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Screwjob 2k8 Player Reviews

June 14th, 2008 | By: Ricci | 167 Comments »

Buffon - Stoned Mutu 1v1 and then makes the penalty save of the year. Cue mayhem and De Rossi and others screaming and giving everyone chills down their necks. Mutu then proceeded to fill his diaper and needed to be substituted. Most irreplaceable player on the team. ∞

Zambrotta – First the Champions League Semi-Final and now this…He had a slow 20 minutes dealing with Mutu in the beginning but then he just came alive. His crosses today were the best I’ve ever seen him cross the ball. Had a few late surging runs too inspired by Cassano through passes. I thought he had a really good game, except for that 1 error that really hurt bad. For that his rating plummets. 5

Panucci – Maybe the best pure goal scorer on the team (joke). I thought he looked pretty decent at the back, not great, not horrendous. There was one or two moments where a long ball got played over the top and he misplayed it badly and I thought it would hurt us, but it didn’t. The back 4 seemed 10X more organized than last game, but still not hitting the heights of machine like precision that the Azzurri were under the guidance of Cannavaro. That penalty was really harsh, so I can’t really blame him. Even the Italian haters over at ESPN were claiming that it wasn’t a penalty. 7

Chiellini – This guy’s rating will be in one word, not a number. Athlete. See ya later Barzagli. Actually, wait come back! Super Giorgio needs a water bottle.

Grosso – Fabio “Nutmeg” Grosso was probably our best attacking threat today. His crosses really impressed me, just like Zambrotta’s. He gets that lower, flat trajectory on the ball that just seems to keep rising which make for some colon emptying moments by defenders. I thought he was the best player in the first half by far, and he even made a nice clearance inside 4 yards during the 2nd half. 8.5

De Rossi – Worked his tail off but looked a little rusty in the beginning. Got much better as the game went on, and made tackles that most central defenders wish they could make. That one on the yellow card wasn’t even close to a yellow, and just had me smiling from ear to ear. Also had that nice diving header on goal that was barely put out for the corner. This guy has always gotta start, Gattuso in Armani certainly lived up to his name today. Would definitely pencil his name into the XI for Tuesday. 7

Pirlo – First half I thought he looked great. As the game wore on, he got more and more tired, and felt more and more pressure to serve up the perfect pass. I think sometimes his biggest problem is just doing too much. The easy pass is there, but he takes the ball for walk and he gets in trouble. He can definitely use a break, and not necessarily a game off. If Cassano starts next game, a lot of the creative pressure will be relieved, and the long ball brigade to Toni will not be necessary. Set pieces were atrocious in the 2nd half. 6

Perrotta - Such a workhorse. The guy can’t finish for shit, but his off the ball runs and his dirty work open up opportunities for the skill players. I think he should have been left on a bit longer, but I can understand the need for a more creative force, plus Camoranesi was working hard up front as well, so he was sacrificed. 6.5

Camoranesi – The fluffy haired Argentine worked so hard today. I give him so much credit because he knew what needed to be done, and he just did it. The formation really called for a lot of pressuring and off the ball work for him and Perrotta in the first half and they did magnificently. His offensive contribution was very, very good as well. He dropped deep to receive the ball, and also got in a few crosses as well. I would definitely see him starting the game against France. 7.5

Del Piero – Started out really bright and had quite a few chances on goal. I wish he would have buried one of them, but the credit has to go to Romania b/c they defended quite well. As the game went on he faded, which was expected. I don’t think this was a negative performance though, and he had good off the ball movement and won quite a few free kicks. 6

Toni – Looked really slow, particularly on that pass inside the box from ADP. Winning the ball in the air and holding it, I don’t think there is anyone better, but sometimes we need more than that. Unfortunately, his header was ruled offside and that really hurt. Had about 10 half chances as well. If he keeps putting himself in good positions, sooner or later he will come to life and bag a few. 6.5

Cassano – Such a creative force. Sometimes he tries to do too much, but I think that’s because he’s brought on with limited time. If the guy starts, there’s no doubt in my mind we are a much better side. Those 2-3 through passes to Zambrotta were delightful and I hope to see more from him next time. 6.5

Quags – Invisible.

Ambrosini - Not enough time to rate.

Donadoni - I think he learned well from the beating we took against Holland. Formation was very effective, I especially liked the use of Perrotta further up the field, doing all the gritty work. I would have liked to seen Aquilani for Pirlo late in the game, it just seemed like the natural choice. Taking off Perrotta for Cassano also gave the Romanian midfield a lot more time to play the ball forward. However, Cassano did NEED to come on, and someone needed to come off, so you can’t really fault him for that. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting Ambrosini to start, so the lineup and subs were fine by me. 6.5

P.S. Someone take the linesman and make him go the way of Eight Belles.

Tags: Add new tag, Euro 2008, Group E, Italy

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 167 comments.

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By Paul | June 15th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Im convinced that Italy has to score 3-4 goals/game in tournaments nowdays because its inevitable that legit-clearly onside goals are called offside. Stop racism? Yeah right UEFA,practice what you preach.

Posted from Canada

By squiggy | June 15th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

Michel-Olivier, until the last one I enjoyed your comments. The French have been big, bad whiners too these past two years. I don’t believe the Dutch will throw the game. HOWEVER, there is a potential that they could meet France/Italy in a semi. If I were them I’d consider this. This is not their fault. It’s UEFA for setting up the tournament like this. Holland has to do what it feels it needs to do to win. I have no problem with that. If they bench top stars so be it. I’d do the same thing. Next time beat Romania.

Posted from Canada

By Michel-Olivier | June 15th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

@ squiggy
i want italy to win, but italian fans do complain a lot. this is football sometime things goes your way sometime it doesn’t, that’s why it’s the beautiful game.

Posted from United States

By Tuta | June 15th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

@ Marco- i agree 100%
i couldn’t have said it better.
this brings up the question ” is italy producing young talented star material as it should?”
it’s actually disasterous because even if the answer is yes then they are being canned and stored.

By Tino | June 15th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Also @ Squiggy

Quote: ‘Next time beat Romania’

I take it you didnt manage to see the match? or was it you turned a blind eye to the perfectly onside goal that was disallowed?

If you do the simple maths we would have ‘beat’ Romania and we wouldn’t have to stress about the Holland/Romania game as it would only be in our hands.

The offside decisions in this tournament have been shocking, and no not just Italy’s, there was another one tonight in Portugal/Swiss where a portugese player had a goal chalked off when he was at least 2 yards onside!

Posted from United States

By Guiseppe | June 15th, 2008 at 4:31 pm

WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET VIDEO EVIDENCE FOR THE CLOSE CALLS FOR GOD’S SAKE!! these games are too important to have stupid incorrect calls, tennis and rugby have video evidence so why not the global sport too?

Or is it that there is so much corruption in our beloved game and UEFA and FIFA can longer call the shots????

Posted from United States

By Alexio | June 15th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

Regarding the Portugal v Swiss match tonight, if that is what resting players does to a squad I think we are heading home guys

Posted from United States

By Jelle | June 15th, 2008 at 4:46 pm

Gabriella,

yes you are right, we didnt win the tournament yet. In fact, I’m scared to death that we are going to blowup like we always do. I’m praying that it doesnt happen

I never said that Italy of France couldnt bounce back, they are strong sides. Fact. My point was with the throwing of the game, which we simply won’t do and I dont like it (to put it mildly) that this is put into question. Yes, we will rest some of our better players. However, their subsitutes are pretty damn good too and eager to make an impression.

One last thing, don’t underestimaet Romania. There is a reason that they got 2 points now and beat us in the qualifiers. They are not a bad side at all.

Posted from Netherlands

By Michel-Olivier | June 15th, 2008 at 4:49 pm

@ Guiseppe
video replays will slow the game down. today football is fast and referees are not going to get everything right, it’s part of the game.

Posted from United States

By Chris | June 15th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

“There is a reason that they got 2 points now and beat us in the qualifiers.”

Yes, it’s called refereeing blunders.

By Giuseppe | June 15th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

@ Michel-Oliver

It would, but im not talking about every decision, just the ones that are absoulute borderline, it would probably only go to video replays around twice at most a game, and when a player who truly belives he has scored a legitimate goal but gets ruled offside he and all the team approach the ref and argue for a while anyway, in that amount of time the ref could have consulted video evidence and also ruled a goal rightly or wrongly.

Just imagine every single goal scored would be the correct decision, what a huge amount of frsh air that would be for our game!!

Posted from United States

By Observer | June 15th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

will this childish bickering ever end…

Posted from Canada

By Tuta | June 15th, 2008 at 6:19 pm

Jelle-
I was just discussing the matter of holland losing deliberately
so that they get rid of italy an france with my big brother
and his debate was that it’s in the best interest of Holland to do so
and no team is big enough not to pull such B.S. (he’s not an azzurri fan) he also debated that even brazil deliberately lost a game for the sake of disqualifying a north african team. My debate was that Holland is a strong prestigious team that would never throw a game. I am an azzurri fan and even if romania wins I will still believe that the dutch didn’t lose on purpose. Holland won the game against italy because they were better. Excluding the refereeing crap they still would’ve had bigger chances at winning than us. Also, resting the starting players is a legitimate move. Italy would’ve done the same. Any coach in his right mind would do that.
Let’s try to be subjective and just to other teams.
Personally I enjoy heated and strong games against strong teams. I don’t take pleasure or feel glory from a win that was served to me by refs. the italian team is mentally strong and can rise from the ashes. Van Basten is a legend and we all know his strong ethics. I don’t think the dutch would equalize on purpose. I admire the dutch team, their rising talents, total football style, most of all VAN BASTEN I wish you guys make it to the finals , it’s about freaking time
Wouldn’t it be an amazing game if we get to watch another Italy Vs. Holland in this championship ( of course without Ref. B.S.?)
Let’s just enjoy this beautiful game.

By Tuta | June 15th, 2008 at 6:35 pm

In my coutry all the newspapers are wondering about
the “honest ref. mistakes” committed against Italy
One headline translates to ” What do they want from Italy?”
I guess it’s not just Italian fans who smell something fishy!

By Sally | June 16th, 2008 at 8:11 am

referring to your entry, I quite disagree. the players he chose were right, but not the formation – no coherence in the team whatsoever. Camo was doing a million things at once and was scrambling as his role was undefined! What on earth is Don playing it? And like it or not, it IS a mistake to drop Pippo.

Posted from Australia

By Sally | June 16th, 2008 at 8:13 am

And screw the refereeing blunders, UEFA are cunts, not just against Italy but in this whole tournament the refereeing has been embarrassing. Italy should just suck it all in because obviously nothing much can be done about that – they better concentrate on winning against France.

Posted from Australia

By james | June 16th, 2008 at 5:01 pm

Oh come on Tuta!! The italian fans are the most whining of creatures. You are such poor losers. Where were you during the honest ref mistakes in WC06? That time they were favouring Italy. Never heard of italian fans moaning about bad refereeing then. Man you basically have the same team you had then. They are playing badly now and they played badly then the only difference is that in WC06 luck was in your favour and now no. As to newspapers – which country’s are those? Let me post you some comments from other blogs to see what they are saying about Italy :
I think those kemp pretty boys should pay a little bit more attention to there game instead of their looks…

The italian team is normaly very effectif but that doesn’t mean it’s great to watch.

defended like pussies for al the matcht in my opinion the Dutch win.

FAKE A INJURY OR THE DEFEND FOR AL THE MATCH LONG WAITING FOR A GOAL.

haha…world champions who???? lol v did teach them a thing or two about football..

Italy have always rode their luck, and are the masters of winning undeservedly, through blatant dives (against Australia in recent history) and gamesmanship,

what do they know about football

Punished for their arrogance

I am one that never pondered all the questionable decisions that have gone Italy’s way over the years

counter-attacking is the only game the italians know to play..

just remember in 2006 the “non existing” penalty agianst australia, and later on, the penalties against france to win the cup. so don’t be very arrogant, your soccer is not attractive, you play defense to win and when the opponents score early against you, you guys lose it.

world champions?? your road to the final was against australia, and ukraine, meanwhile france played against portugal and brazil and spain, big difference in the roads to the finals!

By james | June 16th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

Penalty save of the year:))))))))) U had me laughing. Is that a joke? It was one of the most inelegant saves ever made. MUTU shot it into Buffone’s hands,from Buffone’s fingertips it bounced back to his feet and as usual luckily instead of bouncing into the net it bounced out. If u call that saving….

By lamagica | June 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

jim-boy, you are clearly the scum at the bottom of the barrel. who the fuck spends time and energy going into other teams blogs to post a series of alleged comments made by other people? i mean, who the fuck in their right mind would waste their time accumulating comments so that they can collate them into a list that you need to post it into two seperate threads? what a fucking tool you are. and i mean that in the most sincere way possible.

Posted from Canada

By NBN | June 16th, 2008 at 5:56 pm

Grosso dived. Right after he kicks the ball past the defender, instead of going into the same direction of the ball he kicked the moment his left foot landed, he instead used that foot to make a small HOP right into the defender and then dived over him. The only people who would hop into a different direction than the ball they’ve kicked, right INTO the defender and then supposedly have that same foot/leg “caught” are divers. Just watch the video and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

By Paolo | June 16th, 2008 at 8:02 pm

James you fucking moron sack of shit……first of all get the fuck off this website you’re only on it cuz u don’t have a nationality to cheer for. You make fun of us for winning the cup on penalty kicks but we also lost like that to brazil. They only have 5 world cups i guess they suck too right. PLEASE GO WATCH THE VIDEO OF TOTTI BEING TRIPPED IN EXTRA TIME V KOREA IN 2002. TRY TO TELL ME THAT WAS NOT A PENALTY SHOT….it turned out to be a red card to totti. But i’m not wasting any more typing about italian football history to you until you establish your nationality and soccer team….you won’t though. VA FUNCULLO you cock shit cunt!

By Fred | June 17th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

wow james, way to be tough guy.
and to the idiotic italian fans, stop making ridiculous claims, just let it go, all your doing is giving idiots like james a reason to live.

Posted from Canada

By james | June 18th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

Name calling name calling.. the weapon of those who lack arguments. That wont blow my cool boys. I leave that to you all to lose it cause you can’t face criticsm just like frustrated women screaming their heads off. I am not going to be goaded to lose my temper like Zidane did in the final of WC 06 after being goaded on end by Materazzi – again one of italian football tactics – very sportmanlike eh guys. Paolo as to my nationality. Check the other blog where you like to write. And if you want people to believe you’re italian check your italian writing please since not even that is correct. And Fred I have many reasons to live. Loads man. Btw – there’s a japanese saying that it takes an idiot to recognise another idiot. Yes I like taking the mickey out of most italian fans – they are so nuerotic, petulant,frustrated and understand so little of real football (they wouldnt side with Italy otherwise).Ciao, ciao

By james | June 21st, 2008 at 11:17 am

Wow has everyone gone dumb over here????? Or are you all still drunk with the win agst France – a win which needed an own goal a red card 10 ppl in the opposite camp what else??? You will win agst Spain as well. Not that Spain isnt that good. However that extra bit of luck will go to the Italians. Its a repeat off all past tournaments. Italia shows its true football skill in the initial games -shitty btw – and then luck steps in all the way – to crown them as champs which no one believes in axcept some crazy drunk nitwit. C ya

By james | June 22nd, 2008 at 4:45 pm

Where has your pleasure in tearing me apart gone lamagica? How about you Fred and Paolo?
Commentator on Italian National TV (RAI1):”In tutta onesta’e’ passata la squadra che lo meritava di piu’” What poetic justice. The Cheatalians beaten at their own game. OUTta here … “NON gioco piu’ me ne vado.. (con la coda tra le gambe…)”

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