FIFA World Cup 2018: Argentina vs. Iceland - June 16 [R]

I don't have the confidence that Sampaoli will drop players like Biglia and Caballero

 

they talk big and do nothing. i hope the germans give them a nightmare tomorrow

 

He should bring in Lo Celso for Biglia, Pavon for Di Maria and Dybala for Meza. We need youth, pace and quality.

 

Not sure Dybala would work in Meza’s position in this system. Unless he changes the way his team lines up, then there is no point of having Dybala play as a right wing because he’ll have to cut into Messi’s spot.

 

Especially Lanzini, who was primed for a breakout tournament and was really the closest thing to an enganche this squad has - aside from perhaps Dybala.

 

There has been plenty of criticism headed towards ADM. To be fair, ADM never excelled playing as a pure winger near the touchline. He’s just out of his depth. He was always amazing playing more inside and specially as an LCM where he was just unstoppable. At PSG, he’s more of a striker than a winger where he’s asked to cut in and create (similar to Messi at Barca back in the day but on the opposite side).

Sabella realized this but for some reason no other coach has been able to identify the fact that ADM is not a tight space kind of player.

 

Pavon can play both sides so flip him to the right to accommodate Dybala?

 

Won’t work. He’d be playing as a winger in this setup. 4-3-1-2 with Dybala partnering Kun at the top and Messi behind them. Fideo at LCM and Enzo at RCM.

 

Its not that he is out of position, but rather people are pissed mainly cuz he has won a champions league playing for Real and is now a star at PSG, yet today he didn't even try to take a run at the defenders. I can count at least five times off the top of my head when he dribbled towards the defender only to pass back. Same with Meza. Why was he scared to run at him? The fullback he was up against is 33 years old and plays in Norway.

I dont know what is wrong with this team, but they are like puppies out there. Everything they do just screams passive (looks at Biglia). While I dont think Icardi would have made much difference today cuz Aguero was pretty good, but this team needs more alpha personalities to stir this team up. Masche in 2014 provided that spark but now he is too old and it seems this good old friends circle thing has rubbed on him too. If this team wants to win WC, they need to start showing their desire and become more ruthless. Way too gentlemanlike

 

Pavon needs to start over Di Maria. Dybala should came in instead of Higuain. He also FK specialist.

Didnt Iceland beat England in major tournament?

 

That was a penalty on Pavon by the way.
I really liked Kun today but I feel like Messi isn't the best partner for him. I would start aguero-dybala with messi behind. Even Aguero-higuain would be good.

 

Actually, it would be the same against Bosnia. Messi scored , Bosnia hit back near the end because our comical defending. The only difference? Bosnia scored an own goal early in the game.

Well, with this result , they must be having self believe that they could also beat Nigeria and Croatia.

 

Well, that's basically where the problem is. Every manager since 2009, they wanted Messi to be the main man in every matches. He took all penalties and freekicks. When Argentina players about the enter the box or inside the box , they will stop doing what they used to do at their club, instead they will look for Messi first.

There are clearly a better PK takers and a great FK takers outside Messi. Banega actually scored brilliant FK for Argentina in recent friendly against Nigeria, Dybala scored plenty already in his career. However, there's this obligation that they have to make Messi the no.1 hero all the time.

 

Pavon already had 3 assists for Argentina, 1 for Messi, 2 for Kun. Its time for Di Maria to be a bench player.

 

Aguero scored the first goal despite not having the angle to shoot and then he also won that penalty. Its not only about Messi. Its the manager and AFA that makes it everything has to be about Messi.

 

It is interesting that you brought this up. Crespo is one of the analyst for FOX during the World Cup and he brought up something similar. He stated that if Portugal had lost 3-0 to Spain, then it was expected, it is Portugal, nobody would've been surprised. But Messi being from Argentina, everything he does is looked under a microscope. It is true what Crespo is stating, the shirt of seleccion weighs heavy, a lot more so than that of Portugal. The only other country that has the same comparison is Brasil.

 

Think about it this way... if Germany draw or lost one of their group stage match, how people will react to that? They'd still be considered as favorit for sure. Spain lost to Switzerland and they stayed calm and won the tournament in 2010. We didnt lose the first game but people reacting like we're on the verge of elimination.

Things certainly dont look promising, that's for sure. I dont think we have a chance if Sampa stick with the same old guys and being stubborn . I have faith on him until I saw the starting line up which had Rojo, Biglia and Masche, I just knew we're going to conceided some stupid scrappy goal and its exactly what happened.

We've seen the team on the edge of losing many times in the past, but they ended up winning. We won every games by 1 goal margin in 2014 WC for intense. We got narrow win against Uruguay and Chile in qualifier and down 0-1 against Ecuador in last game before turning the game around . I believe there will be a moment when the players will rise on occassion.

We easily could have won 2-3 penalties in this game but only one was given and we couldnt convert it. I think its very likely that Aguero and Pavon will win a PK or a foul in dangerous area against Croatia and Nigeria.

 

Hi Guys. Honest question for you, I am Portuguese but a lot of my family members are fans of Argentina, we all loved Maradona when we were kids. I've always had a soft spot for Argentina.

My question is, what are your thoughts on this Argentina team versus previous teams. To me when I look at the defence, Goalie, and midfield, I see in my humble opinion, the weakest Argentina squad since I really started following football in the year 2000. Up front deadly deadly talent, arguably the best Forwards out of any team in the world, but the rest of the squad to me is not very balanced, are there better players the coach isn't playing? I see comments from espn "experts" that say Argentina is one of the most talented teams in the tournament and act like they're favorites, forwards yes, but as a team as a whole I don't know about that. Reason I am asking on here is the Fox, ESPN and other major network previews of teams honestly seem way off, like they don't quite research or know the players on each teams. Seems like the amateur youtube analysts do way more research and are more knowledgable about the teams.

Good luck VS Croatia, they aren't that talented in attack so I think you guys can rebound with a win and take the lead in the group.

 

To be honest, this is far from the worst squad we had and far from a bad generation. Argentina’s problem has always been its coaching. This obviously starts with the AFA but the coaches being appointed haven’t helped or added anything to the crop of players we possess.

I would say we had one very good coach that understood his players in the past 10 years, Sabella. Everyone else is just too into his system or doesn’t know how to manage the talent. Under Sabella, the term Fantastic 4 was formed. We went from a team that was coached by Maradona to a WC finalist. Had it not been for injuries, we would be the 2014 champions. Unfortunate but the guy knew how to utilize the available talent and implement a system to their strengths.

If you ask me, we are more talented today than we were in 2014. We had a thin bench in 2014 but now we have Dybala, Pavon, Lo Celso warming the bench. Not to mention the unselected players like Paredes and Icardi. Its a shame but there isn’t much we can do at this point.

Pezzela and Mussachio are tanning somewhere while a washed up Rojo starts at the WC. This should tell you something.

 

First of all, thanks for dropping by and show your support. I'm not Argentine myself but I've been following the NT since early 90's and my dad has been following Argentina since Kempes days. Like me and everyone else, he's also big fan of Diego.

You're certainly have a a good knowledge since you dont trust those bias and stupid pundits/clowns on TV. Those are people who always think England produce golden generation every 4 years and they judge every other teams this and that when they do not perform well while secretly in love with England.

Yes, there are better players than the one on the current squad, Lanzini is one of those and he got injured prior in training , and I'm sure everyone on the planet aware of Icardi situation when it comes to NT selection. Garay is another solid player for Argentina, almost never made any mistake at major tournament, for whatever reason, he refused a call up . Lamela I think is also good enough to be in the NT compare to many who's currently there.

As stated above, the main problem is within AFA itself and the coaching. We've been stuck with same core of players since 2010. Its mostly the 05-07 youth generation of players and they peaked at 2014 WC but for whatever reason, they're still in 2018 as starters. Messi and Aguero are the only two who remain at top form.

Rojo, Higuain, Masche, Biglia/Banega, Masche, Di Maria... add Messi and Aguero and Romero (if he's not injured), that mean its still same team from previous tournament.

 

Sabella had key players getting injured all over the place even during tournament itself (Aguero, Di Maria and Gago), Messi and Higuain were also not fully fit, but Sabella's defence were really solid especially during KO stage. Its not just the players he selected but the fact that he made the team worked as cohesive unit.

 

Man that decision to start Biglia three days before the match bit Sampaoli right in the a$$