Vaffanculo, Donadoni

June 10th, 2008 | by: chris | Comments(174)

“It is pointless to say whether it was the right decision or not, as we don’t know what would’ve happened with other choices.

“If you say it was incorrect because we lost, then that is fine, but I still consider it too simplistic. In my view, it was not an incorrect line-up.”

Listen you braindead pezzo di merda, how the hell can you watch the same game eeeeeeeeeeeeveryone else in the world watched and think it was the right lineup? Or that Italy wasn’t walloped from pillar to post? Or that if you line up the same XI, the Azzurri have a prayer to make it through to the next round? Or that you’re anything but a poor excuse for a tactician? Shit, you make Roberto Mancini look like Vittorio Pozzo.

Guess what? We’re probably going to see the Milan midfield again. His arrogance is rivaled only by his incompetence, sadly.

I still haven’t truly decided what I want to happen during this tournament. Nobody rates the Euros on the same level as the World Cup, obviously, and what’s more important to me is defending that title. Give me a WC trophy over 5 EC trophies eight days a week. I said this to plenty of people before the tournament, but unless we’re going to win this whole thing, I’d rather crash out early so that Donadoni is assured of not having a job. Euros are nice and all, but they ain’t the World Cup and we have absolutely no chance of defending that title if Roberta is at the helm. Absolutely no chance.

So what’s going to happen on Friday? Probably the same thing. But here are the changes that need to be made.

Back Four:

Zambrotta, Chiellini, Panucci, Grosso.

Zambro out on the right is obvious and he looked 1200 times better on the right than the left. Fabio always saves his best for blue, even if he’s Bizarro Pirlo in the hair department right now, and he was one of the few shining lights. Chiellini should get his chance, because he sure as shit can’t be worse that Materazzi and Barzagli, and Panucci is a guy who rarely, if ever, makes mistakes in the center. Right…not always terrific, but he’s typically much better centrally these days. They don’t need a hoover in the backline, they just need a no mistakes defensive line.

Midfield.:

De Rossi, Pirlo, Aquilani.

Pirlo’s gotta stay because he’s always gotta stay. The fact that De Rossi didn’t start criminal. Absolutely criminal. Ambro is a central midfielder in a defensive mid’s body. DDR is a defensive mid, an attacking mid, a central mid, but most importantly….he’s a 5th defender. His workrate allows him to vacuum everything from box to box, touch to touch for a complete 90 minutes. He’s the best asset on the team, because he allows for such tactical versatility, he’s your best midfielder and he’s on the fucking pine? Come on, Susan. Pull your skirt up, take your black & red panties off and do the one thing that you can’t fuck up: start your best midfielder.

In the other spot, the argument could be made for both Aquilani and Perrotta. Berto provides the skill, deft passing, cannon of a right foot and subtle intelligence while Perrotta would walk on the pitch and lap the field in that “meters run” stat UEFA loves so much, allowing a bit more freedom for Fabio and his surging runs on the left. Of course, explaining this to Donadoni would be fruitless, because apparently he was too busy making his name with Livorno and Genoa to watch the World Cup.

And really, when Pirlo – Andrea “Politically Correct” Pirlo for fuck’s sake – calls you out in the presser, YOU FUCKED UP. Admit it, move on. Don’t put two hands on your grapefruits and deny the sky is blue.

Top Line:

Luca looked lost. Why? No service. DDR playing would’ve allowed Pirlo to sit further up top and provide more creativity centrally because De Rossi can act as a playmaker. Until Del Piero and Cassano came on, two guys who drift until they can’t drift anymore, Luca was being fed longballs England-style and holding and holding….and holding…and holding…waiting for the cavalry to arrive. Gattuso and Ambrosini have passing ranges which don’t extend beyond the length of their manhoods (in Gattuso’s case seven feet), which works in the Milan system. Why? Because they’ve got Seedorf and Kaka in front; Ricky in his free flowing mode and Seedorf providing the creativity needed further up the pitch. Why doesn’t the Milan midfield work here? Because Camo and Toto are hugging the touchline while Ambro and Gattuso are utterly useless in possession. So either switch up the midfield or put someone behind Toni (which I and many others have been calling for since, oh, Donadoni coached his first game). Even better? Do both. Two complete midfielders next to Pirlo, Del Piero and Cassano out wide to start, but we know they won’t end up there, and voila, Toni can actually get some serviceable, well, service. Genius! Or Footballing 101. Yeah, the latter.

Coach: Fire him, insert a fucking cardboard cutout of Marcello Lippi on the sidelines, because that quarter inch piece of board will provide more motivation and tactical knowledge than Donadoni ever could.

But guess what? None of this is going to happen, and this is what we’re going to see on Friday:

Buffon;
Zambrotta, Barzagli, Panucci, Grosso;
Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini;
Camo, Toni, Di Natale.

Grosso for Materazzi should fix all that ails the Azzurri, yeah?

I was calm, his over the top arrogance just infuriates me. Unbelievable this guy. Unbelievable.

(I’m done venting. The “right formation” thing was the straw that broke the camel’s back.)