The passing was the worst I have seen this whole tournament. I don't think I counted more than three touches before we lost the ball. If you pass like that at this level, you don't deserve to be here. My hope is in the U21 team, because this team is absolutely pathetic.
I'd use the EDIT button and not post 4 replies one after another to begin with. And then, the tactics Piti used might have worked, but the players seemed very tired and too hurried. The passion also seemed to be lacking a little. Apart from Lobont (and MAYBE Contra and Codrea), everyone else played very poorly. Looking at the bigger picture, we finished above the French and lost only to the best team in the tournament (dont give me the B-squad crap because that's just as good). Over 90% of the people were certain we would leave with 0 points.
The tactics were a joke. I have seen both the Italia and Olanda game twice and the tactics were beyond ridiculous, I am truly embarrassed by these performances. These Greek style tactics belong no where near the international level. He takes out a forward and puts a forward in when we are losing in a must win situation? That my friend is a joke. What is going through Piti's head when he's down 1-0, "we must maintain this 0-1 in order to prove that we can lose by one goal, one better than two. Maybe now I should put in a defensive midfielder just in case." I could string 11 players from the park who could've beaten this Romanian team. Contra? The guy is a muppet. He tries to act tuff but can not even cross a ball correctly. Once Mutu is gone this team is done. Codrea instead of moving the ball forward begins to turn back and can not place a competent pass, shameful! This is typical Romanian nonsense. "We lost by one goal, we did good." If that is your mentality you deserve nothing and should not even be in a competition like this. You think playing three games for a 0-0 is good then you deserve to go home with this disgrace of a team. And yes, Olanda couldn't have been more generous to us, they were screaming for us to score. Watch the game again and you will laugh at the incompetence behind this team. They could not string passes to one another, let alone score on a Dutch team that was inviting them to. MvB must've been laughing for how poorly we played. If Piti remains the 8 lost years will continue on.
You're talking absolute rubbish. First of all, in your little world, you have to play attacking football against any team. You know nothing about tactics and strategies. For that matter, go support the Dutch or the Germans. They know nothing about defense. He took out M.Niculae because he didn't do anything positive in the game. Your sarcasm is as stupid as your arguments. You go ahead and string 11 players from the park and arrange a friendly and see if you win. If you think Contra's a muppet then you're a muppet for thinking that. Codrea was one of the best players against Italy and played very well today, regardless of what you think. I'm not sure why you invoke mentality here when the Romanian mentality was never to attack. Historically speaking, we're not a conquering nation. Whether you like that or not, those are our roots. Plus, how are we supposed to attack like the turks when we don't have the players to do so? Drew with both France and Italy, and lost to the best team in the tournament, that to me is a good EURO. It's so easy to say that we could've/should've/would've. And I think you saw a different game if you saw Holland asking us to attack. What the heck, man, did they sit back? They attacked the WHOLE game and played their sick possession football. If Piti remains, you will see Romania at the WC. Go root for the magic, attack-minded Australian team if you don't like ours.
It's about finding the proper balance and tactics that fit against a certain opposition. Personally I think this Romanian team is balanced enough to be able to play defensively, or defend a lead, or even play for a draw. However games are won with goals and I think this side has enough attacking talent to get them. That was evident in qualifying and against Italy. Holland don't have the best defense so Romania could have easily exploited it on a number of occasions. The problem remains that Piturca opted for a more defensive approach and didn't take risks, or opening up the game. Everything was on the line for this match and if he decided to play for a draw, it was risky enough knowing they'd go out should either of the other two teams get three points. It was a shameful tactic that didn't reflect the true potential and passion of this team. I can't wrap my head around it to be honest. Was Romania so arrogant that they thought they can defeat Holland this easily, because the ycertainly looked overwhelmed when the Dutch came out to play. Did Piturca then resort to playing more pragmatically and counter every now and then? And just how long was it going to take for him to realize those tactics aren't working and he needs a riskier approach. At this stage what was left to lose? At least go out with pride instead of a laughing stock. They could have gained the respect and sympathies of millions of people with a better display.
When did I say we have to attack, attack, attack? He used the same strategy in all three games. The last game does not call for this approach. Yet the Dutch only received one goal and we could not even penetrate a B side defense. My arguments are stupid yet you are sitting here defending a D. Niculae sub who was arguably are most useless player in the whole tournament. You don’t sub a forward for a forward who jumps like a dying fish. At least they’ll be able to have a nice set of passing maneuvers which is more than what you can say for this tactically challenged team. Did you by any chance see Contra on the last goal? The muppet tripped himself while trying to foul Van Persie! Apparently you were watching a different game. The man’s passing is atrocious. The Romanian mentality is to lose, but not to lose by to many goals. This is a sad tragedy and Piturca was a standing example of this. Are you kidding me? Putting 11 men behind the ball is not what I call a “good Euro.” This team sucked the life out of me, they were that boring and un-imaginative. Hagi could create more plays in one game than this whole team did in three games. Are you being serious? The Dutch where just handling the ball at the half. They would attack us via the sidelines because are defense was challenged. They missed shots right in front of goal…one on one situations. I am a Romanian who is honest about his team. In the 94 WC I had something to be proud of, a team that fought with passion. In 2008, I was faced with a Romanian team that sat back and watched as a B team cut us like brinza and when they were put down a goal, continued to sit back. And as for the Socceroos, at least they played good football in the WC. In case you forgot, they played Italy, Brazil and Croatia and managed decent results while actually doing something with the ball and not just lobbing it fifty meters to the other keeper. Don't forget, they were down 0-1 till the 84th minute when they managed to bag in 3 goals; that my friend is determination and heart.
No, we matched their strength with our strength and fought them every step of the way. That is going toe to toe. You'd have rathered us attack head on and lose 4-1? You're crazy. There's no shame in looking for a scrappy goal and playing tight defensive football against 3 of the best teams in the world. Honestly, we're Romania not Argentina. Wake up. Piti chose to use what had worked for us against the Dutch twice in qualifying and against Italy and France. I don't blame him one bit for it. The players didn't exactly shower themselves in glory today, so to go and blame Piti is just dumb. You clearly don't understand how the Dutch play football. If they have the ball and are attacking you the whole time, their defense doesn't need to be rock solid. I was opposed to D. Niculae and I thought he was very ineffective the whole tournament, but who else would you have put on? Obviously Marica wasn't ok or else he would have been on. You know, I was always very critical of Contra until this tournament. He was lights out and played with a lot of passion. Codrea was easily one of our better players this tournament. Say what? That's not any mentality I'm aware of, 11 men behind the ball? We were put with 3 of the world's best teams and we had to use our strengths to combat their strengths. Our strength is defending at this point and time. We do have players capable of going forward and creating good things offensively, but nothing on the scale of Italy, France, and Holland. Trying to attack them would have been suicide. Would you rather we'd already been eliminated going into today's game? You obviously didn't watch the game. Get over the 1994 team. It's never coming back. This is a new era and this is the team, either you're with it or you're not. Yea, they lost 1-0 to Italy. They certainly were the pinnacle of offensive play in that match eh? They scored the 3 goals against Japan. And no offense but if Romania played Croatia and Japan we'd have come out firing on all cylinders. The sooner you realize we were unlucky to get this group and we had to play the football we could to advance the better.
Don’t flatter yourself, the score line was misleading as the Russians hit the post three times and the Spanish had luck going their way. Perhaps you need to wake up as France and Italy were a big let down to what they used to be. To not be able to get 3 points against France is inexcusable. I blame Piti for the very reason that he puts on Petre and subs the worst player on our team for a striker. Piti deserves the blame for these ridiculous moves. He was available to be subbed. Why he did not get subbed is a mystery, perhaps we can clear it up later. LOL! Again, LOL! Don’t flatter yourself, Italy and France is just a name. The way they played, there was no excuse to not win by a minimum of two goals. In typical Romanian fashion, pat yourself on the back and say, “Well done, we did well against these powerhouses,” neglecting the fact that they were absolutely woeful. If it meant good football, yes because we still couldn’t get the job done when it mattered. To play the way we played today is inexcusable and Piti should be fired for not being able to cope with the “Big Boys.” Twice thank you, and you? At least they played with heart which is much more than you can say of this team. That Japan team could’ve beaten our team. The fact of the matter is, they went for it while we sat back in a must win game. They also came from behind against Croatia. As for the Italy game, Grosso went down in the box in the 93rd minute and the ref to actually give a penalty like that is a disgrace to the game. The sooner you realize that Piti is tactically inept at this level and that this team was a disgrace to sit back like this, the better. We could not even give basic passes to one another on the field, that is sad. Our U21 team could've demolished this team. Imagine if we played Holland's first team, easily 6-0 to them.
We can argue all day about Piti, but he could of gone with an attacking lineup against France and we could of easily lost 3-0 or something similar. Same against Italy. While I agree that neither Italy or France are is great form right now, man for man they have more talent at almost every position. France can play bad but you give Ribery or Malouda a little too much space and they will kill you alone ... which is more than what you can say for the likes of Nicolita and Petre. It's not Piti's fault that he doesn't have as many quality players to chose from. I guarantee you that if you would of put Toni, Pirlo and Del Piero on Piti's roster he would look like a genius now. Instead he had Niculae, Niculae, Nicolita and Petre. Let's be serious now ... you can't blame the manager for the inferior players he has. Bottom line is that the strength of this team is this : -----------------Lobont Contra------Goian-------Chivu--------Rat -----------------Radoi ------------------Mutu Maybe Marica also, unfortunately we didn't get a chance to see. And keep in mind that in addition to Marica we had to deal with Goian and Radoi missing as well for this last game. The only thing I'm really upset at Piti for is that he didn't use Dica enough. I know Dica is no Hagi but he's the closest thing we have to a creative attacking midfielder. Piti should have known that you can't play in a tournament like this with 3 defensive midfielders and 3 attackers and nobody in the middle to make the connection.
the fact is Piturca played very defensively in all 3 matches. this tactic can work when your oponent attacks you in waves and leaves space in defence (like italy did, because they had to win). but when you meet a defensive team like france in the first game or a team that doesn't play let's say hearted like holland then this tactic is useless. in the first 2 matches i understood Piturca's tactic...with france we were scared, it was our first game and with a very good team, and with italy we had no reason to attack (the presure was on the italians) but in the last match we HAD TO WIN!!! what does Piturca do...he sends 8 defensive players, he plays his 8-1-1 as in the game with france (when i agree we needed a draw). what the hell was he thinking at halftime when italy led by 1-0?!? did he make a change (Dica, Marica, Cristea). the answer no. what the hell was he thinking at 0-1?!? we just continued to defend with all our team. he was so stuborn in his stupidity.... Mutu argued with him repeatedly asking him to move the wings forward, to send another offensive player. Marica had a fight with him because Piturca wanted to introduce him only in the 85 min. why didn't we took example from the turks... all of the hard work we did in the first matches was blown away by this absurd tactic in a must win game. the dutch comentators, van persie, huntelar were all stuned by our tactic. they didn't understood why did we had our whole team in our own field after 0-1...Piturca blew it. he tried to copy Greece 2004 and failed miserably. unfortunately all we have is this last horrible impresion and this (i again repeat it) IDIOTIC tactic. i wonder if in the 2010 QF we will play a 10-0-0, with Moti in the place of Mutu and Ghionea in the place of one of the invisible Niculae forwards...
I don't have too much time to post today so I'm gonna be quick. First of all, of the 3 strikers we had, we really only had 2, Marica being injured and not fit enough. On top of that, he got into an argument with Piturca in the game against Holland, apparently for not warming up as well as he should. As I said, Piti doesn't take any crap from players, so although Marica was supposed to come in the game at one point, he never did. So that leaves you with Daniel and Marius Niculae. D.Niculae had maybe two shots, and those off target in the first two games, but all of you keep forgetting that he, just like Mutu, got no support. And I can't believe you don't remember that it was D.Niculae who got fouled in the game against Italy when Chivu's FK hit the post and the same D.Niculae got fouled in the box when Mutu could've been a hero. M.Niculae played very well in the game against Russia and looked fit. He ended up being a big disappointment at this EURO. You don't really know how a player will fair in match until you give him a chance to play. Don't compare the '94 team with this one. You also can't compare Mutu with Hagi. Different times, played in different european leagues, had different players around them, etc. And what you fail to mention is that apart from '94, the Golden generation failed pretty miserably at the Euros. And if you read my other posts, I argued that the World Cup is always easier to win than the EURO. And it is, even though it is not an excuse.
Marica was fit but Marica was warming up and watching the game. Piti was trying to act all important and punished him for that. Honestly, you put a striker on in the 85th minute? It is not Marica's fault that Piti is a tactical disaster. Instead we had to watch a game that was tactically crap. Like I said, "looks like a dying fish." I never compared Mutu with Hagi. I compared the whole team to him. Hagi created more chances in one game then we did this entire tournmanet; that is not a success that is a disaster. It is not Mutu's fault that he has no service. I am happy we are out, at least now we can see some quality football.
With all due respect , you defend him then , at the end you just threw him to the wolves without even realizing it. But you're right, Dica should have started at least the last 2 games.Chivu DID NOT fill the midfielder spot we were all hoping he would.Who made this guy a midfielder when we all know he's a central defender?
I agree that Piti made some mistakes for this tournament. I just wouldn't fire him if I was at the FRF. At least he got our defense working as a strong unit. It's not his fault that he has limited options in the attack.
http://euro2008.onlinesport.ro/stiri/euro2008/847/10-motive-pentru-care-piturca-nu-trebuie-demis.htm (c) Onlinesport.ro Exactly what I keep trying to explain to you people.
It sadens me to see teams like Russia and Turkey have such success with the same or less talent than we have.i think that says something about coaching at that level...
Definitely this is another proof that the Romanian team needs change at the upper level. Russia and Turkey are the proof that average teams can deliver, if the tactics are set accordingly. What a difference a good coach makes.
You are full of excuses. We could have won if we played as a team and actually attacked. Piti kept telling Mutu to defend when Mutu wanted to attack. Enough said, Piti's tactics are the only reason we are out of the Euros.
Dacă ne prezentăm aşa în calificările pentru Campionatul Mondial, e de rău. Eu nu discut despre cine ar fi cel mai potrivit selecţioner, dar, oricine ar fi, trebuie să schimbe stilul de joc. Trebuie să ştim să şi atacăm”, a spus Ienei. Cine îi mai poate lua apărarea, acum, barbugiului superstiţios? Cine mai poate face apologia stilului tacticizat (sic!) de a juca, brevetat la noi de Piţurcă sau Olăroiu? Până la urmă, ce am fi pierdut dacă am fi jucat frumos şi am fi pierdut toate meciurile cu 3-4, de exemplu? Calificarea? Jucând cum am făcut-o nici nu ne-am calificat, dar am primit în schimb sarcasmul Europei şi calificativul ”mediocri”. We can find 100 reasons for why Piturca should not be fired. One good reason for why he should be fired is enough.
Ah, give me a break. As much as I hate everyone in FRF, I'm so glad that they're not listening to fans like you, romvert, and Kangaroos. You have expectations like we are Brazil, but you forget that only 4 years ago we were drawing 1-1 with Armenia and failing to qualify once again. He lost one game at the Euros and all of sudden, everyone is against him. Yeah, he failed to get out of the group of death. So what? How can you compare him with Guus Hiddink or Fatih Terim when those managers have a ridiculous resume and experience in major tournaments? This was the first major tournament for this generation and this coach. For sure Piti will learn from this. There are rumors that Zicu and Bratu will take place of Nicolita and Petre as the Right Forward and that Ov.Petre, Ogararu, Sepsi, and Szekely will be part of team to at least compete for their respective spots. So much pointless talk. What should the French do if all of you want his head when he fulfilled his objective (which was qualifying because we missed that for 8 years in case you didn't know)? The finalist from two years ago finished the group 4th with 1 point (!). As I said, there are so many people who think they know everything about tactics, team selection, but never played football in their life and know crap in the end. When a team wins, it's the players. When a team loses, it's ALWAYS the manager. Get over it for once! We failed to go through. Wait for the start of the next campaign to express your remarks about Piturca. Until then, if you don't want to support the team or the manager, go root for Germany, Russia, or whatever team you like all of sudden.
