Alvaro Pereira

Full name:Daniel Alvaro Pereira Barragan
28 January,1985
Montevideo,Uruguay
1.85
midfield/defender side

I am a member of Argentinos Juniors and had the pleasure of watching Alvaro play for one season. They played him as a left midfielder, but I read that he will be used more as a defensive wingback, so my analysis may not apply too much. He's quick, strong, aggressive, passionate, creative...a lot of things you want in a player at any position. His primary weaknesses are probably his outside shot and dribbling, but as a defender those may be hidden to an extent. He never failed to please in his performance and always left everything he had on the field. He will be missed around here, but I am very eager to see how he can perform in the Champions League.

Pereira seems to be a very talented player. However, his offensive appetite might lead him to neglect his defensive duties as a wingback. That's exactly what happened in the game with Dynamo Kiev. Although it didn't really affect the score, the left side of defence was pretty open at times. Our midfielder, Eugen Trica had to cover for Pereira several times. But I'm certain that during the second training camp all these issues about who does what and who goes where will be resolved.

What a shame that his debut ended up like that. I failed to mention that the only match he played at left back, due to injuries and suspensions of the normal players there, he lost the ball to Montenegro of Independiente and the resulting counterattack led to the only goal of the match...like you said, hopefully he can clear some of the issues up in the next training camp. his offensive instinct is really quite strong, though.

From what I understood, Argentinos played in a 3-5-2 formation last season, no? In that formation the left wing (Pereira) would also have defensive resposibilities. So, in reality, didn't Pereira play as a sort of left-wing-back back in Argentina?

P.S. Feel free to register and create a profile.

The 3-5-2 was a brief experiment to cover for Pereira's two-game suspension after getting a red card against Huracán. It lasted three matches and Sergio Escudero was the wing back on the left side with Pablo Barzola (now at Caen) on the right. For the other matches, the ideal XI had four defenders (Barzola, Scotti, Caruzzo (future superstar in Europe), Escudero), four midfielders (Cabrera or Mirosevic, Battion/Mercier/Ortigoza, Peñalba, Pereira), and two forwards (Hauche and Delorte). Just to let everyone know, I have a rearely-updated blog for Argentinos (argentinos.theoffside.com), but this forum is for Cluj...and I should register and make my presence more official.

Hmmmm. If Pereira never played as a wingback in Argentina, than I wonder why CFR is playing him as one. Maybe our scouters see something in him...I wouldn't know.
Anyway, in the friendly today against Panathinaikos he played better than before. Didn't move up as much and he was pretty sure of himself in defence. You can read more about the friendly on the home page of cfrcluj.net.

Btw, I took a look at your blog and I'll keep track of it. Don't hesitate to use any information from my website on it.

The wingback aspect (and referring to him as the "new Cafu") were really surprising to me. In fact, his best moments were in the middle and on the right, but don't tell anyone that. Writing that post yesterday reminded me to update my blog...something that I definitely need to do more often. I have found that it's much easier to write when things are going bad than when things are good, but I have an obligation to my readers...

Actually, they called him the next "Roberto Carlos" not Cafu, but same difference. Let's hope he plays well as a left wing-back.
As for your blog, it's kinda a paradox how it's easier to write when your team is doing poorly. It's the same way for me. I guess there's just more to complain about that way!

Here is a translation of an article from last year about Alvaro:

http://argentinos.theoffside.com/team-news/peles-brother.html

And the write-up and video highlights of his hat trick against Newell's (if you haven't seen the third goal yet...play close attention)

http://argentinos.theoffside.com/summary/all-hail-alvaro.html

It's nice to read an article revealing a footballer's personal life (besides the partying and scandals). It really puts some soul into the sport. I'm really sorry to hear about Alvaro's brother, though.

Wow! He scored a hattrick. That's quite something! Unfortunately, it probably won't happen again, not at CFR at least. I mean, when was the last time you saw a left-back scoring three goals in one game.

P.S.It's too bad the two videos don't work on that page.

As I have said here, Pereira seems like a great guy and I know family is really important to him. Before that article I had no idea about his brother's tragic story and I don't think it was common knowledge among the fans.

He scored 11 goals in 35 matches for Argentinos, more than any other player last season. At times he seemed like the only player who was able to fight through the opposition and put the ball in the net. I don't know what happened with the video, but if you are lucky enough to see his third goal from that match...it's amazing and the only time he scored from long range. This is all why I was so surprised to see him moved to defense; his greatest scoring ability is a striker-like instinct in front of the net. I'm sure he'll do great nonetheless.

He played really well as a left-back against Rapid. He was the best defensive player on the pitch. You can read more in the match review. Btw, Scott, feel free to update your blog with Alvaro's progress.

Pereira is a very good player but CFR needs to rethink their strategy... his defending was a bid akward against Bordeaux... I'd almost prefer Panin with Pereira as LM... Culio does surprisingly well at the CL but he lacks some abilities

PMC wrote:

Pereira is a very good player but CFR needs to rethink their strategy... his defending was a bid akward against Bordeaux...

The main issue with Pereira is that he isn't very tactically intelligent. When he plays as a left-fullback he tends to move up too much and leave his side of defense open to counter-attacks. Of course, Conceicao tends to play him as a left midfielder, so this isn't as visible.
Also, he often tends to cross or shoot from less-than-ideal positions instead of choosing a better option. Perhaps this is a habit picked up back in Argentina where the football is more open and there are more shots. I think he just needs to gain some more experience playing in Europe. Otherwise, he's a strong, talented, and powerful player with a lot of potential. Apparently, this summer he's set to move to Benfica. I wrote an article on the CFRCluj.net homepage about this (dated May 16, 2009). The transfer fee is rumoured to be in between 4-5 million euros, though it may be smaller if Laszlo Sepsi's services are part of the deal. CFR's boss actually confirmed the ongoing negotiations with the Benfica representatives several days ago.

PMC wrote:

I'd almost prefer Panin with Pereira as LM...

Panin is very much an all-round player whom I think is better suited to play as left-back. He also has some offensive capabilities (see Y. Kone's goal at Chelsea off of Panin's assist). The only problem is the fact that he isn't a player with much potential as he will soon turn 31 years old and sometimes he tends to screw up badly.

PMC wrote:

Culio does surprisingly well at the CL but he lacks some abilities

This season Culio proved exactly just how inconsistent he is. He had some great games (most notably against Roma), but he also had some terrible games in which he passed very poorly and hardly ran at all. Perhaps the rumours of a transfer to Russia or Spain this past winter affected his playing. Perhaps he felt disappointed by the level in Liga 1 after playing in the Champions' League during the autumn.
As for his abilities, Culio is very technical and an excellent dribbler. He also has some decent crosses and long passes. However, after he deaks out one opponent he tends to try it again and then loses the ball. No! You have to dribble once then pass, not dribble endlessly until you lose the ball. Also, he tends to slow down the game whenever he gets the ball and his shooting is atrocious.
This summer he might end up finally leaving Cluj, we shall see...