Argentina won in Colombia. It was 2-1, after finishing the first half 1-0 down.
The Manager is the one who decides the tactics, the names, the strategies and the substitutions. The players go out there and do what they are told.
Argentina came out with 4 at the back. Fernandez for Demichelis was the only change respect of the team that drew with Bolivia.
The big difference was in midfield, where the double 5 was abandoned in place of 4 holding midfield players. Brana, Mascherano,Sosa and Guinazu. And finally, two up front in Messi and Higuain.
Colombia, went out with 4 defenders, 4 in midfield, one link player, slightly ahead of them and one striker.
Clearly it was going to be a midfield battle. One that Argentina simply were not going to be able to win. His 4 holding midfielders can get the ball back, short pass it, but none is able from there to be creative and start an attack.
Which means the two strikers would need to go back and get the ball of them near the centre circle, which is not good at all.
And once the game began, that is exactly what happened. Argentina recovered many balls on that midfield battle, the midfielders recover many balls, and normally, in their respective clubs, they will quickly pass it to a link player to start the attacks.
Well here they did not have that link player, so what they did, was what they normally do. Pass it short to another holding midfielder, who in turn passed it again short to another holding midfielder, until they lost the ball.
This meant that Colombia started all of their attacks already on their enemy’s half of the field making it more difficult to defend against.
The efficiency of the home side was awful. If Argentina would have been playing against a half decent team, the game would have been over at half time.
But Colombia could not finish them off. They got a deserved goal at the stroke of half time, when Mascherano put his leg out to a free kick and wrong footed his own keeper to score an unlucky own goal.
So the review of that first half is as follows; Argentina came out not to lose the game ans Colombia came out hoping for the best. They had 3 very important players missing in Falcao, Guarin and Perea
The home Manager won that round. His team did the best they could and ended up 1-0 up. The visitors came out not to lose and were 1-0 down, even if statistics show that they had most of the ball and completed more passes.
It was obvious that Argentina needed to make some changes if they were going to change the tide and get something out of this game.
Burdisso’s injury on the first half meant they only had two substitutions available, so Sabella needed to think carefully about what to do next.
Most of us were expecting Pastore or Ricky to come in replacing Sosa, who was the weakest link on the first 45 minutes. So it came as a surprise when the player on was Aguero and the one of was Guinazu, who was amongst the best on that half.
That changed the tactical position of the Argentinean side and more importantly it changed the whole game.
They did not play well, but they improved massively.
Mascherano and Brana became the double 5, biting, recovering (not shining but with courage)
Right in front of them, to the left it was Sosa, and Messi was deployed as a link, with freedom to roam anywhere. With Aguero and Higuain up front, but starting their runs slightly closer to Messi and Sosa, bringing the defenders out with them.
This change of Attitude and quality (not great but better) happened when the lines played closer to one another.
As the second half developed Mascherano and Brana found themselves recovering balls on Colombia’s side of midfield, and there they had Messi and Sosa (what a different player he was on that second half) to link with, and they had the option to play between them or involve the strikers.
Lionel finally carried the team playing and making the rest of the team play. He was helped by the intelligence of Aguero and Higuain who were pulling defenders out, giving Messi more space and freedom.
And then it came the goal to draw the game level. Messi started it, opened it to the left for Sosa who put in an awful cross. Mistake by the keeper who spills it and Messi was there to tap it in.
Lucky but deserved.
The Colombians were totally surprised by these tactical changes and had no answers. They kept running like on the first half, they kept losing the ball as well, and were totally dominated.
And then the 2-1 for the visitors came. Aguero, made a fantastic 50 meters run without the ball, and arrive at the right place at the right time to score.
The last few minutes of the game saw Argentina do something we have not seen in a long while and that was defend well.
As a review of the second half we saw that Colombia came out, like on the first half, hoping for the best but Argentina came out to win it.
Sabella changed the tactics, compacted the team and it paid off.
It was not spectacular by any means, just simple improvements. Team played closer to one another, they ran less, they passed better, and Messi had the freedom and the will to take his countrymen forward.
The visiting Manager won this round.
The positives for Argentina
1) The defense work better, and it appeared more solid.
2) Sabella corrected, on the second half, the structure and saved his team from another bad result.
3) The second half tactical changes made the players feel more comfortable and their attitude towards the game changed.
4) Messi finally returned, even if only for 45 minutes.
The negatives were:
1) Such a poor first half (not blaming the players here but the Manager), could have cost the game against a half decent side.
2) The team needed to fall behind to react.
Let’s not be defeatist, as the improvement came when it was needed. But let’s not be too triumphant either, because it was not great and it was against an uninspired and weak side.
When Argentina played not to lose, they were losing. When they came out to win it, they did.
Just imagine, Sabella, if your team had that attitude throughout the whole game. It could have been even a bigger scoreline.
The Manager is the one who decides the tactics, the names, the strategies and the substitutions. The players go out there and do what they are told.
Argentina came out with 4 at the back. Fernandez for Demichelis was the only change respect of the team that drew with Bolivia.
The big difference was in midfield, where the double 5 was abandoned in place of 4 holding midfield players. Brana, Mascherano,Sosa and Guinazu. And finally, two up front in Messi and Higuain.
Colombia, went out with 4 defenders, 4 in midfield, one link player, slightly ahead of them and one striker.
Clearly it was going to be a midfield battle. One that Argentina simply were not going to be able to win. His 4 holding midfielders can get the ball back, short pass it, but none is able from there to be creative and start an attack.
Which means the two strikers would need to go back and get the ball of them near the centre circle, which is not good at all.
And once the game began, that is exactly what happened. Argentina recovered many balls on that midfield battle, the midfielders recover many balls, and normally, in their respective clubs, they will quickly pass it to a link player to start the attacks.
Well here they did not have that link player, so what they did, was what they normally do. Pass it short to another holding midfielder, who in turn passed it again short to another holding midfielder, until they lost the ball.
This meant that Colombia started all of their attacks already on their enemy’s half of the field making it more difficult to defend against.
The efficiency of the home side was awful. If Argentina would have been playing against a half decent team, the game would have been over at half time.
But Colombia could not finish them off. They got a deserved goal at the stroke of half time, when Mascherano put his leg out to a free kick and wrong footed his own keeper to score an unlucky own goal.
So the review of that first half is as follows; Argentina came out not to lose the game ans Colombia came out hoping for the best. They had 3 very important players missing in Falcao, Guarin and Perea
The home Manager won that round. His team did the best they could and ended up 1-0 up. The visitors came out not to lose and were 1-0 down, even if statistics show that they had most of the ball and completed more passes.
It was obvious that Argentina needed to make some changes if they were going to change the tide and get something out of this game.
Burdisso’s injury on the first half meant they only had two substitutions available, so Sabella needed to think carefully about what to do next.
Most of us were expecting Pastore or Ricky to come in replacing Sosa, who was the weakest link on the first 45 minutes. So it came as a surprise when the player on was Aguero and the one of was Guinazu, who was amongst the best on that half.
That changed the tactical position of the Argentinean side and more importantly it changed the whole game.
They did not play well, but they improved massively.
Mascherano and Brana became the double 5, biting, recovering (not shining but with courage)
Right in front of them, to the left it was Sosa, and Messi was deployed as a link, with freedom to roam anywhere. With Aguero and Higuain up front, but starting their runs slightly closer to Messi and Sosa, bringing the defenders out with them.
This change of Attitude and quality (not great but better) happened when the lines played closer to one another.
As the second half developed Mascherano and Brana found themselves recovering balls on Colombia’s side of midfield, and there they had Messi and Sosa (what a different player he was on that second half) to link with, and they had the option to play between them or involve the strikers.
Lionel finally carried the team playing and making the rest of the team play. He was helped by the intelligence of Aguero and Higuain who were pulling defenders out, giving Messi more space and freedom.
And then it came the goal to draw the game level. Messi started it, opened it to the left for Sosa who put in an awful cross. Mistake by the keeper who spills it and Messi was there to tap it in.
Lucky but deserved.
The Colombians were totally surprised by these tactical changes and had no answers. They kept running like on the first half, they kept losing the ball as well, and were totally dominated.
And then the 2-1 for the visitors came. Aguero, made a fantastic 50 meters run without the ball, and arrive at the right place at the right time to score.
The last few minutes of the game saw Argentina do something we have not seen in a long while and that was defend well.
As a review of the second half we saw that Colombia came out, like on the first half, hoping for the best but Argentina came out to win it.
Sabella changed the tactics, compacted the team and it paid off.
It was not spectacular by any means, just simple improvements. Team played closer to one another, they ran less, they passed better, and Messi had the freedom and the will to take his countrymen forward.
The visiting Manager won this round.
The positives for Argentina
1) The defense work better, and it appeared more solid.
2) Sabella corrected, on the second half, the structure and saved his team from another bad result.
3) The second half tactical changes made the players feel more comfortable and their attitude towards the game changed.
4) Messi finally returned, even if only for 45 minutes.
The negatives were:
1) Such a poor first half (not blaming the players here but the Manager), could have cost the game against a half decent side.
2) The team needed to fall behind to react.
Let’s not be defeatist, as the improvement came when it was needed. But let’s not be too triumphant either, because it was not great and it was against an uninspired and weak side.
When Argentina played not to lose, they were losing. When they came out to win it, they did.
Just imagine, Sabella, if your team had that attitude throughout the whole game. It could have been even a bigger scoreline.