Where do we go from here? Post Euro 2012 thread

Buffon
Santon, Barzagli, Chiellini, Criscito
Marchisio, Pirlo/Verratti, De Rossi
Insigne
Balotelli, Rossi


Full Backs : Balzaretti, Abate
Defense: Ogbonna, Bonucci
Midfield : Nocerino , Diamanti, Montolivo

​

Forwards: Cassano, Borini Destro

​

 

Santon and Criscito are crap.

 

How is Santon crap? He has the skill and athleticism to be elite. He's only 21. His problem I think was too much fame too quickly. He didn't handle it well and he didn't train as hard as he should have. He really came on for Newscastle towards the end of the year, and I heard Roma were after him. He's got speed and skill to burn. I for one would give him another chance.

Now Criscito...I've never understood all the love for him. He's not a great athlete and he is not particularly skillful on the ball. He's OK at best, but I actually think Balzaretti is better at the moment.

 

Balz is 100x the player Criscito is. At no point has Criscito been anywhere close to him, frankly.

Santon is a classic case of why just giving some young kid a lot of playing time because they have some promise doesn't always work out. He had like one really great game. Also see Macheda.

 

What did Man U and Juve do when those guys left? They simply bought replacements from other countries. Italy can't just buy someone to replace Pirlo. They need to home grow it. That's a lot harder to do and it can take years or decades to replace talent like that. This isn't league play. You can't purchase replacements for your talented superstars.

 

part of the problem with the squad selection was there was NO real goal scorer/pure striker except di natale.....and i think his age showed a little bit in this tournament. And di natale is best when the whole team plays for him and a counter attacking team like udinese....he didnt fit well this this italy squad.

The other strikers INCLUDING balotelli werent pure strikers who score 30 goals a season...i dont know why people like to hype balo so much, but he can easily be shut down. The reason he scored on germany is cuz germany gives space, unlike all the other teams italy played. cassano, borini and giovinco, although they can score, they are not pure strikers...they are more like 15 goal/10 assist per year type of player. So yea prandelli was missing a PURE striker this tournament....and also not bringing another winger like pepe who works his ass off.



This team needs some speed with players like diamanti, pepe, Maggio if he gets his shit together, giovinco...borini is pretty good too

 

Did you miss the part where he said, "find another area of focus"? He wasn't talking about replacing Pirlo. He was talking about the team's direction post-Pirlo. Your point is totally irrelevant. Players like Zidane cannot be replaced like for like even in club football anyway. Milan dropped Pirlo because they wanted to move in a totally new, non-Pirlo-dependent direction, because having Pirlo is like being on heroin, he is a highly addictive substance with no real substitute. Obviously they jumped the gun because he can still deliver a consistent high. But now, the post-Pirlo Juve in a few years will not just be the same as this year's Juve with a "new Pirlo" in his slot. Likewise Italy.

 

Prandelli is a poor tactician. He proved countless times to us that he lacks the ability to make good choices regarding substitutes. This turns me off a lot, despite him getting us to the final which I love him for. The best coaches are able to change, and adapt their style of play to best counter the opponent and I think Prandelli is too stubbornly grounded in his philosophy for this. The final wasn't the first time he made some shocking changes.

What do you guys think about this? Again, I’m not criticizing him because he certainly did a damn good job, but a tactician he is not which is a big weakness.

 

The other thing I've been thinking about is coaching.

For years the Azzurri had so many negative, boring, old-school tacticians who packed the midfield with donkeys, only ever counter-attacked, and based our game on one 'genius' #10 who was allowed to play while most of the other talents were left on the bench or at home. Maldini, Trappatoni, Donadoni, Lippi in his second phase ... these were very limiting coaches.

What if we had someone like Prandelli all those years, calling on young players, basing our play around quality and technique, giving the team freedom to attack? You just wonder if we would have won more in the past.

 

I don't think Prandelli is a poor tactician. He is actually quite adaptable when it comes to schemes and formations. Where he seems to be lacking is in game awareness at times with his substitutions. Bringing on Montolivo up 1-0 with Croatia was retarded and destablized the midfield. Versus England and Germany his subs were quite good. Then in the Final, they were retarded again.

Prandelli is a great coach, but he still has to get better at his craft. He probably cost us first place in our group (and an easier road to the Final) by playing shit like Giac on the left wing and an out of form Maggio on the right wing. How could he not see that Abate and Balza were MILES ahead of those two right now??? That's the type of stuff that bothers me about Prandelli. He had BALLS to roll the dice and bring in younger players, but then sometimes he doesn't have faith in his own choices.

 

Whenever we have a tournament failure, I like to pull out the archives and rewatch the 1982 Final versus West Germany. That German team was REALLY good....as were the Brazilians before them. Our Azzurri toyed with them.

The reason I like to go back to that game and tournament is because I think we all need perspective that there are different ways to win a World Cup. The 1982 team had no Pirlo in the midfield. As a collective though, they were immense. What they did have is some creativity in the midfield (Oriali) with a strong ball winner that had skill (Tardelli). Then they had blazing wing play with Conti and Cabrini and a strong finisher in Rossi. Of course that defense was immense too.

My point is that with no Pirlo or with an Old Pirlo, we have to rethink our style. We have to find more width somehow and we need a strong seconda punta to help support creative play.

 

As crazy as it might sound, I also have a feeling that we will see Pirlo stick around for at least one more major tourny (no, I don't mean the Confederations Cup). Even if he loses another step or two from now until then, that creative genius is just to valuable to not have on our squad, even if he's there in a limited capacity. I remember writing him off during his last season with Milan, only for him to completely prove me wrong this past season with Juve. You just can't count this old dog out.

As for Cassano though, I'm still pretty much convinced that his Azzurri days are all but done.

 

I agree. This team needs to learn to adapt to life without Pirlo. This was something we unfortunately weren't able to do once Totti called it quits, as we haven't had a legitimate trequartista ever since then. Its for this reason I also wouldn't mind Prandelli continuing to play the 3-5-2 from time to time. I think it's great to be able to field a squad that can change their tactical setup when needed.

 

As questionable as his subs were in the final, you gotta cut the guy some slack considering the bad luck he had with injuries. You lose your best defender to injury in the first half, and then a guy you brought on as a SUB ends up getting hurt only moments into the 2nd half. Just flat out BAD luck.

 

I just don't think he can maintain a high enough level at 35. Remember, Pirlo is not a late bloomer. He started major competition at 18 yrs old. He has a lot of wear and tear on his body. We can't make the mistake Lippi made and try to squeeze every last ounce out of an aging star. The planning for 2014 must begin NOW. Prandelli can still use Pirlo in upcoming qualifiers but he has to have a vision for what the team will look like without Pirlo. If he doesn't, he stands to get burned in 2 yrs.

 

One big blow to our future is Ferrara leaving the U-21 side. He was doing a great job with that team. Not sure if anyone noticed, but they were steamrolling forward. There is a ton of talent on that team...Gabbiadini, Destro, Florenzi, Insigne, Marrone, Faraoni, Crescenzi, Capuano, etc. They have outscored their opponents 18-4 in qualifying. It's the best Under side we've had in quite some time.

I'll be curious to see what Fabbrini does at Udinese this year. He finally started to come on late in the year. He has the physical tools to be the ultimate trequartista (amazing ball skills). I know some don't rate him as highly as I do, but we may see some magical things from him this year.

 

Going forward we need to look at the way we approach tournaments, we need to be a bit more shrewd in regards to how we time our peak and how we manage ourselves throughout a tournament - both in 2006 and 2012 we play our asses off to get to the final then we are flat for the big game. In 2006 France were not strong enough to take advantage but in 2012 Spain were. We need to peak in the final, and conserve our energy in the weaker games while still getting the result.

This will require both a shift in mentality and an improvement to squad depth.

The Italian clubs have a big responsibility to develop the depth, maybe the FIGC can come up with some way to reward clubs who play more home-grown players - will be difficult but there is no reason why we can't produce as many if not more quality youth players than Spain.

 

This is why I think he is a poor tactitian. He can't make the right substitutions or squad selections when it really matters.

He made the following mistakes in the final;

1. Not starting Nocerino and using an exhausted Marchisio.
2. Starting an unfit Chiellini instead of an in form and fit Balzaretti.
3. Subbing in an injury prone Motta instead of the fit and better options.


I have some personal issues with the formation choice, but I don't think my argument for the 3-5-2 is very strong. I really hope he improves in the tactical area, because he gets an A almost everywhere else.

 

I've always big a huge fan of the 4-4-2. At any time, you could have either fullback, either winger, one central midfielder, or both strikers joining the attack. It allows fullbacks to overlap and get forward without being exposed badly.

The problem is that you need 2 very good wingers, 2 good fullbacks, a regista like Albertini, and a creative seconda punta for that to work. Not many Serie A teams play that because of the lack of wingers and it's a shame.

 

We did have a Pirlo in '82 but he was injured for the final: Antognoni. He never got his due credit. The other thing about that side was that the defenders were just as good going forward as they were defending. The brilliance of Scirea was also overlooked.

I am not so sure of Prandelli. He reminds me of Sacchi, tries to think too much. He is no Bearzot but then again, this current crop of players are not that '82 side.

 

This Pirlo is done argument has been around since 2008 i remember. 4 years later and he's still one of the best. He's only 33 he can still play til 35