something is rotten in the football state of argentina...

[txorakeriak]

Occasionally I check out the AS website to get some "insider" information about Spanish football, and a couple of days ago I found two articles about Lionel Messi and the Albiceleste that I need to share with you. My most awesome friends viewfromnowhen and mer5 were so kind as to translate them for me. YOU ROCK! *GLOMP*

Comments

[lhuneldaiel]

First, a tiny little correction here:
Maradona won his first two matches - a friendly against Scotland, and a qualifier against Venezuela
His second match as coach was a friendly against France, which Argentina won 2-0.

Oy, I'm not going to address everything you wrote, because then we'd be here for weeks, hahaha.

As I haven't seen any of Argentina's matches ever since Maradona took charge, I must admit I don't have much on which to base my claim that Maradona's line-ups and call-ups don't make much sense. I'm sure that those of you who have seen the matches have more to say on this matter, and I pray you to please do so. Any information is appreciated.My biggest criticism on his line-ups would be that he seems to build a team around the strikers. He often opted for Tévez-Messi-Agüero, but these three get in each other's way and are very predictable. They're not very tall, so well-placed surprise headers are out of the question. And, like I said, they're predictable in their actions. Play two of them, and put in a big, tall striker

[txorakeriak]

Ah, I totally forgot about the friendly against France. *headdesk* But it's weird, isn't it, that the team seems to do well in friendlies and then gets cold feet when there's a real challenge.

LOL, I do realise I rambled a lot here, but don't worry about it - unless I'm completely misinformed about something (or have gotten the wrong impression of something), I don't mind it when people don't comment on certain things. ;)

Yeah, I realised that. Tévez, Messi and Kun seem to be in each other's way a lot, and I don't understand why Maradona keeps playing them instead of introducing a different striker type. (I don't really care much for Palermo, but if for him to be on the pitch is what it takes to make this team score more goals, I'm all for it. The way things are now, it couldn't be anything but an improvement, I guess.)

I forgot to address Maradona's substitutions - those really seem pointless more often than not; and the really necessary substitutions aren't made at all. I suppose that Messi is frustrated like the others, and

[txorakeriak]

Oh, you're a local, of course you're qualified to talk about this issue! If anyone isn't qualified, it's me because I haven't seen any of Argentina's recent matches and don't get much information from the press here

[angualupin]

"And his attitude on the pitch, as if he didn't even want to be there."

Yeah, maybe he didn't want to be there because no matter what he does for the NT, you're all still arseholes to him?

I don't even like Messi and his treatment by the Argentinian press makes me want to punch someone.

[txorakeriak]

I agree. How convenient it is to have a scapegoat, right? I mean, do they expect him to perform miracles? He's only as good as his team and his manager allow him to be.

[c0rrine]

when argentina lost to brazil i knew the media would criticize messi :( saying shit about how he doesn't care for the NT because he doesn't play as well with them as he does with barca etc, but pointing fingers at leo messi is unfortunately the easiest thing to do. it's sad, i watched parts of both qualifiers and the team is pathetic. maradona clearly doesn't know how to utilize his players and NO ONE under his rule has looked particularly good. higuain's call-up is long overdue but who knows how big of a difference he'll make seeing how match-winners like aguero, messi and tevez have not been able to produce too much in the qualifiers lately. what's worse about his formation is he'll play tevez, messi and aguero all at once when they all do the same job, and neither of them are pure strikers! there's no communication between those 3 and they're left running around like headless chickens!! meanwhile on-form milito who is a centerforward is waiting on the bench. how he uses his players, and the type of players he'll call up just drives

[txorakeriak]

You're right, it really seems to be awfully convenient to put the blame on Messi. As viewfromnowhen said, so many people forget how young he actually is. The entire team is underperforming, so it's hardly surprising that Messi is.

Higuaín would at least present a different type of striker. Tévez, Messi and Agüero keep getting in each other's way because they're similar in their approach, as you said, but Higuaín could provide with a diversion that is muchly needed. Argentina's forwards have become predictable and therefore easy to take out of the game by the opponent's defense. On-form Milito would be another option. Or heck, even Palermo might make a difference, though i'm clearly no supporter of his because he's so slow.

[c0rrine]

they have become predictable but the players individually are doing alright with their clubs. barcelona's 4-3-3 with messi zlatan (eto'o) henry is predictable as well but it's executed properly

i'd play messi (higuain/milito) aguero, their attack would look much better already! i just hope that when maradona calls higuain, he's used properly and not as a 60th min sub!!!

[jenlan]

I think I agree that they seem to be using Messi as a scapegoat. But then again, I'm always amazed when a team does poorly and they start blaming certain players when in actuality it is bad management/coaching or something else entirely.

I think Messi played as well as he could considering what he had to work with and that Argentina would be so much stronger if they had someone smarter than Maradona. Stop dwelling on previous rivalries, disagreements, etc... as you said when the qualification for a World Cup is at stake, one has to put those childish sentiments aside and do what's best for the national team

*sigh* I had hoped Argentina would somehow pull through, after all they have some really good players (if only Maradona utilized them appropriately!)

[txorakeriak]

It's always stupid to point fingers at one or two players of a team. That's why it's called a team. And it's especially clear with Argentina because the entire team is playing badly at the moment. To single out one player is just wrong. A good team can make up for the bad performance of one of their players (everyone has a bad day every once in a while), but a bad team can't. Just as well as a good coach can turn a bad team into a good one and a bad coach usually does the opposite. If you look at the players in the Argentine squad, you'd think they don't have reason to worry, so it can't be the players. They perform well at their clubs. So I guess we must look for the culprit elsewhere.

I could just as well have added "one has to stop worrying about one's own image or pride", because that's mainly why Maradona still has his job. And why he probably won't lose it before October.

*sigh*