Where do we go from here? Post Euro 2012 thread

I don't think Cassano is done just yet, he obviously wasn't 100% at this tournament due to his recovery, he's 29 and will be 31/32 by WC14, I definitely see him there at least as a sub or even a starter if he played well that year.

I'd love to see those guys introduced and tested for the squad along with Al Sharaawy, heard great things about 'em.

Our core players should be:

Buffon (I still see him as our GK in 2014, unless someone was able to fill his shoes and those are some pretty enormous shoes).
Chielleni as a CB FFS
De Rossi
Marchisio
Prilo if he managed to keep his form and didn't retire
Montolivo if he managed to play good games from now on
Balotelli


We could really really use some world class fullbacks, how I miss you Zambrotta =(.

 

Although I really should not be hyping any of these guys up, I cannot help myself to say that Insigne is the closest thing to Baggio that I've seen ever since Baggio left.

Whether he gets there or even close obviously is way too early to say, but he scores a lot (even though in Serie B) at a young age. That is a good sign. I hope Mazzari gives him playing time at Napoli.

The only problem is that he is also pretty small, but Baggio was no giant either.

I believe that, again without obviously knowing how they will pan out, the World Cup may have Insigne, Destro, G. Rossi, Balotelli, Sharawy as forwards, Nocerino, Marchisio, Veratti, Pirlo in the mid, and Chiellini, Santon, Ogbonna, and Criscito in the defense.

 

A few final thoughts on Euro 2012, and the way forward.

1. Balotelli was huge. Don't judge him on the Germany semi-final alone. His productivity was extraordinary: he had 25 shots in the tournament, putting him among the leading players, he had 3 goals, joint top, he scored a big penalty vs. England, and he committed more fouls than any other player at Euro 2012 (17). His aura and aggressiveness alone were impressive. Prandelli will want to find the perfect foil for Balotelli. He should be part of the Italy set-up for a long time. When he was on the field, stuff happened.

2. Italy need more outstanding players. The four Italians named to UEFA's team of the tournament--Buffon, Pirlo, De Rossi, and Balotelli--at times felt like the only real players on Prandelli's squad. They carried the team. Prandelli needs a world-class central defender, two better full-backs, another striker, and some added depth in midfield--if and when Pirlo retires, what happens to Italy? Prandelli has to work quickly to bring in young players who can fill the gaps.

3. Competition for the trequartista position will be fascinating. Who plays on top of the diamond? After his Euro, I expect Motta to be out of contention, maybe out of Prandelli's plans completely. To my mind Montolivo did just about enough to win the trequartista role, but he's a far cry from Totti and Prandelli may want to experiment with some young players for this role.

On the whole, it was a great tournament. But Prandelli and Italy have work to do.

 

Insigne and Veratti are short players. Giovinco struggled with the national team because of his height. I have nothing against short players. When you player in the international scene, height matters. Xavi and Iniesta are short players, but they are 5.7 not shorter than that.

We should build the team around Balotelli and Rossi

 

Rossi will never be a factor again with his injuries.

The replacement for Pirlo is actually an easy one. It is De Rossi. Marchisio becomes what De Rossi has been, the "vice-regista", and Nocerino what Marchisio has been, the box-to-box bodyguard. Of course there is no real substitute for Pirlo but considering the magnitude of trying to replace him, Italy is actually fairly well equipped to deal with it thanks to De Rossi manning up, finally. Montolivo provides another option in there, with the advantage being he will play with Nocerino every week.

People writing off Cassano... how many times have I heard that? His genius will remain essential at least through the WC and maybe the next Euros too. He has never really depended on pace, at least not since his flying partnership with Totti long ago. Guile ages well.

 

I think a big question is, what is Italy's Plan B? Plan A is Pirlo, and when Spain stopped him, we never threatened without his influence. Plan A got us pretty far, mind you, but we need to begin developing a different sort of threat.

 

The first positive step towards 2014 was securing Prandelli's place as coach. If this project is to grow and succeed, then it is essential that the "mad scientist" behind the project is kept aboard.

As for player selection, I really don't see Prandelli doing much different from coaches before him in terms of incorporating new players in the squad. He won't suddenly drop all his 30+ vets and immediately introduce youngsters. Instead he'll closely monitor the development of these youngsters at the club level and incorporate them gradually as he seems them adapting to the top-flight game. Guys like Pirlo (especially) Buffon, Cassano, Balzaretti, and Barzagli will surely be kept around durign the earlier stages of qualifying due to their experience. Di Natale will likely be dropped from the get-go though.

As for Cassano, I'm skeptical as to whether or not he will be in Brazil in 2014. The way I see it his fitness levels will be a continued concern, especially as he gets older. Meanwhile one would have to wonder just how committed he'll be to NT duty now that he's a family man and all.

 

I'm not convinced that Pirlo is done--he could play another couple of years at a high level, since his game doesn't depend on pace. But Prandelli does need to figure out how to get the best out of Mario, probably by finding an ideal striker to play off of him. And I think the trequartista position will be crucial, as well. Montolivo seems to have won that spot but Prandelli should look at other options. If Italy had an Ozil, we'd be devastating.

 

Guys...some of you are falling into the same Italian mentality over and over again. We are not winning the 2014 World Cup with 35 inch waistline Cassano. Nor will 35 year old Pirlo cut it over the span of 7 grueling games, if we get that far.

At a certain point, you have to cut ties with the old and start to roll the dice. 8 years ago Spain went through a revolution. They didn't stick with dead weight like Raul anymore. They moved on. Not all of their players were superstars when they were given a shot as youngsters.

I'm afraid we are going to have to do the same thing. We have to think ahead and PLAN ahead. You simply cannot win a major tournament with a few good touches from an aging heart patient as your seconda punta.

We need a young core of players to step up....even if it means Prandelli is calling players from smaller teams. There is some real up and coming talent in our pipeline. Inter...yes Inter...has some great young players. Pescara everyone knows about. Juve has some nice prospects like Marrone. Milan has El Shaarawy..who by the way is only 19!

The only old timer I would consider moving forward with is Buffon....and even then we need to look at finding serious replacements for him.

In Italy, the mentality is always "E' bravo ma e' giovane." In Spain, the mentality is "E' giovane e anche bravo." When Sergio Busquets was 20, he had a lot of promise. Do you think Barcelona's first though was...what provincial side can we loan him to in order to get more experience? HELL NO. It was..let's give the kid a shot.

Our fckin backwards mentality in Italy has to change. Prandelli was right today. He said Italia is an "old" country. He didn't so much mean age (although that is true as well). He meant that our mentality and institutions are aging and old. If our clubs don't start taking some risks on younger players, we could stand to lose a whole other generation of players.

 

I disagree that Italy never threatened Spain. The statistics agree with me.
Plan B is De Rossi. It's a nice Plan B.

 

De Rossi is a lot more similar to Gattuso IMO than Pirlo, nowhere near as creative in my book to replace Pirlo.

 

this team can compete in WC 2014 with addition few more youngsters.

balo-cassano-rossi in attack are great...but u do need another tall player like matri
giovinco also suffered from lack of playing in a top team....i think he wasnt ready for international game cuz he only plays in parma...hopefully he stays with juve this season and gets some CL experience

pirlo can still play, maybe not full 90 but he can...de rossi, marchisio, nocerino, montolivo, diamanti still fine

defense needs the most help, hopefully bonucci can get better, chiellini is good, need at least one or two good fullbacks....i was real disappointed in maggio...he caused havoc for all teams in CL and serie A all season and completely lost it for the tournament.

 

And yet Italy was one ill-managed and unlucky match from doing just that.

Bah. If the young players are good enough to replace the older players, they will. If they aren't, they won't. Juventus just went undefeated with the washed up old Pirlo, and without the young soccer god Giovinco. Roma fans carp about ol' Totti all the time, but the idea that Lamela or Bojan or whoever is fit to shine his boots, much less replace him right now, is laughable. If Insigne is really the shit, Serie A will be his oyster. If he's just hype, he will not displace a proven veteran until he earns his stripes. Same for Serie A, same for Azzurri. If Insigne is better than Cassano, let's see him prove it where it counts.

Italy has patience. A guy like Nocerino can emerge well into his career. Other countries throw kids on the rubbish heap if they don't produce or command a big transfer fee by age 21. How's that working out for England?

 

Did you watch the Euros? De Rossi finally fulfilled his potential. The whole problem of his for Azzurri over the years is that he is NOT a destroyer like Gattuso and thus could not mesh right with Pirlo pre-Prandelli.
He is not Pirlo. No one is. However, he is a very adequate Plan B.

 

I didn't say DDR = Gattuso, just closer to him than Pirlo, he too is also a warrior on the field.

He's very versatile that's for sure, I just think we need someone a bit more creative to fill a good portion of Pirlo's huge ass shoes.

I'm more concerned about our Fullbacks to be honest, a star being born there would be a huge boost to the squad's potential. Balzaretti isn't exactly young and Abate isn't that good IMO.

 

Abate was very good defensively. He also created a nice cross for Di Natale. He defended well against fabregas's cross to sliva header and cleared the ball after it was slipped from buffon's hands.

 

Agreed. Abate was way better than Maggio this tournament. I just don't get why people don't give the kid more credit. He's really come into his own and is a very solid right back on MILAN (not Cesena). I think one of Prandelli's mistakes was not nurturing and incorporating Abate on this team sooner.

 

AmericanKaka,

I'm glad you brought up Nocerino. Here is a guy who was probably the best midfielder in Serie A. He still can't get respect. He's fast, strong, very skilled, and a great finisher. Yes, somehow we think he isn't quite ready. He's 27...27! I remember watching him at Piacenza when he dominated Serie B. You could see he was a special talent 5 years ago. What does Juve do? Then never really gave him a chance. Instead they relied on that stiff Sissoko.

It's not that Nocerino wasn't better than Sissoko. It's that the club did not want to gamble and be patient to develop a youngster like that. A couple bad game and we have to "loan him out". This is fckin defeatist and short sighted mentality at work here.

I'm not saying any of these young players should be HANDED spots on Gli Azzurri. They definitely have to earn them. However, our clubs have to have some faith in them and give them a real shot. Not 10 minutes here...15 minutes there. Not 1 or 2 starts before giving up. They need a real shot.

The examples of this endless. Giuseppe Rossi lights it up for Parma and then has to go to Spain to ply his trade. Luca Toni had to score a million goals in provincia before getting a shot. Yes, of course there are late bloomers, but if clubs never have faith in the youth...how can the youth have faith and confidence in themselves. This mentality creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of player destruction.

 

Okay, of course there are specific mistakes that are made... but in that period Juve did EVERYTHING wrong. It was Secco and Blanc, remember? If you had brought them Maradona in his prime they would have traded him for Dirk Kuyt or something.

 

As much as I love Pirlo we have to look past him, he will be 35 in 2014.
He can be a substitute, but we need someone who has many years left in them, because we will always be in the same spot if we dont start looking past players, Pirlo was fatigued at 33 at 35 it will be even worse.
He is one of my favourite players but we need to develop some one else.