Ricardo Alvarez

[vitomins]

To be fair you can't seriously consider yourself someone who posts optimistically most of the time. That's not an insult or criticism, but an honest observation.

And you 'calling it like you see it' can be interpreted as bashing by some people because as I said, your not the happiest poster.

On the contrary, I have seen n4l shit rainbows!

 

[Universe]

Understandably I am not the most optimistic, but specifically with respect to our players? I think you'd be hard pressed to find that I bash most of our players.

I'm glad you understand. I'm not saying you do bash our players. I'm not saying this is a bad thing at all, but very much like myself, you can have a sarcastic, often pessimistic assessment of things. This coupled with the fact that so many aspects of our club are shit (like our financial state and our 3-4-3 and our €10 million bid for Palacio ) can create what some people may consider negativity. It's like speaking negatively on an already negative subject I'm just trying to explain that it's too much negativity for some people to handle or more than some people want to see.

 

[Kraits]

Just too bad he did not do well.....:depress::depress:

 

[Suneet]

n4l bashes players???? Cmon. We dont agree most of the time but that is a little extreme..

Anyways, Ricky is still finding his place in another level of the game. I didnt watch him play but all this is vital experience for him, the sooner he takes the pace in, the better he'll get. I'm not saying he will get quicker, I'm saying he'll adjust to it.

 

[NeonBlade]

To me, looks like he was trying to avoid being injured, but that's just me...

 

[blackmore]

A little under a year ago, I watched Velez Sarsfield play Estudiantes. Estu were two points clear of Velez at the top of the table and had come for a goalless draw that would keep them clear and, given the fixtures remaining, all but assure them of the apertura title. Midway through the second half, it was still 0-0 and Velez were running out of ideas. Ricardo Gareca, the Velez coach, threw on Ricky Alvarez with 20 minutes remaining.

The left-sided forward is a player who splits opinion. Half the crowd around me in the Estadio Jose Amalfitani reacted rapturously; the other half grumbled. "Here's your Ricky," the one of my mates who was actually a Velez fan hissed sarcastically at one of those calling for his entrance. "Let's watch him turn the game."

Velez fans, it should be said, are notoriously sceptical of fantasistas. For half a century, since the days of their great coach Vittorio Spinetto, they have demanded effort and sacrifice. In the glory days of Argentinian football, la nuestra, when defending was viewed as somehow tasteless and the league was full of technical dribbles and languid playmakers, it was at Velez that the first shoots of anti-futbol began to sprout - although in those days the term referred to winning games by sweat and energy rather than the cycnicism with which the term was later associated.

For my Velez-supporting friend, Alvarez was a dilettante, somebody who preferred to do tricks and entertain the crowd with cheap party-pieces rather than get on with the serious business of winning games. He lacked, he insisted, "garra" - that mystical quality so believed of platense football that combines heart and spirit and desire and determination and streetwiseness. In the 20 minutes that remained, Alvarez did next to nothing. A couple of times he got the ball, and ran straight down a blind alley. He looked, frankly, a footballer without a brain.

Estudiantes held on comfortably for the 0-0 draw and comfortably secured the title.
Alvarez spent the next few months in fitful cameos. In April time, he was linked with a move to a couple of Russian clubs, with a fee of around £2.5-3m mooted. He became rather more consistent as the clausura went on, and completed 10 games in it. By May, with Arsenal and Internazionale sniffing, his fee had quadrupled. He ended up in Milan, signed by Inter (3.4 to win the Serie A title this season, second favourite behind Milan at 2.26) for a frankly staggering figure given he has only just become anything approaching a regular at Velez.

Perhaps Inter reacted at just the right time, and bought a player just as he is coming into full bloom; even my sceptical Velez-supporting mate accepted that Alvarez improved in the early months of the year. Perhaps Alvarez is perfectly suited to the 3-4-3 system favoured by Gian Piero Gasparini and will thrive. After all, narrowness was one of the features of Serie A last season, and clubs who played with width, whether through wingers or wing-backs, prospered. Then again, Argentinian football follows a similarly narrow model, and one of the reasons for Velez's recent success is that their 4-3-3 takes advantage of that.

The situation Alvarez walks into at Inter is hardly stable. Gasparini's system has meant Wesley Sneijder having to adapt to a new, deeper-lying position, while the departure of Samuel Eto'o for Anzhi leaves Inter without the man who had led their line for the past two seasons. Diego Forlan, signed from Atletico Madrid, showed at the Copa America that he is still a top-class player, but his age means he is unlikely to feature in every game, while Gianpaolo Pazzini, bought from Sampdoria, remains unproven at the very highest level, even if he is 13.0 to be top Serie A scorer.

The area where Inter long strong is at wing-back, with Maicon, once he is fully fit, on the right and Yuto Nagatomo on the left. Nagatomo has already proved himself not only a fine player but a great dressing-room presence, and it's suggested that one of the reasons Sneijder stayed was his friendship with the Japan international

betfair

 

[La Brujita]

Good read, B.

I can't help but laugh at the last sentence..

Nagatomo has already proved himself not only a fine player but a great dressing-room presence, and it's suggested that one of the reasons Sneijder stayed was his friendship with the Japan international

 

[cloudq]

can u imagine? if nagatomo was the final reason for why sneijder wanted to stay in milan?

 

[Dylan]

Nagatomo the new Materazzi?

 

[rockball]

Nagatomo, the new Yolanthe.

 

[lonewolf19]

Yuto FTW

 

[Inter7]

lolllll

 

[Pimpin]

 

[apahllo]

maybe if he plays some games on the wing he will get a little quicker. i mean hes not slow but not fast. needs gym time.

 

[cloudq]

i bet height is a factor.

 

[Suneet]

Gym wont make him fast though...

 

[dynasty27]

The thing which makes me curious is that we basically found out he isn't that fast during the preseason,, and not before the signing and his youtubes.

 

[sacha]

First time i've seen Ricky against Palermo and to be honest, i'm surprised. He looks like wants to link with Sneijder a lot and together they are playing 1 2's. A bit premature but i would like to see him start along with Sneijder playing behind Pazzini or Milito.

 

[LyNX]

Was pretty daring after a few early mistakes. Cuts it a little close on his dribbles, but it was good to see him still get out of them. Good play in the middle with Sneijder, Stankovic and added some creativity.

 

[DIN011]

Should start as CM. Deki is done.