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Argentina NT is DEAD

4K views 52 replies 12 participants last post by  shmikkil 
#1 · (Edited)
Been a fan of the NT for almost 30yrs and never I have felt such disappointment in the way the team is playing over the past couple years incl. all sorts of tournaments and friendlies...Sampaoli picks up #$% players incl. Belluschi, Gomez, Lo Celso (he's at best a sub for NT) along with Mascherano (who should be played only in midfield as a sub and he's getting found out so bad that it could just be detrimental to the overall chemistry within the team)...

Sampaoli is not going to do anything and we are on course for a big disappointment...Bracing myself for this come WC'18 and will most definitely stop watching or supporting the team after that.

The team is so crap and I just wanted to vent it out here...
1) Wtf is this Benedetto doing in NT? I could never forget the way he kicked the ball in his debut game trying to keep hold of it. It's an amateur skill and this guy should never ever be playing for the NT...The coach seem to go for 3-3-3-1 or 4-5-1 almost all the time as if these forwards like Aguero, Higuain etc can hold off folks on their own skill and get those much needed goals. He has the audacity/belief to try guys like Benedetto there with the kind of non-existent skills he has.
2) There's just no midfield except for Banega who seem to do something along with maybe a Perez or Biglia to a certain extent. Lo Celso, Kranevitter and everyother guy this Sampaoli seem to bring is outright pathetic. He even got Belluschi who's going to be 35 by next year...
3) The wings are just bad - Di Mari is playing a lot better lately and not running like a headless chicken as often. But the others...god awful they are and that's an understatement. Rigoni?? Wtf is this coach thinking? We could see whatever the passes/shots the players are trying from the wings is utterly ridiculous...they are all hail mary plays at best.
4) Defense - I don't want to talk about it.

All in all...the tactics and the lineups this coach is putting on field is no better than what Bauza, Batista did. No one can save this NT...

Why is it so hard for these coaches to put a proper line-up that has their best 11 players and try work over tactics, chemistry etc? It's such a huge disappointment to see the team play like a bunch of donkeys with no direction/purpose...As a fan, I don't care what he does to get this working but his current approach is sure not anyone want to see except for the detractors. He should revert to 4-2-3-1 for offensive play and 4-4-2 for proper defensive cover.

I am hoping to see these players (incl. injured ones) to be in the starting 11 often and build some chemistry among them along with the tactics to get it ready for the WC'18...

1) GKs: Romero & Rulli
2) Defenders: Otamendi, Musacchio, Garay, Rojo, Mercado, Tagliafico & Jose Gomez
3) Defensive Mids: Mascherano, Biglia, Perez & Banega
4) Controlling/Conducting Mids: Pastore, Paredes & Lanzini
5) Attacking Mids: Messi, Dybala, Di Maria & Lamela
6) Strikers: Aguero, Higuain & Icardi

How hard it is to field a starting 11 with these group of players instead of testing and wasting precious time before the WC by going with washed-up/sub-par players like Benedetto, Rigoni, Papu Gomez with weird line-ups expecting some wonders?? So very frustrated.
 
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#7 ·
They are not dead. They should stop the [tactical] experiments and the idiocies. Calling the best players would help.

Put a 4-3-3, Messi in a similar role than at his club, Dybala starting from the left wing and a striker (Aguero, and Icardi as alternative).
In midfield you can play with Di Maria, who has quality and big hardworking capacity, Banega and a defensive midfielder.

Seriously Argies, it's not that hard. Stop shooting yourselves in the foot.
 
#12 ·
I get it but Dybala is a guy who couldn't adjust his game to do what's best for the team and talked smack in the media. Di Maria is hardworking but he's a headless chicken when he's unleashed on the left wing. Banega is technical but he's notoriously inconsistent. I see Perez as hardworking defensive mid and he's getting hold. Biglia usually plays very conservative and perhaps his best's in the past. We can keep going on about this but all in all, they have a lot of holes that needs to be fixed and hence, the reason for all these new players being called-up and formations being played out.

I think the best team for them is this group of players:
Mercado, Musacchio/Garay, Otamendi, Rojo
Banega, Mascherano/Biglia, Perez, Pastore/Paredes, Di Maria
Dybala, Messi, Aguero/Higuain and perhaps Lanzini and Jose Gomez as well.
 
#11 ·
Messi DEPENDENCY has the ARggies MINDS all screwed Up....Forget about the Bi Polar, he is NOT a National Team Player...He's got Barcelona colored blood in his veins.

Wait for Russia 2018 and see it happen all over again. Argentina is not goinn anywhere.
 
#18 ·
People insisting in Higuain... Jesus, dont you get the only motive the attack of argentina is unstable is because Higuain is a failure? He is the most efficient defender of the last 10 years. Alone, he prevented both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win more trophies than anyone else.
 
#20 ·
I agree but he still has a decent shot and can hold of defenders alright with some skill moves. But yeah, perhaps it's pointless to have the guy in the team...better have Aguero and Icardi as your main strikers and leave it to Messi, Di maria and Dybala to create chances.
 
#24 ·
Guess the NT situation is bleak as there's not much positives coming out from Sampaoli's end. Would be surprised if the team reaches towards the business-end of the tournament. I would see it as a success if they reach Semis....if not, another disappointment and Sampaoli must go as none of his recent games showed he's capable of producing/adapting the team to alternative tactics apart from Messi trying to do the bulk of work. This team has under-achieved so much...I am starting to think perhaps there will soon be a lucky break as it's been 32yrs since Arg lifted the WC.
 
#25 ·
There should be a culture change with this NT and having people with the wrong profiles managing the group is not a good way to win titles. Anyway, I am hoping this is going to be the team - 4-2-3-1:
Romero
Mercado Musacchio Garay Rojo
Perez Mascherano
Dybala Messi D'maria
Aguero

Rest of the squad:
Rulli, Gaitan, Acuna, Paredes, Roncaglia, Otamendi, Mas, Banega, Biglia, Pastore, Lamela & Higuain.
 
#30 ·
I agree...he seems to think that Dybala should be dealt a lesson since he spoke about his frustration about adjusting with Messi on the pitch. I think this star culture is what's probably causing a huge issue as many of these players think they are infallible....

Anyway, I am glad they got a proper whopping so that atleast the best 11 players can be put on the pitch going forward rather than let some of the low quality players play in the NT. I think this Argentina is soon becoming another Uruguay - a team that won 2 WCs but no longer capable of winning the titles. Calling it here...It's over for Argentina even before a ball has been kicked in the WC.
 
#31 ·
It's a funny twist as I started watching Messi's games since he's 16/17 b/c he's an Argentine. The love for this Argentina NT has slowly but surely left such a bitter taste that I now just watch Messi's play and stopped bothering about how the rest are playing as none seem intent to have the identity. A majority of them are either just plain mediocre or has too much of a chicken-headedness in them ala Di Maria, Dybala. Anyway, this will be my last time supporting Argentina and I know that this result is a good reminder of the quality of these fringe players...

My best 11 after watching all these games:
Romero (back-up - Rulli)
Mercado (Roncaglia/Bustos), Musachhio (Otamendi), Garay (Fazio), Rojo (Tagliafico)
Perez (Biglia), Banega (Mascherano), Pastore (Lo Celso), Di Maria (Lamela)
Messi (Dybala), Aguero (Icardi/Higuain)
 
#34 ·
BTW, and no one has commented on this one:

The Argentina U-20 National Team was also had, beaten by Real Madrid Castilla 6-1

Not a Bright Future in the Eyes of Argentinians, Newspapers and Futbol Magazines in The Land of Beef are having a Field Day.
 
#35 ·
I just got a TAPED rant my brother sent me from NY from an argentinian radio person where he goes on SCREAMING to Sampaoli for 3.5 minutes about the Team and Loss...

Crazy...They're goinn BONKERS in Argentina. They do not like to lose by ONE goal....Never MIND 12 Goals !!!! (The Under-20 Team is Coached by Sampaoli's Assistant Becaccece)
 
#38 ·
You screw up in your life time and eventually it all comes back to slap the crap out of you...They Won that LONESOME WC In Argentina when The Military Regime BOUGHT it from the ALWAYS Corrupt FIFA.

That was It. and Believe you me, that will be it from now till we go to REST.
 
#40 ·
First, they're just entered crisis in the qualifers. They sucked balls in the last two qualys; but they still were good at tournaments. They've done more than okay in those: one World Cup Final lost on extra time + two Copa America Finals lost on PKs is not bad at all for anyone, but expectations with them and Messi are huge, and our Argentinian friends love drama more than anyone else. The play never reach any heights, but that really doesn't matter.

It's in many ways a problem of identity. They just never managed to adapt to build around Messi in a meaningful way -- when
it has worked, it has largely been full tournament mode: big hard to score against and just give it to Messi or the other talented players. No real collective play, lots of different managers, etc. That's why they're so bad in the South American qualys, which are a super tough, small league spread across two years essentially, where team building can be crucial. They did good in tournaments because of talent and balls essentially, and having managers like Sabella that are good at that.

A lot of the criticism is about how precisely they try too much to build around Messi -- but in fact they're failing at that precisely. It's like they've given him too much power, when they need the exact opposite. A manager who understands Messi should be the center of it all, but who still has authority of his own to setup his kind of team, and who is a pragmatic mofo. This is very clearly a situation better suited for a Simeone kind than for a Sampaoli -- who needs to impart his own radical style but here really has his hands tied and not so much time. And who's been making really bizarre choices lately.
 
#41 ·
~~Argentina also won a world cup in 1986 when the military regime was gone. Just saying... You surely know it. For some reason you talked about lonesome world cup won in 1978...~~

!986 ?????? How ABOUT 1978 when the Frikken Gorilas where running the Country ???

It's a known FACT that The Bullies (Military in this particular case) paid off everyone for the Argies to WIN The WC in their Land in order to APEACE the Political Situation in the Country then.

Nothing better than making the DUMB and Poor believe That Argentina was The GReaTESt Futbol Power in the World, when it was a Lie.
 
#42 ·
~~Argentina also won a world cup in 1986 when the military regime was gone. Just saying... You surely know it. For some reason you talked about lonesome world cup won in 1978...~~

!986 ?????? How ABOUT 1978 when the Frikken Gorilas where running the Country ???
1978 yes, 1986 no

And Argentina reached two more finals later in 1990 and 2014, both without the help of the generales.
 
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