Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland and Australia
The four opponents that Argentina has faced in the World Cup so far.
There's a power gap with both yourself.
Looking at these four games, Argentina's field operations have been notoriously problematic, but due to the strength gap between them and their opponents, it's often possible to
Rely on the individual abilities of the stars to score the winning goal.
Including the round of sixteen knockout rounds early this morning.
Argentina still hasn't scored a team goal that's pleasing to the eye.
, making it very worrying whether this powerhouse team, with a very top-notch lineup on the table, will be able to go the distance.
The question of Lautaro Martinez, in particular, is starting to get a lot of attention in the Round of 16 against Australia.
It wasn't just the outrageous missed shot against Australia, but throughout the WC, Lautaro looked like he was possessed, failing to play well this year at the
FC Internazionale Milano (football club)
of the world's top striker strength.
For each of those four games, Whoscored gave Lautaro Martinez an on-field rating of
6.51, 6.16, 5.9 (only 11 minutes on the court) , 6.17 (19 minutes on the court), definitely a very substandard performance.
Let's start with the individual stat side he surrendered, during this year's season, Lautaro Martinez was
The Volunteer League averages 1.6 Key passes a game.
(indicates contrast)
That statistic was drastically lower for him in the World Cup, averaging just 0.3 Key passes a game.
And he has in recent years played in the Yik Yak and
European crown
On the field.
Averaging 19.3 and 18.3 completed passes per game, respectively, that figure dropped to about half that of 10.5 since his arrival at the World Cup.
While the pass success rate has remained the same at around 75%, the drastic decrease in pass attempts is also showing that he is in the
Extreme discomfort in the frontcourt.
Lautaro has been in poor form, starting both games against Poland and Australia on the bench, but that doesn't mean he hasn't gotten a lot of shots on goal. Early this morning's game.
Lautaro had three shots on goal in 19 minutes of playing time and couldn't capitalize properly.
The poor form also greatly affected Lautaro's mood, who could be seen late in the match in the
The run up front started to become negative and the attitude issue became something that the pundits and fans questioned him on after the game
Lautaro Martinez itself
The ability to hold the ball in the back isn't very impressive.
Such a question was asked in the
The amplification in the Argentina lineup has also led to Lionel Messi needing to hold the ball back more frequently
. Couple that with Lautaro's poor performance up front.
Failed to share Messi's work up front properly. It's definitely not good for Argentina to deplete Messi, who is already 35 years old, so often.
With midfielder Lo Celso out with a major injury.
Midfielders such as De Paul, Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez have a much heavier workload to carry.
Messi is capable of sharing a little bit of the attacking and defensive tasks in the midfield if the front court can run smoothly. But Lautaro's poor form has also led to
Messi is going to be more focused on his tasks up front, which leaves De Paul without a proper midfield metronome role
and instead spend more effort on solidifying the midfield defense.
It also greatly seals off his not-so-great long-range shooting ability.
What is even more worrying for Argentina is that the already poor condition of the
Sidekick Ángel Di María was injured in the group game against Poland, leading to an even tighter situation on the offensive line.
Papu Gomez, who was activated for the match with Australia, did more of the midfield work.
Wide back Acuña, while possessing a decent attacking ability, was unable to perfectly replicate Di María's threatening presence on the wing.
Combined with the fact that he was already expected to carry some of the defensive burden, the problems in the Argentine lineup were arguably compounded.
