Exploiting Messi's Weaknesses: England's Key to World Cup Victory

Jamie Carragher has seen enough of Lionel Messi to know one thing: you don’t stop him. You live with him – and you hurt him the other way.

As England prepare for a World Cup semi-final with Argentina in Atlanta, the 39-year-old believes Thomas Tuchel’s side must be as ruthless in targeting Messi’s weaknesses as they are in fearing his strengths.

Messi has lit up the tournament again, with eight goals and two assists, dragging Argentina towards a second straight World Cup final. Every opponent has obsessed over how to contain him. Carragher thinks England need a second, sharper question: how do they use him?

‘You can exploit Messi’

"It's nothing new with Messi. He's been around for 20 years and no one has found the answer," Carragher said. "There has to be a plan. I don't think it will be a man-marking job, but they need a plan. The players will be expecting that."

He’s not talking about surrender. Quite the opposite.

"It's not admitting defeat in any way. You're coming up against arguably the greatest player of all time. He's shown that in this tournament too.

"Also, they should be thinking about how they can exploit Lionel Messi as well. He walks about when the opposition have got the ball, so that doesn't mean England's left-back should stand next to him for the whole of the game.

"They can exploit the fact that Argentina only defend with nine outfield players."

That is the tactical fault line Carragher wants England to attack. When Argentina lose the ball, Messi often stays high and drifts, conserving energy for the next counter. It leaves gaps. It leaves responsibility on others. It leaves a brave side with a chance to overload and run at a back line that is one man short of help.

For Carragher, that’s not a detail. It’s an invitation.

Echoes of Croatia

England have waited 60 years to reach another World Cup final. To get there, they must go through a team that will not sit in and suffer. Carragher hopes that suits them.

"I don't think there's too much between the teams. I'm hoping that this game has got elements of the Croatia game in it, where you're playing against a side who fancy themselves as a good team," he said.

"I certainly don't think they'll be getting everybody behind the ball. They'll try to tackle us, and will that leave space for ourselves to attack? Their full-backs like to go high and wide, but they don't really play with wingers, so maybe that's something we can exploit.

"I'm hoping that it's a different type of game than what we've seen from the majority of England games throughout this competition. I still don't think England have been anywhere near the best in performance-wise."

There it is again: exploit. Argentina’s full-backs push on, the wide areas open, and England’s attackers are asked to be braver, quicker, more incisive than they have been so far. Tuchel’s team have survived and advanced; they have not yet convinced. Carragher senses this semi-final demands a different version of England.

Tuchel’s blunt edge

Tuchel’s own words have already cut through the camp once this week. After the quarter-final win over Norway, the German did not sugar-coat what he had seen. He criticised England’s quality on the ball and admitted they had almost thrown the tie away.

Jude Bellingham, fresh from scoring twice in brutal Miami heat that pushed the feel-like temperature towards 40C, bristled a little when those comments were put to him. He suggested Tuchel did not fully grasp how draining the conditions had been.

From the outside, that looked like a fault line. Carragher doesn’t buy it.

"I didn't think there was anything wrong at all with Tuchel's comments," he said. "He's probably a little bit emotional after the game. England didn't play particularly well and could have easily lost that game against Norway.

"I totally understand Tuchel. We know what he was like at Chelsea. That's one of his plus points. He tells you straight. You've seen him against [Djed] Spence in this tournament.

"In a World Cup, a manager's got to be decisive. He's got to make big decisions, he's got to tell people straight. You can't wait. Things need to happen right away. I thought the interview from the manager was brilliant.

"Jude, again, he's emotional after the game. He's just scored a couple of goals, and then he's realised how hard it was on the pitch, and the conditions as well. I could understand that, but Thomas Tuchel will be absolutely fine with that."

Bluntness from the manager. Honesty from the star midfielder. For Carragher, that’s not a crisis. That’s a World Cup dressing room doing what it should do under stress.

Saka over Madueke

Selection headaches have eased for Tuchel. Declan Rice is fit. Reece James is back and featured off the bench against Norway. The real debate now sits on the right flank.

Noni Madueke has started four games this summer. Bukayo Saka, his Arsenal team-mate, has three starts and a body that has not quite been right all tournament. Tuchel has to choose between rhythm and reputation, between a player who has had his chances and one still chasing full sharpness.

Carragher is clear.

"I think Madueke's had a lot of chances in this tournament," he said. "It hasn't quite happened for him. Saka certainly hasn't been at his best, but as we know, he's not 100 per cent fit.

"I'm just hoping with each minute or longer he's on the pitch and other appearances, we start to see a little bit of what we know of Bukayo Saka.

"These are the games you take a chance in. If he's right, or you think you can get something from him, you've got to pick him. There's no worrying about what comes after that. I know it's a World Cup final after that, but this game is too important."

No hedging, no saving legs for a hypothetical Sunday. Carragher wants Saka on the pitch from the start, running into the spaces those high Argentina full-backs leave, forcing a back line already missing Messi’s defensive work to turn and scramble.

England’s task is stark. They must find a way to live with a version of Messi playing as well as almost any in his international career. They must also be ruthless enough to punish what he leaves behind.

If they get that balance right in Atlanta, the 60-year wait ends. If they don’t, Messi walks – and dances – into another World Cup final.