JamDav1982
Senior Member
In some ways the defence for Argentina was excellent in the last few games but in other ways it was the weakness of the defence that killed Messi's World Cup.
The first four games the defence was awful and were luck not to concede more, it needed much more protection than was being offered in a formation with two up front ahead of Messi
Sabella changed it, reigned in the full backs and took Masch to a border line CB/DM role. All that tightened up the defence but left Messi far to isolated.
I hope whoever takes over tries to push defence up a bit higher, allow full backs to get forward more and give more pace out wide.
Teams in this World Cup were shit scared to let Argentina play on break the way they wanted to and the way they did in qualifiers so Argentina need to take initiative a bit more and give Messi chance to work his magic!
The first four games the defence was awful and were luck not to concede more, it needed much more protection than was being offered in a formation with two up front ahead of Messi
Sabella changed it, reigned in the full backs and took Masch to a border line CB/DM role. All that tightened up the defence but left Messi far to isolated.
I hope whoever takes over tries to push defence up a bit higher, allow full backs to get forward more and give more pace out wide.
Teams in this World Cup were shit scared to let Argentina play on break the way they wanted to and the way they did in qualifiers so Argentina need to take initiative a bit more and give Messi chance to work his magic!
As you said he's made improvements in every dept, and transformed the very palpable weakness in to one of team's forte. And whilst he's stubborn, he's pragmatic, and gets it right eventually. He overcame his Estudiantes fixation, sorted out the defence, took out personnel who were looking to become liabilities (FF and Gago), persisted with Romero, and so on. The only area he failed was substitution, and I, like yourself couldn't understand his thought process behind the said subs. But he's demonstrated he's not one to turn a blind eye to his mistakes, he's receptive to positive change. So if he remains, I've no doubts, he'll manage to perfect this one aspect that has has given us all much pain.
King Leo
Banned
Agree, Sabella admitted the tactical error he made against Bosnia and he changed the plan in half-time. Maybe his experimenting needs to take place before the tournament. Anyway he has now tried the team in the biggest event of them all. I hope whoever manages the team can pick up from here and continue. I trust Tata should Sabella make it his decision final.
The world cup in Russia is far away. Messi will then be 31 and with his possible fourth and last WC appearance the current team may not work all together. This team was built around Messi. By then who knows in what condition he will be in. It may require an new project all together.
The Albiceleste next stop is the Copa America in Chile. Not a lot of time left if Sabella leaves now.
BTW have you seen how Mou was critical of Sabella and how he defended Messi? What is he up to now?
Richard.H
Senior Member
I really hope Argentina plays one of these games in Southern California so I can go watch them! What a dream it would be to watch Messi in a competitive match!
King Leo
Banned
The final I bet will be at the Rose Bowl. This can double the excitement for you if Argentina reaches the final. Imagine!
spark
New member
Just as Uruguay won the last Copa America after their good performance at the World Cup in 2010 I see Argentina confirming they are the best South American team in next year's edition. Well I hope so anyway. The country and players deserve to win something finally after some time.
King Leo
Banned
PaulFCB
Banned
Colombia? Just because they beat some 2nd hand teams ( including Uruguay, without Suarez ) doesn't mean anything, if they were good enough, they would've finished Brazil early, they look good at the limit, as long as Argentina has this form, they stand no chance.
King Leo
Banned
Was watching some of the comments before the final game, and they were all saying this is the best team (Germany) vs the best player (Messi). Now the very same people and few more trollers are saying that Messi wasn't the best player in the WC and more was expected from him. So it's 11 vs 1. What happend to football?
Lionel Messi was the victim of Alejandro Sabella second half tactical switch, according to Jose Mourinho
"I think in the first half he had fantastic options, I think and I would like to know later the reason Lavezzi stayed in the dressing room. I only have to believe that it was because of some injury because in the first half Argentina play with two lines of four, with Enzo Perez closing Philippe Lahm on one side and Lavezzi closing the other side and going forward too and because they were so compact with these two lines of four. "
"Messi could basically walk while the team was in defensive moment and when the team recover the ball Messi had fresh legs and the energy to make the difference and create a lot. "
"When Lavezzi was out for some reason, Sabella changed the system of the team, instead of Lavezzi who was playing wide he put Aguero on and in this moment the team instead of four-four and two players in attack Messi and Higuain.
Certainly they play with three in the middle with Enzo Perez inside, Biglia and Mascherano and after that instead of four-four and two attacking players they were playing with four-three and in this moment the team lost a lot of balance and Messi had to run much more than in the beginning trying to close some spaces as well as Higuain.
"I think the team lost a little bit of balance and especially energy, energy they needed in the extra time and they hadn’t, I think they hadn’t because of this tactical imbalance situation and also they had one less day to rest and the game between Germany and Brazil was completely different than the game between Holland and Argentina."
Lionel Messi was the victim of Alejandro Sabella second half tactical switch, according to Jose Mourinho
"I think in the first half he had fantastic options, I think and I would like to know later the reason Lavezzi stayed in the dressing room. I only have to believe that it was because of some injury because in the first half Argentina play with two lines of four, with Enzo Perez closing Philippe Lahm on one side and Lavezzi closing the other side and going forward too and because they were so compact with these two lines of four. "
"Messi could basically walk while the team was in defensive moment and when the team recover the ball Messi had fresh legs and the energy to make the difference and create a lot. "
"When Lavezzi was out for some reason, Sabella changed the system of the team, instead of Lavezzi who was playing wide he put Aguero on and in this moment the team instead of four-four and two players in attack Messi and Higuain.
Certainly they play with three in the middle with Enzo Perez inside, Biglia and Mascherano and after that instead of four-four and two attacking players they were playing with four-three and in this moment the team lost a lot of balance and Messi had to run much more than in the beginning trying to close some spaces as well as Higuain.
"I think the team lost a little bit of balance and especially energy, energy they needed in the extra time and they hadn’t, I think they hadn’t because of this tactical imbalance situation and also they had one less day to rest and the game between Germany and Brazil was completely different than the game between Holland and Argentina."
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F
Flavia
Guest
Social media happened. Now everyone, their mothers and granpas have a say. And it's like a mob, sometimes. Hate flows easier, as anything human.
It's like "is this the real world?"
It's not the 1st time I agree with him, but he still surprises me when he acts normal, and not in his lunatic character.
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