2nd Practice Lineup

According to Olé, second practice game before Copa was carried out today with following starter side lineup:



This lineup features some different offensive players compared to my previous guess (in this article). Here were my initial thoughts:

Veron: Veron is accustomed to the right midfield and is a strong possibility for that position. (Part.1). Having Veron playing RM in a practice match probably is the best way to test the chemistry between him and other starters.
So, it came at no surprise that Veron played with Riquelme for the most part of the practice tonight, the two still need to dial in for Veron to have a realistic shot at starting in Copa.

Tevez: I think him playing on the sub team was a balancing act, to bring out some games from the weaker side. Also Tevez's ability as left forward has been proven, so there's really no need to further test him at that position.
On the sub side, Tevez played with Palacio and Milito in a 3 forward formation, so perhaps we'll be seeing some 4-3-3 after all?

Messi: was playmaker in both the recent friendlies. However, he had experience playing both right forward and right midfield in a 4-3-1-2 steered by Riquelme (06' World Cup). So IMO, Messi just played RF tonight for the hell of it. It's just a practice after all, he could be a ball boy, move around some cones, or simply fuck around. I doubt Basile focused on training Messi tonight.
Communication with Veron might be something he could practice on. He haven't had much experiences with the bold asshole so how well they cope with each other isn't certain.
I still think messi will be shouldering more midfield duty in this competition. He should only be starting right forward either when Veron was playing RM, or if they played 4-3-3.

After a closer look at the situation, I've realized that the fundemental problem here is the inability to play Tevez, Messi, Riquelme and Veron all at the same time in most formations. (I didn't count Aimar because eventhough he's a very capable player, he's probably destined to be a SUPER SUP for enganche role and replace Riquelme if he failed to perform. We know Roman isn't an easy player to interprete, I think same goes for his teammates, and that might be part of the reason why he couldn't do well in some past NT matches. )

And the center of this problem is Veron.

The way I look at it, Veron specialized in lobing long passes. I didn't watch a lot of italian games, but base on what i've seen him do in England and with Estudiantes, he is almost a pure passer who isn't fond of dribbling.

If this observation stand, then in order to play Veron you will need to use a person to partner up with him laterally so they could do 1-2 or man release or something. Therefore your choices are:

1. You play like what basile did in practice. No Tevez because Messi can't play right wing when it's occupied by Veron.
2. You play Veron as the enganche in a 4-3-1-2 diamond.
On paper, he failed to bring changes to Inter when he was loaned there, where he played enganche in a 4-3-1-2.
3. You play flat 4 midfield like Estudiantes so another CM will work with him. he could be either the other CM or steer from one wing. This way of using Veron was successful as Estudiantes had demonstrated.

Note: in any of these cases, one of the forwards from Crespo-Milito group should start so someone taller and physical can be in the box.

In the first case, Tevez can't start. There are basically 3 options to sub him in:
a: sub out Veron, let messi drop to Veron's position and Tevez go RF.
b: sub out Cambiasso, Veron to other side, Messi drop back and Tevez up
c: sub out Messi or Crespo directly with Tevez.

option a is worse than not playing Veron, unless this is a late late sub which has no meaning for Tevez's moral.
option b drops a more defensive player and forces the enganche to shoulder defensive responsibilities with veron and messi -- neither of them very defensive player. the damage to offense with this option overwhelms the benefits from bringing in Tevez. Unless again, if it was a late game sub meaningless to Carlito's moral.
option c is plain stupidity. The consequences of subbing out Messi with Tevez are obvious. But do we need Crespo up front? Crespo is physically stronger and taller than these little people and better suited as target person. Basile brought in not just Crespo himself, but also a sub for him (Milito) to ensure a target person will be avaliable, at the cost of bringing in only 7 defenders with one of them possibly not at 100%(Ayala) and forfeiting options such as LWB, dedicated RFB (right full back) and extra defensive sub!

2nd case.
The best outcome for Riquelme in this case would be to support Veron from a wing. Which isn't something Roman would like to do nor could he guarantee to do well.
Or you not play Roman at all, then Riquelme supersub for Veron, and Aimar 3rd sub enganche? you know, alot of national teams can't play 4-3-1-2 because their entire country cannot supply even 1 capable enganche us benching 2 would be criminal in the eyes of their fans.

3rd case.
this case is an legitimate option
but
it means benching definitely Mascherano, and quite possibly Gago at the same time. Remember, the fundation of these assumptions is that Veron will need assistance from another midfielder.
Tevez, Messi, Riquelme and Veron can play togather here, even Aimar. But at the cost of Mascher!

Without totally sacrificing holding midfielders, Basically the only realistic chance of seeing all 4 (Messi Tevez Riquelme Veron) starting is if the Albicelestes played 4-3-3.



Continoued Here
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Also to note, Ayala's leg felt a little uncomfortable so he was subbed out by Burdisso, it turned out to be nothing, whew! On the other hand, this incident assured us that Burdisso will be the primary sub for CB instead of Diaz, so only when Burdisso was occupied would Diaz have a chance to sub in.

In other news. Cambiasso was feeling loney so he went to play with Roman and Veron on the right side. Very undisciplined! Bad Cuchu bad!

Also in other news, Mexico scored at 66th min to tie the retro match(these old people sport only last 70 minutes) with Argentina at 1-1. Had nothing to do, I sat through the match, and realized that watching old people sports could be really bad for mental health.