Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season
Poor old Ben. Twas a stunning comeback by Inter though, Pazzini fitted in seamlessly. I'd seen comparisons with Gilardino and how he didn't quite show his true potential at the highest level but Pazzini could be something different if his debut was anything to go by.
actually i had such a great time yesterday, even inter's comeback didn't manage to ruin my day. very "unpalermo-ish" game yesterday. we're not used to sit back and counter attack... we're use to dictate the theme of the game, to possess the ball much longer then the opponent (whereas yesterday inter had a little more possession than us)..... but then again, i can't blame the coach for this tactical choice.... i mean, we were playing against inter, in san siro and we were 2 goals ahead after only 10 minutes. the huge early lead gave us the chance to just sit back and let inter do the hard job (dictating the game), waiting for them to make a mistake and hit them on the counter.
i'm not gonna say we were bad... infact our counters were pretty good..... but u could see yesterday, this is just not our game... we weren't confortable at all.
a draw would have been more fair imo, and obviously if inter would have waited a little bit longer to sign pazzini, now we would be talking about a completely different result, but hey that's football.
as for pazzini, what he did yesterday is just what he has been doing ever since he left fiorentina..... but obviously, now that he'll be doing the same things with inter, he will get a lot more recognition and praise (due to inter's visibility).
as for the comparison with gila, i actually consider them 2 very different kind of forwards. infact the only thing they do have in common to me, is that both don't have a very strong, tall "
prima-punta-like" build (a la drogba or a la amauri)... but then again, even in the way they address this issue they are 2 very different players. for gilardino infact having a pretty small build is an advantage, while pazzini just doesn't care and acts on the pitch as if he were as tall as drogba...... and the most impressive thing is that he doesn't just try to play drogba's game.... he really has the "presence" of a drogba in the box.... plus an awesome positioning, plus a great mobility (he's faster and much more physical then gila) and has an even better heading than gila (and gila already is very good at that).
gilardino belongs to a very special category of forwards.... and funnily all theese type of forwards are italian.... paolo rossi, totò schillaci, marco di vaio. when u try to describe their game u' can't very well single out a specific department where they stand out... they're not particularly fast, or agile, don't have a huge presence in the box and their technical skills aren't exactly top notch....... they just score...... always.
and when they (or their teams) happen to go through a bad patch and they stop scoring every single week, then people tend to change their mind very easily about them (precisely because there isn't a specific feature in their game)... they forget em, begin to underrate em.... it's always like that... and it's what people are doing with gilardino right now.
pazzini is a more modern kind of player (wich doesn't necessarily mean "better" anyway). he has more weapons in his arsenal. he's faster than gila. he has that very quick reaction time and responsiveness that "small CF" usually have. he also has a very, very good touch and technique for a cf (and that's also due to his relatively small build)...... but still he has the balance and the ability to use his body that big tall cf usually have..... then he has an extraordinary timing and a very gilardino-esque (hence world class) positioning. he can score with both feet and he's a great header.
he's the kind of player that, even when he doesn't score for a long span, people still appreciate him for what he does for the team (wich is something that doesn't happen with gila).
but that's just an assumption of mine, as, ever since he left firenze, he's never played more than 2 consecutive games without scoring at least once).
he migh or might not become a world class forward....... but sure as hell, he already is a fantastic player.
great deal by inter. just think of that: man city bought dzeko for 32 millions euros. pazzini costed 12 (+ biabany). that's proof that u don't need big money to build a great squad. dzeko's value was hugely inflated by the hype and by the fact that half europe was following him.... i actually find it amazing that juve spent so much effort and time trying to snatch dzeko, when pazzini was available for half the price!!!!
i like dzeko very much. he's a great forward and, like pazzo, he will most likely become a world class striker....... but to be honest, given the chance to choose between pazzini and dzeko
at the same price, i would have no hesitation picking giampaolo over edin. absolutely no hesitations at all. and that if they costed the same money... at half the price of dzeko, pazzini becomes an amazing deal.
PLF said:
And Pazzini is no Zlatan either.... he doubts himself at times too but luckily not as much as the very talented Alberto Gilardino
actually pazzo, despite what many people (me included) used to believe, has a very strong personality and is nowhere as "moody" as gila.
prandelli said something very interesting about pazzini a few months ago. a journalist asked him "what went wrong with pazzini in firenze? i mean this kid was unbelievably good when he made his debut in atalanta. then he moved in fiorentina and never really fullfilled his potential. then, as soon as he moves to samp, he suddenly turns into the most prolific italian cf (and one of the most prolific cfs in europe aswell). why it didn't work in firenze?"
prandelli explained that giampaolo had a very hard time in firenze. he is a huge fiorentina fan (i didn't even know that) so he felt huge pressure. prandelli told that whenever fiorentina lost, he felt responsible.... even when he wasn't even playing!!!
prandelli realised the kid just couldn't deliver for his childhood team and so he suggested him to move to another club. he told him "you're gonna become one of the best forwards in the world giampaolo.... just not in firenze, so, for your own good, stay as far as possible from a fiorentina shirt".
so it wasn't lack of confidence the reason why he didn't deliver in firenze.... it was the effect that playing in firenze had on him.... and infact, as soon as he left firenze (it's been 2 years now)
he didn't stop scoring.
Although it's still a little too early....
And Pazzini is no Zlatan either.... he doubts himself at times too but luckily not as much as the very talented Alberto Gilardino!
Zamparini accused Delio Rossi of being 'Zemanian' - amazing attacking but poor defending.
), but still we were much better than i expected, as midweek games (it doesn't matter if it's europa league or serie a) usually have a killer impact on our legs.