Nicolás González called up to the Argentina national team

1. Cuti and Licha both will likely arrive on Wednesday or Thursday morning which makes it a bit unlikely for any of them to start due to Visa reason. Pezzella and Otamendi will start if Cuti and Licha won’t arrive in time.

   Lo Celso is questionable. Nico Gonzales will not be ready for the first game. Dybala is out for sure. Acuna not completely healthy. Others pretty much are available.

   • If Lo Celso not start…we will see, who will be his backup. Papu vs Allister vs Enzo.
     Papu getting old and declined…! I don’t consider him as a midfielder. For me he’s a forward.

     • Papu has not declined, instead it’s the team he’s playing for that fell off the deep end after selling their CB pair and not replacing adequetly.
       Papu’s best position IS midfield! His ability to hold and control the ball in tight spaces makes him ideal for midfield, hence why he peforms best for Sevilla when in midfield yet Lopetagi insists on using him as a LFW for some odd reason.
       If any of you have doubts about Papu being in midfield I advice you all to watch the last 2 WCQ games against Colombia and Chile where Papu subbed for Celso and De Paul respectively and was absolutely excellent.

       • Macallister no chance as a sub for lo celso. It would be papu when the team desperately need goals and for de Paul the sub would be palacios. And if the team needs for more defensive duty then Enzo would be lo celsos sub and palacios would be de Paul sub. If there is no Enzo then macallister might have some chance to play as a sub of lo celso. I hope Enzo and palacios could go through to the wc. Another problem is if papu entered then dybala can’t even enter as a sub. Another blessing is our all forwards are very good in link up play in the center except Nico to some extent.

         • I don’t think palacios will be fit for the wc

   • I would love to see Alvarez more with Messi. He will be crucial in the WC. It’s better to give him more time to gel with Messi.

     • I agree and with you on this. Alvarez should get more time and with Messi. He is not a static forward. These are the kind of profiles who will go very well with Messi.

     • Alvarez + Toro can be a nightmare for any defense.

2. facundo medina his concentration man marking is very good, his long balls are also good.
   on the other hand german pezella who’s reading game slow but his aerials strengh good. number 4 defender it is between pezella and medina..
   romero,lisandro,otamendi, pezella/medina

   • Facundo Medina very strong physically. I remembered last year Medina was beast mode against psg trio of Messi, Neymer and mbappe. I think he is good option.

3. I think Scaloni considers Nico Gonzalez an essential player because of the skillset he brings: pace, dribbling, movement into the box, heading ability and defensive contribution. He is versatile and can play in multiple positions (LWF, LM, LB, CF). I think for Scaloni he is one the first subs to come on when he does not start and in some games he might even be a starter.

   • From what I’ve seen in last matches from Scaloni probably ARG will finish the games in 3-4-1-2 formation, without the ball at least, maybe even with the ball (or 4-2-3-1 double six) with Emi—Nico G as wide left—-Ota-Romero and Tagliafico or Lisandro as 3rd LCB-Molina as wide right—Palacios or Macallister or Enzo—Paredes/Guido—Dybala—Alvarez—Messi. Our most running and pressing players will be exhausted after 70-75-80 minutes and will be subbed off. These are: De Paul, Lo Celso, Di Maria and Lautaro. Subs Di Maria/Nico, De Paul/Palacios 1st option or Macallister 2nd option or hopefully Enzo 3rd option, so ARG will play with double 6 after that sub to protect even more the Dybala/Julian/Messi trio. Lo Celso/Dybala or Papu (i dont see him playing in important games) and Lautaro/Julian Alvarez. If Paredes starts probably he will be subbed off too (maybe only if game would go to the extra time) Guido not so sure. Another note: these pairs will start imo Acuna with Guido and Tagliafico with Paredes for balance reasons. Tagliafico with Paredes is more likely so Tagliafico can act as LCB after Nico comes in. The 5th sub should be Paredes/Guido then Taglia remains the 3rd CB or Acuna/ Lisandro, the latter in the same role. Dybala and Julian should lead the race for attacking sub spots right now. (earlier these were Papu and Joaquin Correa, but things have changed). With this 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-2-1 formation Dybala and Messi can play together comfortably, in 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 (4-2-2-2) no.

     • In full attack mode our formation will be 3-2-5 with the ball (the classic WM formation)…Taglia/Lisandro-Otamendi-Romero——Guido/Paredes-ZM from that 3—-Nico-Julian-Messi-Dybala-Molina.

     • Ofc Messi can play with Dybala in 4-4-2 too as the two main strikers, but this is not optimal. 2 players who bad (Messi) or maximum average in defending/pressing (Dybala) and neither of them is useful wo the ball or attacks open spaces regularly. Lautaro or Alvarez is that striker. Together they need overprotection what we can solve with 3-4-1-2.

       • Dybala does contribute to defense when asked to play a deeper role. He did it frequently in Juve, but so far has not need to do it in Roma because Roma squad is usually loaded with defensive players. In my experience he is better at winning balls compared to Di Maria, but of course not as good as Nico. Messi these days no longer contributes to defense. Which is fine. He is Messi! But I am sure even he will go the extra mile in his swansong tournament.

         Messi and Dybala can play together with Lautaro in a 4-3-3 or even 4-2-3-1 with another attacker. The versatility of Argentine central midfielders and wingbacks make it possible. They could be devastating in a match where the team is expected to dominate possession or when chasing the game. But not recommended in a tight match or when the team has to hold on to a slim lead.

         • Messi no longer contributes to defense? Do you watch the games with your eyes closed? Here’s Messi contributing to defense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWRCL4aCEm4
           Skip to 8:19 and 9:12 mark.

     • I’ve also seen Paredes and Guido dropping deep between 2 CBs to make it back 3 in attack.

   • > he brings: pace, dribbling, movement into the box, heading ability and defensive contribution. He is versatile and can play in multiple positions (LWF, LM, LB, CF)

     Yep…great player buttttt im concerned with his finishing. World Cup only grants few chances and we cant have another higuain miss.

     • j correa has much more bad finishing than n Gonzalez. the 3 worse players right now in Argentina players are Montiel, j Correa and Armani with Armani the least dangerous out of them with respect affecting a result.

4. Most important 2 matches for our backup &subs. Perez medina enzo montiel LMQ both correa. Foyth need atleast 1 full months of matches before WC… WC is 60 days away. So Scaloni might not going to add new players….

5. Nico is arg s best left winger at the moment.very useful and scalonis first choice.J.correa seems his backup.Similarly dmaria on right .Alvarez or someone could be his backup

   • He is very good. Great pace and dribbling. But his composure in front of goal is lacking.

6. Inter Miami Facility is 3 mins from my place. I can see it from my window. I ll be at the training ground tomorrow morning to check on our team.

   • you lucky b*****d 🙂
     wish you could share pics here

   • They are allowing crowds for training session??

7. whoevercome in or out fitness is very important in a major tournament. We experienced in several tournments.in the middle we lost key players bcz of injury and fitness issues
   .Result is we are back with no winners trophy.

8. I hope messi scores a hat trick against Honduras. He needs to reach the 100 goals for national team fast. 100 goals will be a great landmark. I hope he atleast continue playing until the next copa.

   • Hope he wait for landmark for important matches. Messi have habit of scoring landmark goals in important matches. Hopefully it will be for WC final. He scored 400 landmark vs Liverpool with two goals including Messi class freekick.

9. Ghana is not strong at all. World ranking positions: Ghana 60 Jamaica 62 Honduras 80…scoring 5 goals against such weak Ghana mean nothing Brazil dont know it?

   • There won’t be any change in impact to us if the oppositions level is high in friendlies. Atleast these low ranked teams would try to frustrate us with their defense. Don’t forget in the last 2 WCs teams like Iran and iceland created more threat with their defensive strategy than the more attacking teams like Holland or France or Swizz. I still remember Iran counters created havoc to our defense occasionally. So starting well against Saudi would be an automatic booster. Like wise it is important to be get improving step by step as the wc goes on. Like in 2014 1986 and even in 2021 copa and not like in 2006 or 2010 where we showed the opponents the full strength in group stages and just got troubled in the knock outstages. But this teams real strength is we have an excellent mid field which is very underrated in Europe. They can dominate any team. And to unleash it in the right time would be our day of glory.

     • Excellent midfield?? Really??

       • Much better than Brazil midfield, very few midfielders with good passing range, they have only specialists (Casemiro and Fabinho two pure DMs) and not a single complete midfielder who can do all, like RDP, Lo Celso, Enzo even Palacios, Papu and Macallister. Paredes is not mobile but elite ball progressor. These guys can defend, attack, run, pass with good range and playmaking. Brazil midfielders Fabinho and Casemiro one dimensional DMs, Fred who can only run nothing else, Paqueta can only attack wo balance, Coutinho can only shoot, Guimaraes is their only balanced midfielder, but he wont play cause Tite in love with Casemiro Fred duo LOL.

       • Shut up man. Always negativity.

         • Ignore the troll.

         • *If Lo Celso were taller, our midifled would be excellent.

10. Brazil arranged matches against much better teams.

    • the training sessions are more important than the actual matches for this cycle. better teams mean more risk of injury

      • Brazil does not know it? If Argentina plays teams like Ghana than we can realise the situation comparing with Brazil- Ghana match. But scoring 5 goals against Honduras means nothing.

    • We had better teams, but then the WC draw created conflict and we didnt have many options left.

11. What happened to Marco Senesi? Is he injured?

    • He lost the competition to Nehuen Perez for the back up defender. Perez does better for Udinese than Senesi this season who did not even start for Bournemouth.

      • Sensei played against top teams in his first matches. He was very unlucky. His first premier league taste came against Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool in two weeks time..and his team got trashed. That affected his position in the team. Now hes back to starting X1. We will see whether he cope with the situation or not.

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