Praise Of Doom?

It's a bit of a cliche, but it's proven true time after time: A team president/owner praises his manager while the team is on a bad stretch of results, and before too long the manager is packing his bags and looking for a new job. So, here we are with the Clausura 2010 eleven matches old, and with Newell's Old Boys sitting in eleventh place, ten points from leaders Independiente, and Guillermo Lorente has opened up to the media with his high regard for manager Roberto Sensini.

“While I am president, Roberto is going to be the manager, unless he decides to go away," Lorente stated in an interview on Radio Dos. Now, as I recall, when Lorente took over the presidency of La Lepra he only turned to Sensini when he could not convince Fernando Gamboa to stay. Even then, as I recall, Sensini didn't want the job, and only accepted when there simply wasn't anyone else to step in and take up the position.

That said, how long will it be before Roberto decides to go away? I honestly believe Lorente will hold to his words... after all, if he fires Sensini the coach will be due severance pay (assuming he's under contract.) Newell's are not in a financial situation where paying anyone to leave the team makes sense.

Still, with the end of Sensini's time on the bench theoretically at risk, I'll put forth the question: Who do you want to see coaching Newell's?

If he can be convinced to return, my choice at the moment would be Gamboa. Sure, he just got let go by Chacarita Jrs as they continue to try to work their way out of relegation. Considering the players he had to work with, I don't know what the team directors were expecting. Before they brought him in during the Apertura, Los Funebreros had barely earn a single point. All things considered, I think he did a hell of a job.

Granted, Chacarita did just beat arch-rivals Boca Jrs 4-1 with a new man in charge, but I'm sure all the players were up for the match due to it's significance, and it's not like Boca are currently a team that's difficult to beat.


In the mean time, it's been reported that Sensini has announced his starting line up for this weekend, when Newell's host Tigre:

Sebastián Peratta
Nahuel Roselli, Agustín Alayes, Juan Insaurralde
Cristian Díaz, Diego Mateo, Hugo Barrientos, Leonel Vangioni
Mauro Formica
Diego Torres, Joaquín Boghossian

Schiavi, Bernardi and Achucarro will all be forced to watch the match from the sidelines due to accumulated yellow cards. It's good to see Mateo, Vangioni, and Torres back in the mix, but I have to wonder about Cristian Díaz being listed on the right side of midfield, with Roselli in the backline. We'll see if the Senseless One keeps to this lineup come game time.