Italy-Bulgaria Preview

GIlardino has no potential.

Cannavaro please smack the shit out of that gypsy Bojinov

Posted from  United States

how easy it is for people to forget Gila´s contribution and potential..just remember his performance against Germany in the extra time of the world cup..twice he hit the post and provided the assist for the match winning goal for del piero,,against Cyprus in the very first match of these qualifiers when we were in danger of drawing the match, he controls a long ball beautifully and gives a classy back heel which led to a goal

Posted from  Spain

“Buffon’s pushing it wide with his eyes” LOL!

HAHAHA PEPE DOUBLE SCISSORS AND THEN FALLS ON HIS FACE OMG

Posted from  United States

@ 9 champs league, that was 3 1/2 years ago and while I may forget some of the mediocre things he’s done in 4 years I will never forget his terrible hairline.

You can put Simone Tirribocchi in these games and he will produce good things, it’s about doing it on a consistent basis which makes an international footballer.

Posted from  United States

hahaha

Posted from  Spain

Tiribocchi*

Posted from  United States

FYI Del Piero’s goal was the match winner, I dont understand why everyone gets confused with that. The match winner in fact was Grosso’s goal assisted by Pirlo.

Pepe shouldnt be on the national team either.

Del Piero’s goal wasnt*

For Lippi, Pepe is the new Perrotta.

Posted from  United States

Palermitano on the field!!

Anyone who does not understand Perrotta’s game does not understand calcio. Guys like Perrotta (when Perrotta had stamina out the wazzoo) are absolutely essential for a team to win games.

Posted from  United States

Maybe for Spalletti’s system. I’d like a player who can do more than run and create space. Maybe, y’know, score a goal.

Posted from  United States

Ireland coming to get ya!

Posted from  Ireland

By 9 champs leagues Milan target | September 9th, 2009 at 3:04 pm

Posted from Spain

Luciano, I am 100% sure he will not call A. Cassano.

wow. what a difference the right formation makes. we played some beautiful football today. pirlo and grosso were great. Iaquinta still needs to go though! Get Pazzini up there and we’d fucking nail it!

Posted from  Australia

player ratings from goal.com:

Buffon- 9: Did not have too much to do on the whole, but at 1-0 Buffon produced a contender for save of the year with a simply impossible stop from Stilian Petrov. That save alone earns Buffon a 9.

Zambrotta- 6.5: Does not have the legs to penetrate down his side any more, although he did create one golden chance for Iaquinta. Sound defensively.

Cannavaro- 8: Cannavaro’s form this season so far has been 2006-like. Read the game superbly, and executed some superb tackles and interceptions.

Chiellini- 7: Continued his strong partnership with club colleague Cannavaro, winning everything in the air and competing as always.

Grosso- 8.5: Grosso rarely fails to perform in a blue shirt, and it was no different tonight. Scored the first with a great finish, and started the move for the second.

Camoranesi- 7: Added a nice creative touch in the three-man center midfield, and displayed some silky dribbling skills.

Marchisio- 8: Extremely impressive in the middle-of-the-park. Gave Italy some much needed youthful energy that they have so sorely missed recently. Shot just wide on 65 minutes.

De Rossi- 7: Sat deep and gobbled up possession. Not vintage De Rossi, but still a more than solid showing from the Roma man. Almost scored on 27 minutes.

Pirlo- 7.5: Pushed forward into the trequartista role he started his career in, and he didn’t disappoint. A genius chipped pass for Grosso’s opener.

Iaquinta- 7.5: Could be more clinical in front of goal, but Iaquinta’s workrate and running caused Bulgaria all kinds of problems. Deservedly got on the scoresheet, on another night he would have had a hat-trick.

Gilardino- 6.5: Worked hard up-front, and provided the assist for Iaquinta’s goal by combining wonderfully with the Juventus man.

Substitutes

Rossi- 6.5: Lively after his introduction, testing the goalkeeper on a few occasions.

Pepe- 6: Made little impact.

D’Agsotino- N/A:

Posted from  Australia

We win, we scored. What did we learn? Nothing…
Zambrotta sucked, cannavaro was not great – no big surprise.
Pirlo was alright, ddr was okay, camro was invisible again – he looks like a bloody goat by the way. marchisio for my had a great game. Iaquinta should come off the bench, GIla is completely useless, get rid of him. Rossi, had two weak shots and disappeared.

Yes we won, but it wasn’t a clear victory, we played a very weak team, Georgia did look much better, not to mention this bulgaria team had very real very solid chances. The score could have been the other way.

I think Zambrotta needs to be replaced ASAP. Grosso has a longer shelf life than him, but is still dangerous. Cannavaro is finished as well.

In all honesty, I’d keep trying to find some mojo in the midfield. I am satisfied with the players he has, I’d only throw foggia in there as well, and play D’agostino more.

Defense, one change is a must, the others can be slowly integrated in.

Offense, stop beating a dead horse. Get the Sampdoria Twins out there ASAP. And play your inform players – IE DI NATALE!

Let’s stop joking around cause the way it’s looking if we don’t win the world cup Capello will win it. This is not just any old battle this is a battle between good and evil!

I didn’t catch the game, but just as the last few matches didn’t mean we were trash, this doesn’t mean we’re back in form, though I’m pleased to read that we played pretty well. Glad the 4-3-1-2 is back at Italia, that is our formation.

Big ups to the team for finally sorting out the midfield, I thought Marchisio would be the perfect “3rd” midfielder in there, and it seems he is playing quite well. Pirlo as a trequartista was an intelligent move I did not see coming, and De Rossi seems to have been told to play more of a mediano which seems right. But do you think Pirlo will transition back to trequartista or this was a one off?

Posted from  United States

Let’s stop joking around cause the way it’s looking if we don’t win the world cup Capello will win it. This is not just any old battle this is a battle between good and evil!

Let them conquer the qualifying…we’ll keep our 4 stars.

From what I’ve read, you’re the only one who thinks Camo and Cannavaro sucked today. Personal bias, perhaps?

How about that Gigi guy eh Marco? He’s pretty good.

Posted from  United States

OK here goes….

Lippi has got to be straightened out by the FIGC. Anyonwe with half a brain knows that Cassano is the best young natural italian talent on the face of the earth. He is our new Baggio/Zola/ADP etc. With him on the team even Iaquinta could finally score goals (I know it would be a minor miracle…). I almost wish we would have lost today so that the pressure would have mounted on Lippi and we could have possibly brought in Spalletti.

Alas all this is nothing but a dream….no one is going to touch Lippi. He has the seniority and the WC trophy as backing (although if it were not for Buffon in 2006 we never would have won the WC). The FIGC will stay behind and let things take their natural course which will be as follows:

1: We will qualify for S Africa.
2: We will be placed as a Top Seed.
3: We will face some interesting challengers from new regions of the world (asia, middle east, africa).
4: We will scrape by and qualify for the round of 16 by the narrowest of margins.
5: We will draw a tougher opponent because of this.
6: We will loose in the round of 16 because we have a mediocre squad with absolutely no offense at all and cannot possily play counter attacking soccer for 90 minutes every game.
7: Lippi will debate all the missed opportunities, bad calls, injuries and weather as our downfall.
8: He will retire and become a director at Juventus.
9: We will watch Brazil – England in the final and watch a real Italian coach show his mastery…

Questions will remain….

1: Why did we allow Lippi to come back after Donadoni?
2: Why did FIGC not pursue Capello while they held the hammer over Donadoni’s head?
3: Cassano was one of our brighter spots in the Euros and has had two very god seasons back to back since then. What does Lippi not see? What does he have against this kid?
4: Will Italy ever be able to churn out defenders like they once did? Will we have to endure the pain of watching Canna get burned by the speed of brazil or african teams again?
5: Why must we hope and pray for Amauri to come in march only 4 months before the WC? Do we want to be another France or Germany with more naturalized players than true national players? Is this what we stand for now??

Assessment:

Italy will go to the 2010 WC with a mediocre team. Only one true superstar and that is Buffon. The others are capable professionals but no one is a superstar ala Messi, Aguero, Kaka, Lampard, Gerrard, Xavi, Iniesta, etc. that can be a game breaker. Our best hope is to have a revolution and build a team for 2012 Euros with the U21 players. This can only happen with a change at the helm. A change that was needed long ago….

Posted from  Canada

I would play a 4-2-3-1.
Let me explain why.
We do not have two powerful forwards that can play the long ball that Lippi likes to so often do. Even those that we have cannot hold up the ball and wait for support. This makes the 2nd striker virtually useless and uninvolved in much of the play (as was Gila in todays game yet again).
We hav eto play ball to feet and swift movement in ordr to crack teams defense. We have a number of skilled smaller men that can do this very well. (Watch what Spain does with their small lineup. Often they play with 5 midfielders and Torres up top).

1: Defense is always a question until we can replace Canna, but for the other roles it should be a lock with Santon (no Zambro), Chiellini, and Grosso (bring Motta, Gamberini, Marchisio as backups).
2: Two holding midfielders, they being DeRossi and D’Agostino (aquilani as backup), that protect the inadequacies of our defense and allow for the two wingbacks to overlap at will (both Santon and Grosso do this exceptionally well). Both these guys can make great outlet passes and can tackle with the best of them. (BTW – Brazil plays with two holding midfielders in their 4-2-2-2 formation).
3: Three attacking midfielders with creative flair. Here I would play Cassano, Rossi, Pirlo (quags, dinatale, foggia as backups).
4: Striker – Here is my achilles heel but the best option may be Pazzini since he knows and can synch with the midfielders better than any of the other pretenders (retire Iaquinta, Toni, Gila,etc. Bring even Aquafresca).

We need a speedy team. Our traditional pedestrian game is no match for the modern global game. It was evident in the Euros, Conf Cup and always is shown as a huge void lately in Champions League.

Thoughts?

Posted from  Canada

If Lippi wants to keep playing Pirlo behind the strikers, he’ll need a back-up trequartista. Cassano is the obvious choice for this. I suspect though that Lippi will use Rossi from the bench for that role.

This is a shame, as Rossi, although talented, can’t yet perform consistently against stronger international sides.

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Posted from  United States