After naming his most recent squad for what could be two matches which decide his status as Argentina head coach, Gerardo Martino expressed his concern over how his side have started World Cup qualification and how they must improve in the continued absence of Lionel Messi. The unforgiving process of South American qualifying continues on November 12th with Brazil visiting the Monumental, five days prior to a daunting trip to Barranquilla to face Colombia and Martino is all to aware of the pressure that he finds himself under.

Speaking to Súper Mitre Deportivo, Martino spoke about Argentina’s defeat to Ecuador in the opening round and admitted some concern over his side’s performance: “We are worried about this start in the qualifiers. Against Ecuador, we did not expect the team to play so poorly.

“I think it was my worst match as coach of Argentina. During the Copa América I thought that the ideas had been understood but against Ecuador we regressed, and demonstrated that the ideas are not yet firm.”

Many critics would argue that performances during the Copa América were only marginally better and that the absence of Lionel Messi from the opening qualifiers merely exposed this. Messi will still not be available when Argentina face Brazil and Colombia and other than recalling Gonzalo Higuaín, Martino will be calling upon much the same squad that spectacularly failed earlier this month.

When asked about how Argentina cope without their inspirational captain, Martino responded: “It is not good for the team to depend on Messi.

“It is not fair to fall back on the creation of our play around one single player. We have had good matches without Messi. It is no justification that his absence translates to poor performance.”

While the sentiment is absolutely correct, Martino must back this with a performance to match. A large part of this will fall on the midfield; Messi dropping deep into midfield provides the creative link with the attack and against Ecuador and Paraguay, Javier Pastore in the role of enganche was completely anonymous. Will Martino try and utilise the enigmatic Paris St Germain midfielder again? Will Enzo Pérez be brought into the side to bring a bit of thrust? Against Brazil on November 12th there is little room for error.

Regarding the decision to recall Gonzalo Higuaín after omitting the Napoli striker from the first qualifiers, Martino said: “It was a decision I made because I understood that he did not have to come. To miss a penalty kick is not a reason to leave a player off the team. The damage from the Copa America [loss] was much bigger than what I first thought.”

As always Martino was forced to field questions on Carlos Tevez and his position in the side and the coach also admitted to looking at Rosario Central striker, Marco Ruben, who has been in scintillating form in Argentina this season.

Finally, Martino was asked his opinion on the failure of the under-17s after their recent first round exit at the World Cup and he responded: “It is unfair and inappropriate to give an opinion on a negative result from the youth side. The bad results at this level do not affect my work, but yes it is wrong for Argentine football.”