Lionel SCALONI’s record now has a loss, as his team fell 1-0 against eternal rivals Brazil.
Two wins, one draw and one loss is now the record for SCALONI as coach of the Argentina national team. A late MIRANDA goal as the Brazilian defender was left completely unmarked and headed past Sergio ROMERO. Despite Brazil fielding what is arguably their strongest XI, SCALONI put out what is still an inexperienced line-up but a positive display from his back line is something which should leave any Argentina fan happy, despite the defeat.
Renzo SARAVIA kept shutting down any Brazilian threat down his side while Nicols OTAMENDI and German PEZZELLA formed a formidable partnership. As for Nicolas TAGLIAFICO, he continues to make that left back position his.
Giovani LO CELSO came closest to score several times while Paulo DYBALA and Mauro ICARDI didn’t show much threat moving forward. Leandro PAREDES showed positive signs and grew as the match went on while Rodrigo BATTAGLIA looked out of his element at times.
November’s friendly matches will bring only one opponent, Mexico, as the two nations will play twice in Argentina.
Some of us here already writing off Scaloni & Co and want to go back to playing possession attacking football. It took us only 4 matches to completely forget how our world cup campaign ended!! How an imbecile coach who, no matter the situation stuck with the same crazy highline defense with the oldest and slowest team of players made Argentina look like a laughing stock!! As some one has mentioned here, great teams start to build from the back, i am more than happy to see Scaloni focusing on not losing, FOR NOW. Yes ultra defensive tactics will cost you at the end like it did when Sabella was incharge, but right now our main concern is defense!!!
Like everyone here I have never seen Argentina ending a game with mere 30% possession. Unlike Sampaoli against France,Scaloni he knew we were the underdogs , may be thats why he went ultra defensive!! We all know No manager even if he is an interim coach can afford to lose against Brazil. A humiliating defeat would have been curtains for Scaloni & Co!! Lets give him more time, atleast till Copa!! In only 4 matches I am convinced the only missing piece of this team is Messi. Yes, some of you don’t want Messi back and some of you don’t want to build a team around him again. I am one of you, i don’t want the team to be build around Messi again. I don’t want him back, i don’t want him back until the Copa only. By the time Copa begins these young players would have played enough to develop team chemistry. Messi doesn’t need to play 20 matches to blend and with Leo in the middle providing immaculate penetrating passes to our young strikers and wingers , we might finally end our trophy drought. Also, to those of us doubting Messi that he might not be the same in 2022. Right now at the age of 31 he is undisputed no 1 player. At 35 i am 100% sure with his crazy fitness level, his god gifted talent and his Einstein like footballing brain with a liitle help of not having to run much with Barca or Argentina, he will still be top 5 player in the world!! Lets all pray he doesn’t retire for good until 2022!!
SulaV
This sounds sensible. Agree with each and every point of yours.
Wise words. WE can not go ahead with extremes. WE need rational thinking like yours.
one point you made clear. TIME is needed to prosper.
DYBALA 16 MATCHES 0 GOAL , IS IT A RECORD FOR NATIONAL TEAM ? HE IS A STRIKER ,A NUMBER 10 .
NAHHHHH REALLY????
If we have played attacking all the time we may have been thrashed by big margin…team is just building
Personally, I am quite happy of the performance against Brazil.
It seems many are unsatisfied because of the lack of attacking mentality or the loss or … whatever. Probbaly they have in their mind another Argentina team that would beat Brazil 4-0 or something. Does anyone remember our performances 3 months ago in the workd cup when we could not even beat Iceland and barely won Nigeria, when we list hands-down fro Croatia?
This is a new team and we need to live with that. Right now Brazil is a better team and so are many others. If you expect our recently assembled team to compete with the top world teams at this point, they might as well give us the next world cup now. We don’ t even nee dto show up in the event.
We must be realistic. the team needs time and so does the coach. Scaloni did a great jobe for the time he had at his disposal so far. He is completely justifiable to present a defensive mentality against an admitedly better team (at this point) who wants to attach at all times. Probably we could do better at counter attack, but can you really balme them.
I don’t know if Scaloni is a good choice to remain or if he has a defensive mentality which doesn’t suit argentina team. But the guy has delivered so far, knowing that he will son be replaced. What was his real goal? To refursbish the team and be able to find a possible bulk of maybe 20 players that could form with some injections from the old squad the new Argentina team. And in my opinion he did that. So let’s stop whining. For a change the team is showing great signs of improvement.
Maxilopez830 October 16, 2018 at 5:13 pm
Player ratings
Romero 8/10: nice performance
Saravia 5/10: he should be sent off second half when tackle neymar in formal game.That must be a red card.
Pezzella, otamendi:7/10
Tagliafico: 5/10 very slow
Paredes:6.5/10 promising
Battaglia 6.5/10 hardworking , decent
Lo celso 6/10 not too bad
Correa 0/10 useless
Dybala -1/10 too bad ,16matches 0 goal.suppose he is the number 10 but he fail all the time
Icardi :3/10. Run run run better than nothing
This sort of nonsense written by someone who has no idea about football is why this blog gets contaminated with so much rubbish. Saravia was excellent in both halves and aside from one loose pass and once being caught out of position offered much more than Bustos. Tagliafico made several excellent tackles, covered and swept in the middle of defence and is one of the best left backs in football. He should be made captain. Anyone and there are still idiots out there who criticize his inclusion has not got a clue.
Paredes and Battaglia decent ? Plenty of niggly fouls which you do need. However the number of times they failed to pass accurately with speed and their clumsiness means they should be left out and told they need to improve. Asascibar offers far more and Caseres should be in there. Infact I would select Palacios and Asascibar without hesitation over them.
And because of the lack of service to the forwards they had precious little chance to exert much influence yet they get criticized ? They all worked hard defensively including Icardi and pressed effectively for the most part. Icardi went close with the sole chance he had as well. Dybala was out of position. He needs a free role in behind Icardi.
Overall it was a very good performance for a side coming together against a team minus D.Costa that has been together for a while and an inexperienced coaching team against Tite. Successful teams start developing solidity from the back and the way the team did from the front is very promising.
There were even periods in the second half when the team had Brazil on the ropes. Yes we could do with more ball control but in a countering system as long as you defend well it is not that important. I am sure this core of players is a good one. De Paul is another to include for his performance albeit it was Iraq. And over the next few months several other younger players can be added assuming they shine in domestic football.
The longer term issue is trying to build depth in the laterals and keepers. And find a partner for Pezzella be it Kannemann or one of the younger defenders who need to be more physical like Franco/Quarta. Aside from Armani I cannot trust anyone below that. Tagliafico needs a backup as well should he be injured. And as for controlling midfield I don’t think Scaloni had that intention. However we have the players that can do that but both the deep lying midfielders we had yesterday need to be told they will have to improve greatly. Put in Santi and Palacios or indeed Caseres and you have DM’s (they are not traditional holding DMs) who can pass, move and create and in the case of all three to differing degrees act as box to box players.
Thanks for such an enlightening post! Always a pleasure to read from you since Worldcup blogs days.
Welcome back Aurelius.
Totally agreed, I also read some post like “we don’t need Scaloni because we played too passive or playing counter attack like a mid table table, etc”. Usually I don’t like to diss people because we share the same passion for this team but that was just beyond my limits. Some of the fans here only thinks Barca is the reference of football and don’t understand there are different ways to win. 1 guy said what Atletico achieved in playing defensive with counter attacks. Well, France played exactly like this and they won the WC twice. Brazil, Italy did the same in 2002 and 2006. For the dude who gave this rating, he does not understand the defensive task and what is pressing. He may only consider dribbling and scoring are the only thing in football. Asking to fire Scaloni because our new team played too defensive in a friendly against a very mature team of Brazil, the stupidity of these persons is just beyond my limits, too much
Playing possession football is not my top priority right now.. the team is decent, still lot to improve of course
Excellent post , totally agree…
Nice. It’s not difficult for Scaloni and Aimar to find an LB backup. I was really surprised by the inclusion of Saravia. Now I know why he was selected.
Saw the match in the stadium
Really happy for Saravia because even brazilian fans around me were asking who is that kid
Looking at scaloni shouting at the players especially dybala make me realize this man is what we needed long time ago ( who ever you are , if you did not play good ,, you are out )
Scaloni did a wonderful work with the defence ( i think samuel helped him there)
But that goal was totally ota and pezzella mistake .
“Looking at scaloni shouting at the players especially dybala make me realize this man is what we needed long time ago ( who ever you are , if you did not play good ,, you are out )”
So true. Although I doubt he will implement his tactic so boldly when oldies will back. Young players are much more plastic to form collective team and implement tactic
I was not happy with the result but the defense looked solid, which is a step in right direction. My impression was that focus yesterday was to keep it tight defensively, perhaps the fear of losing was greater than the will of winning, but that’s ok for now.
In the matches against Mexico, I want to see a more offensive side of the team. I’d keep Paredes and Battaglia (both very good yesterday) but add another attacking while creative mf beside Lo Celso like Lamela or why not Banega. Keep testing Icardi, Dybala and Lautaro up front, although I think Messi and Aguero is the best combo. Just some minor tweakings and we should be contenders in Copa.
I can’t believe some here r calling for some old players to come back because they r performing good for the Clubs. Guys we have already been there we have already repeated that 100 times. It didn’t work, so it’s better we move on with the new young Generation players.
It’s not as if the historical were scoring goals left and right. Apart from Messi none of the other scores goals for us on consistent basis. Historical were good in fact great they took us to 3 finals. But enough is enough.
This is exactly why I just wanted somehow the yesterday match to be a draw, Gosh 92nd Minute. The youngsters have only played 4 matches together, were as Historical were given nearly 100 matches. Where is the logic. There r no viable options left for the Coaching post apart from Tata Martino. That’s a catastrophe waiting to happen.
Mik,
this is the thing most absurdal for me I’m hearing about still. For some players their club performances never more will point of refernece in calling up becuase they disappointed us so many times by giving shows in club and being poor/mediocree in NT. Higuain, Di Maria, Banega, Aguero. Their club performances are no more point of refference.
Romero is totally different case. He is not even starter in his club, since many years. But he always in crucial moments deliverd.
Mik
I don’t know from where you read these types of comments man.
Here, people only want 4 experienced players that is Messi, Aguero, Otamendi and maybe Banega because EXPERIENCE IS IMPORTANT. No one else is needed now. Show me any 3 comments where people are asking for Di Maria, Biglia, Rojo etc. To come back.
Imo Messi, Aguero, Otamendi are must, because:-
1) Messi is Messi. Nothing else to add. ( A person must be a big troll who doesn’t want Messi’s integration after 4-5 months Maybe)
2) Yesterday against Brazil, Otamendi proved how important he is in that back line. He plays very well in a defined system.
3) Aguero because, Icardi ain’t working out for us. Unless the midfielders don’t create good enough chances, Icardi is useless and he disappears. Talking of the past, Aguero was our best player in the recent WC, and before none of our coaches used him well. Either played him as a winger or was a bench player. But still he has managed to score 39 goals for us in total.
As for Banega, he isn’t very important now. Maybe as a bench player.
First words first. I am not at all disappointed with the result. A full strength Brazil team needed to wait for 93 mins to score a goal against this new ,young , inexperienced argentine side playing their 3rd game together. Some posters here were expecting that we will get thrashed 4-0/5-0 . That didn’t happen and didn’t looked like going to happen.
We are not getting Simione, poch, Gallardo or even Martino, so its rational and sensible that Scaloni-Samuel-Aimar trio should continue till the Copa. Scaloni is doing a decent job, much better than the fraud baldy Sampaoli and boring Bauza. He will only get good with time. Some are craving for expert tacticians and we all know how those ended with Martino, Bauza(if he was a tactician, I Still doubt though) and Sampaoli. The next two matches with mexico will again be a good tester.
The Players. Gonzalo Man, am sorry that I doubted Saravia and expressed my apprehensions to you a few while back regarding his ability to handle neymar. Boy he pocketed that rolling Board and how. Pardes and Battaglia deserves a special mention in keeping that overhyped Brazilan Midfield quiet and sloppy. Our defensive problems are almost over. Pazella again looked solid and Otamendi played well. Taglia also was decent. Lo celso was off colour so was dyabla and Correa. Cant blame icardi. He didn’t get quality service.
Overall lots of positives to take forward. Messi Aguero Banega can be recalled for the copa depending on their form and fitness but no one else from the old guards please.
Tata Martino made Argentina play like the Argentina I remember in my childhood, the last time before that I remember Argentina played like that was in 2007 Copa Ameria. Tata Martino was the best coach Argentina has in a very long time. Yes, we lost two finals, but that too in penalty shoot out. Does that take away all the beautiful games Argentina played with Tata Martino?
@Deepjoy
Superliga is full of interesting players. You can always find someone proper on positions we lack of quality from the Europeans. Finally It’s hard to predict who will click but it’s worth of time to look for someone less popular if big names are disappointing.
Team played not badly in a match like full of presr against no1 enemy.
Fans dnt need to cry. We r now looking a good unit.That is most important. Team developed in almost all areas. Cb and wingers plyd well and no.5 roll looking well after maschi and biglia.we hve best deep lying playmaker like paredes. We have very passionate box to box locelso.we have lots of strikers.
No doubt we will thrash giants in coming matches..
We badly miss messi now….
I think Dybala might be better suited to having someone like Alario as a strike partner.
While conversely Icardi might be better having someone like Lamela as his strike partner.
I don’t think Dybala and Icardi do enough work off the ball combined for the team to function well.
Fantastic job scaloni did 80%ok. No reason to change.
Once again our defenders showed thr weak mentality in crucial moments with poor marking.
Sometimes our players are looking physically and mentally out of game..
30% possession = 80% ok..something doesn’t add up.
Happy with the results considering we held brazil at bay for 92 minutes.
i think some are suffering from recency bias. I keep reading all this praise about our defense when in the last decade that was our true strength despite having messi, aguero, etc. Only under dogshit kamikaze Sampa did our defense absolutely fall apart. The problem has always been attacking and today, we did everything but ATTACK. We couldn’t string together more than 3 passes, barely any 1-2s, and very little creativity. I don’t recall the last time we had 30% freaking possession – goodness, we do those numbers against indonesia. Icardi had no service, Dybala doesnt doesnt do well in a system with no attacking identity, Lo celso seemed a bit lost especially in the 1st half (still starter for me though). Id definitely try Lamela instead of Correa, paredes did great (def starter for me). I’ll be honest, i’m beginning to worry about Scaloni but now that new players are integrated, perhaps Gallardo is the guy to raise the team to the next level.
Also, did anyone notice players not supporting each other during the attack and just standing there like scarecrows? i thought that was supposed to be Messi’s fault…
Considering the situation of both team it is not that bad to loss 1-0 rather than big margin loss , defence was very well , renazo savaria best rightback & best player for Argentina in this match , l.Martinez also impressive.
yep…saravia did great. him and otamendi stood out for me.
IMO… scaloni is setting up Argentina to play as a mid table team.
Teams that are strong, we concede possession and attack through counters.
Against teams like Iraq (ranked 89) and Guatemala (ranked 147) who just had played after a lengthy ban from football, we score.
Against teams in the top 20-30 best in the world, we can’t score yet (Colombia-14, Brazil-3). Apparently we need to face opponents that are ranked 90 or lower to beat them now.
Hear me out on this one before you spam hate!
Next is Mexico (ranked 15). If we fail to win, or even register a goal against them, then it should be a worrying sign. That would mean we would have failed to either beaten or even scored against three Of the top 20 teams in the world.
You might say, “oh well Messi didn’t play”, well what happens when he’s gone? We’re seeing an Argentina without him at the moment, and in all honesty… we don’t look like a team that deserves to win a World Cup. If we don’t beat Mexico, if we can’t even score against them… Scaloni should not be coach! Period!
If we can’t beat This Brazil that will going to the 2022 World Cup with this same squad most likely, or Colombia as well with a still young enough squad, what makes you think we will beat Uruguay, or Chile, Peru, Bolivia at home, Ecuador at home during the Conembol Qualifiers to even qualify for a World Cup to begin with?
You might say, “oh Lo Celso has only played a couple games, Paredes too, Icardi too, Correa too, and so on. With all these “quality” players and the best they can do is score against some of the weakest teams in the world but disappear against World Cup Favorites?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we don’t have much depth, what you see in the staring 11 is as strong as we’ll get in a couple years.
We need a coach who will play some attacking, possession based football. Who is not afraid to leave gaps behind in order to score a goal! Like Guardiola said, its riskier NOT to take risks! You NEED to take risks to win games! Necesssary risks! We need a coach who will bring discipline to the squad, not allow them to hammer away at every opposition player and rack up more yellow cards faster than the referee can count.
Dybala, Icardi, Lauturo Martinez, Vasquez, etc. We have Ferrari’s but we don’t allow them to be used. We keep them back to defend! We need a coach who will get the most out of these guys, not just have them concentrate their game in defending.
Argentina has always been a feared team to play against. Now WE fear other teams and sit deep as a result. Remember who we are. We can’t lose our identity! Somos Argentinos, and we should be feared and respected!!
Forgetting the World Cup for now and focusing on the Copa America, the best line up would be as follows IMO:
Romero
Saravia-Pezzella-Otamendi-Tagliafico
Vasquez-Paredes-Banega
Messi-Aguero-Lanzini (when he’s fit)
-Backline should be a no brainer. Pezzella and Otamendi showed why they should be the #1 CB choices for Argentina! Musacchio, Fazio, Mammana would all have to really impress in order to even have a chance of playing for the national team!
– Saravia how at many times he was able to successfully defend against Neymar was very impressive indeed. Unlike Bustos who got raped by Isco (poor guy probably still dreams with him😢)
– Tagliafico is not only good when it comes to defending, but is the fullback that offers the most when attacking as well.
– Paredes just needs to be more disciplined! He’s a great DM and a worthy heir to Mascherano, but his discipline could cost him. This was a friendly, but had it been a competition, he would either see red, or miss matches due to accumulated yellow cards. Busquets, Casemiro, Dier, Kante all disposes players without committing too many fouls, it’s all about good positioning, not just aggression.
– Banega and Franco Vasquez combination would be the best. Reason behind is because, if the excuse is true that these players aren’t playing to their max ability due to a lack of cohesion, them Banega and Vazquez should be the #1 option, as they are flourishing together with Sevilla (who currently are 1st in La Liga above Messi’s Barcelona and Angel Correa’s Atletico Madrid). Their already build understanding will be vital to dominating the midfield and providing support to the attack.
Also to those who say they don’t defend, just watch the game against Real Madrid. They haul ass in attack and defend, so that would be just being ignorant to their ability.
– Messi is the best in the world! He MUST play! He can stay wide to stretch the pitch, or drop inside to support the midfield and make in of his pinpoint passes he’s amazing good at.
– Aguero should be the undisputed CF for Argentina! Icardi, Simeone, Lauturo all have had chances and they failed, both under Sampaoli and Scaloni.
– Lanzini should be the other winger to stretch the defense, and has the ability to beat players 1v1 and also drop deep to support the build up play when needed.
– If not Lanzini, the maybe Pavon or another winger whose job will be to provide width on the left flank.
Lo Celso: He performs well against Guatemala, Haiti, and Iraq. But disappears against Spain, Colombia, and now Brazil. He isn’t even a starter for Real Betis. He’s very overrated IMO.
Dybala: He just hasn’t clicked for the National Team. His quality is undeniable, but for some reason that does not translate with the Albiceleste! Hopefully that will change, because what a shame it would be for him not to produce for Argentina as well.
Palacios: He’s good but he’ll have to wait for his turn, a good substitute for now. The duo of Banega and Vazquez is just too strong to ignore!
Battaglia: Meh! Was not stable enough. Required Paredes to save his @&& a couple times!
Pererya: A damn good sub for either CM, to add a bite more bite to the midfield.
Final Note! Team selection should be based on FORM, not name! And most of the players who played against Brazil are not in their best form at the moment yet seemed fit to play for the national team? 🤔
Players like Aguero, Messi, Banega, Vasquez, Paredes, Tagliafico, Saravia, Pezzella who are on form for the Clubs should be selected over possible future prospects.
I would rather have players in their late 20’s early 30’s but in form than a team full of 20 year olds and teenagers who are not even starters at club level to begin with (ex. Lo Celso, Correa).
“The duo of Banega and Vazquez is just too strong to ignore!”
Huh..!
“The duo of Banega and Vazquez is just too strong to ignore!”
LOL
“Final Note! Team selection should be based on FORM, not name!
Couldn’t agree more.
i really like your other thoughts but you’re way too harsh on Lo Celso..hell play a key role us, im sure of it. 1 of Batt or Ascacibar are needed on the pitch at all times. Also, palacios and lo celso bring pace and energy to the midfield. Id like to see what Palacios
– Ascacibar – Paredes – Lo Celso can do with Messi and Aguero up front. Although its tough choice because like you point out, Banega and Vasquez are doing very well. Hard to ignore.
“We need a coach who will play some attacking, possession-based football. Who is not afraid to leave gaps behind in order to score a goal!”
That’s why Sampaoli was hired…!
Than what happened
Croatia humble arg worst defeat
In group stage for world cup
I can’t believe guys like this still come
Talking about fazio and old guards
Dumbass Sampa chose 3ATB against the worlds strongest midfielders. No one had any experience with 3ATB but decides use it against a crucial WC game?? that man was absolute dogshit, couldn’t stop meddling with tactics so our team never developed an identity and looked completely lost. Put short Tag and Mercado as outside CBs against croatian ogres and mache + enzo against modric and rakitic which meant we were completely overrun in the midfield. Pounded us over and over again and completely neutralize our attack. I blame sampa not the “old guard”. Also my friend, not all old guard are created equal.
Sampaoli es un vende humo! He’s nothing. He was a hyped up manager, but a s*** tactician!
“Musacchio, Fazio, Mammana would all have to really impress in order to even have a chance of playing for the national team!”
Thanks for reading thoroughly.
We need an attack minded coach, Yes! Defending alone can only get you so far! (Ask Simeone, one La Liga and Copa Del Rey in who knows how many years with Atletico)
When I see Scaloni, I see someone like Valverde of Barcelona. Someone who has the best weapons in the world but prefers to keep them secured. What’s the point of selecting all these amazing players if all they’re going to do is defend? You might as well call up more defenders and Defensive midfielders if that’s your goal! Play a 5-4-1 to not concede at all!
When you attack, you leave gaps behind and are open to a counter, that’s obvious! Any one who has the slightest knowledge of football knows that! But you can’t win if you don’t score, and score is what Argentina have failed to do against Colombia and Brazil! And if we fail to score against Mexico, we don’t deserve to be ranked #11 best in the world. Simple.
To talk about the kind of attack minded football, you need a solid defensive back line with two good CBs, which we don’t have, and tell me the two solid full backs we have, no, we don’t have. We have decent full backs.
The kind of football Guardiola or Jurgenn Klopp or Luis Enrique plays or used to play works with an amazing No.5, the holding midfielder and good attacking midfielders, who can defend as well as break the lines. These coaches, their attack starts with goal keeper, building up the play. Now, you think with current depth, we could play such beautiful football? No.
Argentina is producing quality forwards but when it goes to the midfield and defense, the quality drops and becomes just okay. German Pezzella played amazing long balls today, Otamendi was monstrous but you think the same will be the case in a competitive game? In a Copa America?
Argentina needs to start working on their U-17s and U-20s to build up on talents like that. Dybala was out wide many times, with ball on his feet, and two players to support him, he could try to dribble the two defenders surrounding him and free the his support cast but no, he passed the ball back, so when the forwards are not taking attacking chances, how can you expect a midfield line or defensive line to take chance?
Let us sink in the truth, Argentina’s depth is gone, we need a good coach like Tata Martino who played-direct-attacking football with defensive solidity and we will have to bring in the older generation like Messi, Banega, Aguero and get back to Manuel Lanzini and Franco Vaquez like you said but still the problem remains, “The holding midfielder”, the NO.5? Paredes is good, but can he really attack, break the lines?
I was saying this is going to happen again if we hired those type of managers.
“We need a coach who will play some attacking, possession based football. ”
Ahmen! agree with a lot of your thoughts.
Choripan mate i ensure you arg will
Play attacking football that is thier
DNA.. give time my friend that Brazil
Game was different circumstances
I’m sure they will go back the draw board .
Than analysis what they need to do
Next time.. they play big country
Come on we just came back
Disaster world cup… we need time
By the way all the web’s I read they
More worry for Brazil than arg
In fact they more complement to scolani…
Dybala and Lo Celso are both great players and I adore watching them but according to what I saw, their place is far from safe. Quite disappointed about Correa, expected him to make the difference by his pace and dribbling skill. Defensively his contribution was not enough, which gave lot of room for the Brazilian fullbacks to take the control. Same thing for Lo Celso and Dybala , not enough pressing but maybe Scaloni chose to defend deeper and leave the possession to the Brazilians.
But the good side is I saw them at least playing as a team, defensively well organised, unlike during the world cup. It’s actually quite balanced behind and in the midfield. We cut the Brazilian rythm but too many faults. It’s a good start already. Don’t forget it was against Brazil with almost all their best players. We should keep the same system 4321 and obviously the same coach. Its completely non sense to discredit what Scaloni did because of a 1-0 against Brazil.
All we may need to do is to adjust a bit the attack. Dybala will need to fight for his place with Lanzini, Pity and Lamela, Correa with Cervi, Pavon, Druissi,… Etc. Besides, Pereyra and Palacios may be the contenders for Lo Celso’s place.
Palacios will play no matter of Lo Celso’s form I suppose.
Call me a Dybala hater or Lamela fan but trust me Lamela isn’t that much older than Lamela 1.5 years and in that time he’s been injured. But Lamela is a smarter and harder worker than Dybala with more passion for the game. Dybala to me has gotten this”world class” label and gotten to his head. He’s a narcissist and mentally weak not to mention 1 dimensional with his position without Dybala they could play any formation. Lamela I hope continues his good form and gets called him imagine him and pity Martinez running and creating for Icardi/Aguero. Sure he’s not as fast as Correa but he creates many chances and can play possession or counter attack.
I’ll take a 1-zero loss against Brazil when they fielded all the players they could when ARG played for the most part with an experimental squad led by an experimental coach. The joke is on them and not us, the defense played well, Romero as I have said about half a million times is our best goalkeeper played well and Otamendi was a no-brainier as I stated before as well, played well. Was a good result except for Brazil’s horseshit luck.
It was a good result. Seriously we were the underdogs. If anyone thought we r superior to Brazil they were wrong. We showed some grit. Scaloni can lead this team. If AFA don’t mess it up now.
I DONT THINK SCALONI IS ABLE TO LEAD ARGENTINA. HIS TACTICAL COUNTER ATTACK IS DIFFERENT FROM BRAZIL OR BELGIUM ‘S COUNTER ATTACK. ACTUALLY HE DIDNT KNOW HOW TO COUNTER ATTACK.
biels has given 3millon dollar to newell old boys for training facility upgradation. I think he is the dedicated person for Argentina football right now. he is better than others. he know what formation can suit against the better team.
It’s OK, Argentina.. You can learn from this result..
Vamos Argentina! Go Tango!
Support Argentina National Football Team, no matter what…
In September when this match was announced I had the opinion it was going to be a test of Scaloni as a tactician as much as a test of the new players. For the major part of the match he passed quite well.Both teams stepped out into a pure 3v3 battle in the mid field which predictably made the match cagey.
We saw
——-Battaglia——-
–LoCelso—Parades—
versus
——Casemiro——
–Arthur—Coutinho—
Both managers used different approaches to break through given the stalemate in the middle. Brazil relied on obviously trying to feed Neymar in very wide areas on the sideline where everytime he tried to cut inside he found Renzo Saravia’s excellent left boot waiting to cut him off throughout the game. At other times they tried to create overloads by bringing in Luis or Danilo runs into the middle through 1-2’s.
Argentina had a different approach and we saw Scaloni’s Sampaoli roots a little bit. On initial ball losses and build outs by Brazil they exhibited a good high press using 4 and even 5 men on occasion with LoCelso and even Parades chipping in. These created one or two moments of excitement in the Brazilian box.
On normal build outs they altered their shape various times trying 4-2-4’s that pushed Tagliafico and LoCelso quite high,3-4-3’s that withdraw Dybala centrally while keeping the LB high, switched Correa’s flanks to make him more comfortable on his favored right, and even constructing a loose diamond in the middle with Dybala at the tip.
But none of these shapes carried any bite either because the players pushed high lost connection with the back, or the Brazilian midfielders did an excellent rotational marking job when the playmaker was in the middle, or the #9 could not make a move to create a run.
When the rumored line up came out three days ago it had suggested this final starting squad. There I had mentioned that battaglia would have to play out of his skin doing a lot of dirty work. He was deployed as the deepest midfielder and was excellent in the first half either destroying Coutinho’s moves when the Brazilian midfield shape moved from 1-2 to 2-1 and Coutinho tried to move to the middle, passing Neymar off to the wings, or dropping into the backline when the full back pushed high and generally exhibiting good positioning.However his gas tank began to fade in the second half and that was where Scaloni made his first mistake.
At the beginning of the second half Argentina came out in their best shape. They flattened the lose diamond in the middle they had at the end of the first half and went to a flat 4-4-2 with LoCelso-Parades-Battaglia-Correa from left to right. This compact counter-attacking shape was discussed during the week and immediately a couple chances popped up with LoCelso looking particularly threatening on the outside. Note he was not wide, just outside. When Dybala was withdrawn and Lautaro inserted into the nine-half argentina looked even more potent. At this point Scaloni made his second mistake.
By now Battaglia was running on empty and instead of bringing in Ascacibar to keep up the destroyers job, Scaloni opted to use substitutes to finetune his 4-4-2 a bit more by adding Roberto Pereyra and Salvio to the wings and also throwing in Acuna for width into the mix. The shape was working so far because of the ball winning ability of the guys in the middle who were basically central defenders and because Correa understood this shape naturally due to his time with El Cholo. Addition of the pace guys resulted in the team not being able to hunt the ball anymore and in the last 15 minutes Argentina barely possessed the ball at all.
The continued pressure in this last period tired out the defenders. At the end Otamendi who had been having an excellent game so far lost his concentration – a tired body is a tired mind – overattacked his zone on a corner, and allowed his mark a clean header.
Scaloni because of his inexperience kept overcooking his meal. Tite with his experience did not overplay his cards and only threw in the only ingredient his team was needing – fresh width in Richarlison. A lesson to learn for the rookie coach because he was only moments away from what would have been a very well deserved draw.
I liked our performance. I do not understand why some are saying Scaloni is tactically incompetent. If you think you are going to attack and outplay this Brazil side with this Argentina side, you are tactically poor.
Scaloni did the right thing. Ball possession means nothing in this match. Yes, Brazil could have scored earlier, but then we could have done so many things in so many games too. We would be champion of everything.
Players:
I think we have solved the full back issues for some time. Tagliafico has been good. He is almost the senior member. Plus he is in Ajax, one of the best school of football. Saravia played a great match. He will play some poor matches too, like Tagliafico against France. We need to give this guy some games. Can you imagine the box office he got. He will be known to scouts as the one who bottled Neymar.
When Romero plays, we draw the defensive line too close to the goal, which drags the midfield down. This creates gap between mid and attack. Romero is so poor in owning the box. He is an old school standing on the goal line GK. Which basically means our center backs are always in the penalty box, making tackles etc. We need to find a replacement that will push the defensive line up. Then only you can see some vertical movement.
I like Paredes’s vertical passes. Dybala does not know his role. Icardi needs to play more with these players. There was a moment when he ran to first post only for Acuna to cross in middle/second post. These are understanding. I remember Hernan Crespo saying during his Chelsea days – “I need to know whether Joe Cole likes to pass in one touch or 2 touches, else I will get offside”. Need more playing time and goals will come.
1. Continuity is very important
2. We need more competent teams like Brazil, Colombia etc. to tune things..
3. Midfield focus to continue..
4. For some time…lets not talk about Gallardo, Poch, Simeone or anyone..
Now we need continuity with this squad
We can’t afford another change
Afa needs to trust scaloni and Samuel
A lot of things I’m happy about it
Attacking side we didn’t do much
Understandably since we didn’t retain the ball.games like this you learn different thing’s I have seen other side of few players like pezzela taglafiaco saravia
Especially the two full backs it was
Absolutely joy the way the defend
One one situations I think both
Are 25 . arg re getting few good
Full backs now is those positions arg
So lacked long time but now future
Looks brighter I’m happy macerdo
Wasn’t there otherwise we may not
Find sara.
I see it a lot haters were bashing parades
We all know how good passer he is
But in that match i saw other side of
Paredes which pleased me .. the way
Him and batagllia fought with
Brazil midfielders was fantastic
for me parades and batagllia come on top .
You all remember when sampoali and Batista beat Brazil we all get excited
re we but we all know what happened.
our fullbacks certainly performed great. Saravia impressed me the most and i couldn’t be happier to have Tagliafico.
> With Armani we have a quality keeper. Romero I love you, but crosses is your one critical flaw.
> Pezzela and Otamendi (for now) is as solid a CB pair as we can expect. People want to blame Ota for the goal, but he was pushed out of the way, beyond that he had an MVP performance.
> We now have two solid fullbacks, Taglafico is a steady player and Saravia did almost everything right, he contained Neymar, he moved forward with confidence. We may have a defense!
> Paredes (and Lautaro) is the most talented player we have from our youth. He defends very well, his passing is penetrating, his crosses are the best in the team, he has character and leadership and he is a scoring threat from distance. We have been missing a player like this since Veron retired. For me, Paredes is an undisputed starter.
> Battaglia did his job. Between him and Ascacibar we have decent #5s, not world class, but more than decent.
> LoCelso looked off today, I like the kid, but this system didnt suit him.. he faded a little. He is our best #10, but he needs to improve. If Messi comes back, I would sub him for LoCelso.
> Perreira, Salvio, Dybala, etc where all lackluster today. Angel Correa had grit and hustle (Simeone!) but non are definitive. Personally, Dybala in midfield is a waste. The kid needs to be played as a forward or not at all.
> Icardi.. cant fault him.. same way I cant fault Kun, or Higuain, or Prato, etc. They got very very very little quality service. Icardi received two balls to his feet all game, one he passed on to Locelso (good team player, but he needs to be greedy as the #9) and the other he did everything right. But..
> Lautaro, for me after Paredes is our most promising young player. He helps defend in midfield, he is skillfull dribbling forward, gave Icardi the best pass of the whole game and he is a monster finishing. For me he should always start, especially if Icardi is playing, as team mates at Inter they will grow to understand each other.
I am happy. Scaloni did well considering this is a fresh and young team vs a mature and talented Brasil team. Had Messi been here, maybe a fit Pitty, etc we would have been just as deadly as Brasil.
VAMOS ARGENTINA! Lets eat some mexican tacos with two wins!
Scaloni should be given a chance, besides nobody else is available, we are not getting Pochettino or Simeone any time soon.
This is what Veron said about Scaloni after the game: “”If we see an improvement and good work, I do not see why we can not continue [with Scaloni]…As per Olé: “Without firm names to take the reins of the National Team, the Brujita sees Scaloni with possibilities”. So Veron is favour of Scaloni continuing for now at least.
He must stay
honestly, I am happy. You have to remember this is a weak, young and inexperienced Argentina against Brazil at their strongest. Within a couple of international breaks, we should become a true team and a force to be reckoned with. By the time Copa America runs around, we should be ready.
Overall happy with the performance…Argentina needs to improve in creative midfield and speed in the wing.
Maybe we could have used Cervi..but looks like Pity Gonzalez, Palacios and speed of Pavon was missed..
If we analyse post world cup matches our defense become strong but offensively became weeker, moreover scaloni is not a tactician not enough for the coaching job at senior label, Argentina NT isn’t a cup of tea happy with the team selection and giving youngsters opportunity but we need permanent coach
Yes, that too in friendly, just imagine how Brazil, Colombia or Chile or Uruguay put on a performance in a competitive match. I still think our midfield is hopeless, we need a better holding midfielder, someone in the likes of Busquets, who can hold as well break the lines.
We don’t have a Busquets unfortunately. We don’t have an Arthur like Brazil, we don’t have a Kroos like Germany, or a Thiago like Spain.
What we do have, is a #5 to fear in Paredes, worthy replacement for Mascherano. We also have a strong midfield duo in Franco Vasquez and Ever Banega. With those two producing magic with Sevilla, they could do the same for Argentina.
We don’t have Neymar, we’ve got someone even better! We have Messi!
We don’t have Firminho or Gabriel Jesus, we have someone better than both of them. We have Aguero!
We don’t have an Allison. But we have his equal! Romero!
We don’t have Fabinho or Marquinhos, we have Otamendi and Pezzella!
We have the players, but we need an attack minded coach! A coach with the balls to attack, maintain possession, attack with 5 and defend with 5! To play like Argentina, not become something we are not!
Thank you Scaloni for revealing us what some of these guys are made of, but he should no longer be in charge come 2019!
Attacking is never our problem, our problem is always defense and midfield. Argentina will keep on producing quality forwards but trust me, we don’t have a solid back line. The kind of talent coming out of brazil in all positions, it is insane to think. What we need is pure midfield talents like Riquelme and Veron and a CB back line with monstrous defensive skills. Otamendi is amazing but his performance always fluctuates but Pezzella played a near perfect game with amazing long balls. I am still not sure we still have good starting full backs.
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