Argentina starting XI, Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez and Papu Gómez start

By
Roy Nemer
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263

Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez and Papu Gómez all start for Argentina vs. Australia in their Round of 16 match.

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni has announced his starting eleven and it’s Papu Gómez who starts in place of Angel Di Maria. Scaloni has not made any more changes to the team which won 2-0 vs. Poland. Here is the starting eleven:

Emiliano Martínez; Molina, Cristian Romero, Otamendi, Acuña; De Paul, Enzo Fernández, Mac Allister; Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez and Papu Gómez

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263 Comments

  1. Good game. We controlled the game. But after conceding we suddenly panicked. Lautaro missed some sitters. I knew with papu we will struggle. Scaloni wasting dybala and correa. Otamendi was horrible his age showed and we r playing in 2 days so fatigue showed. McAllister making our midfield unbalanced. It should be enzo paredes and depaul. Lisandro is a beast and should start every game. Molina and tagliafico is our weak link. Time for foyth to shine. 1st goal was otakendi/romero( i am not sure who that guy was) fault his clearance was bad lisandro saved our asses when otamendi was destroyed by that Aussie player and tagliafico should have done better in that chance which was saved by emi. Our defense looked nervous.

  2. To sum up the match
    First half was pretty decent, as usual we were trying to not concede and make the game in our desired way, but Molina could have tried to go with the ball when he has space,he was totally scared to move forward and make a good cross or cut in to the box .always trying for back pass after going forward other than that Aussies didn’t have much space to operate through the central area.
    Second half..
    Game opened up a bit.and after the substitution of lisandro, we were able to attack constantly and pressed higher up the pitch.
    I can see lautaro was brought on to give him game time and boost his confidence since we don’t have any other players left to substitute in to perfect striker position, if Alvarez can’t start.
    But the goal from Australia definitely changed the tempo of the match and we were unable to bring in dybala. But scaloni could have tried dybala in place of PAPU from the Start papu wasn’t able to utilize the either flanks.
    Defense:
    Our defense was one pretty well except that tagli concentration on the end and Martinez saved us. But it was better we were tested with the crosses and attacks in this match, since from match 1 our defense wasn’t tested this much continuously in any game.
    Lisandro and otamendi and to an extent Romero also done their job cleanly . Palacios haven’t offered anything in his short comeo same with montiel.

  3. If we had enough rest we would have done better. Lots of players looked tired. We need rest. Messi still played great. I dont know what happened to Lautaro. Messi could have had 2 assists today.

  4. Lautaro and tagliafico almost cost at least 30 mn of extra time
    I liked tagliafico before france in 2018 and he still defending bad the young guy almost scored hopefully debu saved it but he should stop run here and there acuna who is not an LB bring more confidence
    Lautaro wtf man he used to be a killer and as you said he did a higuain final

  5. Not here to criticize any strategy or the substitutions, but if we start panicking every time there is a goal conceded by Argentina, that will be our doom. We controlled almost the entire match, we took a lead of 2-0, and yet one goal from Australia and the finishing upfront was absolutely in shambles. Leo kept creating chances after chances, and we just fumbled. Am not sure these many chances would be allowed by the Dutch team in the next game. We should have finished the game 4-1.

  6. Lucky goals are part of football. Australia got one. A good team should show their real character after such goals. We did not show a great character. Changes did not work. Lautaro missed three easy chances. Messi missed two. Lautaro stopped pressing upfront unlike Alvarez. That sent jitters downstream into our half. If Di Maria is not back in the next game, we should have a creative fast player like Dybala or Correa instead of Papu. Papu’s cluelessness almost cost us the first half. Every game you cannot expect Messi to come to your rescue. Specifically Messi remains tensed in games against big teams. We still remember the chance he missed in the Copa final. Next game if Alvarez has to be replaced, he should be replaced by someone as fast and as interested to press the opponent. The second goal was an ideal example of what pressing football can do. Hats off to De Paul and Alvarez pulling off that heist. And Scaloni still needs to learn a lot beyond being dependent on Messi to come up with a magical moment. His strategies seem to be so banal. A knockout stage game is not ideal to bring back a player’s confidence when the margin is just 2-0. Instead you check out on some creative player like Dybala/ Correa who could have resumed the pressure on Australian defence that Papu missed in the first half.

  7. I really don’t understand the criticism for the players or the coach here.. After the goal was conceded (that too a lucky one), there were close to 15-20 minutes remaining; there are 2 ways to go.. either go for a goal and in process maybe concede one more.. or defend the hell out of your lives.. the coach and the players went with latter.. ugly or not doesn’t matter the match is won…it was a very physical game and kudos to our players who just got 2 days rest to bring up that performance and defend like their lives are on stake in crucial minutes.. not many teams are able to do that… so I feel just enjoy while we can…

    • Once that lucky goal went in it was expected that Australia would push forward leaving their defense vulnerable. We were able to create chances only for Lautaro to pull a Higuain and almost knock us out! I am not sure if Lautaro with this form and confidence should be subbed in if we need a goal again!

        • Higuain only missed his chances in final.. other than that he was a clinical finisher, good with pressing ,passing , link up play,holding the ball and even in headers. Would happily take prime higuain anytime in our squad. And also we could have used a player like him as target man. Now we don’t have any target man in the box.

      • It pains me to see him in out of form because he’s very good scorer but this is cup and not a league so don’t have time to wait for him to get back his form. We might have to turn to Correa.

  10. It is not possible for Scaloni to drop Dybala if Messi put a stress on him. But truth is, Messi is not supporting Dybala. Talent of Dybala for National team is being wasted. Argentina people should create a noise. I am a big fan (may be top fan) from Pakistan and I have been in love with Argentina since 1994 when I was kid.

  13. Between the brilliance of Messi , it was a tale of the three Martinezes
    – Licha became Masche2014
    – Lautaro shocked us by being Higuain14-16
    – Emi put on a Neuer14 act.

    With Argentina, drama is guaranteed. It was a great test on team’s grit & mentality in last 15minutes.

    • one problem I see is Australia employed the same tactics as done by KSA. in the first half we had only one shot at goal and that was a goal. in the second half, we were better till the last 4 substitutions happened. then it was mental torture for fans. another problem with lautaro apart from missing the chances was he was losing possession which was creating dangerous scenarios against us. just want to know which teams now remaining can be as physical and pressed as Australia have done.

  14. People are mocking lautaro as he is from the same club as Lukaku. we used to have Kun Tevez and Higuain now Lautaro is not at that level. scaloni substitution today was bad even though licha did well in the change in formation was unnecessary. And Molina one day he is good the next day he is the worst player on the field he was totally at fault for the first goal. And the nervous Otamendi was back for this game .

  15. Other thn the unlucky goal we played well in 2nd half. De paul is a machine, the guy was everywhere on the pitch! Lautaro needs to take a break, he lost his place to alvarez. When di maria comes back in QF we will improve alot. He’s our second best player after messi, who can create something out of nowhere. Papu was not good at all. Correa/dybala was a better choice

  16. Enzo is good but not a controller as number 5. He is much better when can run with the ball. We need Paredes back.

    Lautaro is out of form. Almost costed us the win.

    Aussies are physically stronger, taller. It showed. It is what it is.

    Lack of width is really a big problem for us. No burst of pace. Not taking Garnacho is a mistake.

    • In hindsight not taking Garnacho was a huge mistake especially after Nico didn’t make it! We are lacking that speed and fearless young blood factor. Alvarez is certainly providing some of that but Garnacho would have been very very useful. We don’t have pacy wingers and we don’t cross into the box for headers only ground passes. Netherlands will capitalize on these two weaknesses. Scaloni trying to avoid counters by playing limited/safe crosses is the reason we look so unable to penetrate from wings. Only fast player we have is Macallister and Enzo who didn’t put a foot wrong again but both are CMs.

    • Enzo should play in LoCelso’s position and parades back in #5.

      McAllister’s work rate is only second best to Emi Martinez

      DePaul– Parades/Guaido—Enzo

      This is the midfield

    • Wow. On current form, Enzo is better that Paredes even as a 5. Introducing Paredes would help us use Enzo in an advanced role but dont be mistaken, the kid is a beast in many roles. Watch the Poland game.

  17. Why is anyone negative? First Australia was a good side. Second, they got a bullshit lucky goal. It happens sometimes so calm down. Third, we were playing after 2 days rest and so where they, so don’t expect the best output from either team. Fourth, we basically tried to shorten the game because no action for 30 minutes. Five, ADM was not playing and Pupu is no ADM. I would be concerned about Lautaro’s form, but at this moment it’s not that critical because Julian and ADM with Mac Enzo and DePaul fit fine together. We will be better prepared for Netherlands after a week of rest so everyone calm down. One other observation, it seems we play better against strong teams. But they knew they would win this game easily so there wasn’t as much urgency

  18. It’s very difficult to understand why scaloni afraid to bring dybala in place of out of form lautaro Martinez. If it’s dybala he could have scored atleast 2 goal. IF Argentina lost lautaro Martinez and Scaloni should be personally liable…
    Taglafico neither defend nor attack
    Lisandro Martinez best defender of the world
    Julian Alvarez excellent
    Messi man of the match…

  19. I get that Lautaro was brought in to score a goal and get some confidence. But he didn’t score and still doesn’t have any confidence. I don’t know if it’s going to be good to bring him into games anymore. Unless we are leading by 3.

    I’m hoping that the starting 11 is a little different next game. Someone other than Papu. If Di Maria is healthy have him come back in for the first half. I’m not sure who should sub for Julian Alvarez, but it shouldn’t be Lautaro. Not when we only have 3 more potential games

  20. Bad takes from today’s game:

    1. You need Messi magic and gift from opponent to score goals
    2. You are such a pussy that you go all defense against Australia and you did not wait until 2-0 up.
    3. You let Australia get back into the game after taking the lead(remember Martinez-Otamendi blunder) just like you did against Colombia in the semi and they brutally punished us just like Aussies were about to today
    4. Toro did not even care to take the first touch to ensure the goal. Another pussy
    5. I get it. They made it very difficult for us. But still you are Argentina and in first half literally 0 midfield.
    6. With all these happening you don’t bring in Dybala, Correa.

  22. This late goal from Australia showed how panicked we are if we concede. Saudi match and this match showing we need to improve on this. Trust me if we concede early we are done and dusted.

  23. Why did Scaloni replace Molina and Acuna who were playing well time and time again?Why is there no Dybala in place of Papu Gomez? Why is the whole team brought into defensive shape when 1-2 goals are lead. Why is Alvarez brought?why still not dybala???imagine if Australia equalised then Argentina surely panicked.every time scaloni kill the momentum.another thing i Don’t like that is why the whole team just passing their time in the midfield area or their own D box area and doing unnecessary tiki taka.scaloni surely lost his head.is dybala going there for picnic.

    • That is basic futbal. Both fullback were tired and Acuna was on yellow. Once you are up by 2 you defend deep and attack on counters and score like Holland. We did the same thing but the unlucky goal from deflection changed everything and Lautaro kept on missing chances after chances and we couldn’t bury the match like we would have liked to !!

  24. Molina wing was leaking. he was too nervous. those Aussies were just trying to play in that wing. Lautaro is dealing with some metal issues. I guess Saudi match did a number on him. I don’t know whether we have time for him to recover.

  25. Watched Germany vs Algeria 2014? It’s one hell of a match and Germans were almost eliminated. The knockout is very, very different from the group stages. But the the problem is so many fans who only watched a handful of WC matches are writing here whatever comes to their minds.

  26. Wow all these MFs here to bash Scaloni like he ran away with their moms. Lautaro is very low on confidence now.. you are leading.. who would you bring? Definitely Lautaro to try and get him to score goals. Dybala was about to be subbed in.. he was warming up.. but after we conceeded I think there was a change of plan.. now lets f***ing calm down !!

  27. *Rating*

    Emi – 9/10

    Molina – 6/10
    Romero – 7.5/10
    Otamendi – 5.5/10
    Acuna – 7/10

    Enzo – 6/10
    RDP – 8/10
    Mac – 6/10

    Papu – 6.5/10
    Alavarez – 8/10
    Messi – 10/10

    *Subs*

    Lisendro – 8/10
    Tagliafico – 4/10
    Lautaro – 1/10
    Montial – 6/10
    Palacio – 3/10

    Some of our guys played very well and some are really poor.

  29. I don’t understand why we go defensive when we are winning 2 goals..man that will give chance for opposition to score. We invited pressure by defensive approach after 2 goals. Also, more defensive when we are 2-1. Don’t be too defensive Mr.Scaloni. If it was going to extra time, we would have ended up with defensive tactics and miss firing Lautaro..!

  30. Haters you can be critical as much as you want and I don’t give f….k Argentina are quarterfinal that is what matters in knock out tournament

  32. And wait till this retard Scaloni talk like a wise piece of shit in the press conference. I am shocked at how the Argentine media are actually not putting any pressure on this shit. Scaloni even as a player had mental issues remember from La Caruna days. Van Gaal will eat this retard like a piece of cake and fart on our faces.

  33. Hopefully Dimaria will be back otherwise I can’t watch one sec of Papu Gomez!! Also Australia is not a pushover team. They defeated both Denmark and Tunisia and scored first against France .That 4-1 score line doesn’t do justice to how well they played against the reigning champions. We are lacking speed upfront and Tagliafico can’t hit a barn door when attacking. Also what a save from Emi in the dying mins. Lautaro’s misses almost sent the match to the extra time. I would rather see Dybala or Correa than out of form striker. Our defense panicked because of the misses from our forwards.

  34. We almost paid a big price because of so much misses by Lautaro Martinez. He missed three excellent chances and was never pressing the goalkeeper like Julian. Still Scaloni would trust him rather than Dybala or Correa. What Scaloni is doing is going to impact the team spirit big time? You cannot keep your deserving players on the bench and go on fielding out of form ones. Lautaro has simply lost the plot for last several matches. Any other young player would have at least played a pressing game to make up for the misses. He didn’t even do that and that sent lot of pressure back to the defence. He was horribly wrong in his approach to the game. As long as Alvarez was there Argentina looked like in full control. The moment Lautaro came in there is significant drop in their resistance. Even Palacios was disappointing. But Messi played a wonderful game. He could have easily ended with 1 goal and 3 assists. Such a disappointing and nerve-wrecking last 15 mins.

  35. De Paul can fuck off and Lautaro needs to do some cardio.

    Arguably our worst game since KSA nightmare. Our young boys Mac, Enzo, and Julian are doing good

    HOW IS SCALONI SO HESITANT TO START DYBALA? WE HAVE TO KNOW WHY IS NO ONE ASKING DURING PRESS CONFERENCE?! The poor guy was fooled when he got asked to warm up

  37. Simeone could have score 4/5 times what L. Toro missed so far.
    Even Garnacho wouldn’t miss those sitters…
    What happens to you Martinez?
    I scared who will take our penalties in shout out…

  40. Not satisfied at all…still I don’t know how Lautaro miss those easy chances….
    How they scored? How we became under pressure at the last moment. Emi saved us. What happened to our organised defense?

    • Because defense never begins in the last quarter. Defense begins right upfront. When Messi and Alvarez were pressing upfront Australians were looking like UAE. The moment Lautaro came in the entire pressing football went for a toss. Scaloni should have asked Lautaro to come a bit down and Palacios a bit up pressing. He did not send any such instruction for sure. We almost lost a well deserved victory. Horrible strategy by Scaloni and extremely disappointing game from Lautaro. If he no longer feels part of the team having been removed from the starting line up, he deserves a hard spank on his back, ‘Go back and become the next Icardi. Wasted talent.’

  41. The midfield were great. take a bow Enzo. Scaloni u can go and eat shit u son of a *****.
    Even a child can see it. take papi out and bring Dybala in.
    And Acuna was tiring.
    Argentine coaches have lost all the cups in the last 3 decades and this Scaloni mifo should rot and die. Such a piece of incompetent retard.

  42. Scoloni is the fucking bullshit coach nothing else..2 martinez save two goal…
    Oh lautrao how can miss it….
    When you have Dybala, correa..why u start papu?
    Answer me scoloni..bullshit

  43. Scaloni to be blame. I agree with everyone who is upset with Scaloni. What’s the reason for starting a 35 year old Gomez, when you have Correa, who is younger, more skilled, better scorer and more hard working on the bench. Qatar is hot and humid. Molina needs to believe in himself some more.

  44. Messis reaction after that lautaro miss …
    Not a good performance overall .
    Messi rescue again.
    Happy for alvarez and de paul.
    Martinez missed his chance in the starting 11 hopefully

  45. Despite some shaky moments throughout the game, Otamendi came up big in the final minutes of the game. Also who would’ve thought El Toro might not score this whole World Cup?

  46. Like Lukaku from Inter Lautaro almost singlehandedly knocked us out! He is not only out of form now his confidence is the lowest. He missed like 3 easy chances.

  48. This wont be enough against the Netherlands. We have to step up. Hope Di maria gets fit by then we have 6 days break.

    No wonder Dybala is not experimented becoz there are no minutes for experimenting there.Saying that Dybala wouldnt have been bad as Lautaro who looks a skeleton of himself.

  49. Scaloni’s in-game tactics is horrible. It was apparent in Saudi Arabia and Mexico matches. He chickens out under pressure. There’s no explanation for his tactics after Argentina took 2 goals lead.

  52. Lionel Scaloni always destroys the rhythm of the game. Dybala should have replaced Papu Gomez.If Australia had come back in this game, Argentina would have lost this game.

  53. Lisandaro is the smallest man on the pitch yet he heads over 6foot ausis thats passion for the game, enzo fernandaz passing in after that home goal was god like, means the youngster is not worried about the momment he played his best game after that home goal which is champions charecter
    Take rest de paul u r the engine
    And go home lautaro

  55. I hope Lautaro Martinez never play for Argentina again in this word cup. He is the worst player in the pitch and it’s not even close. Dybala deserves more minutes than him.

    • Come on man that’s cruel to say. The kid lacked confidence you can Messi was trying everything to assist him. He needs support not those harsh criticism

  59. Scaloni is a f..king idiot! Today’s substitution were utterly blunder.!
    Tagliafico playing left winger😅 role. How far this team will go with Messi magic alone!!

  61. Is there any gay relationship between Fucaloni and Lautrao?> whyyyyy he is sending that good for nothing Lautaro over and over again?!!! He should have scored that 88th minutes chance!!! what a mofo

    • Yes. But the reason for going back to 3 men defense is, when the opposition press your defender with 3 men, you get an extra defender at the back to play ball out of the defense.

  85. What is scaloni thinking? Trying to defend one goal lead agaist australia by bringing on another defender LOOL. Argentine coaches and their weird substitutions

  91. Argentina again struggling to get the ball out of the midfield area and Messi dropping deep to get the ball. This is what happens when you have a midfielder who likes to play as a second striker, even higher up in the opposition half than Messi. Papu has been playing good but this match was better suited for parades.

    I would have put parades for McAllister. Mac had a good forward pass to Otamendi leading to Messi’s goal and another long pass from the deep that Julian couldn’t get hold of. Other than that McAllister had been the laziest player on the field. People here are so fascinated by McAllister that I decided to focus on his play. I start counting how many times does he touches the ball between 22-46 mins. The answer is 11. Only Julian (11) and Emi has lower touches than McAllister.

    This is based on Sofascore (total touches by a player):

    McAllister 28
    Enzo 69
    DePaul 46
    Messi 31
    Papu 36

    • This is Mac Allister positioning sense made that goal. Just see the reply how Mac dropped from Penalty box and received that ball and pass it to penalty box.

      • I know that you will come up defending him but we shouldn’t forget that he is a midfielder. He is leaving a hole in the midfield, making Enzo, DePaul and Messi to play their ass off covering the space.

        Maybe, it’s Scaloni’s tactics how he wants to use Mac

  95. Much like Saudi game.

    Aussies pressing high with a mid-high to mid-low block. We are too slow in running and our passes are also slow. No dribbling success.

    Anything is possible but realistically our attack is too slow to win the world cup.

  99. Is it Argentina played bad or did they make it incredibly difficult? Because half time analysis they did not really mention Argentina playing bad or anything. El Principe, Enganche, Wisdom…

  101. The second half should begin with Dybala or Angel Correa so that our right becomes more operative. Julian playing in a wrong position. He should be on the left and bit central. We are just wasting a striker by making him play in a position graced by Di Maria. Sometimes Scaloni’s decisions look so out of place. Just bizarre.

  102. What a poor display uptil now, no proper chances created other than that goal.
    Why papu is playing?
    McAllister needs to be more alive, he just not in the match for 5 mins sometimes, just be good on the ball is not good enough.
    Once again no creativity whatsoever , this team lacks pace too.
    This team really miss lo celso and gonzalez.
    The more I see Enzo the more I m becoming a fan of him. I also like the energy of acuna. Other players should learn from acuna and Enzo.

  103. We can’t rely on Messi everytime to produce goal out of nowhere. Locelso and nico is being missed dearly. Hope we can see Dybala playing.

  105. Very disappointing 1st half….1 goal only 1 shot on goal vs Ausie is not enough to win the WC….too slow, no speed….Scaloni needs to do something….I am very very dissatisfied with the game…

  108. Australia really made it difficult. More like KSA match.
    They are not allowing free flowing football. If they keep same tactics, it will be hard in second half too.
    If they try to score, we will get our chances. Otherwise, we will be forced to use mainly long balls. Enzo, Ota and DePaul are good in that.

    • Yeah, they are not giving any space at all. They only had one plan and that is prevent any goal whatsoever with zero plans to score. Now they will have to change their tactics. If we can frustrate them for another 15mins then there will be ample spaces for counter attacks. May take Papu out play Paredes and Enzo plays higher up.

  110. We dearly need Di Maria, with him opponents will have another one be scared of apart from Messi. He’s big game player. Remember he scored the only goal in WC 2014 vs and assist as Belgium in QF, after that we scored no goals. And many more examples

  111. Papu is the weak link. He is not being able to produce any flank attack. We desperately need someone to replace him. Someone who can attack from the right. Scaloni’s decision to field Papu is costing us badly. What a terrible first half. We are just lucky to have a ‘scorer out of nowhere’.

  112. Australia approached the match with good lessons from Mexico and Poland match which is why they are defending with the whole team and also not letting Argentina keep possession of the ball. They kept on passing to each other in their own half just to not let our team get into the flow but moment of genius from the GOAT has forced them to come for the ball which will open gaps and so far Papu and Molina haven’t been able to create penetrating passes. We will most likely defend deep now in then second half and can’t afford any lapse of concentration.

    • Agreed, also not doing much on the ball.

      Seems like Australia is hard pressing us after the midfield line and doing nothing on their half.

  122. This game can’t go till extra time, we have to win in regular time… but we don’t have any control till now. Dimaria is so important!

  130. This team lacks 1v1 advantage. Right now nobody is willing to take on Australian defender in 1v1 situation. That’s why Di Maria is so crucial to us.

  131. Papu is flat-out finished – can’t shot can’t pass can’t dribble. He shouldn’t start by what I have seen so far. Very rusted.

  138. Vamos Argentina… only your performance is in your hands…. do your best and leave it all on the field..the rest as they say is ‘riff-raff’

    Vamos!vamos!vamos!vamos!

  154. I’m conflicted if I should watch the game on the big screen on telemundo or on my phone with Tyc Sports commentators. They’re always something else

  155. Look, I am one of the biggest Papu Gomez fans u will ever meet.
    But I don’t know if I would have started him today. I hope he is ready to run, track back and get physical. I hope scalonis decision pays off.
    Vamos Vamos !

  156. Brazilian players are dropping like flies. It would be hilarious to see them not even reach the quarters after all the hype

  157. My objectives for today’s match apart from we qualifying for QF:
    1) Have a comfortable win allowing some player rotation & subbing DePaul, Otamendi & Messi ( he wont allow to get subbed though😊) post 60mins
    2) We win without even bringing in DiMaria
    3) Acuna should not get a yellow as he is already on 1 card & will else get disqualified for QF
    4) Lautaro comes in as a sub & scores a goal. A confidence booster for the tougher matches. We are not winning the WC without lautaro playing a key role
    5) We get atleast one penalty corner led header goal.
    6) Papu does well in 1st half vindicating Scaloni decision & Dybala getting a solid 30mins in 2nd half
    6) For heaven’s sake – no xtra time or penalty shootout.

  158. Don’t expect Dybala will start automatically. He will have to come as sub, then perform. If he’s performing good he will get chance to start.
    I believe he will get minutes in this match.

  161. Papu never technically better than Dybala. Angel correa has much speed and skill than papu.But somehow scaloni chose him. Btw Scoloni chose him so i am going to support him, full support.
    Hope today we get early 1st half goal. Just play basic and we will win..

  163. Papu is a better finisher than lautaro atleast currently. If there is any chance near the penalty area he can make full use of it. Even if we play lautaro the long ball would be useless against Australians. With 3 midfielders to support papu can unleash and play that 1 2s in those tight spaces and go for those 1on 1with defenders.

      • Dybala used to be a RW and he still can play there just watch the Roma Games he is playing a SS but is always drifting wide mostly to RW

        The same goes for Papu mostly playing Nr10 if he plays for Sevilla… Dybala is always playing and super inform

  167. Papu is old and not at the same level as last year. However, he is they type of attacker that Australian tall and big defenders always struggle with in 1v1 situation. That’s why he is ahead of Correa. But I still believe that Dybala can give Australia defense much more troubles. I don’t understand what Scaloni’s plan with Dybala. If you never use him, then why do you even include him?

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