Alexis Mac Allister, Guido Rodríguez to start for Argentina

By
Roy Nemer
-
46

Alexis Mac Allister and Guido Rodríguez are both expected to start for Argentina vs. Jamaica on Tuesday.

Argentina national team coach is set to make several changes from the team which start the 3-0 win vs. Honduras. With Dibu Martínez, Cuti Romero and Ángel Di María set to start, according to TyC Sports, Scaloni is set to make more changes.

Leandro Paredes will start the game on the bench as Guido Rodríguez will be in the eleven. Rodrigo De Paul will also start on the bench in place of Alexis Mac Allister for Argentina. This would be the eleven:

Dibu Martínez; Tagliafico, Otamendi or Lisandro Martínez, Cuti Romero, Molina; Guido Rodríguez, Mac Allister, Lo Celso; Messi, Lautaro and Di María.

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46 Comments

  1. (Repost, I accidentally posted this down there.)

    This is what I am afraid of. I am celebrating if he did not play, that is not a secret as we always played better without him on the pitch. I just did my stats:

    Argentina scored 5 goals with him on the pitch in 272 minutes

    Argentina scored 10 goals without him in 162 minutes

    So Argentina scored 1 goal in 54.4 minutes with MacAllister.

    Argentina scored 1 goal in 16.2 minutes without MacAllister.

    (All matches from Venezuela match (Venezuela, Ecuador, Italy, Estonia, Honduras) the first match where Scaloni introroduced MacAllister)

    I challenge everyone to verify this number.

    There is a reason why I dislike him. Numbers don’t lie. In my eyes, Argentina always look more fluid and better without him.

    But the reason I don’t like him is he played.. and quite often too. It is scary to me because that’s like Meza factor.

    If Meza never played in 2018, I would have been totally fine with him but he played a lot at the expense of the likes of Aguero, Di Maria, or Higuain who was not done yet for sure 4 years ago.

    Guido and MacAllister against Jamaica is too defensive minded to me knowing Lo Celso is not that much of a creator unlike De Paul. Especially Montiel and Tagliafico, 2 defensive minded full back likely will start too so our attack would be weakened for sure. But let’s see what’s the line up gonna be.

    • To make it more specific:
      1. Vs. Venezuela (3-0)
      He played 70 minutes. Argentina scored 1
      He was sub in 70th minutes. Argentina scored 2

      2. Vs. Ecuador (1-1)
      He played 59 minutes. Argentina scored 1

      3. Vs Italy (3-0)
      He did not play. Argentina scored 3

      4. Vs. Estonia (5-0)
      He played 66 minutes. Argentina scored 3
      He was subs in 66th minutes. Argentina scored 2

      5. Vs Honduras (3-0)
      He played the last 18 minutes Argentina scored 0
      He didn’t play in 72 minutes. Argentina scored 3

      The best way to utilize MacAllister in the World Cup is if we need to hold the lead with 5 minutes to go. That’s all. Other than that; he is a liability.

      • What kind of logic is this? Do you know Spurs do statistically much better wo Romero than with him in the starting 11? More goals, less goal against, more points. So whats your conclusion? Romero is the problem?

      • To be correct Macallister played 298 minutes in NT while we scored 8, in these matches in 242 minutes 7 goals wo him, zero difference and still laughable small sample size.

    • Principe, I do not know why people defend this player like he has done ANYTHING on the pitch for Argentina to make a difference. In Argentina, they defend this guy because he was a Boca Juniors player. Honestly, I could care less who he played for. I saw him just a few days ago in Miami play against Honduras when he was subbing DePaul. What I noticed is how ridiculously slow and out of rhythm he is with other players. Like I said, maybe we can be proven wrong, but I have never seen anything other than a few set pieces from this guy that makes you think he has magic in his foot.
      I feel the same way about Tucu Correa. Honestly, Alario is possibly a better choice than Correa. You really need a good back up for Lautaro but Correa doesn’t do it for me.
      If MacAllister is asked to do anything in this WC for us, we are in trouble. He is not even being used in the NT as an attacking player. He is our third “5”. Thats how highly Scaloni thinks of him. He was supposed to be an attacking player and now he is a “5”. And based on what I saw of how Almada played, I’d say MacAllister is behind both Almada and Enzo. And God forbid if there is an injury, there are probably even better choices than MacAllister. I don’t know what happened to Zaracho, but maybe even go in a different direction like a youngster.

  2. Before starting WC Scaloni need to ensure in some points. Foam of Molina and Taglifico . If they are in the previous foam no need to worry.it is possible to play Against any tough opponts.And secondly Foam of Locelso also key for progress of scalonis team.Next one is he should give more playing time for Guido.Bcz team need equal players in bench with full fitness.Next imp.one Scaloni need to find an equal no.9 backup for lautaro I think.Another one coach should kept Dmaria injury free and keep his fitness level high And finally never depend Licha in CB position against top Teams ,particularly in WC.

      • CB position is one of the very very imp position of a team. And Otamendi ‘ s experience and his talent in Ariel play is absolutely necessary. And Licha so inexperienced player to do in a very imp. position. That’s y I said using or depending him is not a good idea.

  3. I think scaloni will try to give chance to both Enzo and macallister. 1st half for macallister and 2nd half for Enzo. That would be nice. Yeah this move is clearly to know the attacking instinct of macallister. Enzo in for lo celso position in the 2nd half as scaloni already mentioned that Enzo is a complete midfielder. If macallister fails then we might see de Paul and Enzo playing together.

  4. I see some of us are worried who will face the rout of the final tbh I don’t care if we want win world Cup basically we have to beat whoever we face in our way weather it’s Denmark, the Netherlands, Brazil . I think France will beat Denmark and probably will come top in thier group cus they themselves don’t want face rejuvenated Argentina nt and no one relishes to face Argentina right now. As for me I will enjoy as each game comes and I know albicelestes will do very well in this upcoming world Cup God willing

    • Great point csabalala, as you probably know I was one of the Otamendi’s critics before copa success but I must admit he is beast mode with good experience behind him now in my opinion otamendi will be undisputed starter a long side cuti Romero this man is the best when it come aerial due which we will need in world Cup both ends of the field, I love licha and think is better defender than otamendi in minute but I don’t see him starting world Cup ahead of the general that is me been realistic Plus otamendi had relatively good career of epl too

    • As for the selection, From defenders point of view it is clear that there is a huge difference as it is almost 100% sure that otamendi couldn’t play in the PL level currently as licha does. And we are sure that licha is better than otamendi even plays for the NT. But when analysing the creativity and control of two midfielders there won’t be much difference regarding the level of league they play for the selection of NT. Thiago almada as an eg. As we all know a technical midfielder won’t survive that much in the PL. But would be very useful for the NT. We all know in this category Enzo is far better than macallister. Except city all PL team needs physical defensive minded midfielders with pace and for counter. Even Erikson has to adjust his position even though he produces great balls.

      • > it is almost 100% sure that otamendi couldn’t play in the PL level currently as licha does. And we are sure that licha is better than otamendi even plays for the NT.

        League doesn’t matter, especially when were there’s only 2 months remaining. Godin is right…Ota is in beast mode right now and overall, he’s been an excellent servant of the NT. Despite the moronic emotional outbursts, he’s still a leader in the backline so we can’t ignore his form and quality. Unless he starts underperforming, Ota will start with Licha as a sub.

  6. Hopefully, the youngster will get another chance, Enzo, Thiago Almada, and Julian Alvarez. It’s so lively and strikes attack with the youths in front, their passion and energy should be highly appreciated and it brings fresh excitement and surprise to the opponents. So far, Mac Allister is just average with no huge contribution to the team. Except maybe, for a PK shootout.

  7. If Enzo had scored that goal from outside the box & Messi scored that acrobatic attempt, he would be a starter next game and expected to WC.

    I don’t like the “Enzo is future” talk as it kind of feels like he will be in the squad in the future after this world cup.

    We’ll have to start an online petition for Enzo’s inclusion if that’s the case.

  8. Scaloni is walking the same dreadful path of previous Argentina coaches and loosing world cups by playing ‘average’ players when you have bright talents and skills waiting in the wings.

    Alex Macalister is one such and hope everyone agrees that he is clearly not a NT player. But why always choose him when you have talent’s such as Enzo F. and T. Almada at your disposal.

    J. Correa is another such. No need to write as I’m might be echoing the same words of other bloggers here.

    I just pray that Alex Macalister and J. Correa are not selected for the final squad of 26. But I know scaloni is clearly going to take them both.

    Scaloni seems to mince words such as oh but the future is Enzo’s and Almada’s but we never know what happens next in anybody’s life. This world cup is thier golden chance just like many youth players who take the world by storm during any given world cup.

    I think we missed many opportunities to try different combinations in defence, midfield etc. which is not at all a pleasant idea given we will face giants in every game. A suspension, injury could demolish the team structure if there aren’t any replacements and combinations worked out.

    Btw I loved the purple away jersey even though I was very skeptical initially.

    • Long time no see mate…

      It’s always tricky to balance building chemistry and hence play the same players or try a few new ideas and reserve players to prepare a plan B. Finding that sweet spot is not easy…

      I also like the new away jersey and like you was initially skeptical, interesting colour, seems to be between violet and indigo blue, kind of grape colour.

    • Absolutely – If you are anyways not using your best 11 to start off, then I would have rather used Enzo over Alex. I won’t be too rushed to criticise Scaloni though. He has put together a working successful team.

    • we don’t have world beater midfielder like KDB or B.silva etc . We have average midfielders but scolani made them great when they play together(average coz they aren’t starter at their own club). I am not Macalister fan but want to trust scolani on that but i like both palacios and enzo. But enzo has little experience against big teams whereas Macalister has proven he can play against quality opponent. We watched almada and enzo against a team whose all long ball went outside the field. that is not a ideal test to select a player for WC. I’m not saying he is bad player , no he is a good player but he need more playing time on his leg to be selected. As for j.correa i think scolani gonna drop him as we have dybala.

        • They moved on to get more minutes, do i have to point ever detail?
          Lo celso lost his position in tottenham so he went to villareal, paredes rearly started for psg and face more competition so he quickly went for Juve, and we all curse simeone because of RDP. But i love all three of them specially lo celso because of his vision and through balls . and i also like RDP for his work rate and don’t like paredes for his temper which may cost us. Scolani did magic to get the best out of them.

  10. Let’s see what the great MacAllister does. I always want many options but this guy in my mind is not a NT level player, and never will be again with the crop of young midfielders coming up. I hope he proves me wrong.

  11. Is Tagliafico the preferred LB now or Acuna still not fit? I like that Guido will get a start, he’s a solid DM with underrated passing. Di Maria will likely wreak havoc again drifting in from the right.

    Mac Allister is neither fish nor fowl to me, he does not ooze class or dazzle but more importantly does not seem to be a difference maker in the NT colours just yet.

    • I think Scaloni likes to switch to a 3- men defense especially for weaker teams during attack. That’s why, either Teglafico or Foyth is very important- so does Molina who can move upfront to right wide position.

    • This is what I am afraid of. I am celebrating if he did not play, that is not a secret as we always played better without him on the pitch. I just did my stats:

      Argentina scored 5 goals with him on the pitch in 272 minutes

      Argentina scored 10 goals without him in 162 minutes

      (All matches from Venezuela match (Venezuela, Ecuador, Italy, Estonia, Honduras) the first match where Scaloni introroduced MacAllister)

      But the reason I don’t like him is he played.. and quite often too. It is scary to me because that’s like Meza factor.

      If Meza never played in 2018, I would have been totally fine with him but he played a lot at the expense of the likes of Aguero, Di Maria, or Higuain who was not done yet for sure 4 years ago.

      Guido and MacAllister against Jamaica is too defensive minded to me knowing Lo Celso is not that much of a creator unlike De Paul. Especially Montiel and Tagliafico, 2 defensive minded full back likely will start too so our attack would be weakened for sure. But let’s see what’s the line up gonna be.

  13. I am interested to see if Scaloni give chances to J Correa in this match. If J Correa is overlooked against Jamaica then I consider it a good sign i. e., experimentation of J Correa is over and Scaloni has decided to drop him.

    I hope the same logic works with McAllister. Scaloni has a reputation of giving a lot of chances to players before finally dropping them if the player fails to cut the edge.

    Just a random thought- maybe I am wrong.

    • Mac Allister does not deserve to be in this team. Dont we have a decent midfielder from the local league? I donno what scaloni sees in Armani or Mac Allister. Need to give these spots to young and talented bloods. Armani, Mac Allister, J Correa and A correa need to be dropped from NT ASAP and Scaloni needs to scout for a young and talented goalie. Scaloni please give a chance to Ganarcho instead of A and J Correa

      • Angel Correa should be dropped?? Watch some football. Garnacho is a youth player not even getting minutes for Manchester United senior team. If he played this season for manu regularly and impressed then mayb there was a chance

  14. Scaloni wants to see how McAllister does in DePaul’s shoes? I hope it’s a test to see the versatility of McAllister. If anyone can replace DePaul it’s Enzo and to some extent Palacios. Papu also had replaced DePaul in the past, but I don’t consider Papu as DePaul’s replacement.

  15. McAllister starting but Enzo is in bench so its clear that scaloni sees McAllister as untouchable and he is safe for qatar. And most probably its Palacios vs Enzo for 1 spot. And most probably if Palacios is fit scaloni will snub Enzo. Its dissapointing but it is what it is.

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