Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season
Ben, Where are you?!
We miss you man and with the World cup near and selections and injuries and betting (if you're into it) and like every Serie A team changing their coach pretty much.
there are LOTS to talk about!
hey bro!
i know, i haven't been posting for a while but i'm crazy busy theese days. i try to come here every now and then to catch up but i don't really have the time to write a post (keep in mind that it usually takes from 10 to 15 minutes to me to write a single post so
....).
anyhow i'll try to quickly put my 2 cents on the hottest topics:
inter new coach - i'm really surprised (as most of u guys) pellegrini hasn't been considered as one of the possible choices for the inter job, as i (like many of u) thought he was the most appropriate man to begin a new cycle.... apparently moratti has something different in his mind (maybe benitez?).
mihajlovic to fiorentina - i'm even more surprised by this move. i thought corvino and della valle would have hired allegri. allegri is one of the most promising young coaches in italy and he's a toscano (toscano means he was born in toscana, firenze's region). mihajlovic has done very well in catania this season.... but he still has a lot to prove imo.. i'm not sure he already deserve such an important assignement as fiorentina.
but then again it seems allegri is gonna coach milan next season, so maybe corvino didn't hired allegri for that reason.
di carlo to samp - that's really weird. i don't really rate di carlo that much (he's good but there are many better coaches in italy).... i was sure garrone would have hired giampaolo to guide sampdoria, as giampaolo is another member of that "golden new generation of coaches (along with allegri, ballardini and gasperini).
but apparently catania was able to snatch giampaolo first (great move by catania btw).
prandelli to italy - WTF!!! i really didn't see that coming! i can't understand why prandelli took the job honestly. he's way too young to get a national team job... plus i'm not sure that's the best choice for italy and for prandelli himself.
coaching a national team is a completely different job from coaching a club. here in italy we don't even use the same word: a club coach is called "allenatore" while the national team coach is called "commissario tecnico" wich litterally means "technical superintendent" and might be roughly translated as "selector".
infact the national team coach is more of a selector. he doesn't have to "build" a team. he has to "pick" the best a country has to offer and then find a way to have those players playing, according to their specific features. he doesn't teach schemes, he doesn't shape plays.... coz he doesn't have the time. it's a completely different job, wich implies a different set of challenges and requires different skills.
u don't need a great coach who can build (in the long term) a great team and display great football. u need a man with great comunicating skills (to handle the media and the enourmous pressure the italy job implies). u need a man with huge charisma (who can create in just 1 month a "team spirit" between players who don't play along all season long). and most of all u need a coach with an amazing abilty to read the game, to interpretate the flow of the game as it unfolds and to react continuously with slight tactical adjustments.
and i'm not sure prandelli is the right man.
let me make an example: ancelotti and capello. they are both top class coaches, but they're very different. ancelotti is a team builder. u give him the chance to build a team and buy the players he wants, u give him the chance to work with them on a daily basis and in 1\2 seasons he will build a good team, wich plays beautiful and effective football.
capello is completely different. he's not a team builder. he won't display quality football. he won't shape fancy plays. but has an amazing ability in finding the right balance for any given team. u give him a bunch of players who have never played together in their lives.... and in 2 months he'll have those players playing together as a clockwork. and he has an amazing ability in adapting his tactical plan to the circumstances (wich is the most important feature for a national team coach).
bottom line, ancelotti is a club coach.... while capello can also do a great job for a national team.
i believe prandelli is an "ancelotti-like" coach. he needs to work togeter with his players on a daily basis for at least a season, before u can see his football. his mantra isn't "balance" but "quality". he shapes the playes design and teaches schemes..... he's like wenger or spalletti. he'll give u quality, but u gotta give him time and freedom. a national team coach doesn't have time neither freedom. he doesn't have to create playes and schemes. he has to find the right balance for every single match... the right countermeasures for every single opponent.
a club coach is a "season manager", while a national team coach is a "single game manager" u hire a club coach and give him a season to find the right formula for the team... then u wait, u give him (at least) 1 season and he'll give u quality and result.
when u hire a national team coach instead, u don't ask for quality (the players don't have the time to learn new schemes). u ask for balance.... and u can't wait him to do the job in 1\2 seasons.... u need him to find the right balance right here, right now.... and he's gonna have to change that balance, that tactical formula every week, as a national team has to play a different game every time, according to the opponents (while a club coach has to find the right formula just once, and then stick to that plan, to that "footballing personality" he gave to his team).
i'm afraid prandelli's great skills will be wasted in a national team. ranieri would have been a much more appropriate choice. ranieri would have been perfect for the job. he's not a young coach, he has huge charisma, he doesn't shape plays (his football is pretty basic) but he's very good in finding the right balance to face any sort of opponent. he doesn't need to work with the players on a daily basis and most of all, he has a great ability in creating a team spirit in a very short time (wich is mostly important).
mind u, i'm not saying ranieri is a better coach than prandelli. as a matter of fact, prandelli is much better. but ranieri is more suited for the national team job than prandelli... at least imo.
that's not just a questionable choice for italy. it's also a vey questionable choice for prandelli himself. i thought he said no to juve coz fiorentina didn't wanna let him leave..... but since fiorentina allowed him to leave, why the hell he didn't take the juve job??!!! juve would have been perfect for him. he would have done an outstanding job in torino, working along a great team director such marotta.... he would have gotten a much bigger paycheck and much more freedom to "do his magic".
now instead this experience will most likely be a step back in his carreer. coaching italy means having to deal with huge expectations. when u're coaching italy u're expected to win (or at least to get very close to winning) every competition.... anything short than a semifinal is considered as a failure.... wich means that prandelli probably won't be able to meet the expectations and will burn his reputation. no need to say i hope to be proven wrong.
anyhow i really can't understand why he took the italy job and not the juve job. it just doesn't make sense to me.
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finally a huge congrats to inter fans for the champions league victory
He's a great signing for Fiore, but I don't think he's compatible with Montolivo, more so with C. Zanetti. D'Ago can easily slot into the regista role currently occupied by C. Zanetti, but then he needs a more physical presence alongside him, a more gritty and hard-nosed midfielder (he had Inler and Asamoah at Udinese). Montolivo is quite good defensively, intercepting and tackling, but he isn't a physical player, nor is D'Ago. 