Sunday, August 8, 2010

Newell's Old Boys Footballers: A Book Review

Usually it requires reading a book from front to back to write a review. Not in this case.

Newell's Old Boys: Etc. is a collection of Wikipedia entries of players who have played for the team over the years. That isn't to say that it isn't a valuable resource, there are plenty of players whom I've never heard of contained with in it's pages.

Wikipedia, for those who aren't familiar with this online resource, is an online open source encyclopedia. That is to say, all the entries are submitted by, well, anyone. Most of the articles on Newell's players are very limited, especially when it comes to the English version of the site (which is where the material for this book was obtained.) The more famous the player, of course, the longer, and more detailed the entries are. Not surprisingly the longest player article is on Diego Maradona, which runs a full 12 pages of the just under 600 page book. Most players get barely a paragraph of text.

The "Chapters" are in alphabetical order  by the player's first name (which I call lazy,) except for Oscar Cardozo. For some reason his entry ended up at the end of the book. Sounds to me like they somehow almost missed him, even though his name appears on the cover.

In the end the question is, is it worth the price? Well, for myself, yes, though I would have been happier if I could have gotten it at half off. Free, of course, would have been even better.

4 comments:

Jeremy said...

Totally off topic from this post but why in the world was Cichero playing center back?

With the lack of goals that we are going to have this season, we can't afford plays like that. We're slowly reverting back to Lope$ball. We need a distributer in the midfield and no one is stepping up.

David Phillips said...

Sperdutti can provide some good crosses, Formica isn't bad in the middle, and once Vangioni returns from injury... well, the midfield really isn't the problem, it's the fact that the back line and Peratta are bypassing them with long balls from deep in our half that aren't going into open spaces where the forwards can get to them.

Why have 5 men in midfield if your not going to utilize them. Cichero as a centerback is just insane. When we picked up both Cichero (left wing back) and Luciano Vella (right back) I had hoped that Sensini might switch to a four man back line, and move Formica up front in a 4-4-2 formation.

My simple answer is that Sensini is truly the Senseless One.

Jeremy said...

I'm not understanding a lot of what Sensini is doing thus far. Several sites say Torres is off to Quilmes, although TyC says he wants a better deal and it is on hold. Either way, he might be our best strike option.

Call up Falcone. He can't do any worse and by all accounts he is a beast in the inferiores. This could be the last season for Sensini for sure, although I do like the stability of having the same coach for a while now.

I had wanted Cappa to take over from Sensini but now that he is at River that sort of ruins that dream.

David Phillips said...

I've seen stories on Diego Torres going to Quilmes, most were from when it was also being reported that our old "friend" Fabbiani was headed to Mexico... just before the start of the season El Ogro signed with All Boys.

As much as I like Torres, he's never really been the goal scorer, more of a set up man.

As far as replacing Sensini... until someone better comes along that's willing to take the job, I think we're stuck with him. Considering the results the team got last year (not that I think he deserves that much credit) made it look like there was no reason to go shopping for a new coach.