i remember ribery did the same thing with bayern 1 season ago (it was against werder if i remember well).
So we have a clearer view.
). ).
u know actually u're probably right. zambro became a fullback in 2001, now that i think about it.
my mistake. as soon as i thought about zambro, i immediately placed him as a fullback
however pessotto did play at midfield as an internal-left once. it was the first or the 2nd match of the competition, if i remember well. he turned out to be pretty poor there and so zoff moved him back on the defensive line.
man, u have quite a memory!
soon after the match Carlo Paris (you are italian so you know him
that's the team i would have brought in southafrica for this confederations cup. the players into () are the backups.Dominic said:
Chivu?! Get outta here
Interesting that you had to name three players to contrast with Ibra... I don't like the term 'icing on the cake', its as if Inter could make do without Ibra. That is not true. We forget just how blunt Inter is at the moment, creatively, at times Ibra is reduced to creating something out of nothing. C'mon man, Tevez doens't even play. And Rooney doesn't even have a position sorted yet. And who said anything about core? CR7 is the difference maker, or closer (a term used in basketball to refer to a player who closes games, garnering a win, on a consistant basis). When players such as these don't perform, the team really suffers. For example, Ibra last season, was out for 3 months, during this period, Roma were able to claw their way back until they were just a 1pt or so away from Inter. And no one can deny the difference Ibra made when he came on against Parma in the final game of the season. Now contrast with when Cambiasso, Samuel and Maicon were out this season. Similarly, how badly did Man U miss CR7 when he was injured at the start of the season? Not to mention he was lacking in fitness and motivation (clearly he wanted to move to Real Madrid) yet he dragged the team along.
its boring in the sense that we see that same style of play, week in week out, and that there's no tactical variation. But it remains entertaining because its attack football, filled with scoring opportunities. Then you get games like the one versus Chelsea where Barcelona were out muscled, and me personally, I can hardly wait for the Spain-Brazil Confed Cup final, I suspect Spain will put up more of a fight than say Italy
Maybe Conte wasn't the best of examples, but Fiore hardly counts as an attacker. He's not even trequartista, more of an attacking central midfielder like Pizarro. What about Fiore, Conte and Albertini in a 3-man midfield, Totti sitting in the 'hole' and then Inzaghi with Delvecchio... why not? In fact what's the point of 3 playmakers, Albertini, Fiore and Totti? My point is with Italy, there are always too many players behind the ball, even when they're in possession. Maybe this is an incorrect assessment, but for as long as I have watched Italy, their game revolves around a strong defensive base, first and foremost. This is not necessarily negative, just playing to your strengths. In Euro 2000, italy's game was based on 3-man, water tight defence (forget how many different players scored in the tournament, how many goals did they concede from open play?), and then have the likes of Albertini and Fiore distribute the ball quickly to the forwards playing on the shoulder of the last defender. It's not catenaccio but it is defensive, certainly not offensive (you need to be in possession of the ball to play offensive, it's that simple). Problem with italy is that even though they have creative players among thier ranks, they succumb to the fear of losing (perhaps they believe their creative imagination isn't at a sufficient level or playing to offensive will leave them with too many gaps at the back and at the mercy of their pacier opponents) which is why they favor keeping the opposition out rather than risk taking, attacking football. It isn't always the case, but more so than not.
Amen
But the way he's carrying on, there won't be many left standing in his corner. It can't have been easy for Balotelli growing up, a black kid in sicily, himself and everyone knowing he was adopted, surely his stuborness and shitty attitude developed as a result of taunting and insults from his school mates when he was younger. I'm not condoning his behavior but I can understand it.
Agreed. Even with Amauri on board, Italy have NO chance of retaining their title as world champions. Especially after Lippi squandered your only chance to test out certain players in closely-contested tournament setting. Much could've been learned from the opportunity, what formation to play, a suitable back up to Buffon, Cannavaro, the defensive pairing, who from the old gaurd should go and who should remain, etc. But now we know next to nothing. One things for sure, the 4-3-3 formation needs to go. There's an interesting artcile on goal.com about this. It states that you need a pacy set of players in a 4-3-3 formation, in the midfield, the wingbacks and wingers/support strikers. Especially in midfield otherwise how else do you support the forwards, or cover those that have (Essien covering for Lampard, for example). THe article goes on to recommend the more compact, 4-3-1-2, which I completely agree with. This kind of formation would actually suit an aging team like Italy, the only danger being that it would forgo much of the creatvity and imagination. But all in all, it plays to Italy's strengths. One things for sure, Lippi needs to go. I lost respect for the guy when brought in Peruzzi to replace Pagiluca at Inter
. And now he's refusing to call up Cassano 
mate fiore was a pure trequartista those days. a constant offensive threat. infact, if i remember well, he was the one who had more shots on goal in that competition.
that could well be defined italy's trademark. this has always been our major weakness, and the reason why we lost so many finals (we're the second team in the world for world cup victories... but the first for finals played). this wasn't really a big problem until we could count on such a defence. but now the situation is different. when u look at the italian young players... if u pick those who will probably form our national team in a couple of years and put them together in the same squad, u realise that team will be much more similar to brazil than the "old italy".
yep, it was such a wasted chance.
i disagree on that. it's not about pace. it's about stamina, movement without the ball and spirit of sacrifice.
he's a very talented player, but he plays for a terrible club and his performance are influenced by team's bad matches
