After Saturday's 30-38 loss in Wellington, Beauden Barrett said the All Blacks were not clinical, especially in their half. They struggled to clear their kick-off receipts and to apply pressure from them.
"That will be a focal point going into next week, and discipline. We can't afford to give away as many penalties to any team. It's super-frustrating and disappointing at the same time."
They prepared for how Argentina played and knew the requirement to be 'squeaky clean' in discipline.
"Everything we spoke about probably smacked us in the fact at times, and we didn't deal with as well as we would have liked."
Argentina is a physical team, and if they can manage the clock and force penalties, it puts pressure on at the set piece. Games turn into arm wrestles, and if they kick their goals, they create a tough night.
"They're an emotional side. If that's fed, they're always tough so we've got to be better on our game, it's as simple as that."
The All Blacks will recalibrate and see next week as an opportunity to grow again, as much growth was needed.
"It's about sticking tight, learning and being better next week because it wasn't up to our standard tonight easily.
"When we did get some momentum the game swung our way and we had our moments, and then, there were too many moments we didn't take at crucial times."
Second five-eighths, Jordie Barrett said the game was a stop-start affair, and when they had opportunities, they had probably tried to assert themselves and were guilty of pushing things. They were also sloppy in the middle third of the field.
"We could have put them into a bit more of a pressure cycle, maybe through our kicking game. It's disappointing."
The way Argentina played was precisely how the All Blacks had previewed them.
"They are a good side, strong at the breakdown, messed up a lot of our ball and are a passionate side who don't go away. We've got to take that one on our chin and get better. And we will get better.
"We felt we may have been a little bit high around the collision, particularly in the first half. We spoke about that at halftime, and it got a little better after halftime. But, when we scored points, we didn't exit [from the restarts], and we compounded a few mistakes.
"We didn't execute when we had opportunities. We'll go back, get better individually, look in the mirror first, and control how we prepare for these guys next week.
"They're a good side, you've got to respect them, and they're getting better each week."