World

Europe

Italy

Italy – Ireland Review: Or, the Tale of Marcello Lippi’s Obstinance

April 1st, 2009 | By: Julian | 116 Comments »

The entire game- excluding of course the parts I didn’t get to see, which may have been different, reminded me of how my PS3 FIFA 09 games go when I play on legendary. We rarely had the ball, were bossed in number of shots and number of corners, but we still scored first and it looked like a win was conceivable. Unfortunately, it was one of those days.

Pazzini’s sending off? Harsh at the very least. Maybe a yellow, and that would’ve been worse than fair. Let’s not forget though, that we played nearly the entire match with 10 men. A draw should be seen as a disappointment for Ireland. Instead, it’s a disappointment for us.

Lippi is clearly not the man for the job anymore. Or, if he is, he’s struggling to show it. Our best striker sat on the bench the entire game, our best midfielder- and only source of creativity- was taken off for frigging Palombo, and the team can’t seem to keep it together at the end of the game. Is the draw entirely his fault? No, it was mostly due to an incompetent ref; to be fair, a ref that was pretty shitty for both teams.

In the long run, we’re still top of the group but we still have to go to Dublin later this year, in addition to playing away in most of our other games. The group is far from over and it’s gonna be a long few months. We’ve been getting by with luck and shitty performances thus far. We need a change of players and a new formation, and I don’t know why Lippi is refusing to change things. We are not improving.

On the bright side, there are teams doing far worse than us. Portugal is in serious doubt to qualify for the next world cup, and the less I see Christiano Ronaldo, the better. We looked pretty solid until halfway through the second half, and for a while it looked like a win was on the cards. But we fell apart at the end, and the sending off surely hurt a ton.

But the other true contenders for South Africa are getting stronger and stronger. Argentina [who are currently being spanked as I write this, but are nevertheless serious contenders], Spain, and even England are able to win consistently and gain the points when they need to. The Netherlands are banging out goals like Nick Nolte with prostitutes. And time and time again, we’re struggling to score and finish off games. This time, we can write it off as the result of being down a man. But what about the last 5 games?

I love this team and I want to see us play to our ability. But that requires calling up and playing the guys who deserve it.

Player ratings:

Gigi: 11.614. An absolute monster and far and away the best goalie on the earth. When everyone else is giving embarrassing performances, ones that make you question if they’re playing for Italy or England circa 2007, Buffon is always solid, reliable and a leader. I can’t say enough how important he is to our team. Canna might wear the captain’s armband but as far as I’m concerned, Gigi is the one who deserves it.

Palombo and Pepe: 1. If either of them had any respect for the shirt, they’d refuse future call ups. It’s bad enough that Lippi calls them both up, but seeing them play makes you wish that he called up Ambrosini and Gila instead.

Pirlo, DDR, Brighi: 8. I like the way the midfield looked, and even after the sending off the boys performed pretty solidly. Some are going to argue that they outplayed us, but remember- we were down to 10 men. Pirlo especially was very impressive, and I’m glad to see him playing his heart out again after a rough couple of outings in the blue shirt. Since DDR was booked, we won’t see this midfield again for at least another game though.

Iaquinta: 8. Thanks for the goal in the most difficult of circumstances.

Standings in our group:

Italy – 13 pts
Ireland – 11 pts
Bulgaria – 7 pts
Cyprus – 4 pts
Montenegro – 2 pts
Georgia – 2 pts

I’ll take the draw for now for two reasons. One, it keeps us top of the group in a situation where we could’ve lost, being down a man. And two, the last 10 minutes or so made an Ireland win seem so likely that a draw is nearly a relief. But for the Champions of the World, looking so fragile against a team as weak as Ireland- yes, even a man down- is not going to inspire fear or respect in our opponents. Nor do we deserve those at this point.

If anything, this game proved how desperately we need Cassano or Giovinco on the pitch. We NEED a creative midfielder to direct play. Pirlo is great as a deep lying playmaker but we need someone up front who can dribble and set things up. Lippi’s excuses to call up Cassano are growing weaker and weaker by the game. Fear of red cards? Well it doesn’t look like we need him for reds, do we? Interrupt to dressing room? That’s the Cassano of old. The new Cassano is the leader of Sampdoria and plays magnificent footy with Pazzini.

But as usual, Lippi is stuck in the past. Until he gets with the present, the team will be stuck, too.

Forza Azzurri!

Tags: Brighi, Buffon, Cassano, DDR, Group E, Iaquinta, Ireland, Italy, Lippi, Palombo, Pazzini, Pepe, Pirlo, World Cup 2010

Italy World Cup RSS Feed

del.icio.us:Italy - Ireland Review: Or, the Tale of Marcello Lippi's Obstinance

digg:Italy - Ireland Review: Or, the Tale of Marcello Lippi's Obstinance

newsvine:Italy - Ireland Review: Or, the Tale of Marcello Lippi's Obstinance

reddit:Italy - Ireland Review: Or, the Tale of Marcello Lippi's Obstinance

fark:Italy - Ireland Review: Or, the Tale of Marcello Lippi's Obstinance

Y!:Italy - Ireland Review: Or, the Tale of Marcello Lippi's Obstinance

stumbleupon:Italy - Ireland Review: Or, the Tale of Marcello Lippi's Obstinance

Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 116 comments.

Read the rest of the comments

By Gigi | April 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm

Funny .. I regret figc rehiring lippi.

Canna is going to be shit slow for 2010 world cup .. time to let go.

If a replacement is going to be ready he needs to be getting games now!
I agree about making Buffon captain. If the euros taught us anything it is to stop leaving all our promising youngsters out in favor of the same old rubbish. Toni maybe as a sub because he can be awkward but he has no form to be starting for our nation. Gila just drop him. Rossi deserves starts .. Cassano should be in that team without any shadow of a doubt. Why use pepe out wide when foggia who is 5 billion times more gifted gets no time. Palombo? Averaggggggge zzzzzzzzzzzz .. Di Natale gets all the starts when Quagliarella is actually the better attacker our of the 2.

Just put some faith in younger guys from the start .. so what if they make a few naive mistakes .. they will learn and improve .. its better then rotting away with the same old rubbish and never progressing.

Posted from United Kingdom

By 9 champs leagues | April 3rd, 2009 at 2:42 pm

Majority of the posters r blaming Lippi for his selection policies..But if we look deeply into the squad depth considering the present situation,if all the players r available, then there couldnt be a better starting 11 than
Buffon
Zambrotta/Motta canna Chiellini Grosso/Santon

Gattusso De Rossi Pirlo Camoronesi

Toni Guiseppe Rossi

subs:Iaquinta, Quagliarella, Cassano, Perrotta, Brighi, Legra,Amelia, ….

So leaving out the injured Camoronesi, gattusso, Toni…Lippi has feilded the best squad, except for pepe….Many guys ridicule palombo but pls name a single defensive midfielder better than him…..It is ridiculous to see guys clamouring for Aquafresca..This guy cant even score for u-21 against quality defence..he scores a few goals for Cagliari against some teams and suddenly he is the big thing!!Ridiculous…Guys like Ferrari, Molinaro, Criscito should not even be feilded in top 50 for Azzurri..they r technically deficient..The only mistake Probably Lippi made was subbing Pirlo and also not bringing on Rossi in the 65th minute and also not selecting Cassano and giovinco in the squad

Posted from Spain

By Marco | April 3rd, 2009 at 3:20 pm

What about Marchisio? All this talk of these other guys, yet during the Juves last month or two the star has been Marchisio, had he started against chelsea it could have been a different story.

At the end of the day, we should really think about finding a way to get Marchisio and Giovinco into the line up for this azzurri team.

Also, with a trequartista, we can afford to go with a lone striker up front alla 2006 – it will actually be likely that we do in 2010. Because we have a load of talent up front I would be comfortable with anyone from Iaquinta to Pazzini to Toni. I don’t think we necessarily need Gilardino up there.

Here’s my fantasia line-up.

Buffon
Motta – Gamberini/Santacroce – Chiellini – Grosso/Santon
Camro/Marchisio – DDR/Gattuso – Pirlo
Giovinco/Cassano
Rossi – Balotelli

you can mix it up too… how about this line up

Buffon
Motta – Gambertini/santacroce – Chiellini – Santon
Camro – DDR – Marchisio – Pirlo
Giovinco
Balotelli

This is my favourite one:

Buffon
Motta – Santacroce – Chiellini – Santon
Marchisio – DDR/Nocerino/Aquilani – Pirlo
Rossi – Giovinco/Cassano
Balotelli

Indeed I think Christmas tree formation is the way to go with the quality we have up front. I worry about getting bamboozled through the mid by a team that can move the ball quickly, but if DDR can back pirlo up we should be fine. Pirlo seems a bit slow sometimes, thats the only worry with my super line. If Pirlo isn’t up for 2010 (which is unlikely) I would move Giovinco back to left flank, and put Cassano next to Rossi.

Just a quick touch on a couple of other issues:

Totti, if he wanted to come back, and was healthy, not in the banged up shape he was in against Arsenal, I would easily welcome him back, he is a fixture and can still work more wonders than any other italian.

Nesta, I think Nesta with his serious injuries is done for good.

Criscito, has really come along this year, however he is in mid.

Historically we have centered our world cup winning teams around Juventini, I don’t think we should discontinue that trend, I think with the way Juventus breed these kids we should be picking them up. That’s why its very likely that if Cassano goes to Juventus he will dawn the Azzurri shirt as well, and just in time for 2010

Finally, I am very happy we have basically realized we have more than enough talent that we don’t need a Amauri on this team. I haven’t heard about him in awhile here, and am very proud. I just hope following Lippi’s awful outing he doesnt pull a completely rediculous role and call him up.

By kat | April 3rd, 2009 at 4:28 pm

Aside from Pepe, the only component in dire need of replacement is the rightback. It gives you literally physical pain to watch a 33 year-old DF with barely any strength left in his legs trying to play wingback. Imagine how much slower and passive Zambrotta will get by 2010. Scary. About time Zambro to step the f**k down from the startingXI and let us experiment with some new bloods. With the WC approaching and about a dozen A-matches to go, it can’t happen any sooner.

By Gigi | April 3rd, 2009 at 7:44 pm

Why is it so crazy to clamour few new young strikers … stick with the old crap .. you saw where it got us in the euros .. sit in denial and think toni will win us the world cup .. lol blah blah Things need to change and yeah lippi picked crap.

Posted from United Kingdom

By ricci | April 4th, 2009 at 1:44 am

Luca can still get it done. He needs real support though. Not talking about Di Natale roaming around on the left touchline waiting for the ball. Not talking about Camoranesi running all over the field for the ball and getting injured in the process. Lippi needs to realize that two supporting strikers behind a guy like Luca will give us a real shot at defending in 2010.

Fuck the wing play in the 4-3-3. We need to play it like Barcelona and Man Utd (CL 08′) play it, and that’s to have some inward movement, creative thinking and technical ability in the wide forward positions. Otherwise, let’s call it what it really is under Lippi which is a 4-5-1.

Posted from United States

By 9 champs leagues | April 4th, 2009 at 5:13 am

Any striker can have his off days or tournament..Luca Toni is the best allround striker in Italia at the moment who suits Lippi´s strategy very well, he can help the defence in set pieces, he can draw many fouls , he can take out defenders, if he is played with Rossi or Cassano upfront, it will be devastating…It will take time for balotelli and others to develop..Iaquinta as a wide out striker in the second half can be very devastating..then there is quagliarella..the 2010 forwards should be Toni, Rossi, cassano,Iaquinta and Quagliarella…let us hope that gattusso returns strongly, let him retire from the national team after 2010 but a very fit, motivated Gattusso is a must in the midfield along with De Rossi , Pirlo( upfront of midfield) and maybe Camoronesi and Aquilani( if he makes that extra quality leap afterhe comes out of Injury)-Perrotta will be there, we cant do anything about that, he is Lippi´s favourite…Then, the real trick is for Lippi to select Giovinco(he can come as a sub depending on the situation to play just behind the strikers),maybe Marchisio or Foggia and palombo as a cover up for gattusso…The defence is really worrying me..Canna is losing the reflexes but will there be a last gasp of motivation and energy in him to retire in glory??i cant see better central defence pair than Chiellini/ Canna( very sad)..Chiellini and also canna can be carded anytime by the way i have seen them playing…Zambrotta sadly has lost a yard of his pace and is a liability in defence….Lippi will definately select him, Motta must be groomed and if Lippi gives him a chance at the confeds and Motta makes the leap, Zambtrotta must be in the subs…Left back has no doubt, Lippi will play Grosso as the first choice , he is too good in offence but his defending worries me, Santon should be an able cover..

By Gigi | April 4th, 2009 at 7:43 am

If you go with the notion 1 target man and 2 skillfull creative strikers behind

Why not

–Iaquinta–
Rossi-Cassano

or since you guys love Toni so much Toni insted of Iaquinta.

Quagliarella could also fit in that formation … Giovinco would be a great sub for either Rossi or Cassano…. We have a shit load of options and thats why i hate it that we pick the same team … we can progress into a new vibrant younger team ready for south africa but if we pick the same old players none will have any experience. My deal with Aquafresca is he is a big target kind of guy and giving him some time now will only help him along. I can see why people think he isnt ready but we always wait far to long to give people a chance in Italy. 2 Seasons in serie a with a pretty good goalscoring record for a kid .. worthy sub .. so far more worthy then pepe who adds nothing to the team or di natale who just runs around like he is runnign away from the aids virus. If not Aqua what about Floccari .. he is another big lump who can get in there and kick some ass.

I just want us to be strong and not look clueless .. the euros was embarassing and Toni was a big part of that embarassment. Lippi just gives me no confidence whatsoever. Meh .. time will tell .. I think we still need to shake up alot of things.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Gigi | April 4th, 2009 at 7:46 am

Gattuso definately needs to be back there .. Nocerino is a perfect sub to cover him .. I know im bias being a palermo fan but still .. he is young and showing why juve spent so much on him last season for us this year. He destroys palombodumbo

Posted from United Kingdom

By kappa | April 4th, 2009 at 8:46 am

I think we have a real quality team but noone is performing at the moment. I watched on youtube yesterday with everything totti did in the world cup and i was in awe. Type in “totti wc 2006″ it is in 2 parts.

Posted from Canada

By Marco | April 4th, 2009 at 11:12 am

Yep, I think Totti is exactly what we need. If not him, the only player really mature enough to play trequartista is Cassano, who arguably distributes the ball even better. Giovinco is still too young and doesnt have the mentality yet, Ranieri is ruining him, But Cassano can sure do it.

By Gigi | April 4th, 2009 at 12:44 pm

Cassano not getting called up is criminal.. Lippi cant even justify his exclusion. I wish more prominent people would get up in his face about it. It is such a waste of talent.

Posted from United Kingdom

By alessio | April 4th, 2009 at 4:48 pm

Julian, the point is few Azzurri players are going to light the world on fire in their first games. You castigate him for ignoring players like D’Agostino, Rossi, etc, but at the same time criticize him for giving players like Pepe and Palombo a decent run in the team. Could be nerves, or maybe he’ll realize they aren’t cutting it and they will be the Simone Barones of his new tenure. Minus going to the WC part.

By Stasio | April 5th, 2009 at 8:33 pm

Anyone see the goal scored by 17 year old Federico Macheda for Manchaster U to give them the win tday…another future Italian star we havent even spoken of yet!

By kqql | April 5th, 2009 at 9:11 pm

Camo on the RM/RW was definitely missed in the last 2 WCQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnmodsEQGa8

By kqql | April 5th, 2009 at 9:13 pm

By Stasio | April 5th, 2009 at 8:33 pm

Anyone see the goal scored by 17 year old Federico Macheda for Manchaster U to give them the win tday…another future Italian star we havent even spoken of yet!

Here u go….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJyru21mipk

By kqql | April 5th, 2009 at 9:13 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJyru21mipk

By sariful | April 6th, 2009 at 3:44 am

Hallo, I Hove italy winner wordcup again.. I Like Italy

Posted from Australia