Guess I Should Say A Few Word...

Seven goals in two games... from a defense that not that long ago was one of the toughest in the league.

Newell's Old Boys fell to Independiente on Monday night in a match so frustrating (for us Lepra) that I had to stop watching after the third Independiente goal made it past Sebastián Peratta. The final score was four nil.

I feel so sorry for San Seba... the goals have not been his fault. It's the team in front of him that is falling apart before our very eyes. Certainly there has not been enough change on the defensive make up of the team, and really I can not point a finger at one player to blame for this collapse. Futbol is a team game, and the team is not playing well at all at the moment. It is like the players no longer know how to communicate with each other. Particularly the defense.


And that is what does not make sense. Sure, Agustín Alayes left, but Fabricio Fuentes came in to fill that gap. All the other pieces to the defensive puzzle are the same, though Gabriel Cichero has missed the past two games. Ignacio Fideleff has played in his place, and while he has made an error or two, he is still young and his mistakes were no more dramatic than any of the ones made by some of the veterans over the same time period.

Perhaps it all boils down to some problems that have crept into the team that were hinted at by veteran defender and team captain Rolando Schiavi recently. He did not get into details, but said that there were things going on within the team during the preseason that have unsettled some of the players. He also talked about certain members of the media that called on him to retire, that he no longer had the ability to play the game at the age of 38.


Again, I say it is not one player, it is the team. Schiavi is still one of the best defenders in the league, even at his advanced age. But the team, oh my team... you are playing like a group of individuals who have never met... And this I can only blame on one man, Roberto Sensini, it is time to reunite the team you are supposed to be in charge of, or stand up and take responsibility for the current state it is in.

I am not calling for you to walk away, though I know many others that no doubt are. What I am calling on you to do is to prove to us that you are not the Senseless One.

No Late Game Magic As Tigre Beat Newell's

Luciano Vella. I hate pointing out a single player as the cause for a Newell's Old Boys loss, but, after having watched the replay of the lone goal from the game against Tigre over and over again, the misjudgment by Vella on the incoming cross was so poor that I have to wonder why he was not taken off at the half. Instead it was Gabriel Cíchero who exited from the defensive line as young forward Juan Manuel Cobelli made his third appearance for La Lepra.

Really, I could also blame Rolando Schiavi, who left Denis Stracqualursi alone in the middle of the penalty area in attempt to cover for the fallen Vella, but Schiavi did what he was supposed to do under the circumstances.

I only saw the second half... love these Monday night games. Do they not realize I have to work? What I did see, Newell's did looked good, really, except when it came down to getting their shots on target. That problem should be solved, or at least improved, once Vangioni and the last reinforcement, Paraguayan playmaker Néstor Camacho, are healthy enough to take the field.

The only decent video I could find of the goal combines both games from yesterday, starting with Huracán draw against Arsenal. Enjoy, well... if you can.


Up next Huracán visits Estadio Marcelo Bielsa on Saturday at 7:10 PM local time.

Sensini Sticking With The Same Eleven

After speculation at the beginning of the week had Roberto Sensini thinking about taking Gabriel Cichero out of the starting 11 and inserting Ignacio Fideleff word is now that Newell's Old Boys will not be making a single change to a line up that has lost the last three matches they have played (including the Copa Sudamericana loss to LDU Quito.) Cichero himself had this to say about Sunday's match against Boca Jrs: “With Boca we must return to be the Newell's that people know.” Yeah? I would say that should have been said right after the team got knocked out of the Copa, rather than after losing two additional games that should have been win. (OK, beating All Boys away might be a bit too much to say that about, but coming away with a point should have been possible.)

Moving right along, here are the expected line ups for both teams:

Newell's:
Sebastián Peratta
Agustín Alayes, Rolando Schiavi, Gabriel Cichero
Luciano Vella, Diego Mateo, Lucas Bernardi, Marcelo Estigarribia
Mauro Formica
Mauricio Sperdutti, Iván Borghello

Boca:
Javier García
Christian Cellay, Matías Caruzzo, Juan Insaurralde, Clemente Rodríguez
Gary Medel, Cristian Erbes, Matías Giménez
Cristian Chávez
Sergio Araujo, Martín Palermo

Referee: Diego Abal

Newell's are playing at home, check. They are playing a Boca team that is quickly falling apart and have generally not been playing well on the road, check. Juan Román Riquelme is injured and out for the rest of the season, check. Everything seems to point towards a Lepra victory, provided they can get back to playing the way they had been prior to the current losing streak.

And my personal message to Cichero? You better not get caught flatfooted against Palermo. He may be old, but he is still one of the most dangerous strikers playing in Argentina.

Kick off is at 5 PM local time on Sunday, or 3 pm EST here in the USA. That will give me time to watch the game before going over for my weekly Sunday get together with friends. My after match post may be late... unless I can pound it out faster than usual.

This Is Not What I Was Asking For...

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.

Peratta Saves The Day As Newell's Salvage A Point

I'm at a lost as to what to say about Newell's Old Boys 1-1 home draw against Independiente. Truthfully, I'm a bit ticked off, but I don't want to be, because it's Independiente. There exists a bond between these two teams that Los Diablos Rojos fans once called on their team to lose to La Lepra to insure that we won a championship title. Add to that, they are my second favorite team, if I'm allowed to have such.

Thing is, I'm not mad about the result so much as the way Newell's played in the first half, going down 1-0 wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that Néstor Silvera, who scored Independiente's goal, was constantly allowed behind our defense to face Sebastián Peratta alone. If not for the saves made by Peratta (the first breakaway he stopped is pictured above) Newell's could well have been down 3-0 by the end of the first 45 minutes. Peratta thus is my man of the match, with out him, this could have been ugly.

Gabriel Cichero did play his best game defensively... while lining up on the left side of midfield. Go figure that one out, I can't. Play him as a centerback, and he'll get caught up field far too often. Tell him to play midfield, and he plays the way you'd want him to play when you ask him to play as a centerback... I don't have enough hair left to be pulling more out.

Newell's forwards were as ineffectual as they have been sense the Apertura began. espndeportes reported Newell's lining up as:

Peratta
Vella, Alayes, Shiavi
Sperdutti, Mateo, Villalba, Cichero
Fórmica
Borgello, Velázquez

That was hardly the case. In fact the announcers made a comment that Newell's seemed to be playing more of a 3-3-3-1 formation than anything else during the first half. The truth was closer to:

Peratta
Alayes, Shiavi, Cichero
Vella, Mateo, Villalba
Sperdutti, Fórmica, Velázquez
Borgello

Considering the way Independiente have been struggling one might expect that any formation that Sensini threw out there could have worked, but, for whatever reasons, this one didn't. In fact, I'd venture to say that we haven't seen such a crazy formation fielded by Newell's sense Nery Pumpido had the team play a 6-3-1.

Anyway, come half time Villalba came out in favor of Ignacio Fideleff, while Daniel Salvatierra replaced Velázquez. Villalba had been playing well, but may have aggravated the injury he picked up during last week's match. Velázquez, however, was pretty lost out there, almost like he wasn't sure exactly where he was supposed to be playing.

Nacho played well as a defensive midfielder, which is nice to see. With the way things are going up front, maybe Sensini should try him up there. It certainly couldn't hurt.

Whatever, the moves seemed to work, Independiente didn't get to face off against Peratta alone during the entire second half (unless I missed it... which is possible, considering the feed I was watching lost it's signal a couple of times.) Salvatierra showed a bit of promise at being an effective forward, which is more than any of the other players Newell's have played up front (yes, Luis Rodríguez has scored a goal... but that was against a team that was playing with nine men.)

In the 76th minute it was Mauricio Sperdutti who set up Mauro Fórmica for the goal that tied the game. Right now they are the only two attacking players for Newell's who seem to know what they're doing out there. All things considered, maybe Sensini should move them both up front, and have our "forwards" give midfield a shot. It certainly couldn't hurt, could it?


(OK, looking at the video highlights, Rodriguez did crack one off the crossbar. But, really, that's a shot I'd expect out of a midfielder, not a forward.)

In the end this leaves Newell's with six points from five games. Not exactly an impressive start, but if the forwards can start scoring... who knows, maybe they're saving themselves for the Copa Sudamericana.

Independiente sit flat bottom of the standings with only two points from their five games. That leaves the question, just how long will their coach, Daniel Garnero, be able to keep his job? Garnero was very popular as a player for El Rojo, but all that will be for naught if the team doesn't start picking up some wins. I would not be surprised if he does not even make it to the next weekend, to be honest.

Up next for La Lepra are Clausura 2010 Champion's Argentinos Juniors in an away game. So far they too are struggling in the early stages of the season, as they are tied for last place with Independiente with only two points from five games. (There are two other teams that only have two points, but both have games in hand.)

Vella And Cichero

Luciano Vella returns to Newell's Old Boys after six years away from the club that saw his debut in 2002. He spent three years in Spain with Cádiz, returned to Argentina on a brief loan with Vélez Sársfield, transferred to Rapid Bucurest for the 2008-2009 season, and then returned to Argentina with Independiente. He's a versatile defender who can play either as a right back, or right midfielder.

Vella is only on loan with La Lepra, but his return is welcome. Besides, the contract is for more than one year. He, along with Iván Borghello, was a part of Newell's 2004 Apertura championship winning team.

Another defender, Gabriel Cichero, comes to Newell's on loan from Caracas of Venezuela. While he managed to play in a total of 39 games for Caracas, Venezuela's traditional powerhouse, I'm can't say I'm sold on his quality. During 2008 he spent some time in MLS, the USA's top league, with Red Bull New York. Appearing in only 8 games, the Red Bulls didn't pick up on the option to extend the loan due to mistakes Cichero made on defense. If he wasn't good enough for MLS... well, we'll see.

Oh, and before I forget, Newell's kick off for the Apertura against Estudiantes has been set: Saturday, August 7th at 6:15 PM local time.