogame. We must use our players at their right position.

Attacking 3-5-2 and defending 5-3-2 might be the solution. Roman, Messi, #9 must defend like the others. Like they did against Brazil 08.

I look at maxi rodriquez as the SOrin role but instead of the left side we use the right with him?

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Maxi tell me again why Cavenaggi never plays in the champion league games?

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New River coach (former great enganche) Nestor “Pipo” Gorosito is trying to bring Ortega and Gallardo back to the club.
Aguilar, you’re gonna have to open your wallet, dude.

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Instead of bringing the River veterans back, they should try to keep their tons of young talents at the River futbol school.

Ironically what makes the Argy league so compelling is that all the clubs can compete now with the big two of River and Boca. Why is that ? Because Boca and River are constantly loosing their talent so they are forced to play very young players or veterans that have already had their day in europe. This lends itself to some good player developement in the argy league and also makes it very difficult sto build a dinasty. Can you imagine River right now with higuain and aimar or if Boca still had gago and tevez?

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thanks for the update John. Update on the AC Milan score oH wait there iS no update BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAUGE!

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Todd, what you said about the way Argy football functions is totally true.
The clubs have to make do with what they have (because they’re always selling players) and at the time stay competitive not only in the league but also for Copa Libertadores, Sudamericana etc.
May be that in itself is the reason why Argy players grow so fast in terms of experience.

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Wow we could have some great knockout games with Inter Atletico and chelsea all as second place teams.

Final 16

AS Roma
Chelsea
Panathinaikos
Inter Milan
Barcelona
Sporting Lisbon
Liverpool
Atletico Madrid
Man U
Villareal
Lyon
Bayern Munich
Arsenal
Porto
Juventus
Real Madrid

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Cavegol +0

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True not a good day for cavegol He needs to move to a team where he can play more than 30 minutes in the big games.

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