After watching Argentina's two disconnected, slow and single offensive routines in Qatar, it would be hard not to suspect that this is a very mediocre team if it weren't for the famous names on their roster. After the two matches, Argentina is widely regarded as a strong contender for lack of a true World Cup title.
Messi celebrates victory in the match.
Although their performance in this World Cup is far behind Brazil, Spain, France and England, Argentina's strength is unquestionable, and they are still one of the teams with stronger overall strength in the World Cup. Moreover, with Messi, nothing is possible.
Head coach Scaloni's team shockedly lost to Saudi Arabia in the first game, after which Scaloni made five changes to the squad before the match against Mexico. Despite winning the game, his team's performance is still poor, and winning is only saved by the personal performance of the two stars. In addition, the Mexico lineup of this World Cup is the weakest lineup in the team in 40 years, and the whole game almost threatened Argentina with zero goals. Argentina was able to win because Mexico led by former Barcelona coach Martino was weaker.
How to make Messi play to his best is crucial to Argentina.
How to get the best from Messi is a key challenge every Argentine head coach has faced over the past 15 years. Messi has a bad first season at Paris Saint-Germain , new coach Galtier offers a perfect solution. Messi lacks the acceleration of the explosion now and cannot match his excellent dribbling skills when he was young. Such a way of playing football has made him unstoppable for a long time in Barcelona . Still, his current ability to pass, interact and transfer the ball, as well as creating space for low posts and precise shots, is still a good example of it, just like his goal against Mexico.
Galtier helped Messi find his best form in France. This season, Messi played 19 games for Paris Saint-Germain in various competitions, scoring 12 goals and contributing 14 assists. Galtier's approach is to put Messi in the middle and put other forwards near Messi to get him as close to the goal as possible, while allowing the 35-year-old Messi to wait for an opportunity when he sees it's right.
Messi is now unable to turn back on the wing as frequently as he was at his peak. He let Messi open the court in the middle and use his passes and vision to get Neymar and Mbappe closer to Messi in the Paris Saint-Germain 4-4-2 Diamond lineup, allowing Messi to create opportunities through mutual transmission in the narrow space and teammates in the crowded penalty area, rather than asking him to repeatedly get the ball and face the defense of several defenders directly as before.
MMN combination is in excellent form this season.
Neymar stands at the top of the lineup and acts as a striker with Mbappe, allowing Messi to see the goal more frequently when catching the ball, encourages him to play his best remaining abilities, and pay more attention to combinational play rather than having to force the forward who has slowed down from a deeper position.
Scaloni If he hopes Messi can replicate his recent status in the club, he should imitate Galtier's lineup setting in Paris Saint-Germain. Although Mbappe lacks the speed, Argentina's leading finisher Lautaro Martinez can play the most important role, occupying the most dense area of the opponent's central defenders, and combining with Messi to create opportunities, allowing Messi to wait for an opportunity to create goals for Martinez . Messi will serve as a second striker, allowing him to create shooting angles near the goal, while Dybala will be able to play Neymar's role, leverage the space between the lines and provide a dynamic third option in the tight space. The width of the offense can be quickly inserted from the full-back.
Argentina national team can learn from Paris's lineup play.
Argentina shows little signs of their ability or liquidity to win the game, but using Galtier's solution to solve a long-standing problem will give Scaloni's team the best chance. I hope Scaloni can think of a better lineup match in the later games, otherwise it will still disappoint fans who are hoping to see Messi win the Hercules Cup in the last World Cup.
