Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season
Zeem said:
I mean look at Mourinho, I was watching Real Madrid against Hercules who were playing at the same time. Real were 1-1 until the final third of the game (Trezeguet scored a nice goal btw ) and Mourinho was already playing with Ozil,Di Maria,Higuain and Ronaldo. So he took out a CB Pepe and replaced him with Benzema and won 3-1.
Oh yeah, i remember those good old days, we're down a goal and Mou throws on Suazo and Obina and Arnautovic, and in the dying minutes Materazzi as an emergency CF
Can't believe it actually worked though
well, to be fair, most of the times it didn't work
. it must be said though, josè always had very "strong" teams (in terms of phisicality and stamina) so usually the players were able to cope with the complete lack of balance determined by his stupid decisions.
Zeem, imo in that specific department, allegri has absolutely nothing to learn from mourinho (if anything mou could learn something about match-reading from allegri, as josè himself admitted twice in the last 2 years.... basically whenever he faced allegri).
i've already discussed this aspect of mourinho in the past, so i won't repeat myself... but i'll say this. there's a difference between a bold (but correct) move and a plain stupid move. a bold (but correct) move still remains the right thing to do, even when eventually it doesn't pay off. a stupid move, on the other side, might even pay off, but that the fact that u got lucky doesn't change the fact that it was a stupid move.
mourinho is a true top class coach, when it comes to
prepare the match. but when it comes to
match-reading (namely reacting to what happens on the pitch, trying to change the flow of the game with in-game tactical variation), then his approach is pretty similar to a 14 years old kid playing football manager.
i can recall a few good and bold in-game moves mourinho made during his inter span (like the changes he made during the match against chelsea in Cl last year. that time josè actually showed some very good match reading abilities).....but those cases were just rare exceptions.
edmundo said:
Anyone else excited about the derby this coming Sunday ?
i got the feeling it will be a very intense (from the phisycal point of view) and extremely poor (speaking of the quality of the football) match... and i'm absolutely sure it will be a draw.
there's just too much at stake (for both clubs) to have an entertaining match imo.... the pressure will kill the game.
btw, for those who speak italian (better yet, for those who can speak
roman dialect ), check out this awesome derby advertising sky made...... romanzo criminale style!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL8iV0GceQw
i gotta say, mauri and vucinic make a pretty good 70's magliana gangsters
as for lazio's first place, i got to say i'm impressed too. but i wouldn't give too much credit to reja..... and i certainly wouldn't call him a master tactician.
lazio's downfall last season wasn't due to tactical reasons. rossi and ballardini just lost their grip on the dressing room (well, rossi lost it, ballardini never had it) because the players were reacting to lotito's crazy decisions. it's pretty obvious the players didn't like the way lotito handled the pandev-ledesma-de silvestri situation.... and since other players in that same dressing room were about to get in the same situation of ledesma, pandev and de silvestri, their "reaction" on the pitch was the obvious and inevitable consequence.
and it's no coincidence that the situation at lazio instantly improved as soon as lotito changed approach and compromised with ledesma (and yeah, probably reja played a role in that situation).
bottom line, lazio's problems last year weren't due to tactical\coaching decisions.... and both rossi and ballardini had absolutely no responsibility whatsoever in what happened. lotito was the cause of that problem... and only lotito could fix it.
having sad that, reja is definitely a good coach (nothing more than that though). rossi and ballardini are on a different level however. especially speaking of tactics, rossi and ballardini actually are masters... reja certainly isn't. still reja is a good tactician, and (and that was mos important for lazio) he's more inclined to compromise than rossi and ballardini.
i was impressed by lazio sunday.... although they were really lucky. even though palermo was all over lazio for pretty much the entire game, they hung on and somhow managed to grab the 3 points.
palermo was clearely the better team sunday. the rosanero had a stunning 61% in ball possession and about 21 shots (11 shots on goal).... yet muslera was pretty much unbeatable.
i think this match told us 2 things. palermo is as naive as beautiful to watch (but i guess we already knew that). and lazio has a top club mentality, beacuse that's what u need to grab the 3 points in theese kinda matches. despite being pretty much outplayed by palermo lazio players never lost their composure and coolness. and that was really impressive. it takes a top club mentality to handle the pressure palermo put on lazio without cracking.
however, it must be said, muslera pretty much saved the day (some of his saves were "buffon-esque")... and if we would replay that match in those very same conditions, palermo would beat lazio 9 times out of 10... but that's just silly pub-talking.
---------------------------------------------------------------
as for
the sabatini situation, apparently he left palermo for personal reasons, not for professional reasons.... zamparini himself said sabatini didn't left coz he had a discussion with him.... zampa even said that if sabatini would solve his personal problems, palermo will always wellcome him with open arms. infact the team director position left by sabatini won't be filled by anyone until next summer (precisely to give sabatini a chance to come back).
i just hope the reason he left is not a tumour and that it's not something related to family problems.... but i'm inclined to believe it's one of those 2 things.
for palermo this is a tragedy..... replacing an amazing team director like sabatini is not gonna be easy... at all...... but as long as he's ok, i'm fine. my main concern right now his sabatini's health and his family..... palermo's football team comes after.
--------------------------------------------------------------
finally,
concerning the cassano incident, that's the story. last week garrone (samp's president) invited cassano to an award ceremony (don't know what the award was about). not only cassano refused to show up.... but he even insulted garrone.
as a result of that,
garrone told cassano to pack his stuff and leave the clubhouse.... for good!!! garrone asked the federation
to rescind his contract.
right now cassano is desperate. he apologised in public and said he would even accept a 50% cut on his wage (from 3M to 1.5) if that would help garrone change his mind... so far garrone hasn't even replied.
i gotta say i love the way garrone his handling this situation. i always knew garrone was a class act, but it takes some guts to kick a star like cassano out ot the squad like he did. i have a new hero!!!
right now cassano is out of the squad. samp played without him sunday... and won!
) and Mourinho was already playing with Ozil,Di Maria,Higuain and Ronaldo. So he took out a CB Pepe and replaced him with Benzema and won 3-1.
