Paulo Dybala on his Argentina role: “Scaloni wants me to play as a number 9”

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Paulo Dybala recently gave an interview eith DirecTV where he discussed his role with the Argentina team.

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni mentioned that Paulo Dybala is one player who will have a long national team career. Under Scaloni, the Argentina and Juventus man has played in different positions on the pitch. Speaking with DirecTV, here’s whar Dybala had to say:

“Scaloni wants me to play as a number 9, it’s what I am doing at my club. Everything that’s in front of, I have no problem. I have played in different positions since I started playing football.”

Dybala also spoke about what Scaloni had said during the Copa America:

“Scaloni has always been very direct and has said things the way they should be said. He was very smart about it and there was a good communication between the coaching staff and the players. Also, when the team is not happy, they are always there to listen to us.”

83 Comments

  1. You don’t have to hate DiMaria to not want him on the NT. He will be almost 34 years old when the next WC rolls around. He is clearly not the future. So hypothetically if you take him, he will be a forward. The team takes 6 forwards usually to a competition. Messi, Aguero, Dybala, Lautaro are in for sure, that leaves 2 spots between 12 -15 players that you can make an argument to take. Whether it’s Ocampos, Alario, Macallister, Lamela, both Correa’s and other youngsters coming up, you have far, far better options than DiMaria. This is the first time in a long time our NT runs, shows some mental toughness, and is even making halftime adjustments. The players are listening to Scaloni and that is a wonderful thing. I for one with no disrespect to DiMaria or his club accomplishments don’t want him anywhere near the team. Or Higuain who is scoring in buckets for Juventus. I have seen that movie before and I know how it ends with these two with the NT shirt on.
    I don’t care how much DiMaria campaigns to be on the team which he does EVERY chance he gets.
    He should lament not playing the WC final again Germany. He could have been the difference. That is the opportunity every player dreams of and plays for. I would have told Sabella I am playing even if my leg falls off. Instead, he didn’t push the issue because he was transferring to Real Madrid or something if I remember correctly. Sometimes we don’t get three chances in life. He had plenty of opportunities to make a difference and he did not. Given another opportunity he still won’t make a difference. There is no use crying over spilled milk. His time is over, and I would much rather see someone who doesn’t disappear or make poor decisions when the pressure is on. Thank you, but no thanks Angel. You can sit next to me on my couch and root for our team

  2. All the people who wants Di Maria at NT because of his performance in PSG. Are the same people who criticized Tagliafico an said his performance in Ajax means nothing.

    Hypocrisy at its best.

    • Well, I want di Maria to be in the NT and I m not a tagliafico hater either.

      I think if we use di Maria properly we can take the best out of him.

      He gives something different to the attack….he gives speed and directness which we lack.

      I won’t be surprised if scaloni use di Maria as a substitute so we can counter attack in the final stages of the game.

      • Di Maria deserve to be on the NT.
        It is not his fault that he can’t perform for NT. Scaloni never used on the RW. That is the only position he can play at.

  3. I never heard from an Argentina fan that Ayala generation was a flop, still i read it in here.
    Csabalala, why they were a flop? Maybe because they haven’t won anything? Because in case you forgot Messi generation, whom i love, haven’t won anything either so what does this make them a flop too then?
    Can you recall Ayala generation players? Because any objective football follower, not necesserilly an Argentina fan, knows that most of those players were monsters, legends of the game. But still some Argentina fans in here have called players such as Crespo, Ayala, Veron and others overrated while these people have tried to persuade others that some players (not Argentines) whom they like are world class and in reality those are the ones who are overrated!
    And you are refering to others calling them oldie haters!

    Anyway, i always liked Di Maria and i agree with insider that both him and Ocampos could have been a great combo but i also agree with Gonzalo and others that his condition of play with the nt is a mistery, you can’t rely on him on a big extent due to his inconsistency. However, i wouldn’t mind having him as a sub.

    • don t try find logic to idiotic my friend.
      i read dozens of nonsense inside here but i just laugh.
      i take them funny anymore.

      this down is the 23 players squad we had in 2006 world cup.
      read and cry my friend. i wish we could have now the half like them.

      Roberto Abbondanzieri
      Roberto Ayala
      Juan Sorin
      Fabricio Coloccini
      Esteban Cambiasso
      Gabriel Heinze
      Javier Saviola
      Javier Mascherano
      Hernan Crespo
      Juan Riquelme
      Carlos Tevez
      Leonardo Franco
      Lionel Scaloni
      Rodrigo Palacio
      Gabriel Milito
      Pablo Aimar
      Leandro Cufre
      Maximiliano Rodriguez
      Lionel Messi
      Julio Cruz
      Nicolas Burdisso
      Luis Gonzalez
      Oscar Ustari

    • Ayala generation was competitive just as Messi’s generation (so was with 1994 or 2006 team). I don’t think they were any inferior to them rather just missed some amount of luck which is needed to win something.

  4. “I’m 100% sure Argentina nt is million
    Times better without di Maria”
    Cause you are an oldie hater, not an argentine fan, where were you in the last 10 years, cry in the corner? I dont remember your name here and now we are another biased so called argentine fan next to Gonzalo.”

    @Csabalala
    I told you in several times that you most
    Narrow minded guy in here
    You think only people in this blog
    Are the only real argentina fans .
    Go on check my comments
    I introduced myself when started
    Be a member in here.
    I have talk about how long I ve been
    Arge fan.

    Nothing against gonzalo or any other
    Person in here but I’m proud man
    Who has more knowledge in football than
    You re .

    The other thing is anyone who goes
    Against messi generation is hater.
    That is delusion it’ self.
    I said before and I’m saying now
    The only problem I had messi generation is that They overstayed.
    Everyone knows that you hater
    Except few.

    • “Nothing against gonzalo or any other
      Person in here but I’m proud man
      Who has more knowledge in football than
      You re .”

      Dream about it, another deluded cricket boy…when idiot asian footballidiots want to thematise football, yes we know asians are the professors of football as we see from your horse shit football

      • That is rude mate but I’m not Asian
        By the way what is get to do football
        With been asian the reality is
        You the one who is deluded.
        Disrespect other human beings .

        .

  5. Anyone who think having di Maria
    In the nt again.
    need to see psychiatristy
    Nothing against the guy but
    he is the biggest flop when comes the nt.
    Especially now when scaloni have
    Good balance team I honestly can’t see
    Where will di Maria fit for this new set up.

    • “Nothing against the guy but
      he is the biggest flop when comes the nt.”

      Cause? He could score and give assist unlike poor mans Matuidi De Paul? The whole Ayala generation the flop generation for me, or simply the most overrated, and now Tagliafico sky high.

        • You loved so much the messi gens.
          You believed and still believing
          Arg nt is done without messi generation.
          But the evidence showing other wise
          De pual so far so good
          He looks to very good player
          More importantly he doing fantastic
          Job for the nt unlike your loved ones
          Who had over 100 caps .
          Let us give de paul half of this caps
          Than he be will charged.

          • In his 50th match will he give his first assist finally? Just wait…My loved ones who? They are not my loved ones, i only hate mediocrity.

            “He looks to very good player
            More importantly he doing fantastic
            Job for the nt unlike your loved ones
            Who had over 100 caps .”

            So for you these nobodies do better job in NT, than players who lead ARG into WC-final, Copa finals, win Olympics and U20Wc’s, really? BIG LOL…with his 0 goal and 0 assist in friendly matches…

          • What is wrong with you mate
            You should know more .
            Before you expect de pual
            or any other player
            To be fancy playstation players.
            Look the position they are playing.
            De pual for nt plays in central mid
            No winger or front three
            He sacrifices his creativity to help
            The team more for tha reason he is
            Becoming most important player
            A long with paredes in scaloni’s set up.

          • “He sacrifices his creativity to help
            The team more for tha reason he is

            How can you sacrifice your creativity? You can sacrifice your goal numbers playing very deep, but not your creativity and assists. De Bruyne plays in the same position in City, ZM, not in front three, defending lot, still a playmaking monster..

          • “De pual so far so good
            He looks to very good player
            More importantly he doing fantastic
            Job for the nt unlike your loved ones”

            De Paul is our MOTM (or close to the level) almost every game, even without assists or goals. This is common opinion, so no need, Csabalala, for trying distort facts.

          • How long De Bruyne has been playing
            With his nt. And what did he a achieve
            With Belgium unlike facing minnows
            Like Scotland and san Marino.
            Plus he plays the best football playing team in the world under best manager .
            For the reason you can’t compare
            De Paul to De Bruyne.

      • No need to downgrade performance of Depaul while defending Dimaria. They are different players. Depaul will start every game together with some of the other core members. May be his position will be different against different opponent, but still he will start as long as he’s injury free and playing like he does recently.

    • Wrong.
      As I told before Scaloni will pick one more wide player in his 23, that could be Dimaria. But not in the starting eleven. Having Dimaria and Ocampos in both side when you want to come from behind like Germany game is a big plus. He may be inconsistent. But when he’s in form, hes still in top3 Argentine player.

      Imo, 3412 with two CF up, and Messi behind. Together with Dimaria and Ocampos at the wings will be most attacking option we can try when behind.

      Lautaro-Aguero
      -Messi-
      Ocampos-Paredes-Depaul-Dimaria
      Tagliafico-Pazella-Otamendi

      May be Acuna and Alario if coach thinks better against some teams, for Ocampos/Dimaria and Lautaro/Aguero.

      • “He may be inconsistent. But when he’s in form, hes still in top3 Argentine player”

        Problem is not form cause he gave too many poor performances in NT while being in best form on club level. I don’t expect from him being class in NT more than 1/5 performances and for the reason general profit and loss account commands me to say NO. Two aged forwards on Copa 33 and 32 (Messi and Aguero) is enough. No need to make us older even if Di Maria was only sub player.

        • It’s unfortunate that we still
          talking about di Maria .
          I’m 100% sure Argentina nt is million
          Times better without di Maria
          And the good thing is the coaching staff Know now unlike previous managers.
          This set up has version and plan.
          So no matter what some players do thier Clubs it may not be still enough for the nt.

          • “I’m 100% sure Argentina nt is million
            Times better without di Maria”
            Cause you are an oldie hater, not an argentine fan, where were you in the last 10 years, cry in the corner? I dont remember your name here and now we are another biased so called argentine fan next to Gonzalo.

        • Older or younger…who’s going to give best results should play. For me, Scaloni will probably select Dimaria in 23 at least until next Copa.

  6. Psg fans are saying “Who needs Neymar if Di maria plays like this.” Right now best argentine in europe . We badly need a goal scoring winger and Dimaria at the RW can be the answer his finishing abilities has developed a lot under Tuchel now Dimaria at Right wing is as lethal as Messi . If still scaloni will use him at LW , he will waste his great finishing.

  7. One thing i realized if you want to win trophy you have to be strong in every area. If you see 2018 france, 2014 Germany, 2010 Spain, 2006 Italy. All are deserving team and equally strong in all areas from defence to attack.
    Moreover these teams never dependent on any particular player. Argentina 2014 team and 2006 team was also good. But unfortunately they did not win.To be honest currently I don’t see Argentina is at same level. Forward and mid field is still ok but defence is not enough strong.
    Sabella was the last coach who made Argentina defence world class. He knew attack wins the matches defence wins the title.

    • You are right on all you wrote, however I think we might have class defence within short time with the talent we have on the positions in youth generations.

  8. As for Dybala, IMO he will never be Messi’s successor by any means. He’s now 26yrs and his comparison to Messi has delayed his ultimate career performance. I hope that he gets better and better in Juventus this season and offers a fighting spirit with the NT but I won’t hold my breath. I still can see a light at the end of the tunnel if he stops comparing himself to Messi and the media takes that pressure off his shoulders.
    Scaloni has picked this prb up and realise that he must play a bigger role in preparing this boy mentally which I believe he’s doing this ATM

  9. Di Maria is a moody player. He is unquestionably a great player for me but this part of his personality which is hard to control is what’s making him on an up and down performances. The second goal was a bit of luck but anyway it was a superb finish. Happy for Parades to be in the starting eleven, this will absolutely develop his confidence and improve his attributes. Icardi is still getting a great collaboration from his colleagues by giving him easy goals and that gives an indication that he’s struggling in PSG due to his problems with Inter, but in general he’s a world class player when it comes to positioning in the penalty area. Benitez must find a bigger club to play for otherwise he won’t develop and we may probably lose him in the NT and the possibility of him been called up the NT will dwindle

  10. River draw against Aresenal Sarandi, playing with subs (3:3). Once again impressive performance of Nicolas Gimenez. Boca lost to Racing 0:1. Zaracho with the winner.

  11. Despite the 4 goals, Benitez made a lot of great saves last night. He should be in the top 4 goalkeepers of Ligue 1.

    Icardi was doing great last night again, especially when Mbappe steps in. There is a great chemistry between him and the French. Made me remind of Henry-Trezeguet in the old days. I think he should be Cavani’s long term replacement. Every week, he surprised me a bit more. He’s definitely not the Icardi of Inter.

    Paredes was amazing, this 2 international games gave him enough playing time to get back to his level. Defensively I see lot of good stuff, fast thinking, pressing, interception, slow down the game when it’s necessary, good control of the tempo. He is at the right place. In champions league, with Gueye and Verratti as regular partners, he should be able to play his best football.

    Who can imagine Di Maria’s best position is actually 10? Tuchel really did a great job to tailor make this position for him, it takes him 1 year to get used to it and he is now a very different player. I really don’t know if any 10 currently in Europe outperform him since the start of this season. He feels confident on everything he does on the pitch, all his corners were dangerous. Really glad to see that.

    • Totally, agree. I was repeating my delight over him week in week when he was playing in Palermo as No.9 Thet was his best period, in fact.

    • Paolo is a either a 9 or an 11, he needs to be high up the field near the opposing team’s goal to do anything worthwhile, just watch him now for Juventus.
      When Bauza and Allegri played him so far right that he was shoulder to shoulder with the ball boys on the field then he doesn’t do well and when he is played as a 10 (like he did against Germany) he doesn’t do that well either because the modern day 10 needs to track back and grab the ball and drive up field and that’s not how Paolo plays his game but when you play him near the opposition’s goal he can be deadly with his finishing (watching his finishing against Inter recently or against Chile in copa) or his creativity (just watch all the chances he created for Ronaldo).
      There are players who act as swiss army knives and can serve multiple functions (those players are very rare) and there are players who act as firearms and serve a single function but do it very efficiently, Dybala is the latter and if Scaloni or whoever wants to get the best out of him they need to realize that.

    • Assuming his club form translates into NT form. The problem is with Fideo, more often than not, he does not deliver in the NT colours. I personally would only have him as a sub at best.

    • It’s not hard to play well for a team like PSG in a minor league like league 1. The true litmus test is his form the CL, that is if he continues to show the form that he showed against Real then it would be hard to ignore him.
      I personally wouldn’t mind having Maria as a backup in the WCQ because it’s gonna be a long arduous process and everybody, including the likes of Banega, Maria and Nacho Fernandez, should get a chance to chip in.

      • “It’s not hard to play well for a team like PSG in a minor league like league 1.”
        Then only ask Paredes, Lo Celso, Lavezzi and Pastore cool story bro. All of them way under the expectations and far from the starting 11 most of the times, only rotation players.

        • And still Lavezzi seemed to be most usefull of all them (including) Di Maria. Club situation often does not transalate into importance fot NT.

          • Maybe for you, without Di Maria we lost our creativity on WC, scored zero goal from his injury, in more than 300 minutes, until then 8, opponents defender had to pay attantion to Messi alone and he had no space anymore. Yeahh Lavezzi was hardworker, at least…

          • No di Maria was more useful than lavezzi for NT……u can’t forget the form of di Maria under sabella.

            Give the credit to di Maria where he deserves.

        • “Then only ask Paredes, Lo Celso, Lavezzi and Pastore cool story bro.”

          You know what casablala I did what you asked and phoned all 4 of them last night to ask them that question and you know what they said?

          Paredes:
          “I was never a 5 and when PSG needed a 5 they bought me. Celso was a CM and when PSG needed a CM, they sold him!!LOL! PSG isn’t exactly the smartest club out there. Still if you’ve watched the last 2 games for PSG I played pretty well and france’s biggest football magazin la equipe has given me high marks so don’t lose faith in me just yet.

          Lo Celso:
          “Dude you f***ing kidding me right! I played regularly under Emery and performed pretty damn well in league minor (aka league 1) yet those morons still sold me. Then I went to La liga and ruled the midfield and all of paris’s magazines and newspapers dissed the idiots at PSG for letting me go for about 1/3 of what I’m worth.

          Lavezzi
          “I don’t know what the hell your amigo casablala is talking about, I scored just as much in my first 3 seasons in PSG as I did in Italy, which is to say not that much since my job is to create space for other players to score. Just ask Cavani how much space I gave him”.

          Pastore
          “Tell your friend casablala to stop talking shit, in my first season I scored 16 goals playing as a midfielder and was PSG’s best player and in the following year I was named in the league 1 team of the year. Then I was plagued by injuries but still managed to come back and reinvent my self as a CM and I did so well that I was called by Argentina for copa 2015 and started at the midfield. Afterwards I just realized what an amateur league this is and just stopped trying”.

          So Casablala there you go that was their response, they make good points but regarding Maria, we’ve seen him perform well at league minor 1 before yet when he started for Argentina he was a steaming pile but I noticed that Maria did very well when he came on as a sub against Chile so like I said before I wouldn’t mind him being a sub in the WCQ because those are gonna be hard.

    • Absolutely! He involved in the 4 goals and created more than 5 other goal opportunities with his corners, passing and crossing. No doubt the best performer of all Argentinean players in Europe since the start of this season. I think Tuchel did a great job in giving him this playmaker role. If Scaloni calls him back, he shouldn’t be used as left winger anymore, but more as a 10 behind 2 strikers.

  12. Good.

    Aguero getting old and we need more than Martinez. Dybala is easily one our most talented attackers. I just hope Scaloni keeps closest to goal instead of attacking mid.

        • alfaro came with desire to press and play aggressive but boca not used to it and results in leaving big gap between lines. racing taking advantage of it in the middle. zaracho on fire.
          racing 1-0 boca at half.
          boca lucky to be playing with 11 at the moment. shitty ref saved them a red card.

          • Zaracho indeed playing well. A fit Zaracho will create an interesting selection headache for Scaloni. We used to be really limited in central midfield and now all of a sudden Palacios, Zaracho, Lo Celso.

          • yes dominguez and macallister also making a case 🙂
            as for zaracho, he has been unlucky in nt but i think he needs to still be called in friendlies where you can have 23+.
            these mids have many inter-change qualities and can help to develop chemistry in camp.

        • funny game in the end. coudet parked the bus in the second half completely while alfaro made 3 offensive subs to get a goal. however having never played with any creativity all season his team did not know what to do when given possession.

          • I thought Mac Allister, Reynoso and Zarate were going to create something in the end but maybe a lack of decent options in CF was the problem, not sure Hurtado is all that great given his young age.

  13. 24 June 2006
    Argentina playing against Mexico for world cup.
    the game is in overtime and in the 11 of Argentina are in the same moment teammates
    Scaloni, Aimar and… Messi !!!

    look at life.
    what a wonderful days back then in the same moment.
    i miss those days.

  14. This guy has immense talent but sometimes just only talent is not enough……u HV to be mentally strong and stubborn or may be rude.
    would love to see him performing for us.

    But I will choose even icardi over him as a no.9.

  15. We do not need a shit number 9 like u, Mr. Dybala! 🤣🤩 U just needed to be kept out of 23 players of NT! If I m not wrong, I think that NT won’t get anything special from u. U just have a
    Jolly face & cute look, thats it! But we really do not need a cute babes right now! So?? ByeBye.. 😃
    💙🇦🇷💪💪

  16. Personally, I don’t care for him as a 9.
    I’m a bit old school. I prefer someone big, tall who’s strong in the air and inside the box, someone who can shoot from any angle and be confident that it’s going in. Ideally someone like Batistuta would be great, IMO I think Bati is the greatest 9 who ever played the game.
    I don’t think dybala is a natural 9. And unfortunately I haven’t seen anything spectacular from this guy yet. I like the kid but he’s failed to show what he’s capable of. I pray and hope I’m wrong and he makes me eat my words, because I really want him to finally succeed shut our mouths. But I dont see him as a strong natural 9.
    I love what Lautaro is doin so far, but he still needs someone strong behind him to feed him some balls while he’s in the box. I feel lautaro has to come out too far in order to even see/touch the ball.
    I wouldn’t think twice of benching him, lautaro has what it takes to surprise us at any moment.
    Call me crazy and I know a lot of folks will disagree with me, but I still feel ICARDI deserves to be called up. He’s a natural 9 in my opinion. And he’s fast. Unfortunately I don’t see him be called up again or anytime soon, but I feel lautaro & ICARDI up top would be amazing. Especially playing with teams who have a tough defense to break. Lautaro can drop back a bit and you still have ICARDI up top.

  17. Romero
    Saravia Otamendi Kanneman Tagliofico
    Paredes Battaligia
    Messi Dybala Acuna
    Aguero

    Thats how you play Dybala and Messi together when one Drops the other stays up or when one is wide the other goes central they just Interchange. And Acuna has energy so he can go up and down. Paredes has abit more license to go forward.

    Subs
    Rulli
    Marchsin
    Montiel/Bustos
    Foyth
    Belardi
    Asciabar/Guido R./Dominguez
    Palacios
    De Paul
    Lo Celso
    Zaracho/Ocampos
    Icardi
    Martinez

  18. Dybla offers nothing but we have better number 9 than you Dybla.Alario,Icardi and Aguero are far ahead of you.You can compete only with Lautaro Martinez.

    • What a comment. You can compete only with Lautaro. Enough….!
      Don’t write off Dybala. May be his form with NT not good, and his current situation in the club also not nice. But you can’t keep him out. You can’t compare him with any of Aguero, Icardi and Lautaro. All are different than him. Dybala is a special player. When he is in form, he’s one of the world’s best..and can play in any team in the world.

  19. The problem is at the club, you aren’t even starting regularly. So at this point we don’t know what you should do.

    Paulo HAS to leave Juventus immediately. I would love to see him in PL or La Liga.

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