Argentina NT

They're a terrible team and need to sort their issues before expecting a World Cup.

Maschernao, Biglia, the whole defence, no cohesion whatsoever. They need a reboot.
 
Jim Beam said:
I am a bit sad that third goal went in because it flatters them and maybe in time people will forget what a shambolic WC they had. From the actual football they played to the way they behaved when they realised they will lose.

And I love Messi, lovely assist, but it would be nice to see how much distance did he covered today. By walking.
Click to expand...
Looking at the actual quality of their peformance, they could have lost 4-0.
 
Kapardin said:
Not starting Aguero was a major mistake.
Click to expand...

He did little v Croatia.

They are just a broken team and the cult of Messi has engulfed them. I honestly think him retiring might be a good thing for them long term. It feels to me like Henry in last 18 months at Arsenal when his presence on the pitch was hindering the young players.

Icardi with Dybala in number 10 role at Copa America 2019 looks o.k to me. They need to find some cool headed defenders in next four years though as this set are a car crash against any pace and movement.
 
The results flatter their performances at this World Cup, going out to Nigeria or Iceland would have been more symbolic than this. They're still better than these versions of Nigeria and Iceland but it would have been fitting.

Time to change everything, half of this team will retire. Let's see if Messi does too or not, but there's a Copa America in Brazil next year and they need to rebuild. One thing is for sure, from now on Dybala has to start every game.

I think even with all the talent they'll lose we're going to see a stronger Argentina in 2022.
 
They need a massive, massive clearout. I dont know if they have quality players to come in though. Sampaoli must be on the plane home already if he can come back.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Looking at the actual quality of their peformance, they could have lost 4-0.
Click to expand...

Agree, just looking at the way they played today it is remarkable they managed to get 3 goals in. It is probably the best sign that there is some great individual quality there (Messi, DiMaria, Banega, Aguero), but as a team, they look in disarray. And it is best to not even start talking about the state of that defence.
 
Last edited:
result wise, they did better than I expected. but in the end, difference between them and France was clear as day. they were slower, weaker and just worse in every possible way. you could see that France had another level in them when they needed the result, but what Agentina played today was probably the best they could offer. if I was new at football and someone handed me all their games from this WC to watch, I probably wouldn't understand the positions and roles of half of their players. massive clearout needed indeed but maybe they should hang on to Sampa.
 
hasanejaz88 said:
The current squad looks poor and I don't think you can blame Sampaoli and Messi for this. It is not that they just lack quality players other than in attack, its more that they don't even have any good players! Rojo is their starting CB, Cabellero their GK, Masherano is well past it at 34.

What good youngster do they have coming through?
Click to expand...


Of course you can blame sampoli look at his treatment of dybala
 
Could field this midfield/attack at next Copa America.

Lo Celso Leandro Paredes Ascacibar

Lanzini (if he gets back playing in January) Dybala

Icardi

That's pretty decent. Most of those have done well in europe and Ascacibar at Stuttgart sounds like exciting talent so will try to watch more of them next season.

No idea what sort of youth they have coming through in defence. That will probably remain a massive problem area for them.
 
mancan92 said:
Of course you can blame sampoli look at his treatment of dybala
Click to expand...

The problem wasn't in attack, they scored 6 goals in 4 matches, that isn't a poor record by any means, the issue is that they conceded 8 in those 4 matches. Their midfield and defense was poor and no matter how many attackers you added it wouldn't have papered over those cracks.
 
mancan92 said:
Of course you can blame sampoli look at his treatment of dybala
Click to expand...

It would be understandable if he left the European stars in the bench because he found a solid team in the guys he was fielding, but it wasn't the case.

If anything, Di Maria and Banega proved how big of a failure his ideas were, a couple good minutes from those guys put Argentina 1 goal shy of forcing OT in QF vs France, Argentina never looked a good team with role players, we can only imagine now what a team with a bigger pressence of Dybala, Di Maria, Lo Celso, Agüero and Higuain could achieve just with a couple sparks from that load of talent.
 
hasanejaz88 said:
The problem wasn't in attack, they scored 6 goals in 4 matches, that isn't a poor record by any means, the issue is that they conceded 8 in those 4 matches. Their midfield and defense was poor and no matter how many attackers you added it wouldn't have papered over those cracks.
Click to expand...
Yeah. You score 3 goals in the ro16 match, you dont expect to lose. Defence was shredded.
 
Ishdalar said:
It would be understandable if he left the European stars in the bench because he found a solid team in the guys he was fielding, but it wasn't the case.

If anything, Di Maria and Banega proved how big of a failure his ideas were, a couple good minutes from those guys put Argentina 1 goal shy of forcing OT in QF vs France, Argentina never looked a good team with role players, we can only imagine now what a team with a bigger pressence of Dybala, Di Maria, Lo Celso, Agüero and Higuain could achieve just with a couple sparks from that load of talent.
Click to expand...
Just like France did in the end. The football isn't great but if you have great players who can deliver moments of magic then you definitely increase your chances.
I just don't understand not starting Aguero today, this wasn't the game for experimentation ffs :lol: Did he think there was a return leg ?
 
Aguero wasn't starting again this tournament after his comments about Sampaoli after the Croatia game.
 
FootballHQ said:
He did little v Croatia.

They are just a broken team and the cult of Messi has engulfed them. I honestly think him retiring might be a good thing for them long term. It feels to me like Henry in last 18 months at Arsenal when his presence on the pitch was hindering the young players.

Icardi with Dybala in number 10 role at Copa America 2019 looks o.k to me. They need to find some cool headed defenders in next four years though as this set are a car crash against any pace and movement.
Click to expand...
Sometimes it's not just about what a player does but how he can occupy opponents. Aguero on the pitch just frees up Messi a little (as long as he isn't asked to be the 10 otherwise it's the same issue). Basically their starting formation vs Nigeria was their best one in the tournament.
 
FootballHQ said:
Could field this midfield/attack at next Copa America.

Lo Celso Leandro Paredes Ascacibar

Lanzini (if he gets back playing in January) Dybala

Icardi

That's pretty decent. Most of those have done well in europe and Ascacibar at Stuttgart sounds like exciting talent so will try to watch more of them next season.

No idea what sort of youth they have coming through in defence. That will probably remain a massive problem area for them.
Click to expand...

Are there any talented defenders? In terms of midfielders, Pastore has been a big disappointment in terms how good he looked a young age, seemed a world class talent but I guess moving to PSG was the wrong one for him.
 
It baffles me how top players like Aguero, Higuain and Dybala can be left on the bench whilst random players like Mezza, Perez and Pavon play. Not playing Banega from the start of the WC was also a very bad choice.

Sampaoli himself says he doesn't plan for matches, which shows what kind of manager he is. If Argentina played a low backline, and defended and counter-attacked, they would've fared much better. Instead they let a pacey France counter-attack them with players like Pogba pinging accurate balls, and really 4-3 flattered Argentina hugely.
 
K2K said:
Should be planning for 2026 imo.


They really need that long. Hardly any exciting youngsters coming through either.
Click to expand...
Mascherano in CM says it all. Teams like England would be embarrassed to field him as a starter.
 
As a unit, they were one of the worst teams in the tournament. No organisation at all.
 
Last edited:
No idea on their defenders. Most of the ones in europe are late 20s now. Garay is 31 now, Gonzalo Rodriguez is well into his 30s but always thought he was a good player in Seria A.

I liked Mustacchio when he played for Villareal, not sure how well he's done at Milan. He's only 27 though so one to look at. Only has 6 caps.

They called up an RB called Bustos for the March friendlies but he played in the Spain 6-1 and obivously felt he wasn't at the level required. Only 22.

Rojo will probably be their senior CB in Qatar.....
 
2mufc0 said:
As a unit, they were one of the worst teams in the tournament. Nor organisation at all.
Click to expand...
Agree. The most chaotic/shambolic/ad-hoc team of the tournament. That's actually fair shout to call them one of the worst teams of the tourney. Today was a 4-0 that somehow became a 4-3.
 
Last 16 was probably the maximum they could manage, quite lucky to even get out of the group stages when you look back on their tournament

They deserved nothing
 
MJJ said:
Still watchimg
Click to expand...

Pogba had a great game. Very pleased at that :devil: I’m no fan of Argentina at all, I was just underwhelmed by France before this game, and thought that Messi was due a proper Messi performance that we’ve seen at club level before.

Fair play to France, they showed up when it mattered.
 
Mascherano said that before the tournament, he is 34 so no shock.
 
they looked very average throughout and Messi didn't have any real significant influence

I think they should have played Messi right for the good of the team

a front 4 of

Di Maria---Aguero------Messi
----------------Dybala----------------

would have served them better
 
FootballHQ said:
No idea on their defenders. Most of the ones in europe are late 20s now. Garay is 31 now, Gonzalo Rodriguez is well into his 30s but always thought he was a good player in Seria A.

I liked Mustacchio when he played for Villareal, not sure how well he's done at Milan. He's only 27 though so one to look at. Only has 6 caps.

They called up an RB called Bustos for the March friendlies but he played in the Spain 6-1 and obivously felt he wasn't at the level required. Only 22.

Rojo will probably be their senior CB in Qatar.....
Click to expand...

They dont have many CBs, thats their biggest issue. They have Rulli in goal, who is 26 i think. So perfect. Bustos will get better and should move to Europe, same for Tagliafico, who moved to Ajax in January and will get better with more experience in Europe. The problem is CB, where they only got Rojo, Funes Mori and Musacchio, who are all average. Their Cbs are all old, there is not much coming through. They have Conti and Mammana from young CBs, but they are not good enough at the moment and need to get better. That will be their problem the next years
 
kouroux said:
Just like France did in the end. The football isn't great but if you have great players who can deliver moments of magic then you definitely increase your chances.
I just don't understand not starting Aguero today, this wasn't the game for experimentation ffs :lol: Did he think there was a return leg ?
Click to expand...

Well, two pure wingers opening the game, putting crosses on... Messi as a false 9, that game plan sums Sampaoli's era with Argentina.

I could understand that starting 11 playing those guys as inverted wingers, but what we saw today was stupid, who's supposed to score from those crosses, Mascherano? Enzo? Otamendi from the third line? :lol:
 
Ishdalar said:
Well, two pure wingers opening the game, putting crosses on... Messi as a false 9, that game plan sums Sampaoli's era with Argentina.

I could understand that starting 11 playing those guys as inverted wingers, but what we saw today was stupid, who's supposed to score from those crosses, Mascherano? Enzo? Otamendi from the third line? :lol:
Click to expand...
I don't know. Sometimes when you see some coaching decisions, you really wonder if it's that difficult (don't get me wrong, it's a tough tough job). I am speechless as to what was being attempted by Argentina tactically speaking
 
izec said:
They dont have many CBs, thats their biggest issue. They have Rulli in goal, who is 26 i think. So perfect. Bustos will get better and should move to Europe, same for Tagliafico, who moved to Ajax in January and will get better with more experience in Europe. The problem is CB, where they only got Rojo, Funes Mori and Musacchio, who are all average. Their Cbs are all old, there is not much coming through. They have Conti and Mammana from young CBs, but they are not good enough at the moment and need to get better. That will be their problem the next years
Click to expand...
What about midfield?
 
This however is not just on Sampoli.. For the whole of Messi's career they have never managed to get a semblance of cohesion in their attack despite names like Aguero, Higuain, Dybala and the others in 2000s.
 
How did Argentina manage to finish the game with 11 players? I thought both Mercado and Otamendi should have been off the way they tacled Pogba and smashed a ball at him while on the ground.

In terms of Argentina, they need Messi to retire and Dybala to take his place. But mostly, they need to produce better midfielders, such as Juan Roman Riquelme. Someone with vision and brains to direct tge team.
 
Ban said:
What about midfield?
Click to expand...

Mainly Paredes, Ascacibar and Lo Celso. I rate Ascacibar highly, very combative midfielder and should have been in the squad. Paredes is a good passer, made the wrong move from Roma to Zenit though, but he is really good at passing through the lines from deep. and Lo Celso will hopefully evolve at PSG.
 
The problem is that Argentina has talented offensive players, but they need the ball. Dybala, Aguero etc are not counter attacking players. So their defense is always having to be close to midfield, which exposes how slow they are.

They had to play Tagliafico and Rojo. That was better than the insane idea of playing Acuña and Salvio there, so what happens is that you lose to the team that has as much talent up front, but also has Varane, Umtiti and Hernandez.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
They're a terrible team and need to sort their issues before expecting a World Cup.

Maschernao, Biglia, the whole defence, no cohesion whatsoever. They need a reboot.
Click to expand...
Their attack was as much a problem as the defense and midfield. A front three of Messi, Dybala and Icardi likely would have worked better.
 
Tempo and ball circulation was a huge issue. All of the play that let Argentina down, more or less, was what was behind Messi and not in front. Don't get me wrong, the forward line and wide men weren't by any means exceptional, however, when the midfield and defensive players pass the ball at a pedestrian pace and don't look to pass anything with any kind of courage between the lines then you can only expect the opposition to find it easy to organise themselves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.