Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni spoke about the team, Lionel Messi and Leandro Paredes.
Lionel Scaloni spoke at a press conference on Monday where he spoke about the team’s match against Egypt and also about Spain, France, Brazil and the World Cup. Speaking about the team, here is what he had to say:
“When things don’t go your way, there’s not just one way to go out and win. With grit, with intensity, with balls, with the spirit we carry with us. All of that, the team has it.
“I have the team, I haven’t told the players yet. More or less, they already know where things are headed.
“These guys always bring an extra dose of grit, of drive, of not wanting to lose.
“This match will be different than the last one. We cannot lose our essence.
“We will try to be more fresh with some of the guys who didn’t play as many minutes.
“In principle, we will not change the style.
“We are prepared for whatever comes. Many times we see that teams come doing one thing and then against us, they change completely.
“We always try to give the player tools so he knows where we can do damage and how we can defend ourselves.
“I think that Argentina’s level is acceptable. We have won the four matches and I am satisfied. Obviously, there are things to correct. But the favorites are not displaying what they seemed like before the World Cup.”
Scaloni also spoke about the schedule at the World Cup:
“When you’re getting to the end, you should logically need more breaks. And it’s being done the opposite way.”
About Lionel Messi:
“I think Leo is fine. If he has anything, he didn’t tell me, so he’ll play.”
He also spoke about Leandro Paredes:
“Leandro came injured and that is why Alexis Mac Allister played as a number five. After Qatar, Leandro has played almost all the time. He made a tremendous effort to get there and we believe the ideal substitute was Alexis, knowing that he can play a bit higher up and he does it very well.”
Loved the fire Paredes brought into the game. He gives the midfield that much-needed bite. Just hope he manages that aggression smartly, because in these high-pressure knockout games, referees can punish even one mistimed tackle.
Lol Arg fans !!!! Are we that much weak that we are afraid from Egypt which won its last matches very difficultly …We will thrash them in 90 minutes by minimum 3 goals…Mark my words
We need hard working midfield and we want to see intensity closing the gaps quickly by whole team and we also need atleast 2-3 fast players who can run in the opponent half during a counter attack
agreed ! more midfield bite and forward attacking aggression
A very important knockout game for us
One advantage no more heat it will be at Mercedes-Benz AC roofs
Hopefully we finish the game under 90 minutes
If 4 midfielders I would rather like to see 4-2-3-1 with paz in the middle of 3…
It seems Enzo doesn’t want to play as a CDM, even though he was outstanding there for Argentina in 2022. I really don’t like that kind of ego driven mentality. His distribution from deep is one of his biggest strengths. When he plays further forward, he barely connects with Argentina’s forwards, especially Messi. Mac Allister does that role much better.
I hope Enzo improves over cause his performances so far haven’t been convincing. If not, I’d rather see Celso get a chance. His connection with Messi playing as AM role is 2nd to one in the sqaud
And Lo Celso might be hungrier to prove a point compared to Enzo because Lo Celso was not part of the 2022 squad.
Enzo scored 11 goals for chelsea when he played as box to box midfielder. He just needs to get back his rhythm.
100% agree Chris brown
It’s time to bring lo celso in place of out of form enzo Fernandez. Alexis Maclester & lo celso in attacking midfielder role would be excellent…
It looks like with Paredes coming in as a pivot will push Mac Allister higher up. So a narrow 4-4-2 with Enzo and Mac higher up the field, Messi and Alvarez up front. Width to come only from the fullbacks. Hope Paredes is fully recovered and match fit.
Yes, hope so too!
If i understood anything from Scaloni’s press confrence, then i think he will continue with same tactics, but changing some players like Paredes starting as #5 and maybe moving Mac in to more advanced role. Assuming De Paul to start with most likely Enzo, Mac and Paredes……hopefully Alvarez starts and would not mind Nigo.G too with Messi, but that will mean either one of Enzo, Mac or De Paul to be dropoed. De Paul played less minutes so he might be more fresh as Enzo and Mac had to play 120 min’s in that heat with Messi, Licha and Cuti. Tagliafigo over Medina make’s sense and hopefully he will improve our defense for the leftside, but don’t know who can improve, that for the rightside…? Because so far Molina and Montiel has played even worse, than Medina who was doing ok in the group stage, but did not play good against Capo Verde, though Molina was way more bad and Montiel the worst of all 3, so kind of wishing for some Solution for, that rightside of defense, but honestly don’t know where would, that Solution come from….?
For the right side to improve, the only way I see it happening is getting Giuliano into the team tbh and having him double up as a defensive winger with Molina and De Paul locking down that right side.
Absolutely correct
perfect !
Let’s Go Argentina,, LET’S GO🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷💙 enough talking
Seems like Paredes is back starting at #5, but he called Alexis his backup, which makes sense given the positions he’s been taking up on the pitch this tournament.
Does this mean Alexis is dropped as well? According to reports, they’ve only mentioned Almada being dropped, but outright calling Alexis a Paredes backup says Almada’s replacement could be someone else.
I’ve cooled on my interest for there to be runners in the starting lineup and think given how we’ve been playing and the ideas on the pitch that we’ve had, continuity could be more important at this point so someone between the lines other than Messi to receive the ball could be more beneficial. Though I’m still not against having Almada dropped for Simeone and Barco for Alexis to support the runners setup.
Paredes is our most progressive midfielder in the team by far, in particular when it comes to needle passing so he will find anyone between the lines. If we’re not going with runners, I’m thinking either Nico Paz or Lo Celso has to play tomorrow. Nico Paz I feel is more confident at fixing a man and taking someone on 1v1 than Lo Celso, but I still need to watch him more to see what his creative passing is like. Gio has historically had the best chemistry with Messi over the years so could also be useful and is probably the best and most creative passer in the final third in the team besides Messi.
The other theory is that, because he mentioned Alexis “can play a bit higher up and he does it very well”, he could have Alexis between the midfield and defensive lines and task the other midfielders in RDP and Paredes to find them with Enzo and Alexis being more advanced – not sure how good those two are on the half-turn though ngl.
I’m so happy Leo Paredes is starting, which means we’ll dominate the match and make some great through passes too.
Leonardo Parades is very vital for us and also he is very progressive passer. Now Alexis Maclester can play upper and link up with messi, can create chance & score goals.