World

Europe

Italy

Donadoni Returns to the Azzurri (Thankfully, not to this Azzurri)

March 10th, 2009 | By: Julian | 25 Comments »

So it’s official: Napoli have sacked Reja and brought in everyone’s favorite Azzurri ex-coach, Roberto Donadoni:

“SSC Napoli announce they have removed Eduardo Reja from his position and handed the reins to Roberto Donadoni.

“The club made this decision with great suffering, considering the crucial role Reja has played during the last five seasons which have seen Napoli go from Serie C to the top flight and then the UEFA Cup.

“Naturally the club thanks Reja with deep gratitude for his remarkable professional performance during these winning campaigns.”

This actually might work well for him. I’m far from Donadoni’s biggest fan. I think he lacked the experience to guide one of the biggest countries in all of football, and he was probably too young and tactically naieve to really take our country to any trophy. But Napoli is very similar to him: young, inexperienced, looking for a way up. At the least, he can get teams to play some decent attacking football (well, sometimes), something Napoli fans would probably love right now. It’ll be interesting to see him on the sidelines in the peninsula once again.

In other news, Juve drew 2-2 with Chelsea at home today and were eliminated from the Champions League on a 3-2 aggregate score. I’m really sad to see them go- like I said before, I really thought they had the best chance out of all 3 Italian teams to progress. Gigi had some nice saves, Giovinco and Marchisio both played comfortably, and Juve as a whole were full of determination and attacking play, but it wasn’t enough. It’s a shame on one hand and yet, there’s still promise for Juve. For thier first year back in the CL in years, they’ve done a tremendous job and deserve recognition. If Raineri/whoever’s coaching the team next year can keep the club on the right track, I expect them to go a bit further. I still blame Raineri for the loss though- I think Giovinco in the first leg would’ve given Juve a goal. But I guess we’ll never know.

Tags: Buffon, Chelsea, Donadoni, giovinco, Group E, Italy, Juve, Marchisio, Napoli, Reja, Roberto Donadoni

Italy World Cup RSS Feed

del.icio.us:Donadoni Returns to the Azzurri (Thankfully, not to this Azzurri)

digg:Donadoni Returns to the Azzurri (Thankfully, not to this Azzurri)

newsvine:Donadoni Returns to the Azzurri (Thankfully, not to this Azzurri)

reddit:Donadoni Returns to the Azzurri (Thankfully, not to this Azzurri)

fark:Donadoni Returns to the Azzurri (Thankfully, not to this Azzurri)

Y!:Donadoni Returns to the Azzurri (Thankfully, not to this Azzurri)

stumbleupon:Donadoni Returns to the Azzurri (Thankfully, not to this Azzurri)

Comments

By Jeff | March 10th, 2009 at 7:15 pm

Haha when I saw the headline, my first thought was “WHAT THE F****!!”. Then I read the rest and calmed down. Good for him though, maybe he can help Napoli since they seem to have some stuff in common as Julian mentioned above.

Posted from United States

By Kurdt | March 10th, 2009 at 7:29 pm

you’re fast Julian! U’re going to watch Roma tonight, right?

Posted from Taiwan

By Julian | March 10th, 2009 at 7:34 pm

I’ll have Roma on my laptop and Inter on the TV so I can keep an eye on both games at once. But yeah my main focus will be on Roma

Posted from United States

By Vincent | March 10th, 2009 at 7:49 pm

Marchisio and DDR as the midfield for the WC Final 2010!

By Stasio | March 10th, 2009 at 8:09 pm

Motta-Chilineli-Santacrose-Santon
Gionvinco-Marschio-DDR-pirlo
G.Rossi-Cassano

That would be interesting

By Sasha | March 10th, 2009 at 8:13 pm

um, I think Gigi couldve done better with the first chelsea goal… also the second yellow for chiellini was undeserved

Posted from United States

By Bobo | March 10th, 2009 at 8:22 pm

Actually, Donadoni HAS returned to the Azzurri. Just not to La Nazionale.

By Julian | March 10th, 2009 at 8:40 pm

Haha, good point Bobo. I’ll edit the title to reflect that.

Stasio- I like that except I’m not sure the left wing is Pirlo’s best place to place.

Posted from United States

By Marco | March 10th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

Ranieri lost the game today too. He took out the only Juventus striker making a difference (Iaquinta) and put Giovinco on. Had he taken off trezquet or ADP for Giovinco instead there would have been a huge difference.

At the end of the day Chelsea looked very beatable, Juventus was handed some bad luck with 4-5 regulars being out with injuries, nedved getting hurt and bad coaching decisions. Let’s not forget Chiellini’s uncalled for Red Card. What a joke the ref was today.

By sadfoot | March 11th, 2009 at 9:19 am

Damn I missed that game :/

Posted from Israel

By alessio | March 11th, 2009 at 9:51 am

um, I think Gigi couldve done better with the first chelsea goal… also the second yellow for chiellini was undeserved

I agree with both….also agree with everything Marco said.

Posted from Spain

By gianfranco | March 11th, 2009 at 1:03 pm

be some shit if the Don takes Napoli to higher position than Roma on the Serie A table…

Posted from United States

By lamagica | March 11th, 2009 at 1:56 pm

the easier task would be to take them higher than milan who will do their part to meet them halfway.

By Julian | March 11th, 2009 at 2:10 pm

gianfranco- I think there might be a couple of teams in between Roma and Napoli in the standings. Surely Donadoni should focus on those ones first?

Posted from United States

By kqql | March 12th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

Lippi To Name Italy Squad On March 22

and

Amauri saga continues…
Dunga left him out of Brazil squad again….

By Marco P. | March 13th, 2009 at 4:59 am

This’ll be interesting.

By Caroe | March 13th, 2009 at 12:33 pm

Amauri is injured. That explains

Donadoni might do pretty well at Napoli since he can’t prefer old, overrated AC Milan midfielders.

Posted from Denmark

By Julian | March 13th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

Does Lippi even need to call up Amauri on recent form? Pazzini and Cassano are a must if he’s going on form, and Quags, Floccari, and even Gila deserve a call up over him at the moment.

Posted from United States

By Gio | March 13th, 2009 at 2:56 pm

Julian,

i love your posts and your even-keel, unbiased attitude, especially in dealing with some of the comments.

however,

do you really think Gila can score in an Azzurri shirt? he just does not fit into the scheme Lippi (or even Donadoni for that matter) has been setting on the field.

with a different mid-field (i.e. like the one at Fiore, or Villareal or Sevilla, maybe), but he hasn’t scored anything and he is not going to. i would rather see DiVaio (who is the third best striker in all of Europe, not just Serie A, right now)

and Cassano, for all his nice ball movement, hasn’t been able to do much with it. look at all the others who have been outscoring him so far this season (Sculli, Doni, Corradi)?

By kat | March 13th, 2009 at 3:39 pm

Don seemed to prefer much of those old, overrated Milan mids throughout the entire EURO2008 campaign. Should I name names?

By Julian | March 13th, 2009 at 8:10 pm

Di Viao I still can’t justify getting a call up. He’s just too old and we need to build a team for the present and the future. As for Gila, I really think he just needs confidence. No he’s not an ideal poacher but I still don’t think he’s worth tossing just yet.

Cassano is the classic #10 we need on our team. I don’t want him on it to score goals- I want him out there to set him up. He’s a creative force who can dribble and take on his man one-on-one, so he would do well out there to break down tight defenses.

Posted from United States

By Bobo | March 13th, 2009 at 10:52 pm

I would prefer Pazzini to Gilardino. He’s more than a poacher but he’s also adept at getting the Inzaghi goals. His chemistry with Cassano at Sampdoria is highly encouraging.

By Marco | March 14th, 2009 at 10:00 am

Pazzini and Cassano should definantly be called up by Lippi.

However, you know something that’s not very probable. Pazzini will get the call before Cassano. The Udinese trio will be called up again due to their form in UEFA.

The Milan Midfield with Roma influence will be called up.

and Defensively, Dossena – Cannavaro – Chiellini – Grosso – Zambrotta will likely all be called up.

Do they deserve to be called up HELL NO! But they will be. The thing about Lippi is that he is the very personification of the state of Calcio. Stick with the old, out with the new.

Heck if Maldini didnt retire from the national team, he’d pick him too.

Alright, who should be on this team:

strikers: Pazzini – Rossi Bench: Iaquinta, Balotelli, Aquafresca, Toni

Trequartista: Antonio Cassano

Midfield: Andrea Pirlo – D.D. Rossi – Marchiso Bench: Giovinco, Nocerino, Montolivo, maybe: Aquilani

Defense: Santon – Chiellini – Cannavaro – Dossena/Motta bench: Legro, Grosso, Zambrotta, Gamberini

Gk: Amelia Bench: Buffon

That’s my line-up, try and compete with these guys. I have put Giovinco and Balotelli on the bench for now, they will eventually get going on the first string as soon as they bring in a bit more results for their clubs. Basically, they need to be consistant starters which wont be a problem in a year from now, Mourinho is already starting Balotelli more and more, and Ranieri will be fired ushering in a coach to deliver a boost of confidence to the atomic ant.

They’ll be ready for the world cup.

finally, let’s come to an agreement about Amauri. He isnt needed on our team. The only reason I would pick him if I were lippi would be so that brazil can’t pick him. I’d pick him for one game, make him play 5 minutes and thats it. But we don’t need him, we never did. We have too much home grown talent waiting in the wings and we should start to harness these guys and build them up

By Julian | March 14th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

Marco, you’d bench Buffon for Amelia?

Posted from United States

By Marco | March 14th, 2009 at 5:41 pm

Yes. After some odd moves by Gigi im starting to think he’s a tad overrated. Inter’s Brazilian Julio, now thats a goalie.

Fine, I take it back Gigi is great. He can stop a penalty only on full moons but hey we love him ! I do like Amelia a bit more that Gigi these days.

Comments are closed