++ [ originally posted by denco ] ++
Ah Paul why do you think your team would slaughter mine? I picked the team based on the country and from my years of experience of watching Italian teams, I have never seen them apart from briefly with Vicini in charge in 1988 euros and 90 wc, attack for 90 mins. If we were talking about England, Holland, France or Spain then my team selection would be different but I am talking about a country that winning is all that matters so much tha taking risks is utterly unnecessary to them
How do u explain being totally superior to Ecuador in the first half and doing nothing in the second after going 2 goals up or in wc 94 playing good football for 20 mins against Bulgaria and thats it.
In all the matches I saw in euro 2000, Italy just went in front and defended in all the matche s and performed disgracefully against Holland but won on pens
I cannot personnaly say if its just the managers that make them play that way but I think it would be hard to change a habit of a life time
Look at Capello , he won the league with Roma by playing 3 strikers playing gr8 football and what does he do the next season, he reverts to 4-4-2 the next season and they became more dour
Same when he was at Milan, I mean there was a time he won the league by scoring 38 goals in 34 matches
You seem to have a lot of faith in Cosmi, personally I am not sure about him, I d rather go with a recent ex international
As for Pirlo, I don't know I find him a tad overrated as a fantatista and I think the role he plays for milan just in front of the back 4 is best suited for him as he is too physically weak to function behind the front 2 and he is not dynamic enough, sure his range of passing is good but he can easily be brushed aside and I ahve to disagree with you Martin there, he is in no way at all in Totti's league behind the front 2
P.s the reason I picked Perota over Gatusso is simply because he is a better passer of the ball and has better technique and he also works just as hard as Gatusso but playing for Chievo does not highlight that as much as it does playing for Milan where you are seen as an artisan amongst artists so its easier to notice you