Argentina 4-0 Mexico: 3 talking points | International friendly

#1 Despite Messi's absence, Argentina thrive with a masterclass performance

Argentina v Mexico - FIFA Friendly Match

Lionel Scaloni came into the Argentina managerial role in less than ideal circumstances, and his haphazard results and team selection for the 2019 Copa America did little to restore confidence in the team.

The 41-year-old was retained in his position largely because the Argentine managerial role is one of the most difficult on the international scene, acting as something of a poisoned chalice which almost no one wants to drink from.

To say that Scaloni has been criticized throughout his managerial tenure with Argentina is merely stating the obvious, and those criticisms reached new heights after the goalless stalemate with Chile.

In response, Scaloni made some changes to the squad for the match against Mexico, bringing in Andrada for Marchesin in goal, while Luca Martinez came in for Otamendi at the heart of defence.

Further upfield, a change of system was also implemented, with Scaloni playing a 4-1-4-1 in place of the 4-3-3 he deployed against Chile.

Paulo Dybala, Joaquin Correa and Giovani Lo Celso were all dropped to the bench, with Carlos Macalister, Martin Acuna and Ezequiel Palacios starting in their stead.

The result of this was that Argentina arguably gave their best performance under Scaloni, dominating Mexico with a complete performance.

Despite having just 37% of the possession, Argentina bossed in every other statistic, having 17 shots to Mexico's 4, with seven of those being on target while Mexico forced Andrada into just one save.

This result was posted despite Argentina not having the services of their greatest player Lionel Messi, while key members of the squad like Angel di Maria and Sergio Aguero were also missing, but Scaloni would have been delighted with the way his players stepped up in their stead.