Argentina NT

Schneckerl said:
Who is Argentina's Casemiro quality midfielder?
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Watch a VFB Stuttgart match, then you’ll know.

Ascacibar is not as good as Casemiro yet, but his stamina and tackling is absolutely insane. He’s also very fast, Argentina lack in speed in midfield.
 
Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87 said:
I don't know why Dybala and Messi can't play together. Dybala is more of a striker than Messi who is basically playing as "playmaker" in the last years.
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Messi said Dybala occupies the same spaces as he does.
I don't think Sampaoli would dare to argue otherwise with Messi. As Sampaoli said, it is not his team, is Messi's.
 
Infordin said:
Watch a VFB Stuttgart match, then you’ll know.

Ascacibar is not as good as Casemiro yet, but his stamina and tackling is absolutely insane. He’s also very fast, Argentina lack in speed in midfield.
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That's great. Doesn't help them to make a deep WC run when he doesn't get called up.

I don't have an opinion on their skillsets, but can't see how their even close to comparable experience wise on the big stage - Casemiro being a starter for the CL winner...
 
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giorno said:
Brazil have been playing a midfield of casemiro-paulinho-renato augusto...

Spain's best striker is Iago Aspas

Germany are well rounded but not really amazing anywhere

Personnell is not argentina's problem
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Renato has been officially dropped though. It’s Fernandinho-Casemiro with Paulinho free role.
 
RedDevil@84 said:
Messi said Dybala occupies the same spaces as he does.
I don't think Sampaoli would dare to argue otherwise with Messi. As Sampaoli said, it is not his team, is Messi's.
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I know it and doesn't agree with it. If you look at Messi's style of play recently it is not really similar to Dybala. Maybe it was similar sometimes ago, but not now, imo.
 
bebeanderson said:
Renato has been officially dropped though. It’s Fernandinho-Casemiro with Paulinho free role.
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I think it will vary. Either Coutinho in midfield versus teams that defends deep and that midfield versus tougher opposition.
 
RedDevil@84 said:
Messi said Dybala occupies the same spaces as he does.
I don't think Sampaoli would dare to argue otherwise with Messi. As Sampaoli said, it is not his team, is Messi's.
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He said that? wow, what a way of take off his shoulders the responsability. What kind of manager is he?
 
giorno said:
Brazil have been playing a midfield of casemiro-paulinho-renato augusto...

Spain's best striker is Iago Aspas

Germany are well rounded but not really amazing anywhere

Personnell is not argentina's problem
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Casemiero, Paulinho and Fernandino is miles better than Argentina's midfield.

Spain also have Morata and Costa.
 
4bars said:
He said that? wow, what a way of take off his shoulders the responsability. What kind of manager is he?
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I think he wants to motivate the team with something on the lines of "Let's do it for Messi. This is his last time".
It works for some teams maybe, but I am not sure if it is the same with Argentina
 
izec said:
Think their midfield really hurts them. No legs in there, no brain, no physical presence. Their offense is fine to a degree, even defensively they can defend at times and they rarely had top class CBs, but their midfield to me is a complete shambles. So low on quality compared to what Argentina used to have and compared to the top NTs.
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Banega has a brain but he needs power alongside him to flourish. That's why he plays well for Sevilla because N'zonzi can get up and down and help him out.
 
giorno said:
Brazil have been playing a midfield of casemiro-paulinho-renato augusto...

Spain's best striker is Iago Aspas

Germany are well rounded but not really amazing anywhere

Personnell is not argentina's problem
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The difference is Tite had Renato and Paulinho at club level and know how to used them effectively. Sampaoli still needs more time to be fair.
 
Let's say Banega could play for Brazil.

I reckon Casemiro-Banega-Paulinho is a very nicely balanced midfield. Pace, power, eye for a pass and goal.

With Argentina he has a well past it Mascherano and a very average Biglia as his options. Unless you go really radical and put Messi in that middle three which isn't going to happen.
 
Ascacibar and/or Battaglia should've been given a chance in these friendlies. You won't win the World Cup with any of them in midfield (although Ascacibar is frighteningly talented, such a smart player) but at least not play the old dross that is nowhere near good enough anymore; Mascherano and Biglia (never was really). They aren't strong, they aren't quick and their passing/ball handling when pressured is awful.

Full backs as well is a major problem, with that position being ever so influential on a team's play. Bustos is young and talented but it's to soon for him. Tagliafico is ok I guess but not a world beater either.

With this being the likely team to start the first WC game against Iceland, I can't understand how anyone can claim personell is not a problem (compared to the likes of Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal):

Romero

Mercado/Bustos - Otamendi - Fazio - Tagliafico

Biglia - Banega

Lanzini - Messi - Di María

Agüero
 
pregra said:
Ascacibar and/or Battaglia should've been given a chance in these friendlies. You won't win the World Cup with any of them in midfield (although Ascacibar is frighteningly talented, such a smart player) but at least not play the old dross that is nowhere near good enough anymore; Mascherano and Biglia (never was really). They aren't strong, they aren't quick and their passing/ball handling when pressured is awful.

Full backs as well is a major problem, with that position being ever so influential on a team's play. Bustos is young and talented but it's to soon for him. Tagliafico is ok I guess but not a world beater either.

With this being the likely team to start the first WC game against Iceland, I can't understand how anyone can claim personell is not a problem (compared to the likes of Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal):

Romero

Mercado/Bustos - Otamendi - Fazio - Tagliafico

Biglia - Banega

Lanzini - Messi - Di María

Agüero
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That's true. Maybe Argentina just doesn't have that much talent really. Romero, Bustos, Fazio and Tagliafico couldn't come close to wearing a Spain or Germany shirt. Biglia is the definition of average and Banega is basically a poor man's David Silva, Thiago or Kroos. Lanzini plays for West Ham, Di Maria is a bench player.

There are 3 truly world class players : Messi, Kun and Higuain. But only two of them can play in any given line up. And if you add the fact that the strikers severely underperform, maybe Argentina is not supposed to win anyways.
 
Argentina has mostly good players in defence and midfield with a world class attack.

Banega and Otamendi are excellent. Lanzini is underrated because of the team he plays for. Fazio, Biglia, Tagliafico, and Romero are solid. Lo Celso, Bustos and Ascacibar have the talent to be great.

They aren’t as stacked as Spain or Germany overall, but they shouldn’t be losing 6-1 either.
 
pregra said:
Romero

Mercado/Bustos - Otamendi - Fazio - Tagliafico

Biglia - Banega

Lanzini - Messi - Di María

Agüero
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Not sure Lanzini will start, but either way they have options like Dybala, Pastore, Papu, Correa...

For a comparison:
Alisson
Dani Alves-Miranda-Marquinhos-Marcelo
Casemiro-Fernandinho-Paulinho
Coutinho-Gabriel Jesus-Neymar

There's not much individually. Same thing goes for Spain too, and probably even Germany(lost track of what's supposed to be their starting XI)

Argentina's main problem isn't a lack of talent in certain areas
 
giorno said:
Not sure Lanzini will start, but either way they have options like Dybala, Pastore, Papu, Correa...

For a comparison:
Alisson
Dani Alves-Miranda-Marquinhos-Marcelo
Casemiro-Fernandinho-Paulinho
Coutinho-Gabriel Jesus-Neymar

There's not much individually. Same thing goes for Spain too, and probably even Germany(lost track of what's supposed to be their starting XI)

Argentina's main problem isn't a lack of talent in certain areas
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The only think comparable with the best NTs - at least in the paper - is the atack, and mostly due to the presence of Messi. The defense and midfielder is really inferior to any other top nt.

I'll agree about Dybala, but hes another attacking player and this is not their problem. Pastore is one of those players that dont need to play well, stay fit or decide some important game to be rated high, for some reason, Correa is just an ok player and Papu..no comment.

I dont how you came to that conclusion about Spain/German midfields, but you can't be serious; the difference with Argentina in that aspect is colossal.

Germany was playing their B team against Brazil and their midfield was far better than anything Argentina can line up these days. Sampaoli needs to be humble and just play counter attack with those amazing strikers they have.
 
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Infordin said:
He’s 26

Players like Meza and Tagliafico show that there’s plenty of unearthed talent in South America.
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I wouldn’t say plenty but there’s a few. Lucas Lima aged 27 is a pretty good player that never left too
 
Sampaoli has given his 35 pre-selected players list



Now, who will be the 12 players cut from that list?.
 
So he took Icardi , would be so bad if he did not .

I really hope Messi does it .
 
berbatrick said:
How does he usually line them up: 442/352? Or 433 with Messi on the right?
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He started with a 3-4-2-1, 3 cb's, Di Maria/Whoever as fullbacks and double DM, then he swapped to a 4-2-3-1, then a 4-5-1 and the last game vs Ecuado was a 4-4-2.

The double DM seems the only constant, Messi might get to play as a 10 or second striker and beyond that... whatever he finds for the WC, maybe another 3CB's and Dybala/Messi behind a 9, 442... right now I don't think anyone knows what version of Argentina we'll get to see this summer.

MuranoLover said:
So he took Icardi , would be so bad if he did not .

I really hope Messi does it .
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I guess they'll take 4 strikers from that list, he's going to fight against Higuain, Messi, Agüero and Dybala, he might get in, but that means Sampaoli choosing to be short of defenders/midfielders to include him into an already loaded striker list.

It's still hard for him.
 
Salvio, Acuña and Rojo are really weird choices for full backs. They should hope Mercado is fully fit or else..

bucky said:
Their midfield isn't that bad. Paredes, Lo Celso and Banega is quite good actually, if they are planning to go for a midfield 3.
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It's super unbalanced though.
 
bucky said:
Well, thankfully I'm not the coach.
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The problem I think is : Higuain and Messi don't track back. Banega as the sole defensive midfielder would be very risky, as Lo Celso and Paredes are basically number 10s (their original position btw). I think he will play Biglia, Banega and Lo Celso. Messi, Di Maria and Higuain (if Aguero's not fit).
 
bebeanderson said:
The problem I think is : Higuain and Messi don't track back. Banega as the sole defensive midfielder would be very risky, as Lo Celso and Paredes are basically number 10s (their original position btw). I think he will play Biglia, Banega and Lo Celso. Messi, Di Maria and Higuain (if Aguero's not fit).
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I haven't watched Paredes for Zenit, but I doubt he's being played as a #10 there. Wasn't a #10 for Roma either. Just saying.
 
Paredes hasn't really impressed in any of the qualifiers or friendlies so far. I think he's an excellent player but he needs to step up, probably didn't help himself moving from Seria A to lower quality Russian league in World cup year.

Actually surprised Angel Correa hasn't even made this bloated list. Thought he was doing fine for Atletico? 9 goals this season from wide positin.
 
Argentina is lacking a Sergio Batista in midfield. Some long haired maniac who’s just there with a look that says “you touch my nr.10 and your ankles become my property”
 
There should be more optimism about the quality of this squad. There’s no excuses for them to be so vulnerable. For fun my line up would be

Romero

Meracado
Otamendi
Rojo
Tagliafico

Mascherano
Banega
Paredes

Di Maria
Aguero
Messi


Can’t say I’ve seen lots of all of them but just going by caps and expected line ups elsewhere. I think they need to let a front three loose and focus on solidity behind it as they’ve looked so vulnerable defensively
 
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