lo zio
International
- 24 October 2005
- Palermo
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season
a nerazzurra juventus scarf??!! that's weird
as for the cassano discussion...., normally i would agree with u, Sina. Marcello is one of the best coaches in the world. his history, his silverware, his achiemevents speak for themselves... those, along with his undenyable top class coaching and men managing skills should make all his decisions pretty much unquestionable...... but this is a bit different.
'97\98 season... the season that would have brought to the world cup. baggio had one of his best seasons..... despite being already quite old, he would have probably deserved a second ballon d'or.
nontheless cesare maldini (italy's coach) decided not to call him up with the azzurri... it definitely was a tricky decision.... but, to be honest, we had plenty of options those days.... baggio had to compete with del piero for the supporting striker spot and with totti for the trequartista's spot... and both totti and del piero were in their peaks.
today a player like cassano is just what we need most. our team is (slowly) finding a bit of balance (i really like the palombo-de rossi midfield and pirlo playing as a trequartista), but we still miss something very important. we need someone with the guts and the skill to go looking for 1 on 1 situations. our game is way too plan, too flat, too scholastic and predictable right now.
we need someone who can scare the defenders, someone who can attract the defensive line's attention and give some relief to our main striker (gila, iaquinta, or whoever).... di natale is an amazing player... for techinique and dribbling accuracy, he's pretty much on par with ribery..... but unlike ribery, di natale won't ever get double marking from the opponents, as he doesn't generate the same fear in his opponents. cassano does.
balotelli and giovinco are still too young and unexperienced, aquilani still has to step up on the big stage (or at least to show some consistency).... this is antonio's moment.
if antonio would have done the things he did in the last 2 years in an english club or in an italian, spanish or german top club..... he would have the same "armies of fanboys masturbating over the television messi, cristiano ronaldo and ribery have). the consistency he showed is just unbelievable. and his attitude change is even more unbelievable.
just to make an example. del neri was appointed as sampdoria coach this summer.... back in the days when both del neri and cassano were in roma, cassano once told him "f**k u, i don't even understand what u're saying... learn to speak in italian and then, i will listen to u" (del neri has the so called "french R" or "soft R"... so he can't articulate and pronounce the letter "r" properly.. it's kinda funny to listen)... del neri was a bit on the fence about accepting the sampdoria job, precisely because of cassano..... apparently it was cassano himself, who called him by phone to apologise for what he did years ago and to guarrantee him this time it would have been different.
last month del neri said about cassano "even though the whole world noticed his attitude changed, no one can really have an idea about what a different player and man he is... it's his day-by-day attitude that is completely different, and that's something that only those who live very close to him (friends, his teammates and his coach) can appreciate.
and however, even back in the days when antonio was a little devil, his attitude always changed every time he wore the italy jersey (amaizingly he was one of the biggest "team-players" during euro 2004 and never create any troubles.... and the same goes for euro 2008).
so it's not a matter of discipline.... there's no risk to put in danger lippi's authority, neither to damage the stability of the group. the only reason why he's not being picked is because lippi doesn't like him as a person.
this has always been lippi's biggest limit....having personal feelings interfering with your professional decision.... it already happened with panucci, now it's cassano time.
it's a personal issue.... and that's something u can't accept from a coach like lippi.... u might expect it from a joke of a coach, with no history, no silverware, no charisma and no coaching skills like domenech..... but not from a top class coach like lippi.
i would even get over lippi's dramas and accept his decision, if only we wouldn't need cassano so much... but given the circumstances, his hatred towards antonio is simply unacceptable.
bottom line, being stubborn is not a crime. lippi is in charge and it's up to him to build the team. and he also proved, through his long carreer, he's damn good at doing it. but...
- this italy team badly needs the sparkle cassano can provide.
- cassano proved in the last 2 years he won't be a trouble for lippi or the team.
- letting your personal reasons interfere with your job is just not professional.
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concerning pazzini, i got to say, him and cassano, they couldn't be more different. pazzini is not a pussy like montolivo (
), but he's definitely closer to montolivo than to cassano. he's really a good boy. if i had to describe pazzini's attitude, i'd say he's "a montolivo with a strong persoality and confidence".
football-wise, they look like they're born to play together, i mean the chemistry and the understanding between them is just amazing..... and maybe (i don't know) they're also friends off the pitch..... but that doesn't imply they have similar charachters, of course.
as for the national team, pazzini's situation is a bit different from cassano's one.... with gilardino, iaquinta, quagliarella and rossi to deal with, the competition is tough. gilardino's spot is pretty much unquestionable. pazzini could easily deserve the backup role, but quagliarella and iaquinta are much more versatile than giampaolo and can offer something more in terms of tracking-back and teamwork (even though pazzini became an amazing post-player aswell).
lippi is probably waiting giampaolo to confirm himself through this whole season.... if he keeps going like this for a few more months, then he's definitely gonna be called up by lippi...... or at least that's my hope.
a nerazzurra juventus scarf??!! that's weird
as for the cassano discussion...., normally i would agree with u, Sina. Marcello is one of the best coaches in the world. his history, his silverware, his achiemevents speak for themselves... those, along with his undenyable top class coaching and men managing skills should make all his decisions pretty much unquestionable...... but this is a bit different.
'97\98 season... the season that would have brought to the world cup. baggio had one of his best seasons..... despite being already quite old, he would have probably deserved a second ballon d'or.
nontheless cesare maldini (italy's coach) decided not to call him up with the azzurri... it definitely was a tricky decision.... but, to be honest, we had plenty of options those days.... baggio had to compete with del piero for the supporting striker spot and with totti for the trequartista's spot... and both totti and del piero were in their peaks.
today a player like cassano is just what we need most. our team is (slowly) finding a bit of balance (i really like the palombo-de rossi midfield and pirlo playing as a trequartista), but we still miss something very important. we need someone with the guts and the skill to go looking for 1 on 1 situations. our game is way too plan, too flat, too scholastic and predictable right now.
we need someone who can scare the defenders, someone who can attract the defensive line's attention and give some relief to our main striker (gila, iaquinta, or whoever).... di natale is an amazing player... for techinique and dribbling accuracy, he's pretty much on par with ribery..... but unlike ribery, di natale won't ever get double marking from the opponents, as he doesn't generate the same fear in his opponents. cassano does.
balotelli and giovinco are still too young and unexperienced, aquilani still has to step up on the big stage (or at least to show some consistency).... this is antonio's moment.
if antonio would have done the things he did in the last 2 years in an english club or in an italian, spanish or german top club..... he would have the same "armies of fanboys masturbating over the television messi, cristiano ronaldo and ribery have). the consistency he showed is just unbelievable. and his attitude change is even more unbelievable.
just to make an example. del neri was appointed as sampdoria coach this summer.... back in the days when both del neri and cassano were in roma, cassano once told him "f**k u, i don't even understand what u're saying... learn to speak in italian and then, i will listen to u" (del neri has the so called "french R" or "soft R"... so he can't articulate and pronounce the letter "r" properly.. it's kinda funny to listen)... del neri was a bit on the fence about accepting the sampdoria job, precisely because of cassano..... apparently it was cassano himself, who called him by phone to apologise for what he did years ago and to guarrantee him this time it would have been different.
last month del neri said about cassano "even though the whole world noticed his attitude changed, no one can really have an idea about what a different player and man he is... it's his day-by-day attitude that is completely different, and that's something that only those who live very close to him (friends, his teammates and his coach) can appreciate.
and however, even back in the days when antonio was a little devil, his attitude always changed every time he wore the italy jersey (amaizingly he was one of the biggest "team-players" during euro 2004 and never create any troubles.... and the same goes for euro 2008).
so it's not a matter of discipline.... there's no risk to put in danger lippi's authority, neither to damage the stability of the group. the only reason why he's not being picked is because lippi doesn't like him as a person.
this has always been lippi's biggest limit....having personal feelings interfering with your professional decision.... it already happened with panucci, now it's cassano time.
it's a personal issue.... and that's something u can't accept from a coach like lippi.... u might expect it from a joke of a coach, with no history, no silverware, no charisma and no coaching skills like domenech..... but not from a top class coach like lippi.
i would even get over lippi's dramas and accept his decision, if only we wouldn't need cassano so much... but given the circumstances, his hatred towards antonio is simply unacceptable.
bottom line, being stubborn is not a crime. lippi is in charge and it's up to him to build the team. and he also proved, through his long carreer, he's damn good at doing it. but...
- this italy team badly needs the sparkle cassano can provide.
- cassano proved in the last 2 years he won't be a trouble for lippi or the team.
- letting your personal reasons interfere with your job is just not professional.
--------------------------------------------------------------
concerning pazzini, i got to say, him and cassano, they couldn't be more different. pazzini is not a pussy like montolivo (
), but he's definitely closer to montolivo than to cassano. he's really a good boy. if i had to describe pazzini's attitude, i'd say he's "a montolivo with a strong persoality and confidence".football-wise, they look like they're born to play together, i mean the chemistry and the understanding between them is just amazing..... and maybe (i don't know) they're also friends off the pitch..... but that doesn't imply they have similar charachters, of course.
as for the national team, pazzini's situation is a bit different from cassano's one.... with gilardino, iaquinta, quagliarella and rossi to deal with, the competition is tough. gilardino's spot is pretty much unquestionable. pazzini could easily deserve the backup role, but quagliarella and iaquinta are much more versatile than giampaolo and can offer something more in terms of tracking-back and teamwork (even though pazzini became an amazing post-player aswell).
lippi is probably waiting giampaolo to confirm himself through this whole season.... if he keeps going like this for a few more months, then he's definitely gonna be called up by lippi...... or at least that's my hope.
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. indeed u're right. it wasn't france '98 but korea-japan 2002 (hence the season i was referrring to was actually the 01/02 season). and it was trapattoni the one who didn't call baggio, not maldini.... my bad 
hope u'll become a regular here.... the more we are, the more interesting the conversation gets 
i said i'm no expert... i didn't say that i'm clueless! 
But what about the players on the team? De Rossi's recent comments took me by surprise as he's not very outspoken (remember when Siena fans made fun of his dead father... shameful, but he just walked off the pitch without a word). So if De Rossi feels like this, perhaps there are others on the team who don't want Cassano along for the ride (I think Cannavaro has problems with Cassano also, for whatever reason). Add the fact that Lippi also doesn't like Cassano, surely it doesn't make sense make all these adjustments for just one player. It would just cause problems Italy really don't need at the moment. 
) because Iaquinta and Gilardino will never lose their place in NT, they are Lippi's favourites
