Off-Topic: Argentina National Team

4-4-2 is alright, we're much more direct now. We'll see with more games how we play. My ideal team at the moment


I really want to play with Aguero but there just isn't room for him, he'll have to earn his spot over Di Maria or Higuain.

With Banega he is hit or miss unfortunately

The starting line up was

Andujar
Zabaleta - Burdisso - Otamendi - Rojo
Sosa - Banega - Brana - Di Maria
Messi - Higuain

So we're playing a 4-4-2 now, it was fairly effective. Romero was out injured, I believe, and Mascherano was suspended so Brana took his place (why not Biglia?). Sosa is well connected, rumor has it that his agent is the nephew of Bilardo - only reason someone so average would start. It would make more sense to start Salvio there - or try how Pastore would do on the wing given his recent form.

While the defense was woeful I think everyone defended more as a unit.

Lionel Messi wrote:4-4-2 is alright, we're much more direct now. We'll see with more games how we play. My ideal team at the moment

Romero
Pillud Coloccini Mascherano Ansaldi
Banega Gago
Messi Pastore Di Maria
Higuain

I really want to play with Aguero but there just isn't room for him, he'll have to earn his spot over Di Maria or Higuain.

With Banega he is hit or miss unfortunately

So you advocate moving Messi away from the centre? I guess if the fullback is good enough to cover and Pastore interchanges a bit, it should work.

Rojo was awful, nearly every attack started on his wing. I say give Ansaldi a shot. On the very least, it would make me stop wondering why we're not using him

BarcaKizz wrote:

Lionel Messi wrote:4-4-2 is alright, we're much more direct now. We'll see with more games how we play. My ideal team at the moment

Romero
Pillud Coloccini Mascherano Ansaldi
Banega Gago
Messi Pastore Di Maria
Higuain

I really want to play with Aguero but there just isn't room for him, he'll have to earn his spot over Di Maria or Higuain.

With Banega he is hit or miss unfortunately

So you advocate moving Messi away from the centre? I guess if the fullback is good enough to cover and Pastore interchanges a bit, it should work.

Yes. Pillud is great in attack and I would expect Messi to be in a freerole type of position interchanging with Pastore like you said.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:The starting line up was

Andujar
Zabaleta - Burdisso - Otamendi - Rojo
Sosa - Banega - Brana - Di Maria
Messi - Higuain

So we're playing a 4-4-2 now, it was fairly effective. Romero was out injured, I believe, and Mascherano was suspended so Brana took his place (why not Biglia?). Sosa is well connected, rumor has it that his agent is the nephew of Bilardo - only reason someone so average would start. It would make more sense to start Salvio there - or try how Pastore would do on the wing given his recent form.

While the defense was woeful I think everyone defended more as a unit.

My thoughts as well. Cambiasso even touted Biglia as his successor.

Argentina should start Gago over Banega in a 442 imo. Banega's intl form is mediocre atm and he should be benched.

I wasn't really that impressed by argentinas performance last night. Yes they won 4-1 but result doesn't reflect on how the game was played out. They didn't dominate the game and if chile had better finisher the end result would have been closer.. Don't get me wrong, argentina were the better side and deserved to win, but not by 4-1..

I agree that the result is too generous. Our defensive unit was weak as a whole, but I want to give Sabella a chance to fix this. This is his debut, after all, we'll see what he can do in some months.

Speaking of generosity, is Messi likelier to pass than finish for Argentina than for Barca? There was one instance in particular where I thought "If this were Barca, he would not have tried to pass it to Higuain and he would have shot". Why could this be?

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I agree that the result is too generous. Our defensive unit was weak as a whole, but I want to give Sabella a chance to fix this. This is his debut, after all, we'll see what he can do in some months.

Speaking of generosity, is Messi likelier to pass than finish for Argentina than for Barca? There was one instance in particular where I thought "If this were Barca, he would not have tried to pass it to Higuain and he would have shot". Why could this be?

Definitely a mental problem....Probably he is worried that if he took the shot and missed that everybody would say that in Barcelona he would have scored. By passing to Higuain, he takes that pressure off of him with the obvious consequence that he would not be scoring as much. That said, there's no reason for him to have these problems since he is a world class professional with pressure on him all the time.

I don't know. Normally Messi is our best player even if the team loses. However, last night he clearly was not the best player. He lost the ball quite a lot of times and looked a bit frustrated at some point.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I agree that the result is too generous. Our defensive unit was weak as a whole, but I want to give Sabella a chance to fix this. This is his debut, after all, we'll see what he can do in some months.

Speaking of generosity, is Messi likelier to pass than finish for Argentina than for Barca? There was one instance in particular where I thought "If this were Barca, he would not have tried to pass it to Higuain and he would have shot". Why could this be?

Yes, he is, without a doubt. I wonder why too. Perhaps because he is such under big pressure to be the new Maradona and create play also aside from score. I don't know.

Sorry to butt into your forum just have to say Higuain and Messi partnership gave me absolute chills yesterday

Hoping for more of the same in the future and maybe some titles to come from it

Crimson wrote:Sorry to butt into your forum just have to say Higuain and Messi partnership gave me absolute chills yesterday

Hoping for more of the same in the future and maybe some titles to come from it

No worrys about it Crim.....

You are always welcome here as you actually add quality instead of some people who just troll they can GTFO

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I agree that the result is too generous. Our defensive unit was weak as a whole, but I want to give Sabella a chance to fix this. This is his debut, after all, we'll see what he can do in some months.

Speaking of generosity, is Messi likelier to pass than finish for Argentina than for Barca? There was one instance in particular where I thought "If this were Barca, he would not have tried to pass it to Higuain and he would have shot". Why could this be?

Without a doubt. There were 2 example of that yesterday, one was the one we were talking about in the match thread and the 2nd one was with higuains 3rd goal.

shinigami99 wrote:
Definitely a mental problem....Probably he is worried that if he took the shot and missed that everybody would say that in Barcelona he would have scored. By passing to Higuain, he takes that pressure off of him with the obvious consequence that he would not be scoring as much. That said, there's no reason for him to have these problems since he is a world class professional with pressure on him all the time.

I don't know. Normally Messi is our best player even if the team loses. However, last night he clearly was not the best player. He lost the ball quite a lot of times and looked a bit frustrated at some point.

I don't really think that it is a problem. I agree that last night he wasn't the best player for Argentina, infact I thought that it was one of his worst game for Argentina in a looong time, but its only good that he becomes more selfless for Argentina AND Barca...

Crimson wrote:Sorry to butt into your forum just have to say Higuain and Messi partnership gave me absolute chills yesterday

Hoping for more of the same in the future and maybe some titles to come from it

Madrid fans are welcome so long as they add to the conversation. Trolls aren't.

I liked the Higgy / Di Maria / Messi trio more than the duo

I feel bad for Aguero though, he is too quality to sit on the bench but the attack is too good for him.

omarish wrote:I liked the Higgy / Di Maria / Messi trio more than the duo

I feel bad for Aguero though, he is too quality to sit on the bench but the attack is too good for him.

I honestly don't think that Aguero has to worry that much. Higuain can blow hot and cold, and when he blows cold then Aguero takes over.

We seem to forget that terrible back injury that higuain had. Amazing how he recovered

harhar11 wrote: but its only good that he becomes more selfless for Argentina AND Barca...

I disagree. I think Messi at Barça has the perfect balance of selfisness/selflessness.
Yes, he times misses a clear pass to Villa (mostly), but he also sometimes score when this happen. While sometimes, he passes the ball, and the other one doesn't score. He is also more prolifical than ever giving assists, which clearly means he is not very selfihs. And he is the best dribler in the world - by far - we have to take advantadge of that.

omarish wrote:I liked the Higgy / Di Maria / Messi trio more than the duo

I feel bad for Aguero though, he is too quality to sit on the bench but the attack is too good for him.

He could try to get Sosa's place. Not sure how well he would perform there, but it would be quite scary.

--------Higuain-Aguero----------
Dive Maria-Ever----Masch----Messi

Messi would fail hard at right mid in a 442 Aguero will find his place in the team somewhere

IMO

The front three were fine

have Higgy, Di Maria and Messi boss the front line with Gago, Ever and Masch in midfield = wins

Di Maria and Messi both track back very well as it is so the dynamics would be amazing

I think if they can do without him in midfield, Masch would be a saviour for Argentina's defence, which is a dog's breakfast to be honest. They struggle to play the ball out of defence really well as well, and Masch would help with this too. When he's played for Argie, his passing actually stands out.

Gago impressed me as a deep-lying playmaker for them, so I think he should be there with 2 others. Banega is probably their best mid... so he should start, but he has to be more consistent too.

Imho, i would like Pastore in there but i dont see where to fit him

Bench di maria. Simple

Aguero is better passer than most of arg midfielders. I still remember that venezuella match when messi aguero and tevez linked so well. why they changed this i dont understand. Di maria is no where creative and intelligent as aguero. play banega pastore aguero tevez messi higuain together if the team doesnt become the best in the world then i would change my name