Word comes today that Newell's Old Boys will be resting a couple of players this weekend. Problem is that it's injury worries that have forced Sensini's hand. Gabriel Cichero arrived back from international duty with a knock that will keep him from returning to the line up, and this morning Lucas Bernardi showed up with x-rays of some sort (damn my poor Spanish) that means he will also miss the match with Banfield.
Newell's line up against Banfield, in all probability, will be:
Peratta
Alayes, Schiavi, Fideleff
Vella, Mateo, Dolci, Estigarribia
Formica
Sperduti, Borghello
Due to the injury to Cichero the team has asked, and apparently received permission, to field team captain Rolando Schiavi. He was due to, and will still have to, serve the suspension for last weekend's red card. Here I have to ask why, as Alexis Machuca is available... of course, after Alexis Newell's are short on experienced centerbacks, so I'm not complaining too much about this one.
Franco Dolci will be replacing Bernardi. Now here I have a problem. Dolci is far from an ideal replacement for Lucas. This, if anything, is an indication that a) Raúl Villalba has not recovered from the injury he picked up earlier this season, and b) the team spent all it's time during the transfer season chasing forwards, so much time that certain midfield (as well as defensive) positions aren't deep enough to cover for such a pile up of injuries.
To illustrate my point, the team has nine forwards on the first team's books at the moment, and the one who has been most effect is Mauricio Sperdutti, who leads the team with three goals during the Apertura... wait a minute, Mauricio isn't even listed as a forward, he's a midfielder who's been moved up front because none of the forward were getting the job done.
But what do I know? I'm just a fan who follows the team from a strange land where the vast majority of the population cares little for Futbol, and, if they can name any teams from Argentina, only know of River Plate and Boca Juniors.
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2 comments:
Hi David!, Lucas Bernardi don't play toniht because he has fever due the flu (sorry my poor english).
Gerardo
Gracias, Gerardo. Hopefully Lucas can rest up and be ready for the trip to Bolivia... though I think we could have more easily dealt with his absence for the Copa match than against Banfield.
We will see how the match tonight plays out. I am hoping, as always, for three points.
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