How coach-on-pitch Messi undid England's tactics on the fly
BBC Sport · C · trust 57/100
Football tactics correspondent Published 13 minutes ago England pride themselves on their physicality, so shouldn't it have suited them to face a 39-year-old who spends most of his time walking?
Well, that's not quite how it turned out.
Lionel Messi is less athletic compared to his younger self, but his footballing intelligence makes up for the physical drop-off.
As England conceded control of the World Cup semi-final because of their own fatigue and Thomas Tuchel's in-game changes, veteran Messi strolled authoritatively and effectively served as Argentina's on-field coach.
So how did Messi find and exploit England's weaknesses to deliver victory for Argentina in Atlanta?
In the first half, England looked to press Argentina high.
Wingers Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers were tasked with pressing the two Argentina central defenders – angling their body in a way that made finding the full-backs harder for goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and his centre-backs, Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez.
For Argentina, it felt like the simpler passes were on through the middle of the pitch, but in playing these they fell into England's trap early on.
Jude Bellingham was positioned deeper than Argentina might have expected. Rather than leading the press, he was being asked to pay close attention to Enzo Fernandez. Declan Rice did the same with Alexis Mac Allister and Elliot Anderson found himself paired up to Messi.
England wanted to physically bully Argentina when the World Cup holders tried to play their famously central-focused football.
The England midfield trio, showing energy early on, did well to stifle Argentina. Anderson in particular was snappy, early to his duels, smothering Messi well.
But Messi, like Fernandez and Mac Allister, began to grow into the game.
Argentina's captain started to take deeper positions, posing Anderson a dilemma - how far should he follow him? Messi's walking pace, a tool of great deception, came in handy here too.
From almost a standing start, Messi would burst into life, darting towards the ball. With the defending side having to react to these sudden movements, the advantage was increasingly with Argentina, especially as England's press faded as tiredness began to set in.
With players dropping towards the ball in this way, Argentina were able to bring the ball up the pitch as a unit and begin to gain some control.
'Passive' and 'crumbled' - did Tuchel's defensive tactics cost England?
Published 2 hours ago How Messi masterclass mangled England hopes England scored through Anthony Gordon in the 55th minute and held the lead for half an hour.
Fernandez struck a brilliant equaliser in the 85th minute, after Messi picked him out near the edge of the penalty area.
Lautaro Martinez then won the game in stoppage time with a header from Messi's cross.
Between Gordon's goal and Argentina's equaliser, England had only 12% of the ball which meant they spent most of the second half defending in deep positions.
It became a tussle of Argentina's attack versus England's defence, which lived a charmed life for a while.
Argentina persisted though, with Messi exploiting weaknesses in England's structure and flaws in individual players' habits to inspire his side's comeback.
After getting some joy against Messi in the early stages of the game, Anderson's front-footed approach became less effective with Messi adapting on the fly to his direct opponent's playing style.
In fact, Messi began to use Anderson's aggression against him. He held the ball for as long as possible, drawing the 23-year-old out, before flicking the ball around the corner for team-mates in the knowledge there was now space to attack in the zone Anderson had vacated.
For Argentina's opening goal, Messi, after playing a one-two following a short corner, took advantage of Anderson's willingness to engage in duels again.
As Messi dribbled in-field, Anderson left his central position to double up on the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner.
Messi cleverly delayed his pass, releasing it only after attracting players towards him, which allowed Fernandez plenty of space in which he could gather the ball, pick his target and strike decisively at goal without being challenged.
England focused on blocking space centrally, looking to defend their lead and stop Argentina playing their natural game.
Messi left his central position and instead stood where space emerged. Against England's deep and centrally compact shape, this space was either deep – in front of England's block – or wide on the right touchline.
By moving into these empty spaces unmarked, Messi was either free to receive the ball with time and space, or he would drag players towards him, disorganising England's block and opening up space elsewhere.
The positions he took up were unorthodox, but they allowed him to grasp control of the game with his familiarly impressive dribbling and passing.
As great as Bellingham was in attack during the tournament, his defensive positioning on Wednesday led to situations that allowed Messi to attack dangerously.
In a 4-4-2 block, the near-side striker is commonly asked to come across to help defend the wide areas. Down Argentina's right, this would have been Bellingham's job.
Messi, recognising that Bellingham was often caught high up the pitch, or drawn towards the ball, would use this as a chance to hold a position in the space behind him.
To be more specific, this space was towards the right and often just deep enough to make it hard for England's central midfielders to get close.
This made it easy for Argentina to sustain attacks and created small-sided games that resulted in dangerous crosses into the box. Messi and a team-mate were often two against two on the right flank, but if both the winger and full-back joined Messi, there were occasions where Argentina had a three-against-two overload if Bellingham hadn't come across.
Argentina committed many attackers into the box when the ball was…
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