Why does it always seem like the Argentinian national team is trying to wreck our players? Obviously not the case, yet....
I assume that is in case all but one Argie CB gets injured (so I guess a 'Romero plays watch' is now actioned) .
Part of it boils down to the weird age/experience gap in their defenders, which can easily be described by comparing their last two tournament starting xis 2022 World Cup: Tagliafico, Otamenti, Romero, Molina 2024 Copa America: Tagliafico, Martinez, Romero, Montiel Now let's look at their recent callups Deep in their 30s with armfuls of caps Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico, Marcos Acuna, German Pezzela Mid to late 20s with plenty of caps Cuti Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Gonzalo Montiel, Nahuel Molina Mid to late 20s with less caps between them than Otamendi or Tagliafico Lucas Martinez Quarta, Marcos Senesi, Nehuen Perez, Leonardo Balerdi, Juan Foyth (for context, Foyth has 18 caps - the other four have 21 between them) Late teens or early 20s just getting into the squad Julio Soler, Valentin Barco, Nicolas Valentini Long story short, Cuti and Lisandro Martinez are going to be Argentina's first choice CB pairing at the next World Cup and the AFA is going to want them playing as much as they can between now and then while the rest of the back line gets worked into place around them And the rest of the backline will be an issue to work on, because while RB is on lock with Molina being first choice for the 2022 World Cup and Molina first choice for the 2024 Copa America, LB is a work in progress as the options are the 33 year old Tagliafico or the currently untested 19 year old Soler or 20 year old Barco
Rough luck for him, I'd imagine we won't be seeing him until late Jan/ early Feb then. Far too many injuries again though, I didn't think last season was down to bad luck but I suppose you couldn't be sure, the fact it's continuing again this season highlights an issue with either the training, demands or fitness/ recovery. I think it was one of PNP or CK (apologies if it weren't) that highlighted we commit the most sprints in the league and so I doubt it's a coincidence we get a lot of muscle injuries. It isn't sustainable and it's also not paying dividends with results/ performances either, tweaks are definitely needed, otherwise we'll have half a team every season and force too many into becoming injury prone, van de Ven is already looking as such having barely got injuries at Volendam or Wolfsburg.
He missed the best part of three months at Wolfsburg due to a hamstring injury in 2022, and a couple of months with a foot injury at Volendam in 2020
Yeah one injury in each season which is pretty standard for the average footballer. He's on his third (or is it fourth?) injury at Spurs in less than 18 months.
The club should've been prepared for this possibility, though. Our depth is limited and our academy appears to be rather short, too. Two players for every position plus a couple of versatile options isn't too much to ask, in my opinion.
I agree, it seemed obvious with the extra games and frequency that they would need bigger numbers. IMO should have had another CB and LB at the very least.
I think we more or less have that with the exception of LB. There are cases to say the quality of the depth isn’t great in some areas but I’m pretty sure we have two players for every other position, to be honest Reguilon is still at the club too so it’s not like we literally don’t have a LB, we just choose not to play him. I think the style of football is so reliant on sprints that it’s knocking out so many players.
