Might As Well Have

No problem Bashar, as long as we all agree to agree…

Posted from  United States

The problem isn’t that the Italian media predicted that De Rossi was going to play.. It’s that he didn’t play!

Posted from  United States

RomaShield27 wrote:
Ha ha, looks good Chris. The head is perhaps a little to large in proportion to the body, but it represents how much of a thick head the man actually has. Thats my excuse anyway

Point taken RomaShield. I’ll agree the Don’s been quite stubborn with his tactical decisions ever since he took over.

Moka, of course those are the only two options to a Milanista.

The third, of course, is that Donadoni has a fetish for Milan players.

Posted from  United States

The Don $hit the bed, plain and simple. When quiet Andrea Pirlo rips the coach, you know the rest of the team must be feeling the same way. I’m already preparing myself for 1-1 Friday and 0-2 vs. France.

My XI would be:
Buffon
Zambro, Chiellini, Barzagli, Grosso
De Rossi, Pirlo, Camo/Aquilani/Perrotta
Del Piero, Cassano
Toni

Posted from  United States

italy should go back to 4-2-3-1 because ialians cannot play 4-3-3, they have no natural wingers except for Camoranesi.
best solution is this
Buffon
Zambrotta-Barzagli-Chiellini-Grosso
De Rossi-Gattuso
Camoranesi-Pirlo-Quagliarella
Toni

Posted from  United States

well said I dont care what happens from here on in unless we win it all Donadoni has got to go, he proved his stupidity to me before the game even started when i seen that atrocious line-up, all the italians are were with knew we were gonna loose and were all dumb founded.

Hope the correct moves are made for Romania, do you think he will take action..im scared he wont after i seen how dumb he is to start those XI

Face it, our out of form vets suck, we got owned in the first half. Once the creative guys came on, bada bing! We need the talent and youth!
My complete overhaul of the starters:

Buffon
Zambrotta Chiellini Barzagli Grosso
De Rossi Pirlo Aquliani
Cassano Toni Del Piero

What Don-nuts will give us:
Buffon
Panucci Chiellini Barzagli Zambrotta
De Rossi Pirlo Gattuso
Camoranesi Toni Di Natale

Posted from  United States

lads, lads
4-3-3 is a system italy should never use. Lippi used the system against iceland and slovenia and he lost agasnt them since than he never used it. the first time dona used the 4-3-3 in a competitive match was against france and they lost 3-1, 2 goals by govou.. and a late goal by gilardino.

Posted from  United States

The only reason I can see why De Rossi and Aquilani didn’t start is because
they do their club playing too far south on the peninsula.
An all Milan midfield?!!?! C’mon!!!! Who was it who
was instrumental in Donadoni’s appointment?
The whole thing smacks of northern prejudice, Milanista cronyism
or both!

Posted from  United States

It was Albertini..

If any of you remember when Donadoni was appointed head coach, he promised a more “attacking italian side.” I myself didn’t have a problem with that because i’ve always wanted to see our azzurri fly at opposition just like the dutch did to us. However, if this was Donadonis intentions, nobody stopped him from doing it. BUTTTTTT….If you’re going to initiate something like this you have to have the balls to go with it. So when you see the Champions of the world down 2-0 to the dutch, the attacking mentality should have came through hardcore. For the azzurri to be losing 2-0 on the international stage, something is wrong. And when something is wrong you fix it. He didn’t!! Not only did he take until the 65th minute to bring on the (should be) captain Alex Del Piero, he did not do anything to initiate a response to the attrocious 2-0 scoreline. As all of you have said “The starting lineup was a joke” and you are all 100% right. And let me make this point perfectly clear: Massimo Ambrosini is a player who comes on to replace a tired De Rossi in the 85th minute when italy is winning and THAT IS ALL! Fabio Grosso put the cup in the bag for italy and that fact alone regardless of fitness or tactics should have earned him a spot on the starting lineup. Also Di natale is not a big game player he is another substitute for when we are winning. I don’t know what to expect but i sincerely hope that the Azzurri come out flying for 90 minutes straight against Romania. Anything less and the world champions will be disgraced infront of the world at the expense of Donadoni.

I agree with you Paolo, especially about Grosso. Read below what the “player updates” section of uefa.com has on Grosso:

Monday 09 June 2008
Could well start tonight. Worked hard, rampaging down the left flank and combining with Di Natale, Cassano and Del Piero, who took turns to play up front on the left side in a 4-3-3.

Friday 06 June 2008
Very good in training, is a strong contender for the left-back berth ahead of Gianluca Zambrotta.

Thursday 05 June 2008
Very good in training, excellent crosses from the left wing.

Thank you Neo! I didn’t see any of those ratings but they are all bang on the money.

The starting 11 should be…. (and should have been from the start)

Zamb-Gamberini-Chielini-Grosso

Camoranesi – De Rossi – Gattuso (Aquilani still not ready) – Pirlo

Cassano – Toni

(Replace Gattuso with Aquilani or possibly perrotta if losing
Delpiero and Di Natale are natural subs for Toni and Camoranesi)

Cassano is our brightest star and next “Number 10″ despite his erratic behaviour.

We won the world cup last major tournament for fucks sakes, I thinks its okay to start playing the “next generation”.

people would have tolerated not winning the euro, but, in this manner playing these geriatric players what for????

442 is italy’s best formation.

Posted from  Canada

All i want to say is ……. OFF WITH HIS HEAD

seriously, why was he ever selected as coach?????????????????

AHHHHHHHH SO Mad stilllllllllllllll

he brings nothing but same to italy!!!

Posted from  Australia

Alessio, yes about the Milan fetish, and I’m infuriated at that, quite honestly..

Yea, it all comes down to the starting line-up next game.. If he fields the now infamous Milan trio, then things aren’t gonna look good and everyone (including Milan/Italy fans), are not gonna be happy..

De Rossi HAS to start.. Any moron would start De Rossi next match instead of Ambrosini.. (still love the guy as a Milan player, but he doesn’t fit in Italy)

Alongside De Rossi, start Aquilani.. He might not have the experience, but I want him to start for his creativity, runs, willingness to take chances, and his ability to play with De Rossi..

De Rossi will make up defensively for Gattuso and apparently Aquilani can support the defence too and lets hope he does..

I’m actually surprised that only one or two other people in this thread have mentioned the fact that Barzagli had an awful game and should not start at center back. I think the fact that the entire system was flawed and the fact that there were some horrendous performances for some people masked his atrocious game. I think either Panucci or Gamberini should be playing alongside Chiellini, As a matter of fact the only player in the back line who should surviver the drastic changes necessary to play in the next game is Zambrotta.

Posted from  United States

Oliviero, check the ratings-topic. It’s all against Barzagli.

Guys, there are many permutations and combinations, but now the time has come for donadoughnuts to take risks in the midfield, i mean we cant afford a draw against Romania( if we lose, then, it is definately curtains , the match against france will be just a formality). Romania will definately play a very hard defensive game with all the 9 behind the ball and looking for Mutu and Marica on fast counter attacks..Risks , as i said earlier must be taken..The defence must be

Zambrotta Chiellini Pannuci/Brazagli Grosso

midfield must be

De Rossi

Pirlo Aquilani

Aquilani must be played at the start because we need goals, there is no point in playing Ambrosini or Gattuso, maybe we can bring on Ambrosini after we get the goal…
the forward line must be

Cassano

Toni Di Natale

cassano to be played as a trequarterista and he will set up goals at will, believe me..Di Natale to be replaced by Del Piero in the 50th minute

http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/139951/65811dc1/italiaanse_voetbalfan.html

reactions during the match

Posted from  Netherlands

I agree with the lineup Franco, we will be a dangerous squad if this is the lineup/formation.

Something to consider: this will be Romania’s second match on this pitch and at this hour. They played here against France on Monday on a very hot day.

Posted from  United States

I think Italy should go back to the 4-3-1-2 formation that they had during the world cup.
But since we are missing 3 of our best players ( Totti, Cannavaro, Nesta) Italy will be hurting bad.
So we need to use are young and talented players to get the most out of the Azzurri

Posted from  United States

the italian team was old 2006 and had a lot of luck durin gthe tournament now the old guys are even two years older and that´s what was my first thought during the match against the netherlands.

The second thought was the first italian team i remember with a week or badly organized defence. often italian football is boring ugly but very well organized this was clearly not the case at least after the first dutch goal.

Tomorow it could be a very interesting match with a romanian team playing the italian way and a italian tema that has to attack after a 3:0 in the first match