Peru 2-3 Costa Rica - Tuesday, November 19th 2018

[Guest]

Played in Arequipa.

[Guest]

Costa Rica are no mugs. They are quite good against South American teams and have a few good players. They also just beat Chile in Rancagua the other day. We shouldn't underestimate them the same way we did Ecuador.

I think we will win to be honest, but very narrowly and failing to impress again. I think we will grind it out. I saw the projected lineup and it's going to be very different like it was against the USA. Andy Polo on the right, Christofer Gonzales on the left, Cristian Benavente in the middle. The 9 spot is still up for grabs. Yordy Reyna or Raul Ruidiaz, I prefer the latter. Keep experimenting for him. There is a way to make him work, just don't focus your play around him. That is the issue.

Santamaria and Araujo starting, apparently Advincula won't play and Corzo will be given the go. The only change I don't like is Loyola for Trauco. I know Miguel has been awful all year, but Loyola has had too many chances and shouldn't have even been called up in the first place. He's a horror show when defending and is too unambitious in the attack.

[Guest]

Appears the lineup is totally different to what I thought it would be. Trauco is getting the go, as is Edison Flores.

Andy Polo on the right, Benavente as a 10 and Yotun - Tapia in the midfield. Bit disappointing to not see Calcaterra but oh well.

[Guest]

We fucking suck 

[DeadLinesman]

Sounds like a cracking game to be fair like.

[True Blue]

11 games only three wins, piss poor for the best South American side to be honest.

[Toinho]

Bunch of llamas. 

[Guest]

Right, I'm a bit less annoyed so here are my thoughts.

First off, no need to panic yet. We are still experimenting and sometimes it can be good to lose friendlies. Chile lost a ton of friendlies before their Copa America win. Clearly there is a lot to work on with us, we still need to transition past Paolo Guerrero and Alberto Rodriguez.

- Edison Flores must ALWAYS start. He's not always standing out and his defence won't always save Trauco, but he's one of the most consistent goalscorers on this team. Without him, we lost most of our goalscoring capabilities.

- Raul Ruidiaz is not the forward for this team. I can't help but think he has been a bit unlucky, but he doesn't fit the team. Plain and simple. He's been given several chances and he hasn't taken them. If Ivan Bulos returns to form, maybe he's the right forward at least until Olivares develops.

- Andy Polo should start over Andre Carrillo. Some people called me crazy for saying this, but he's been impacting the play more and is actually getting minutes for his club in a better league. Until la Culebra finds a better league or at least improves his game with la blanquiroja, I would start Polo.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Mad how Ruidaz is class for Seattle but appears to be shite for Peru.

Reminds us a bit of Claudio Pizarro, but the difference is Pizarro was one of the best forwards in the world while Ruidiaz is only that in North America. However that doesn't excuse that he's missed a lot of good chances with us.

I don't think it tells us much about the MLS or the Liga MX as we have players in there that perform for us. I think the big issue is his height. Sometimes I see players trying to cross to him only to get beaten in the air by a taller defender. When we do try to adjust the style for him, no chances are created. 

In conclusion, we need another forward. He's made to play as a sub when we are searching a late goal. It's a shame because he's a goalscoring machine at club level.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Cannabis said:

Perhaps playing him as a front two, alongside a tall striker would be an idea?

I'm pretty certain that would work. The problem is Paolo Guerrero was our only tall striker of any sort of quality. Ivan Bulos is tall but he's very average. I only suggest calling him up as he's the best option right now it seems.