International friendlies sandwiched into the already packed football calendar usually serve as little more than thinly-veiled marketing opportunities with players and coaching staff less interested in results and more focused on returning to domestic life unscathed. Argentina’s recent trip to the United States appeared just so, with Gerardo Martino opting to name a more or less unchanged squad and implement few fresh ideas for Argentina to grow towards the ultimate goal of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Despite injuries forcing Martino into bringing a few new faces, the 7-0 massacre of Bolivia appeared to be an almost useless exercise, but after the 2-2 draw with México and the questions that it posed – perhaps these friendlies did illuminate an existing issue with La Albiceleste.

Such was the ease of victory against Bolivia, Gerardo Martino would have struggled to grasp anything from what he saw – the defence were given the night off, the midfield enjoyed a luxury of time and space ill-afforded at international level and the attack had almost the freedom to penetrate at will. The debuts of Matías Kranevitter, Ángel Correa and Emmanuel Más at least provided the supporters with a glimpse of some potential newcomers and a glut of goals is always reason to cheer but structurally, there was little to dissect. If Bolivia proved to be almost too much of an easy night, the 2-2 draw with México four days later, was unexpectedly difficult. Perhaps both should be taken in their context as friendlies and written off as glorified training sessions, but in tandem, and with the possibility to draw direct comparisons between two distinct starting elevens there is food for thought.

Gerardo Martino accepted that his side performed far from perfectly but focused on the perceived postives when assessing the more competitive match against México: “México scored goals, but Argentina were the protagonists. Argentina has had the most control of the game and México did a good job taking advantage of open spaces that we left. They never took leadership of the match, we were the absolute protagonists — with defects, errors and virtues.” 

Even peering from behind a set of blue and white tinted spectacles this would seem to be a very generous appraisal of the match. Control was something that Argentina seemed to fail to grasp with a midfield almost completely absent and México understandably set-up to play on the counter. For almost the entire match, Ricardo Ferretti’s El Tri side enjoyed enormous success on the break and had it not been for Javier Hernández lacking his usual sharpness, they may have been out of sight by the time Sergio Agüero kickstarted the comeback.

The 52-year-old may have wanted to point out that six of his initial squad had pulled out and he had been forced into several changes but in fact it was at least one of these enforced replacements that gave most reason for optimism from Argentina’s friendlies and now exerts a certain degree of pressure ahead of the next squad.

Martino’s apparent reluctance to make meaningful changes to the starting eleven has seen Argentina fail to make any kind of progression since World Cup Qualification under Alejandro Sabella. During this earlier period, La Albiceleste thrived with a midfield three that benefitted from the athleticism of Ángel Di María and were able to counter sides at pace and draw the best from Lionel Messi. When the World Cup came around and Argentina found themselves up against sides willing to sacrifice possession and not commit too many players forward, suddenly the attack was stunted. Regardless, Sabella came within a couple of missed chances against Germany from lifting the ultimate prize in world football and so it would appear Martino inherited a side with at least the foundations for success.

Argentina under Martino is very similar in personnel but is set-up to control possession far more than Sabella’s side ever were. For this reason, Martino made it clear from day one that Di María would be considered for a role in his attacking trident but not in the midfield and the result since has been a struggle to find a suitable balance within the three that protects the defence but contributes to the attack and allows the transitions from the back to flow freely enough to hurt opponents.

This was evident during the Copa América with a variety of different midfielders but against México on Tuesday the selection of Javier Mascherano, Fernando Gago and Éver Banega fulfilled almost no function. Mascherano and Gago were too pedestrian in their passing and that left Banega with an impossible task of shouldering the burden of creativity and providing forward thrust from midfield. While Mascherano remains an exemplary leader and a superb ball winner, the distribution of the ball needs to be more effective and all too often a potential Argentina move stagnates as the ball is shifted backwards or sideways allowing the opposition to drop back into position. Gago, meanwhile, is in theory selected for just this purpose but appears well below the required level for international football and has never enjoyed the physical side of playing in central midfield. The idea of playing with two defensive midfielders simply does not give Argentina a platform to attack and worryingly against México it did not even protect the defence from regular Mexican counters.

This could be ignored as a friendly or a result of Martino’s perhaps preferred options of Lucas Biglia and Javier Pastore being out injured but the emergence from the Bolivia friendly of River Plate’s Matías Kranevitter only served to highlight the point. For at least the past year as Marcelo Gallardo’s River have been imperious, Kranevitter has developed into the best number five currently playing in South America and it is little surprise that Atlético Madrid have already sealed a deal to take him to the Vicente Calderón in January. A busy, battling presence in front of the defence but one who effectively moves the ball forward and helps to generate attacks, Kranevitter has for a while been eyed as a long-term replacement for Mascherano.

Gerardo Martino had spoken of his admiration of the 22-year-old on numerous occasions in the past but it wasn’t until the injury to Lucas Biglia that the Argentina coach decided to hand Kranevitter his first call-up. Against Bolivia, Martino named a very unfamiliar side and El Colo took his place alongside Roberto Pereyra and Érik Lamela, but in his natural number five position. There are far sterner tests in world football than Bolivia, but Kranevitter looked at ease in his surroundings and carried his club form directly onto the pitch in Houston. The youngster held the midfield together, completing 93 passes (the highest amount on the pitch other than Ramiro Funes Mori) at a success rate of 92.5% and what crucially sets him apart from the simple defensive passes of Funes Mori, is that many of Kranevitter’s were in the opposition half, with one being the assist for Ángel Correa’s debut goal. It wasn’t only in possession that Kranevitter’s influence was obvious, as the 22-year-old led the way with seven recoveries of the ball, snuffing out any potential danger before it developed.

Partnered with Juventus’ Roberto Pereyra, who was able to provide the energy to push forward and support the attack, Argentina’s midfield, albeit against the weakest of opponents, was more vibrant and able to link the different transitional parts of play. Gerardo Martino’s task now is to find this balance against stronger sides and maintain a solid, defensive structure while not diminishing the creativity and dynamism that is needed.

If this is achieved, the performances of Lionel Messi will also improve as he will no longer be drifting deeper and deeper in matches to try and impact the game. A functioning midfield would be getting the ball forward quicker and finding Messi in positions that we are more used to see him receiving the ball for Barcelona.

Javier Mascherano spoke prior to the friendlies on the subject of how Barcelona effectively get the most from Messi and he admitted that it takes the flexibility of those around him to adjust. “Our style of play is based a lot on the characteristics of the players. Barcelona are moulded in such a way so that Leo can have the freedom to start in one place but finish in another. And the entire team adapts to his movement.

“You can’t put him in one box in one place, he would keep giving you things but you would lose so many others. Our movement has to be based on where he goes. Our intelligence is in knowing how to occupy the spaces in important moments and taking advantage of that.”

Now replicating a system that Barcelona have been able to hone from their youth sides is not really an option but there are elements that Argentina can utilise and a large part of that is moving the ball into Messi quickly in areas of the pitch where he can cause damage and not leaving him isolated so that he is able to exchange quick passes with midfield players.

Interestingly at Barcelona, Mascherano was converted from a defensive midfielder to a central defender after Pep Guardiola favoured Sergio Busquets in the number five role. Kranevitter is perhaps closer in style to Busquets than he is Mascherano as the two are more progressive and seek to shift the ball forward to teammates far sharper than Mascherano does, and although there are two more midfielders required to complete the system, young El Colo might be the first piece of the puzzle.

This is not to suggest that Mascherano is suddenly a poor player on the basis of a bad game against México. El Jefecito remains a vital part of Martino’s plan, not least for his inspiring leadership but his versitility to play in both positions. Whether Mascherano is better suited to play in the back four as he does for Barcelona remains to be seen but it might be time to have an extended look at Kranevitter as the number five. After successive narrow failures and repeated errors in the structure of the side, Martino needs to explore alternatives. A possession based side but one that is able to recycle the play quicker will benefit Argentina and should see La Albiceleste utilise the remarkable talent of Lionel Messi rather than rely on it as they have since the World Cup.

Martino’s apparent reluctance to introduce more of the young players currently vying for spots in the Argentina squad might be based on the immediate importance of World Cup qualification but this cannot be to the detriment of the national side long-term. Had it not been for injuries, Kranevitter or Correa would still not have had their debuts and would have missed out on valuable experience. Qualification is a must but that can be done whilst integrating some of the younger players who will actually play in Russia in 2018. There are questions to ask when the likes of Fernando Gago or Martín Demechelis (who was coaxed back out of retirement to continue playing) are being selected ahead of fresh faces. Will they play a role in Argentina’s future? Almost certainly the answer is no. Are they better than some of the alternatives available now? Hopefully Kranevitter has proved this in the case of Gago. Therefore are they hindering the progress of players who genuinely will be part of Argentina in the coming years? Probably yes. Martino must see the positives of selecting Kranevitter and Correa and continue to do so with the likes of Dybala, Vietto, Icardi and Rulli for the forthcoming squads.