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T’was a Tale of Two Halves
Comments(110)Looking at the starting lineup for the Brazil-Italy game, I could tell that we were going to have trouble from the get-go:
Buffon, Zambrotta, Legrottaglie, Cannavaro, Grosso; Montolivo, Pirlo, De Rossi; Pepe, Gilardino, Di Natale.
Far too much age against a Brazil side full of samba and flair; and yet, at the same time, the young guys that were in there didn’t have enough experience. Monto and Pepe really aren’t players to put out against the most successful international side in history. Gila hasn’t been inspiring confidence, and I refute that Christmas is Azzurri material.
And the first half reflected the line up. We were God-awful. Brazil played at a much higher pace than us, beat us to many passes and took advantage of our mistakes. That being said, we actually played pretty well for the first 15-20 minutes. We were absorbing pressure well, and though they had the brunt of possession, it was actually us who scored first- a beaut of a goal by Grosso that was incorrectly ruled offside. If that stood, it could’ve been a completely different game.
Instead, it was Brazil who nicked the first goal that counted, a goal that I would’ve loved had it been against any other team. Robinho and co revealed the problem with our backline- age, and subsequently, a lack of pace- with a striking through ball that cut through Canna and Legro like butter. Elano chipped it over the onrushing Buffon, and Brazil had the first goal. ‘
My notes up until here read like this: “Good start-Brazil possess. but absorbing pressure well (hey, it’s Italy). GROSSO- OFFSIDE *expletive* Pirlo showing class with the pass- was ONSIDE*
Ironically enough, it was Pirlo and Canna- our two saviors from Germany- who eventually cost us this match. Shortly after Brazil scored, Canna was shepherding the ball back to Buffon, unaware that Robinho was about to nick it from him. Buffon had to yell and point for Canna to clear. This turned out to be a foreshadowing of the second goal, where we lost the match for ourselves. I will be forever grateful to Canna and Pirlo for what they did three years ago. But there’s the problem- the last World Cup was three years ago. A lot has changed since then.
In the end, it was Pirlo’s sloppiness that cost us the second goal. Yes, he was largely playing by himself. There’s absolutely no excuse for losing the ball right outside the box, especially not to a guy like Robinho. I don’t care if he had lobbed it halfway to Mercury, anything would have been better than what he did.
The first half ended with us largely on the backfoot, and me being furious. The second half, thankfully, was loads better. Lippi finally did what he should’ve done from the beginning- put in Rossi. Giuseppe was far and away the best player out there for us, bar Grosso, who was running around like the Emirates stadium is in Berlin. Rossi had pace, he beat his man multiple times, and took on numerous defenders and always came out on top. Mind you, he just turned 22. If nothing else, this game proved that Rossi:
A. Needs to start from now on
B. Is a top class player at such a young age.
As good as we were in the second half, we still couldn’t score. Not for lack of trying- Rossi in particular was causing all kinds of havoc, and even Toni was playing with his heart on his sleeve. But we were either missing that final ball, or Cesar was there to thwart our efforts.
I gave Lippi the benefit of the doubt a few days ago, saying we needed a slow transition. But this is enough. His decisions today were baffling- does Pepe really deserve to start over Rossi? In fact, most of his call ups were just awful. Raise your hand if you remember seeing Gila more than twice. Now keep them raised if you remember seeing him with the ball more than twice. Di Natale puts in good running, but at 31 he’s not the future of the team. Lippi claims to call players based on form, but if that’s the case, where was Floccari and Cassano? Lippi hasn’t proven that he can do anything that Donadoni didn’t. We qualified for the Euros under Donadoni, so merely qualifying for the WC means nothing. We need to get the right players in the team, and they need to start playing as a team.
We were just too damn sloppy. Pirlo has fallen from a great height, and even DDR gave away the ball way too often. I don’t even remember seeing Aqui when he came on, though I was very impressed with Camo and, surprisingly, Toni, who would’ve had a goal against anyone else except Cesar. And as for our defense, I give up. I honestly don’t care at this point if we see Motta-Santa-GC-Maggio for the next game. You know what? I’d actually prefer that. Zambro and Grosso were immense going forward but they just couldn’t get back, leaving us hugely exposed on the counter. We need young guys who can run.
The most disappointing thing is that, as bad as our defense was, as much as the team selection sucked, we still could’ve won. Had it not been for a bad offside call and Toni molesting the ball before poking it in, we would’ve tied at the very least.
So yes, all in all, this counts for nothing-it was a friendly. But at the same time, it was so much more than that. We were playing for prestige, and honor, against the one side with more World Cups than us. Against the one side that has been in more turmoil recently than we have. A win/tie would’ve given Lippi the record, proving that he’s a master technician, and a great coach.
Sadly, based on how we played today, he didn’t deserve it. We were outclassed, outrun, and out-lucked by a superior Brazil side.
The only way to go from here is up. Let’s hope this serves as a wake up call for Lippi. Cause it did for me, and tomorrow we’ll look at who needs to be axed from the team and who deserves to stay.
“Highlights”:
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 110 comments.
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what is with all the hate, Mike? i would be embarrassed as a fan of any team that has other fans who have so much hate.
daddio, that’s exactly right. the first half had de rossi placed on the left of the three man mid while montolivo was on the right. lippi was essentially asking (oddly) that those two perform the same role in protecting zambrotta and grosso respectively for defensive coverage. this, of course opens it up in the middle since there is little filtering happening in front of the cb’s who in this case were relative slugs compared to brazil’s front line. de rossi is the only legit dm out of those three so when you isolate him over to one side you tend to expose 1/2 – 2/3 of the space across the middle especially when you have soft players like pirlo and montolivo who are in charge of protecting their respective parts of the field and helping filter attacks from the center to the right. if you remember, the elano goal came out of bad coverage from pirlo on robinho (in the middle), who fed it onto elano after his initial backheel, and montolivo on elano (who let him drift in from the right uncontested to receive the pass from ronaldinho) and they both got in between the mid line and the cb’s to work their give-and-go.
having de rossi situated centrally, right in front of the cb’s, rather than to one side like yesterday, you’d have much better chance at closing down these gaps since it’s clearly less distance for ddr to cover. in a central position he can, in fact, more readily provide coverage on both sides and still protect / compensate for the relative immobility of the cb’s we had on yesterday. ddr has an incredible work rate but it’s asking a bit much to have him track across the entire mid line in a 433 to cover for the other two mids.
basically if lippi wants to persist with a 433, he would have to field both gatusso (or even brighi if he gets a call up) and ddr in a 3 man midfield, on either side of pirlo, if we want to get the right defensive coverage in front of the backs. this could still work since you can get plenty of offensive contribution out of ddr on one side while not conceding too much defensively since rino can tuck in more centrally if there is a counter on the side ddr has made his run. having said that, i do think the ideal set up, as you also point out, would be a 4231 with pirlo and ddr in front of the cb’s (since it exploits the strengths of both ddr and pirlo who obviously likes to move the ball from a deep position) or simply a 4-1-(any combo of your choice) with ddr playing as the “1″.
We just dont have a game changer, one who is the envy of the other team. Brazil have kaka, robinho , pato, argentina with messi and aguero and itaLY HAVE????????? we put pepe on the pitch . what can we expect?
Posted from 
Canada
True, Sushan.
But how bout you weigh in on this DDR debate?
Posted from 
United States
That was a joke, Sushan, I already know what you’re gonna say
Posted from United States
we just need to fucking ditch the 4-3-3, only way you can play with Pirlo in a 4-3-3 is if you put a Gattuso on both sides of him, aka impossible.
4-4-2
SuperGigi
Zambrotta-Chiellini-Cannavaro-Balzaretti
Camoranesi-Pirlo-De Rossi-Grosso
Jersey Boy-Toni
That formation prob gets us out of the group at the confederations cup, AND puts our best CMs on the field at the same time. Lippi needs to step it up and stop chewing on cigars.
Posted from United States
Ricci, I’d put Molinaro in Balzaretti’s place in that formation.
Posted from 
Italy
you think so? every time I watch Juve play Molinaro seems like easily their worst player technically, but he has a huge engine and lots of stamina.
Posted from United States
I’ve got to agree with ricci and (for all his venom) with lamagica. I think their understanding of the Italian midfield problems is spot on.
The more I think of it, the more I am of the opinion that we should drop Pirlo. There’s shiznits of great central midfielders in the Azzurri who could play besides De Rossi (Marchisio, Aquilani, Montolivo, Brighi, Gattuso). Pirlo simply can’t work next to De Rossi, and I suspect this problem would subsist regardless of the formation.
I did some thinking and it occurred to me that there is one tactical change which could give us Pirlo working, but you guys are really not going to like it: bring back Totti. The man tends to fall back as a trequartista all the time and he takes all the marking off Pirlo, liberating the Milan guy for all his passing and providing an alternative creative outlet for directing play. For the record that’s one of the reasons why Pirlo shined so much in 2006, because everybody was busy closing down Totti and there was fuck all people marking Pirlo. I realise not many of you would approve of this solution though.
Ew who the fuck is calling for Molinaro in the Nazionale?
The kids improved this season, but he’s still worse than Balzac.
Posted from 
Spain
Buffon
Zambrotta-Chiellini-Cannavaro/legra-Grosso/DeCeglie
Camoranesi-Pirlo-De Rossi-Brighi
Rossi/Quagliarella-Toni/Gilardino/Cassano
will and should be the formation for success..De Rossi to play just in front of the defence as the deep lying playmaker who can defend, just unleash Pirlo in the middle to throw his passes!!No one can defeat us!!
Posted from Spain
Swear to god, people are just throwing names out there. De Ceglie has been underwhelming at left-back thus far for Juve, and yeah, I know he’s young, but as of now I’d much rather see Criscito there. De Ceglie has played well as a left-mid though, I’d love to see him take up that role.
Posted from Spain
Imo Pirlo can easily play on the left. He did it against France last year and did brilliantly. Just fucking play DDR in the middle, that’ll give the entire defence cover. Lippi realized that and did it in the second half against Brazil. It paid back immediatly.
Another option is to play the way Roma did against Chelsea. 4-3-1-2 with Pizarro/Pirlo as the ‘1′. When the opponent has the ball he’ll have a pretty free role. When Italy get possession he can fall back and play to his deep-lying role.
Posted from 
Denmark
And no Molinaro, please. I’m all for Criscito, though! Either at LB or even CB.
Posted from Denmark
In my opinion, this would be the perfect Azzurri squad at the moment:
Starting 11 (4-3-1-2):
Buffon
Maggio Cannavaro Chiellini Zambrotta
Camoranesi Pirlo De Rossi
Del Piero
Miccoli Amauri
Other callups/available subs:
Goalies: Amelia, Curci
Defenders: Nesta, Grosso, Legrottaglie
Midfielders: Marchisio, Giovinco, Rosina, Aquilani
Second Striker: Totti
Strikers: Rossi, Floccari
I didnt put Gattuso and De Ceglie in because they both are injured and seem to be out for a while.
And to all the De Rossi/Pirlo/Gattuso debaters, i just wanna say that Camoranesi is better than any of them. Maybe not centrally, but overall our best midfielder, and certainly our best right wing midfielder.
john silver,
i think your piece on the game was right on in the analysis department, but i am not sure of the solutions suggested.
Pirlo and DeRossi were indeed overlapping, but putting a player between them? this makes no sense to me. in my opinion, it makes more sense to change the formation if we are to play both players. not that i am an avid advocate of 4-4-2, but if we played DeRossi in a central position just infront of the CB’s, and pushed Pirlo up in front of him flanked on the right and left by two hustling midfield wings in a flat rhombus, i think it would not only put DeRossi where he plays best but would keep Pirlo protected in a sort of ‘quarterback pocket’ where he can work his magic more fluidly and with less worry. we would need some midfielders with good defensive as well as offensive instinct. also, Pirlo really needs to be in better form if he is to be fielded again.
Montolivo is to be completely overlooked for this role (and on the team in general for at least a while).
my recommendation:
……………..Rossi……………………..Quagliarella……………..
Brighi……………………..Pirlo……………………….Camoranesi
…………………………….DeRossi……………………………….
Zambrotta…………Cannavarro……….Chiellini……………Grosso
the bench:
……………..DelPiero/Totti…………..DiNatale……………….
Perrotta………………..Aquilani/Giovinco……………….Gatusso
………………………Palumbo/D’agostino………………………..
Dossena………….Gamberini……….Legrottaglie…………Motta
well i haven’t seen a lot of the new generation Juve players in action (Marchisio, Marchionni, DeCeglie)
players to get rid of : Gilardino, Toni – these guys will not do it for the Azzurri – at least not anytime soon. hell, i would rather have Inzaghi back if we are looking for a prima-punta.
THE TOTTI THEORY: maybe the reason Lippi is mucking it up with Toni and Gilardino in the line-up is because everyone will be so happy once Totti is called back into the side. not that i want to see Totti back, though he is the greatest. he lacks pace, but then so do Toni and Gilardino; however, what he lacks in pace he makes up for in versatility, amazing passing (and this is where Italy can win the game against teams like Brazil), and a terrifying arsenal of long, short, wide-angle, set, chip, scissor, etc. shots that no one in the world can match. the only guy who is coming close is Quagliarella, and that is why he needs to be up in the front more than anyone else.
D’Agostino and Palumbo are tireless workhorses. Giovinco would be almost like adding another forward to the line up since he plays so far up, but he should be there to call upon.
brazil really beat italy by joga bonito
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkTLDOBBcOg
Posted from United States
I have another idea. Try the Argentina-style route. Get rid of Lippi, dont bring back Donadoni or someone like that. Bring in Roberto Baggio as the manager.
Michel-Olivier / Armando
———
:ROLLEYES:
That Ronaldinho-skill is not that difficult. Many of my friends can do it.
Posted from Denmark
It really isn’t.
I did it on my first try on the pitch and I suck.
Posted from United States
yeah but can you hit the cross bar 4 consecutive times from the top of the 18-yard box?
and i mean without the convenient editing of a tv camera like dinho had….
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Mike,
Pirlo shouldn’t have been back there at all. he was in the wrong place doing the wrong thing. not saying he is bad – he is a great midfielder, but he has only been back from injury for a brief time and was not up to this game.
and you are wrong about DeRossi. he is far better and more versitile than Gattuso – very different players, but Gattuso can’t hit set pieces nor reach the back of the net from 30m out. he also has none of the passing accuracy of DeRossi.