In response to another post on the subject, I thought I'd put forward another idea for how Argentina should play.

Firstly, they need someone up front who's good with their back to goal, so that Messi can cut in on the diagonal and play those one-twos that are so often the final swish of the Barcelona knife, and I believe that the man they must play is Gonzalo Higuain. Never mind Aguero, never mind Tevez, never mind Lavezzi, Zarate etc., Higuain could be the key man to Argentina winning the World Cup, because he offers them that different dimension to get the best out of Messi.

Secondly they're going to need midfielders who can actually move, so as to move around and provide Messi with space. So, instead of going for the usual Veron/Riquelme/both, I thought a combination of the wonderfully in-form Ever Banega (if you like, in the Xavi role) and the more combative, aggressive Lucho (perhaps the Iniesta role), protected by Cambiasso, Mascherano or Gago. These players would have the ability to keep the ball and the energy to win it back, and have complementary styles, not least with Messi.

The other issue is who goes on the other wing to Messi? The simple answer is Tevez or Aguero, and I'd be inclined to go for Tevez on the grounds that he's more likely to stick to a tactical plan than Aguero. If they were a club side and had a summer to train and practice, I'd practice with Aguero as a wide-forward (because he does drift there), but as they don't, I'd feel Tevez to be a better bet. I feel Tevez to be ideally suited to this as his energy levels and one-against-one dribbling and team skills are considerably better than his goal-scoring, and suit him better to the wing for Argentina, at least.

So, to sum up: 1) 4-3-3; 2) Banega and Lucho; 3) Tevez on the wing (though I stress that, of course, the front three would be fluid - how could they not be with Messi about?).

Thus, from 1-11:

1 - Romero
2 - Zanetti
3 - Insua
4 - Demichelis
5 - Mascherano/Gago/Cambiasso
6 - Samuel
7 - Lucho
8 - Banega
9 - Higuain
10 - Messi
11 - Tevez

Thoughts?

Recent success Barcelona enjoys, had made 4-3-3 the one cure for all footballing issues. I want to offer some counter arguements.

A 4-3-3 is not the type of formation that you can decide to play today and start playing tomorrow. It needs a lot of time and team practice to perfect it. Barca started with Rijkaard, struggled for a good part of a season and only started reaping benefits on the second year. Guardiola evolved this further to an unbeatable machine.

Argentina on the other hand, as every national team, trains together infrequently and the sessions they have is not that long. There's simply no time to master a complicated formation.

Barcelona are free to buy anybody as long as they can afford the player. Do they need an explosive left back? No problem, they can buy Dani Alves from Sevilla. Argentina on the other hand must utilise the aging Zanetti. Need a left back? Buy Abidal. Argentina's best left back is Insua.

At the moment Argentina does not have good enough players for the positions 7 and 8. Lucho and Banega are no Xavi and Iniesta. And these two position are actually the most critical for making a 4-3-3 work.

With the current crop of players, what really suits Argentina is a 4-3-1-2. I guess they have the best defensive midfields with Mascherano, Cambiasso and Gago among all nations in WC. These can create freedom for Messi to play like a traditional play making number 10. Tevez can be the phisiycal presence in attack and Higuain(or Aguero) can be the fox in the box.

Just my 2 cents.

Great linuep, but FeriAts has a valid point. And, argentina did try a 4-2-1-3 against Uruguay at home & won 2-1. The 4-3-1-2 really is their formation, despite people saying the enganche is a luxury. Another formation that can work is the 4-2-2-2 because in a midfield diamond one player is defensive (cambiasso) & someone like veron or lucho & maxi pushes up, thus creating "the magic square" I do believe that if Argentina had won the copa they wouldn't be in this trouble, as their confidence was sucked right out of them. On a good note Ayala has stated if his services were needed he wouldn't say no!

Very true all comments, but it must be said that Messi in a 4-3-1-2 would surely find space almost impossible to come by, especially in a tense World Cup environment (and what with conditions in the South African winter, it may be worse than usual).

The points about the inadequacy of Banega and Lucho are valid though, as are the ones about preparation for the formation, although with the modern footballer being tactically aware (perhaps due to so many of them being based in Europe) they may be more acclimatised to the system (certainly Messi would be). However, the full backs remain the fundamental problem, and the talk of Maradona going to three at the back (a formation, after all, that he knows intimately) hasn't been too surprising.

I don't think you solve fullback problems in a narrow 4-3-1-2. So alot of your width still has to come from the three attacking players.

I think if they are dynamic and interchange to provide width and an "in the hole" presence unpredictably, then they will look like 4-3-1-2 sometimes, and 4-3-3 at other times. All the better if you don't know what to call it.

I do like the idea of Gago, Cambiasso and el Jefecito playing three across in deep midfield.

Width is your enemy if you don't have the people to cope with it. What I am basically saying is Argentina needs a compact and defensive team for the world cup.

Defending well and offloading organization of attack to a playmaker is a proven tactic for tournements. Romania with Hagi, Bulgaria with Stoichkov and Denmark with Laudrup have punched above their weights with this strategy. And then there are the Italians...