I'm surprised yesterday's defeat has spurred so much discussion over Argentina. It was clear as daylight, even before the WC started, that Croatia was the best team overall in their group. And since Iceland has already shown two years ago that it is a NT whose cohesion is remarkably close to club football (where players work together every day), you could smell trouble approaching for the Argentinians from a mile away (i made some good money in their two matches and i'm sure i'm not the only one). But yesterday... it wasn't difficult at all to predict the outcome. They could play this game 10 more times and Croatia will win it 9/10. The only shocking thing about the result is that this muddle of a team that got thrashed has Messi in it.
The reality of the situation regarding the quality of this Argentina NT is that without Messi they would have not even got on the plane to Russia. Without Messi, they played 8 games in the qualifying round and they won only one. When he returned, he was directly involved (goal & assist) in all the goals Argentina scored in its last 9 qualifying matches.
The problems were there for all to see and Sampaoli's fault is that in the period between the end of the qualifiers and the start of the WC he failed to devise a plan in order to improve things for Argentina even in the slightest. That's mainly why i feel that any discussion about Icardi's absence or Dybala's benching etc. is somewhat pointless. In order to argue whether player x or y would have had a positive impact or not, you must imagine him in a proper system, in distinguishable tactics, in a tangible gameplan. Right now, we don't have the equation which will allow us to test any variables. Croatia was in total control right from the kick-off last night and the only thing that prevented them from loosening the reigns was the fear of Messi with a bit of space and time on the ball.
And this is exactly what makes it worse for Argentina, this notion that because they have Messi they must dominate and succeed at all costs. In the WCs i've watched there were more than a few teams that couldn't force their gameplan on their opponents but they felt that they should no matter what. France 2002 and Spain 2014 are the most obvious examples. That's one of the worst predicaments a team can find itself into and we've gone through all of this ourselves under LvG. The squad could not support the "philosophy" but they were constantly trying to play like they could because the system demanded it of them.
Say what you will about Santos and his ultra-defensive mindset but he's playing the 35 yo version of Ronaldo to his strengths and to the benefit of the whole team. It could have been very easy for a different manager to say "we're the European Champions, so we'll try to dominate our games" and then put Ronnie on the wings and have every single attack go through him.
The reality of the situation regarding the quality of this Argentina NT is that without Messi they would have not even got on the plane to Russia. Without Messi, they played 8 games in the qualifying round and they won only one. When he returned, he was directly involved (goal & assist) in all the goals Argentina scored in its last 9 qualifying matches.
The problems were there for all to see and Sampaoli's fault is that in the period between the end of the qualifiers and the start of the WC he failed to devise a plan in order to improve things for Argentina even in the slightest. That's mainly why i feel that any discussion about Icardi's absence or Dybala's benching etc. is somewhat pointless. In order to argue whether player x or y would have had a positive impact or not, you must imagine him in a proper system, in distinguishable tactics, in a tangible gameplan. Right now, we don't have the equation which will allow us to test any variables. Croatia was in total control right from the kick-off last night and the only thing that prevented them from loosening the reigns was the fear of Messi with a bit of space and time on the ball.
And this is exactly what makes it worse for Argentina, this notion that because they have Messi they must dominate and succeed at all costs. In the WCs i've watched there were more than a few teams that couldn't force their gameplan on their opponents but they felt that they should no matter what. France 2002 and Spain 2014 are the most obvious examples. That's one of the worst predicaments a team can find itself into and we've gone through all of this ourselves under LvG. The squad could not support the "philosophy" but they were constantly trying to play like they could because the system demanded it of them.
Say what you will about Santos and his ultra-defensive mindset but he's playing the 35 yo version of Ronaldo to his strengths and to the benefit of the whole team. It could have been very easy for a different manager to say "we're the European Champions, so we'll try to dominate our games" and then put Ronnie on the wings and have every single attack go through him.
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) he is not a playmaker even if you think that his talent will make him play well in every role. It wont and that makes a whole difference. Messi is not a player to assume the game expenses at full time. He's a player to get the ball in space for 1-on-1 situations. Those are the moments he can make an impact in a match.