Official Azzurri (Italy) Euro 2008 Thread (26 Viewers)

[tibike]

I think the best formation is 4-3-1-2. The Romanians covered spaces very well, to beat them you need someone between their defence and midfield.

 

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[Azzurri7]

The formation should be set depending on the opponent.
Now, i don't follow the Romanian NT and i think Rab knows much more than we do about the Romanians, but maybe 4-3-3 is really the best formation to play against them ?
Ribery said that the main mistake for France was not playing on the wings because that was the way to beat Romania.
If he's right then maybe it will be a mistake to play without Camoranesi and to play a 4-3-1-2 as many suggested, where all the attacks will go through the center ?

He's actually right. Romanians are really weak on the flanks. Though Ribery and Malouda pretty much attacked only from the flanks, they didn't manage to score. They lacked finishing/finisher....Anelka looked pretty weak so was Benzema.


Overall, If Italy play on the flanks or not, they should really beat Romania. Romania hasn't got anything special in their squad except for Chivu. Even Mutu isn't fully fit, as he's been facing too many problems from the Chelsea penalty fine one to his Grandma's death.

Italy should beat Romania and I think they'll attack from minute 1.

 

[rounder]

Juve Revolution, he can't go in front of the press and say "You're right, I should have taken hints on the starting lineup from you guys, please help me against Romania". He has to stand behind his decisions, no matter what the outcome is. He says the starting lineup was the best he could bring from what he knew. It didn't work but it's not all to blame on the lineup, but also on the performance of the players.

Besides, they are already saying that he'll be fielding a different team against Romania, so I'm not worried. It would be foolish to say certain things in front of the press even if they were true.

I think he had to at least acknowledge that he made mistakes. I don't want him to surrender to the press and openly admit he was wrong about everything but admitting his mistakes would me he has something to learn from and probably wouldn't do the same idiotic thing twice.

The formation should be set depending on the opponent.
Now, i don't follow the Romanian NT and i think Rab knows much more than we do about the Romanians, but maybe 4-3-3 is really the best formation to play against them ?
Ribery said that the main mistake for France was not playing on the wings because that was the way to beat Romania.
If he's right then maybe it will be a mistake to play without Camoranesi and to play a 4-3-1-2 as many suggested, where all the attacks will go through the center ?

France played a basic 4-4-2 against Romania with Ribery and Malouda on the wings, in fact that probably was their biggest problem as their only passage of play came from the wings so I'm not too sure on what Ribery is talking about.

I'm not an expert on Romanian football but I did see their game against France and I noticed that they aren't a very pacy team but they do have a very organized and solid defense. To break such a defense, you can't just passively attack from the wings the way France did. That would get you nowhere. Players like Cassano, De Rossi, and Del piero might just be the right players to create a little magic that can open up the Romanian defense. That magic was nowhere to be found when Camo and Di Natale played.

 

[Alen]

What Ribery said was “We should have tried to pass a little more down the flanks to cause damage. There are many things to change. We will speak about the match and try to rectify matters.”
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=729713

 

[Martin]

What Ribery said was “We should have tried to pass a little more down the flanks to cause damage. There are many things to change. We will speak about the match and try to rectify matters.”
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=729713

Great, I'm completely reassured now.

 

[CAPITANO]

Buffon
Gamberini - Panucci - Chiellini
Zambrotta------------------------------Grosso
De Rossi --- Pirlo
Cassano
Toni --- Del Piero​

 

[cunninlynguists]

Buffon
Gamberini - Panucci - Chiellini
Zambrotta------------------------------Grosso
De Rossi --- Pirlo
Cassano
Toni --- Del Piero​

Sounds promising but I don't think that Donadoni will play like that

 

[Azzurri7]

So the majority of us want Del Piero Cassano to start??? Well, good to see that we finally agree on something.

 

[denco]

I'd say Portugal has a better defence than Spain. Its a hard comaprison coz the right half of Spain's defence is good while the centre of Portugal is good. Carvalho is arguably as good as Puyol and Pepe is better than Marchena imo. And despite Ramos being a killer full back, I still think its better to have 2 very good CBs than 2 very good wing backs as I think a team has a greater chance of getting way with playing "above average" full backs...defensively at least. even if Paolo Fererra and Bosignwa attack poorly, there is enough midfield attacking amoury for their lack of marauding forward not to matter much

In my view carvalho is better as pound for pound he is the best defender in the world. His reading of the game is almost flawless unlike Puyol of late, who seems to make careless errors.

Puyol is a leader and fearless but his positioning is bad and lets not even talk about marchena. I have seen Valencia too many times to know how bad Marchena is whether at the back or laughably as a holding midfielder.

Who would not look good defensively against a side that had qualifications in their hands and still went to Israel to lose? Russia, I am afraid are an average side which says volumes of the England team.

Russia style of play is ready made for Spain as I expected nothing less from them but I am happy for David Villa as I think he is just a fantastic striker.

Portugal has possibly the strongest defence, fereira apart but France is still for me the most difficult side to score against cos of their whole structure.

Going back to the new offside rule, now that someone that is injured but out of the field is now deemed active, does this mean that if a Holland player hit the ball out and it his Panucci whilst he was off the field, it would have been a corner kick?

I do not know where the powers that be are going with this nonsense.

Italy did not play well and started horribly too with the wrong personnel but in football the 1st goal is the most crucial for an attacking side as it makes life so much easier so that call was very important as to the overall result of the game.

But the good thing is that Donadoni, idiot though he might be, would not be stupid enough to use that personnel that started the game again; well at least here's hoping.

 

[sateeh]

An apparent issue with Donadoni was his lack of reaction to a very bad first half played by his forward setup. I expected him to ring changes in half time or from the 50th minute with at least 2 subs but he sat there doing nothing.

Another aspect i find annoying is his lack of adventure(even when it was the 70th minute with two goals down).He could've easily switched camo to play in the midfield to provide more drive from the centre and take off ambrosini and introduce cassano.

 

[Slow_Roll]

Could be interesting to see Camo in the middle, in a more defensive role, like

------------------------------Buffon-------------------------
---Zambro--------Panucci-------Chiellini-------Grosso---
------------------------------Pirlo-------De Rossi-----------
----------------Camoranesi---------------------------------
-------------------------------Cassano----------------------
---------------------------Toni----------Del Piero----------

atleast this way we'd have some flank coverage

 

[cunninlynguists]

Man almost EVERYTHING is better to do than Donadoni did

 

[tibike]

Man almost EVERYTHING is better to do than Donadoni did

Yeah, but if you exclude the obviously insane line-ups, like playing Buffon in midfield and Di Natale in goal, this was THE worst line-up possible.

 

[IL Pinturrichio]

I don't know why no one suggested dropping Pirlo, he can't defend and obviously his playmaking skills are not like in the WC..Do Roma's
Buffon
Zambo(Cicinho) Panucci(himself) Chiellini(Mexes) Grosso(Tonetto)
----------De Rossi(Himself)------- Aquilani(himself)
Camo(Taddei)-----------Cassano(Pizzaro) ---------Del Piero(Mancini)
------------------ Toni(Totti or Vucinic)
Maybe it's better for Camo and assano to switch coz Camo can help defensively

 

[juventus1897]

Pirlo was too defensive against Holland and still managed to have a couple of good moments. There are alot of players Don should drop, but I don't think Pirlo is one of them. Yes the lineup needs change, but let's not go overboard.

 

[francesco]

Here's what I think. If he plays Del piero and Cassano together, he'll be doing something right because Italy are in dire need for players like them. However, Donadoni must be thinking about his pride too.

Playing Del piero, Cassano, and De Rossi would mean he has listened to the press and the Italian fans. In actuality, the coach of the team would then be te Italian press and fans and not Donadoni. Surely, if he does play the formation everybody wants him to play, his competence as a coach would largely be at question. Not that it isn't already.

When Capello was at Juve, everybody called for Del piero's selection but he never listened. He stuck to what he believed in despite the never ending critisizm he received. He won two Scudetti at the end though and that's why Capello is one of the most respected coaches in Italy, if not the world. It's his arrogance and authority that has earned him a great deal of admiration from many people.

Donadoni is faced with a rather difficult task here. If he sticks to his prefered formation and Italy fail to win, he would undoubtedly lose his job and would be hated by millions of Azzuri fans. If Italy do succeed, he will grow in arrogance and could possibly earn the respect of many fans, the way Capello did.

If he chooses the more sensible option and that is to pick the most in-form players at the moment, Cassano, Del piero, De Rossi etc.. and decides to drop the players and even the formation he dropped against Holland, his credibilty as a coach would largely be at question since anyone in the world can coach Italy in this case, he would just have to read the papers and see what the fans want.

For him to drop the formation he has been working with for over two years and to choose players who haven't been playing regularly for Italy for a long time(Alex and Cassano), it's not as easy as it looks because if he looses, he will be at fault for listening to the press and if he wins, he wouldn't take any of the credit.

It will be very interesting to see what type of person Donadoni is. If he is selfless and cares only for Italy, he would change his style of play and quick. If he is arrogant and cares more for pride than he does for his country he will decide to take a big gamble by playing his preferred 4-3-3 formation with the Milan trio, and the exclusion of Del piero and Cassano from the starting line-up.

remember what happened with the last italian coach who didnt listen to the media and fans? Trapattoni.. everybody was praying that he include Baggio in the Euro 2004 squad...we all know how that ended and what people think of Trap now.. Condomadoni should listen carefully to what people are saying..

 

[juventus1897]

remember what happened with the last italian coach who didnt listen to the media and fans? Trapattoni.. everybody was praying that he include Baggio in the Euro 2004 squad...we all know how that ended and what people think of Trap now.. Condomadoni should listen carefully to what people are saying..

Listen to the media, are you insane? That would be the end of it all, trust me. The moment italian (or any nations or clubs) coaches are concerned what the media have to say it's all over.

 

[Bjerknes]

Spain's big weakness is their defensive four. Ramos was good for Madrid this season, but he was the poorest of the four yesterday. The other three are just poor always, even Puyol.

If Puyol is poor, then every single defender in Serie A is crap.

 

[Lion]

Spain's biggest problem is that sooner or later, their team as a whole chokes. Has nothing to do with defense imo.

 

[Alltagsheld]

I don't know why no one suggested dropping Pirlo, he can't defend and obviously his playmaking skills are not like in the WC..Do Roma's
Buffon
Zambo(Cicinho) Panucci(himself) Chiellini(Mexes) Grosso(Tonetto)
----------De Rossi(Himself)------- Aquilani(himself)
Camo(Taddei)-----------Cassano(Pizzaro) ---------Del Piero(Mancini)
------------------ Toni(Totti or Vucinic)
Maybe it's better for Camo and assano to switch coz Camo can help defensively

Del Piero as a winger?