Mini Montenegro Preview

alessio, you never want to come across as attacking someone because you’re a snide bitch. oh and you excluded del piero from your list, considering it is international play.

I don’t understand why all you crazy Romanistas drop to personal insults at the drop of the hat. Chill the fuck out, dude.

And yeah, great for Aquilani that he scored a brace but those goals hardly “proved” him at the international level, his play was good. That’s what is important, not a deflection and a tap-in.

Posted from  United States

Hahha personal insults…
And what exactly were you doing on the Roma board yesterday?
Hilarious how quickly you forget things.
Practice what you Preach, Alessio.

I didn’t say anything about his goals. I said “where are all you aquilani haters now?” I thought he played really well and did many things well on the night – his brace just being the icing on the cake. He should have had a couple of assists in there too…

And what exactly were you doing on the Roma board yesterday?

Ahhhhhh….I really shouldn’t fall for this trap, but I’d love for you to point out where I made any personal insults on the Roma board.

Aquilani had a good game, but there’s a long way before he’s “proven” in my book.

Posted from  United States

Though a win is awin, I still hope Azzurri will play well and win convincingly.

Posted from  Viet Nam

Actually alessio, asem’s comment is only too legitimate.

SUSHAN??? I thought you were saying Aquilani will forever be “just a promise”? Maybe you should make predictions like these more often?

Posted from  Germany

On a different note, I like yesterday’s game quite a bit. Aside from the polemics about the attack (which I think are unfounded – I very much like Pepe’s performance and I think that, given the time to grow, he might just become in 2010 what Iaquinta was in 2006), the team seems to be getting its game together. We concede very little in both midfield and defence. You guys moan so much about “undeserved” wins, but the fact that we do not concede has to be acknowledged. There’s a reason we’re top of the table.

The formation wasn’t a 4-3-3, it was a 4-2-3-1. In those conditions, you need at least one winger with defensive skills (which Cassano and Rossi are not) and a trequartista who can run a lot (which Pirlo is not). Also, this formation requires an atypical prima punta, so Cassano might even take that role (btw I do not condemn Gilardino; I do think that a conventional prima punta can’t play in this system, but tactically speaking his game was very helpful, dragging defenders away from Pepe, ADN and Aquilani).

If he sticks with the 4-2-3-1, then sorry guys but this is the only kind of attacking formation you can realistically expect (or something analogous):

DeRossi — Pirlo (Monto)
Pepe — Aquilani — Rossi (Cassano)
— Cassano (Gila) –

Posted from  Germany

“I don’t want to come across as attacking him, but he scored two goals, a deflection and a tap-in goal anyone and their mother could score, unless their last name is Perrotta. Against Montenegro.”

The second goal was not an easy goal and it would have gone had it not taken a deflection. But you’re right, he still needs to prove himself more. His play was more important imo. Created at least two great chances.

But he do have a point. Some *cough* sushan *cough* hate Aquilani and will never acknowledge him.

Posted from  Denmark

Gila and Toni have to go. They give up the ball way too much and they fall a little too easily. There is no room for this crap anymore. It’s a poor tactic employed by players who don’t quite have the speed or skill anymore. Gila had so many opportunities to bury a goal which would have cemented the win and failed one to many times in my opinion. Aquilani’s first goal was good to see. The opportunity presented itself and he made no mistake. Put Gila or Toni in that position and they would have missed. It’s good to see Lippi is slowly changing the team. You will see guys like Balotelli and Giovinco break into the squad soon. Italy must change their ways and leave the old tactics behind. They must once again command the match and inspire Azzurri fans. Cassano must be in the team, he is a creative player and is indispensable. He is now in his prime, we should make use of him now. Under 21s are looking really good, the future is bright.

Posted from  Canada

deleted by moderator

Posted from  Spain

You guys are showing very little respect to Montenegro. Unlike most Premiership and casual football fans, you guys should know that Montenegro is only ranked lowly because they are a relatively new team. They are nowhere near the weaklings of Europe. They deserved full points against Bulgaria and Ireland and were lucky not to get those. They could’ve almost gotten a draw against Italy yesterday.

As for Aquilani.. I thought the same thing as Alessio.. But the bottom line is he was in the right place at the right time. His positioning was good, he made the right runs, got away from his markers, went forward, etc… The first goal was due to a well timed run. Gilardino, a striker, should’ve gotten the tap in there but he didn’t and Aquilani was on hand to put it in. He should get credit for that. The second was a good shot which may have been goal-bound if it wasn’t deflected. Who knows. It still went in. He had a good all around game in addition to the 2 goals.

But it’s 1 good game that Aquilani had for the national team… out of 10 (according to wikipedia)? Seems a little high. I don’t remember Aquilani making 10 appearances for Italy. I think he actually only played 8 games and he played more than an hour in only 3 of those. In any event, it’s his first great game for the senior team. He needs to keep up these performances but he showed that he can step up and got Italy an important 3 points.

Posted from  United States

Montenegro were UNLUCKY not to get full points.*

Posted from  United States

Thanks Bash, that’s exactly what I was driving at.

Posted from  United States

Let’s not go off the deep end here Basher. Montenegro are a talented side but without Vucinic they are nothing. He is the whole team, if he was injured it would have been a shut out. Italy is still not playing well but we still had more chances than them and the result was what it should have been. If Italy were more clinical this game would have been a blow-out but as it turns out we allowed Montenegro to stay in the game for 90 minutes. It is always said that when the so called “minnows” have a little more ball possesion and get a few chances on goal that they disserved to win when on the other side of the ball there were more chances. Italy disserved this one even though they didn’t play to their potential.

Posted from  Canada

i thought Aqui played pretty well vs. Georgia…

Every team has to earn their points. Montenegro did not do enough. They will probably be more dangerous at home in March provided that Vucinic is healthy.

Posted from  Canada

julian –

it is helpful to hear what you think, in this case in regards to Cassano. I have not seen him play in a central position, but if you think he would be better there then this actually would make the formation better.

4-2-3-1

Dossena—-Cannavarro——Chiellini—-Zambrotta
———–Aquilani——————-—-DeRossi————-
Quagliarella—–Pirlo—–Di Natale/Balotelli
——————–———-Cassano——————————

Buddy Guy -

finally someone who agrees about Toni and Gilardino.fortune gave Toni 2 yellows, but what has to happen to Lippi to get him to take Gilardino off?

Provenzano –

i agree wholly with what you say about Totti and the azzurri formation. your 4-3-1-2 sounds interesting, but i am not clear from your discription what players would be where. maybe a diagramme would help?

Alessio & Bashar –

a tap-in and a deflection for Aquilani … if anyone and their mother could score it, why couldn’t Gilardino? or why didn’t any of the other strikers for that matter? you can minimize Aquilani’s importance all you want, but it only diminishes the abilities of the others.

Gilardino had so many more opportunities to score (in this as well as the last three) but failed to. Aquilani, a midfielder, had few chances but drove that one home. as for the deflection, it does not matter. the guy took a shot on goal and it went in. more than i can say for Gilardino who could barely get a shot and missed 3 golden opportunities with nice service balls.

also, note that Gilardino has been played more and had more opportunity to prove himself this campaign, and Aquilani looked great when he was fielded under Donandoni despite being played out of position.

bottom line :

Aquilani deserves to be on the team. Gilardino does not.

Hey asem….still waiting on some evidence of personal insults.

Posted from  United States

Without Xavi, Spain might not have won the Euros.. (or Villa or Senna). Without Cannavaro, Italy would only have 3 stars on their crest. Without Crynaldo, Man Utd would have won nothing last season.. Without Ronaldo, Brazil wouldn’t have won the World Cup.

Vucinic is their best player, true.. but he’s part of the team that has performed admirably (both as part of Serbia) and now as a stand-alone country. Montenegro are no Armenia or Albania or San Marino.. They are on the level of Norway, Ireland, Bulgaria, even Scotland (possibly). I didn’t expect more than a 3-1 win, and since Montenegro had a good game a 2-1 win is fine.

Posted from  United States

gio.. Read what I wrote again.. I was giving Aquliani credit for it.. I wasn’t minimizing his importance. I was telling alessio that even if it was a tap-in and deflection Aquilani was in the right place at the right time, made the right decisions (run forward, shoot not pass) and got both goals.

He showed he does deserve a place on the squad (not necessarily starting eleven). But like I said.. it’s his first great game for Italy and was hero for the day, week, till March.. But my whole point is that he needs to keep it up.. Aquilani hasn’t proved the doubters wrong yet.. they know he has potential and my point is that he needs to put on more of these dominant displays (not necessarily score 2 a game) so we can truly say he achieved this potential. There is little doubt in my mind that in 2012 we will see Aquilani, De Rossi and Montolivo starting in Italy’s midfield. But this is only the start for Aquilani.

Posted from  United States

Asem, Aquiliani isnt god cause he scored a awful brace for the National team. Quags recently scored one so did Di Natale how come you arent sucking there meats?

Posted from  United States

deleted by moderator

Posted from  Spain

“Asem, Aquiliani isnt god cause he scored a awful brace for the National team. Quags recently scored one so did Di Natale how come you arent sucking there meats?”

But he also created two chances that DDR and Gila should have finished.
Anyway, he has to keep performances like that coming.

Bash is also right about Montenegro. Their back four sucks badly but the rest is good and Vucinic/Jovetic/Vukcevic is easily on par with the likes of Gila, Pepe, Christmas, Toni etc..

Posted from  Denmark

Bashar,

sorry if i misunderstood. i thought you said you agreed with Alessio who seemed to think Aqui’s goal was not impressive, only just someone who got lucky being in the right place at the right time. if you meant otherwise i just missed it.

i do think Aqui has had a couple of good games under Donadoni, but you have to remember that he was often played wide where he does not work well.

Provenzano,

did you mean Pirlo would be the “1″ in the 4-3-1-2?

deleted by moderator

Posted from  Spain