You Lack Discipline. Balotelli e De Rossi

March 19th, 2011 | by: Marco | Comments Off

In a stunning display of showmanship, both Balotelli and DeRossi are set to be axed by manager Prandelli for next weeks clashes against Slovenia and Ukraine (it’s been reported). These bans fall under Prandelli’s long advocated code of ethics policy which promotes a sense of responsibility and fair play amongst the Azzurri ranks.

Here are the two separate incidents you be the judge on whether Prandelli has merit to not call up either DeRossi or Balotelli.

Thoughts on the matter:

De Rossi: I am of the mind that he should have been axed awhile ago from the Azzurri. While he’s obviously had some personal struggles occurring in his personal life over the last couple of years, it’s apparent that his on field performance has suffered greatly in the process. He’s been inconsistent and  sloppy at times; quite frankly we could use an opportunity to try out some new hands in the CDM capacity on the pitch.

Balotelli: It’s never nice when you go into a challenge with a high boot. But was this challenge as bad as it looked? Hardly. While I don’t think Balotelli has made strong cases for himself in the maturity department, I don’t think he quite deserves the thrashing he’s received from the media, Mancini and fellow teammates.  I have seen much worse challenges go unpunished in my time and in fact players rewarded for such horrendous tackles. It was a cheeky move I admit, but I don’t think it deserved the bantering an experienced manager like Mancini laid on him through the media. I may be old fashioned, but I think inner locker-room/ inner team debacles should be handled as such, within the team. Mancini should know better and continues to prove my opinion that he is simply a below average manager making a heck of a lot of money with these big teams.

As for Balotelli, I think the media, Man. City and pundits a like should stop using the excuse that he is a child. When you treat a child like a child, they don’t suddenly act grown up – they simply continue to act like a child. Although I do think he has talent, I believe the only way he will fully realize that is if teams start treating him like a capable adult. There are much younger players making names for themselves through appropriate conduct. Look at where Messi was at 20 years old; there can no longer be excuses of *childish antics* being pointed at him.

Should he be stricken from this Azzurri squad? In my humble opinion I’d love to see him and Cassano play alongside each other; but I could do without him this week in favour of a Giovinco call up

Also, has it dawned on anyone that Balotelli may be positioning himself for a summer transfer to Milan for a low sum of money. I mean, if this debacle continues; injuries, inconsistent performances  and so forth, Milan may swoop in with a $5,000,000 transfer for him. Much more affordable than holding onto Ibra who is completely useless in my opinion.

Let’s get to some real news.

Inter Milan. What can I say? Originally I had wanted to do a post completely dedicated to this team, but unfortunately time and work are factors that often work against me. Just a couple points though. I am far from an Interista, and by the sounds of it so are many of you. But, the way Inter went up against Bayern Munich in the second leg was so very…. un Italian. In recent memory, we are used to teams turtling in the second leg of their respective draws; Milan v Manchester, Roma v. Manchester, Juventus v. Liverpool, Roma v. Shakhtar…. need I say more. Yet, this week, Inter came out into the Allianz stadium in Munich with it all to play for. They bossed it.

The difference between Inter Milan and AC Milan and their different fates rest on the simple notion brought up in a previous post. The difference is Ibrahimovic and Eto’o. While Ibrahimovic, as I pointed out, was utterly useless in his match against the Spurs, Samuel Eto’o was completely different – a polar opposite. For me this completely confirms the great business decision Moratti and co put together last year in moving Ibrahimovic over to Barcalona and receiving  40,000,000 euro and Eto’o. Throughout the match in Munich this week Eto’o showed the speed, passion, and pace that were all absent in Ibrahimovic’s game against the Spurs. This was a black and white definition of what it takes to be great and what it takes to be completely overrated by the Italian media.

“I’m not sure if the deal that brought Eto’o to the club was my best piece of transfer business ever, but I really think it was a great piece of business for us,” Moratti

“Eto’o is fantastic. I do not want to take anything away from Ibrahimovic, but for everyone it was really a great deal to get Eto’o. Samuel is truly extraordinary.” Moratti

I’m certain had Milan bought Eto’o, or had they been using a player like Eto’o in their squad two weeks ago, the results of their draw would have been completely different. Which brings me to a second question I have regarding the Italian resolve in Europe.

Cassano, Pazzini and Von Bommel have something in common. Each of them have played in Europe at some point this season thus negating their effects on Milan and Inter when it comes to Champions League. Things like this make me question the motivations of these teams when it comes to being competitive in Europe. Look at Chelsea for example; they went into the transfer market to grab Torres from Liverpool who was eligible to play in Europe. Milan could have just as easily gone out and acquired Mattri from Cagliari and have him represent the team in their draw against the Spurs. With him in the lineup he would have provided an alternative, nay, an Italian alternative to the disappointing Ibrahimovic. Just a thought.

Serie B – Azzurrini bound.

In a moment of creative thinking Prandelli has pitched the idea that a Serie B team be composed of Italians under the age of 21. This would, according to Prandelli, speed up their development as they’d be involved in regular season matches. The idea is being talked about in circles, as it gains steam it would be interesting to see if this actually does take flight. Imagine for a moment a team of Italian u-21 players winning Serie B and competing in Serie A the following season? Ha, it could very well happen.

Unfortunately it does seem like one of those too good to be true ideas that often come around and never materialize into anything due to the bureaucratic mishmash currently in effect. It’s unfortunate, but it’s important to continue to innovate our way out of our current stagnation.

Up next the National Team Call-ups.