England's World Cup semifinal defeat to Argentina has sparked plenty of debate, but one of the biggest talking points came after the match when Roy Keane and Gary Neville went head-to-head over how the Three Lions should have dealt with Lionel Messi.
Appearing on The Overlap, the former Manchester United teammates couldn't agree on England's tactical approach. Neville believed Thomas Tuchel's side allowed Messi far too much freedom on the right side of the pitch, while Keane argued that trying to man-mark the Argentine captain was never going to work.
Before the debate shifted to Messi, Neville had already questioned England's performance after taking the lead. "We have stopped playing, we've sat back. We're sleeping, we're sleeping."
He also blamed Jordan Pickford for Enzo Fernández's equalizer. "Not gone in the corner, that. He's got to save that. Got to save it."
Keane disagreed, believing the goalkeeper deserved less criticism than the Argentine midfielder deserved praise.
"What a strike. What a strike that is. The keeper gets nowhere near it. Look at the power."
England midfielder Jude Bellingham also appeared frustrated by the goal. Television cameras caught him watching a replay inside the stadium before seemingly saying:
"It's the middle of the goal."
Should England Have Man-Marked Messi? Keane and Neville Couldn't Agree
The conversation became much more animated when Neville explained how he believed England should have handled Messi. "They should have told Nico O'Reilly: 'I don't care who else is inside you, stay with Messi when he drops wide. Man-mark him and force him back inside.' That's where he's dangerous, he puts those wicked crosses in."
Keane immediately shut the idea down. "Listen to yourself, just cool your jets."
Neville wasn't backing away. He continued to defend his point. "I'm saying stop him getting the ball in that area. Stand next to him and make him move centrally."
Keane responded by pointing out that football's greatest managers have spent two decades trying to solve the same problem. "Do you not think teams have tried that for the last 20 years? What makes him great?"
He added: "Football's not like that. You can't stand next to people."
Neville accepted that Messi becomes almost impossible to stop once he has space but insisted England should never have allowed him to receive the ball in dangerous positions.
"Once he's got the ball with space, you're finished. That's why you stop him receiving it out wide."
Keane still wasn't convinced. "What happened the last 20 years? All the great coaches and players have tried that. He'll just do a little shimmy or move somewhere else."
Neville then pointed to the sequence that led to Argentina's equalizer. "The first goal came from a corner."
The exchange quickly became one of the most talked-about moments from The Overlap, with Keane repeatedly dismissing Neville's tactical idea and Neville refusing to change his opinion.
As it turned out, neither England nor Tuchel found a solution to stop Messi from influencing the game. Argentina grew stronger as the match wore on, Enzo Fernández leveled the score, and Lautaro Martínez completed the comeback in stoppage time to send the reigning champions into a second consecutive World Cup final.
Whether Neville's plan would have worked will remain a matter of opinion.
