Why did Argentina play so badly today?

I say Argentina should keep the same Midfield and instead put Messi or Pastore as the SS and 2 Strikers, or play with 2 Second Strikers and a Striker.

MY Opinion about match vs Bolivia

1- Aguero & Di maria should be starters!
...replace Tevez & lavezzi

2- Pastore IN Banega Out!!
==>
Masch - Cambiasso
Pastore

Banega was average today, he didn't link with messi like he should, made some miss passes, over dribbled @ sometimes.. & his BIG mistake, tying to control a ball on the goalline!! WTF was he thinking? just fucken SHOOT the Ball!!!

3- Argentina needs more creativity..
Pastore In Banega Out could be a solution for next match..
If not, in 2nd half u can always play with:
Banega - Masch & Pastore onfront of them!!

4- MESSI IS NOT A MIDFIELDER!!!!!!!!!!!

i don't know what was Batista thinking...

Banega----------Masch
-----------Messi-----------

Aguero/Lavezzi - Tevez - Di Maria

WTF!!

simple!!!
yes he made some gd changes by playing with Di maria & aguero, that had very gd impact on the team, opposite to lavezzi & tevez, who were average... But he should have played with Messi upfront instead of Tevez.. with Pastore behind the forwards as a playmaker!

u can't play Messi in the midfield .. & expect him to do everything, when u have NO ONE to link with him, Messi was even dropping too deep in the midfield why??.. he can't keep on dribbling 3 & 4 players all through the match lol..he needs some gd players, who can help him in buildup,links & play some 1-2 going forward!!

5- Messi played as a false 9 in 1st half & he was very gd!!

Banega - Masch -Cambiasso

Lavezzi - Messi - Tevez

Messi was very gd in first half & Argentina's Best player.. creating 3 or 4 dangerous chances (from great runs dribbling 3-4 players).. but tevez/lavezzi couldn't finish them..

------------

Solution imo:
1- u need more creativity..
Riquelme timeplayer in the midfield (Iniesta ).. maybe Pastore could be the solution ( he should take his chance)!!

2- Play with Aguero & Messi onfront of Pastore!!

`So conclusion: Play with this line-up

start with

Masch - Cambiasso
------Pastore-------

Aguero - Messi - Di Maria..

Aguero & Di Maria on the wing will do great..pastore playmaker, Messi in this case can drop in the midfield in buildup, pastore can help him going forward "link, simple passes, 1-2 etc.."...
Plus inno Masch + cambiasso==> will give more security in the defence..
IF it didn't work, just replcae Cambiasso by Banega to give more creativity in the midfield..Tevez can play 2nd half as an impact sub!!

Banega is a must imo, although he was not great today he usually is

Lionel Messi wrote:my ratings and review of the Argentina side:

Disappointment at the Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, Argentina struggled to find the chances against the hard working and defensively discipline Bolivians.

Romero: 6.5 - Made a couple great saves including a game saving 1v1 stop, after the defense went to sleep, was shaky on a couple clearances, though.

Zanetti: 7 - Solid as always, got forward well and defended well, expected from the veteran.

Milito: 6 - Fell asleep during key moments but other than that was somewhat solid.

Burdisso: 6.5 - Got forward well on occasion defended well but as Milito fell asleep during key moments.

Rojo: 6 - Quiet performance from the young left back.

Mascherano: 7 - Did very well defensively dropping back as a 3rd cb and distributed well.

FLOP Banega: 5.5 - Disappointment from the underrated center midfielder, caused a high-profile mistake on a miscontrol on the goal line which resulted in an own goal. Seemed out of depth and struggled to find space.

Cambiasso: 6 - Got forward but was in all the wrong positions and missed an easy chance.

Lavezzi: 6.5 - Made very good use of his acceleration and pace, worked hard but could not find the composure at times to put in a good ball.

Messi: 6.5 - Tale of two halves for the world's best player, had an overall excellent first half, sliced through the Bolivian defense many times but had trouble making himself apart of play during the second half when dropped back to partner Banega in the center of midfield.

Tevez: 5.5 - Disappointing from the Man City captain, missed a few easy chances, including an open header in front of goal in the opening minutes and did not do well linking up with the rest of the team.


Di Maria: 7 - Came in for Cambiasso and took Tevez's spot and Tevez replaced Messi up front. Brought pace trickery and quick feet. Although his touch let him down a few times, was a good replacement for the quiet cuchu.

TOP Aguero: 7.5 - Super sub. Came on linked up well, got through the defense brilliantly and scored an absolutely stunning volley.

Your ratings are 10x better than Goal.com. I only disagree with the Lavezzi rating, if Tevez is 5.5 he definitely is also..

Argentina should start with Aguero and Di Maria starting in the next match. And also Pastore, Banega is their only source of creativity in the midfield. And the defence looked shaky, oh well so what? Good for Brazil :lol!:

Yes perhaps I may have overrated Lavezzi, he was at most a 6

Crimson wrote:No Higuain no party

I second that

It was extremely clear to me that:

Higuain >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tevez
Augero >>>>>>> Lavezzi.

How do you not start:

Banega-Masch-Cambi
Messi-Higgy-Augero?

I'll coach for free just to prove all the idiots on this forum wrong.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

Seppuku wrote:ohh poor Batista...The new scapegoat for Messi's NT nonperformance...

Anyways, until Argentina find an adequate replacement for Riquelme, they're gonna continue down this road...

FFS the only thing it would take for this team to take off is common sense. Why is it so hard for Argentina to find a manager that has that?

Argentina need defenders more than anything else.No point blaming manager to play cautious midfield when u have a defence as shaky as this.

BeautifulGame wrote:Argentina need defenders more than anything else.No point blaming manager to play cautious midfield when u have a defence as shaky as this.

With a defense that bad, you know from the start that you need to win 2-1. Minimum.

So field a mid+attack that can get more than one lucky ass volley from a guy off the bench, who should have started.

daneq wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:Argentina need defenders more than anything else.No point blaming manager to play cautious midfield when u have a defence as shaky as this.

With a defense that bad, you know from the start that you need to win 2-1. Minimum.

So field a mid+attack that can get more than one lucky ass volley from a guy off the bench, who should have started.

Lucky ass volley? Cmon, that was pure talent and technique, the perfect volley.

Lionel Messi wrote:

daneq wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:Argentina need defenders more than anything else.No point blaming manager to play cautious midfield when u have a defence as shaky as this.

With a defense that bad, you know from the start that you need to win 2-1. Minimum.

So field a mid+attack that can get more than one lucky ass volley from a guy off the bench, who should have started.

Lucky ass volley? Cmon, that was pure talent and technique, the perfect volley.

Well yeah, obviously. Maybe "lucky" was the wrong word. But the point I was trying to make is that you can't rely on a guy to come off the bench and score a magnificent volley for you just for the tie every game... That wont take you to the cup final...

daneq wrote:

Lionel Messi wrote:

daneq wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:Argentina need defenders more than anything else.No point blaming manager to play cautious midfield when u have a defence as shaky as this.

With a defense that bad, you know from the start that you need to win 2-1. Minimum.

So field a mid+attack that can get more than one lucky ass volley from a guy off the bench, who should have started.

Lucky ass volley? Cmon, that was pure talent and technique, the perfect volley.

Well yeah, obviously. Maybe "lucky" was the wrong word. But the point I was trying to make is that you can't rely on a guy to come off the bench and score a magnificent volley for you just for the tie every game... That wont take you to the cup final...

Agreed

Di Maria, Aguero and Pastore are the ones who should start.

milanista99 wrote:Di Maria, Aguero and Pastore are the ones who should start.

Messi, Higuain, Augero and Cambi are the must starts imo. Pastore and Di Maria deserve a place in the plans... But Lavezzi? Tevez = God??

From this game, I can conclude that:

1. Lavezzi is just like Aguero, but the lesser version. Lavezzi is similar to Aguero, but moderately worse. Lavezzi can be compared to Aguero, as an inferior version of him. Lavezzi IS Aguero, the 0.5 version anyway, etc.

There is simply no reason for Lavezzi to start. He's just not as good as Kun.

2. Tevez doesn't fit in this system. He can't play wide effectively, he can't make intelligent runs, he can't poach goals efficiently. Use Tevez only as a lone CF when Messi's not playing, because that's all he's good at.

3. This leaves us with a frontline of Messi/Aguero/?????

The last position is for Higuain or Di Maria, and it's really a toss-up. I don't consider Higuain an effective super-sub, he's the type of player that you stick on the field and he'll average a goal per game by pulling them out of his ass. Di Maria on the other hand, has a very useful work-rate and is sure to start against specific teams (e.g. Brazil). I'm going to have to go with Di Maria on this one just because IMO Higuain hasn't been as good since his injury, and he's less effective playing from a wide position.

Tevez should only be used as a lone CF, he just doesnt play well alongside another player, thats never been his game

And Lavezzi is just awful

Omniscient wrote:
3. This leaves us with a frontline of Messi/Aguero/?????

Higgy!! Play him central.

Messi did make his name out wide, right? Augero is pretty damn decent attacking from the corner of the box as well.

Jeps33178 wrote:Tevez should only be used as a lone CF, he just doesnt play well alongside another player, thats never been his game

And Lavezzi is just awful

I wouldn't say he's awful... But, he plays at Napoli, not Real Madrid for a reason.

Jeps33178 wrote:Tevez should only be used as a lone CF, he just doesnt play well alongside another player, thats never been his game

And Lavezzi is just awful

douche bag

Lavezzi had a bad game, he usually plays well for the NT

I personally think a 4231 should work very well. Something like this in my opinion:

daneq wrote:

Jeps33178 wrote:Tevez should only be used as a lone CF, he just doesnt play well alongside another player, thats never been his game

And Lavezzi is just awful

I wouldn't say he's awful... But, he plays at Napoli, not Real Madrid for a reason.

Lavezzi is extremely underrated. Hes similar to Messi and Aguero in playing style, and definity more thsn 0.5 of aguero. Hes aguero-lite. Hes slightly below, but not by much at all. Also, he was the top assister in serie a this season, and was the focal point behind napoli taking 3rd place in the seriea this last season. Also, that statement thathe plays for napoli not real madrid holds no ground whatsoever. I would take Lavezzi over overrated players like Pedro or Di Maria any day of the week.

juventus101 wrote:I personally think a 4231 should work very well. Something like this in my opinion:

Romero
Zanetti Milito Mascherano Burdisso
Banega Cambiasso
Messi Aguero Lavezzi
Tevez

Looks good on paper, but probably doesn't have the write play style down

as said in the commentery section: total lack of playmaking by Cambiasso & Banego who couldnt link defence & attack.

Aguero saved Argentina, he should start for them next game... I'm expecting something along the lines of this:

-----------------Messi----------------------
--------Aguero-----------Lavezzi/Higuain/Tevez----------------

juventus101 wrote:I personally think a 4231 should work very well. Something like this in my opinion:

Romero
Zanetti Milito Mascherano Burdisso
Banega Cambiasso
Messi Aguero Lavezzi
Tevez

I would also use that formation except:

Aguero-------Messi--------Di maria

-------------Higuain--------------