Italy Coach on USA

[keller4president]

"The United States play more friendlies than any other side, and I've seen them play the most, even if it's often with experimental line-ups. However, I think I've spotted a few things that the games had in common and have a few ideas regarding the game plan of their coach (Bruce Arena). They are a side that are improving dramatically."
-Marcello Lippi, Italy Coach

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060419/1/6kl2.html

What, does he actually think he learned something from watching Conrad and Zavagnin bum everything up? He's in for a real wake-up call. I can see the Italians are already writing us off.

[Knave]

What, does he actually think he learned something from watching Conrad and Zavagnin bum everything up?
Shhh ... ;)

[thigpig]

His team is Italy. They play us the second game. Even if they were playing Trinidad and Tobego they would try their hardest. There's no such thing as underestimating and not trying in a world cup. Especially 2nd game of the group stage where you want to win. Italy does not want to get second and play Brazil. All this talk of they are underestimating is rubbish.

[Arisrules]

Lippi is one of the great tactical minds in soccer today. I really think Italy has what it takes to go far personally.

[appoo]

we essentially play the same style game in game out no matter who we line up. we play quickly and directly and we like to pressure the opposition. We try to be varied in our attack and we take risks with our center backs with the off-sides trap. we don't man mark we zone. We like to have our fullbacks provide service from the wings and our wide midfielders don't play like classic wingers, rather attacking midfielders who happen to split out.

Lot's of things to take from our friendlies.

[Ringo]

His team is Italy. They play us the second game. Even if they were playing Trinidad and Tobego they would try their hardest. There's no such thing as underestimating and not trying in a world cup. Especially 2nd game of the group stage where you want to win. Italy does not want to get second and play Brazil. All this talk of they are underestimating is rubbish.


i agree completely. we'll get team's best efforts.

[BED-STYPUNDIT]

Lippi is one of the great tactical minds in soccer today. I really think Italy has what it takes to go far personally.

I certainly AGREE. This guy has realize how much attacking talent Italy has and is going to show his intelligence this summer.

[Bigrose30]

we essentially play the same style game in game out no matter who we line up. we play quickly and directly and we like to pressure the opposition. We try to be varied in our attack and we take risks with our center backs with the off-sides trap. we don't man mark we zone. We like to have our fullbacks provide service from the wings and our wide midfielders don't play like classic wingers, rather attacking midfielders who happen to split out.

Lot's of things to take from our friendlies.

While I agree with most of this, I would argue that our playing style does change more from game to game than the style of most big teams, which is not to say that the change is drastic by any means. I'd like to think the USA, as a by-product of a lack of depth and inability to get the full team together frequently, has developed a nice level of tactical flexibilty which will serve them well in a tournament setting.

[Lionel Hutz]

...we don't man mark we zone.

What do you mean?
No sarcasm...I haven't heard this before and would like to hear more.

[El-Professor]

While I agree with most of this, I would argue that our playing style does change more from game to game than the style of most big teams, which is not to say that the change is drastic by any means. I'd like to think the USA, as a by-product of a lack of depth and inability to get the full team together frequently, has developed a nice level of tactical flexibilty which will serve them well in a tournament setting.


I concur, and I totally believe the Italian coach is scouting our team, though I bet he wishes he had more tape of their first opponent Ghana. But who doesn't think that The Bruce will try to throw some wrinkle at them? Does anyone think we should bunker down and counter versus Italy? A lot of our approach will depend on the outcome of the Czech game as well.

[appoo]

What do you mean?
No sarcasm...I haven't heard this before and would like to hear more.


we defende space rather than players IMHO.


Gooch or Pope won't cross each other to defend a player, they'll pass a striker off. When a full back goes upfield, the back line shifts to cover. Then

It's almost like Arena has his guys watching American football and specifically the secondary. The idea is that if you have a guy defending a certain zone, you can worry less about the players makign crazy runs off the ball, and just worry about the dude in front of you no matter who he is.

Mind you, I've never heard Arena or any of our defenders talk abotu this, just something I've noticed and have a thoery on, so I could very well be wrong.

EDIT-

and the way to beat this is by either isolating a man where he has no one behind him with room to run (Berhalter and Conrad vs Germany) or overloading one of the zones

[mschofield]

"The United States play more friendlies than any other side, and I've seen them play the most, even if it's often with experimental line-ups. However, I think I've spotted a few things that the games had in common and have a few ideas regarding the game plan of their coach (Bruce Arena). They are a side that are improving dramatically."
-Marcello Lippi, Italy Coach

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060419/1/6kl2.html

What, does he actually think he learned something from watching Conrad and Zavagnin bum everything up? He's in for a real wake-up call. I can see the Italians are already writing us off.
Don't see a lack of respect in Lippi's comments, quite the opposite. He's coming up with a plan on how to beat the US. The arrogant way would be to ignore the US and believe his team would steamroll the US without a specific approach.
I get the feeling BS posters want to see Lippi and Bruckner say, "Wow, we've got no prayer against the US. No idea why we even plan to show up."
Lippi, btw, is probably playing mind games as much as anything, saying he's noticing tendancies, trying to get the US thinking that maybe they're too predictable, etc...It's all part of being taken seriously.

[banbaseball]

we essentially play the same style game in game out no matter who we line up. we play quickly and directly and we like to pressure the opposition. We try to be varied in our attack and we take risks with our center backs with the off-sides trap. we don't man mark we zone. We like to have our fullbacks provide service from the wings and our wide midfielders don't play like classic wingers, rather attacking midfielders who happen to split out.

Lot's of things to take from our friendlies.

agree. we don't play different, because when we do, some key players tend to loose their wits.

i've also noticed that we tend to play to the caliber of the team. which means that when we play teams we aren't scared of, we play down to that level. we may win, but we rarely win by a large margin. yet, when we play teams that have a stronger reputation, certain players tend to play up. and although we may not win, due to some stupid decisions, we give them a go.

generally, i don't really know how you would play against this kind of attitude. the harder you play, the harder we play.

[rollo]

This is not good; we probably have not had games against many teams with top players and game strategy tailored for us before.
But on the other hand, welcome to the WC for real. Getting out of this group will mean that much more!

[JohnR]

If Lippi takes us seriously, he'll be in a very select group of international coaches. I still remember that Spanish guy who called us "barbarians" before the 2000 Olympics, and damn if his team didn't prove him right the next day. :mad:

Saw an interview with Andres Cantor the other day. They lobbed him questions about USMNT, to get his insightful analysis. Yah sure. All we got was the usual crap, "the U.S. soccer athlete is second to none." Yep, when I'm thinking of superathletes, Claudio Reyna, John O'Brien, Pablo Mastroeni, and Steve Cherundolo are the first guys who come to mind. That's how we make our mark on the world, raw speed & power.

But sadly, Lippi's probably a bit more on the ball than is Andres.

[kylesoccer]

so does this mean if we see Lippi or an assistant in Hartford, we can kick the snot out of him and tell him what to report? He's being smart, everyone in 2002 underestimated the ability of our team to compete technically and tactically at a World Cup and we proved we could do both. I agree with an above poster that we change our game more to suit opponents than many teams do. The best teams, although they are aware of the other teams tactical tendencies, are able to impose their style on other teams. Based on the Holland game before the Cup, Portugal and the Mexico game we are very good at counterattacking and defending with numbers(without Agoos) and no free kicks from 40 yards in. I know we lost the Holland game 2-0 but thought we were brilliant on the counter attack.

[Autogolazo]

Lippi no doubt takes us seriously, the question is whether he can get his players to do the same.

Do you think Totti is really going to bother learning about Pablo Mastroeni's tendencies?

On another note--I think our central defenders do sometimes go man-v.-man, though I agree we're far more often in zone, since that (plus the offside trap) are hallmarks of the back four system.

I seem to remember Gooch spending most of that evening in Columbus wearing Brenda Borgetti like a bracelet around his arm. I think that was man-v.-wimp.

[The Toe]

"The United States play more friendlies than any other side, and I've seen them play the most, even if it's often with experimental line-ups. However, I think I've spotted a few things that the games had in common and have a few ideas regarding the game plan of their coach (Bruce Arena). They are a side that are improving dramatically."
-Marcello Lippi, Italy Coach

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060419/1/6kl2.html

What, does he actually think he learned something from watching Conrad and Zavagnin bum everything up? He's in for a real wake-up call. I can see the Italians are already writing us off.

I think that little blurb by Lippi tells us much more about Arena. I think BA has pulled the rug over all of us. The gamesmanship that Arena is so good at may have begun the moment the groups were drawn. Think about it....we have lined up a number of really crappy sides and have scheduled friendlies against sides the quality of San Francisco School of the Blind and Our Sisters of Novena Church Nuns team. By scheduling “questionable” opponents and taking what amounts to a MLS “D” side to Germany and lining up players in different positions (Mastroeni as a central back???) , I think Lippi has figured out that BA is going to show NOTHING till June 11. I think both the Czech coach and Lippi know this.

Bruce is God.

[USvsIRELAND]

Don't see a lack of respect in Lippi's comments, quite the opposite. He's coming up with a plan on how to beat the US. The arrogant way would be to ignore the US and believe his team would steamroll the US without a specific approach.
I get the feeling BS posters want to see Lippi and Bruckner say, "Wow, we've got no prayer against the US. No idea why we even plan to show up."
Lippi, btw, is probably playing mind games as much as anything, saying he's noticing tendancies, trying to get the US thinking that maybe they're too predictable, etc...It's all part of being taken seriously.

Pretty much everythign he said.

[halfnelson31]

man I wonder what the peeps on BigCalcio are debating over....