Argentina Offside

Higuain isn’t a #9. He’s one of our many second strikers.

Di Santo seems promising indeed. He has the same kind of header passing than Trezeguet. Shevchenko & Pizarro have left Chelsea so the situation is different than last year. He’s now the club’s 3rd #9 choice after Drogba & Anelka. Abramovitch has apparently lost 50% of his fortune because of the crisis, so he won’t recruit in winter. Di Santo will play some games this season. Of course, it would have been better for him to play with a little Spanish or Italian club.

I can’t wait until today’s AFA decision concerning the new coach. You guys seem relax! When will it be announced?

who iz new coach?
Maxi and albo thanks to both of you for making most of this blog

Posted from  Pakistan

I am going to focus on the future now . I had felt that basiles mistakes th epast year have been in sticking with to many of the older players and many times playing to many defensive mids. Us and Spain are the only two contries that could play the type of soccer that barcelona are playing. And we have Messi!! That means we need to outside defenders that can push up with speed and we need only one defensive mid? That is my vision of Argentina futbol . Messi needs two other forwards to be effective. Right now I would play him behind or should i say upfront with Aguero and Higuain. I would play Mascerano with the Fouyr defenders and gago in front of him. We need to try maxi at the back as our right wing defender. Monzon needs to be our left defender.

Posted from  United States

Aurelius, to your question:
“Who is the best keeper at the moment in the Apertura ?”

I would say, without a doubt, it is Agustín Orión from San Lorenzo.
Saludos

Posted from  United States

Maxi, why do you say Higuain is not a #9? Probably you are right in saying that he is not like Crespo or Ruud, but he is lot close to that as compared to Tevez or Aguero.

He could have scored 5 yesterday. 2 offsides were totally pathetic.

Albo, nice write up about Basile. But there is one thing I do not agree – He did not really choose players we want to see together. Not many of them. But anyway that is past. Hope we will do better.

Posted from  United States

Thanks for the answer Albo. There was interest in him last season from some Spanish clubs. Perhaps in January he may up sticks.

Higuain is more of a nine though vis-a-vis a media punta. He can link up play o out wide when required but has good predatory skills.

The days of a striker whose sole role is to finish in the box are long gone and I think he is definitely worth giving a go as is Zarate and Lavezzi in the media roles.

He (Higuain) does though lack the physique/strength perhaps as does di Santo who is very wiry at present. As they fill out they are good options going forward.

Chau amigos.

read this article about Barcelona and plug in Argentine players and you will see how we could become great. We ahve the players to do the same thing if not more. This is from ESPN article :

Well, you can’t roam when you play for Barça (unless you’re Messi), but you can play ‘high’ if the manager’s instructions have been to attack Almería in their own half, when they are in possession. That’s exactly what Alves did, and it simply contributed to the tsunami of quality attacks that swept over the visitors’ heads for most of the first half.

Everywhere you looked there was a sort of controlled creativity that came from almost always having the ball moving at speed, and almost always having three options available – such was Barça’s movement off the ball. The fulcrum of the movement was, as ever, the interplay between Iniesta and Xavi – a classic combination of static and dynamic. Lampard and Gerrard, allegedly incompatible in England’s midfield, would do well to study the theory, or watch a few Barça videos.

The secret lies in the fact that Xavi (the more ’static’ of the two) never loses the ball. He dedicates himself to staying in the spaces that are created by the movements of the opposition in trying to mark the more dynamic or fluid players. He never really goes anywhere else, and he rarely runs with the ball. He simply dedicates every second of the game to retaining possession and making sure that the ‘fluid’ players get a constant stream of passes coming their way in territory that threatens the opposition.

Iniesta, a player who seems to be getting better by the minute, revels in the possibilities that this affords him, particularly given the fact that other players in his team (like Messi) are capable of retaining possession even when they decide to run with the ball – so to give it to them is not necessarily a risk

Xavi = Aimar or Riquelme
Iniesta = Lavezzi or Di maria
Alves = Maxi at right defender.

Posted from  United States

And of course we already have Messi. My starting 11 for the new Era is as follows:

Carrizo

Maxi Demichillis Mascerano Monzon

Gago

Roman Lavenzzi

Messi Higuain Aguero

If roman wont run then you put in Aimar.

Posted from  United States

How do you defend TODDUTAH? It’s impossible with this lineup. And where is Mascherano, our best player?

I really hope that the new coach will try to use Maxi as a “Sorin” but on the right, of course. I am sure he can play this role. He runs a lot, he’s technique, he never loses the ball, he’s collective, he always offer solutions thanks to his mobility, he defends very correctly. For me, Maxi, Mascherano & Riquelme are our most important players.

Any rumors about the coach? Maradona seems to be the favorite by AFA administrators.

True, it is a little thin in defense, but TODDUTAH I LOVE IT :). We will rock.

Maxi, he has put Mascherano in the central defense like early River days.

Can you imagine the days, it will click, it will be PARTY TIME!!!

Posted from  United States

todd utah that is really bad lineup. mascherano as center back? maxi as right back? lavezzi behind messi? and roman still there.

i think one of the best lineups would be:

carizzo

zabaleta demichillis colocini garay

mascherano

gago banega

messi higuain aguero

Albo: I agree with almost everything you say about Basile. Thank you for your posts. Good to have you back. You know football, and you really know what you are talking about when it comes to Argentina and argentine football. I have missed you in here.

Pekerman…Pekerman….Pekerman. What did we win during his time? Nothing!! Wich really big team did we beat during his time???Brazil, once, in Buenos Aires….that’s it! Apart from that game we failed to beat England, Brazil, Germany, Holland…..In the WC 06 we beat the mediocre teams, but failed to beat the two big teams we met. Pekerman did not have better results than any of the other recent coaches we had. And if Pekerman was such a genious, how the HELL could he drop Zanetti and Samuel from the WC team, and in stead go for the comedian Scaloni and the terrible Cufre. I respect that some of you like Pekerman because of what he has done with the young boys and because of his tactics, his playing style…but PLEASE, PLEASE don’t talk about Peker like he was some kind of God, like he had great results…It all comes down to results…Peker didn’t have sucsess with the results, just like our other recent coaches.

And that’s why he resigned. Any football fan will tell you that Argentina should have been world champion in 2006. But there was a referee, some bad luck & coaching nervosity on our road. Instead of being world champion, Pekerman becomes the average coach than won nothing. Batista is praised by almost everyone because he won, and everyone forgive we should’ve been out of the Olympics because of Babel and our very poor quarter final. ALFIO said it some time ago, it’s all about the result, the day-D. Concerning Pekerman, the negative opinions are boring because, if we could’ve played 4 WC 2006, we would have won it 3 times.

Because of these 2 Basile years, I now consider Pekerman as a god. I’m traumatized

Lets wait & see who is our new coach, and finally start to look for 2010.

Maxi why do you say we can not defend with that line up ? How does Barcelona defend? This is the problem with Roman? When you put him in you have to then think about how to defend with him in the game. I have clearly spelled out that the midfielders and even forwards have to get back but your line up will not produce the fast passing exciting futbol that we want argentina to have . In fact if I were defending your line up I would only have to worry about three players and practically no over lapping. You are doing the samething that Baisle did by playing three defensive mid fielders and four defenders that are defenders that do not attack much. The new coach has to realize that in modern futbol speed is a factor. I totally disagree with you on the line ups . I just think by putting a lot of speed and movement around Roman and Messi you give them both a better chance to shine.

Posted from  United States

Sorry I guess that line up was put out by Max. I assume they are different people.

Posted from  United States

Oh yes and it is time to give Higuain a call up :

Higuain: A Call Up For Argentina Is My Dream
The Real Madrid frontman has been in excellent form recently for his club, and a call-up to his national side is next on his agenda.
The French born striker has managed some crucial strikes for Los Merengues in the last few weeks, bagging a double in Sunday night’s 3-2 victory over Athletic Bilbao. He also scored the winning penalty in the derby last week in injury time, taking his total to five goals in eight La Liga matches. It is an impressive return from the twenty-year old, and now he dreams of lining up with the likes of Messi and Aguero for Argentina

Posted from  United States

Espanyol are convinced they can land River Plate midfielder Diego Buonanotte for a reasonable price in January.

Buonanotte has been a long-term target for Espanyol sports chief Paco Herrera, but his £11 million asking price was regarded as too steep.

However, while in Argentina on a scouting mission, Herrera has learned that Buonanotte is ready to make the move to Europe and River are prepared to sell.

River do not want to drag out things and are open to selling the young midfielder for a reasonable fee in January.

Email this page

Posted from  United States

I thought the new coach was supposed to be announced today, but so far nothing.
Nice posts Albo, especially on Basile.

Hey — Do you guys know if Pablo Aimar is injured? He might get back into the National team fold with the new coach, I was just wondering what his playing status was at the moment….

Posted from  United States

The wait continues ladies.

http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2008/10/27/seleccion/01790184.html

My fave is still Bianchi, then El Checho. I don’t trust Simeone or Russo.

Posted from  United States

(TODDUTAH,
What are you talking about?? At least 3 players are out of position.
MAX has written what could be a “Barca” formation.
Btw, Argentina isn’t Barca. And stop thinking that I’m too defended minded. I’m logic that’s all. For example, Lavezzi can’t play as a defensive mid…)

great post toddutah about our midfield. i would love to see lucho or aimar in place of cambiasso.and offcourse maxi in starting 11

Posted from  Pakistan