Verratti was the one bright spot in the midfield, but Parolo and Bonaventura were pretty bad. We have to upgrade central midfield and yes we miss Marchisio quite a bit. Not pretty, but none of these games are. We are going to have to scratch and claw our way to victories because this group is tough. 3 points are golden here until we can start to work in more youngsters with talent.
Mate, give up the old mentality. Please. If you can't see how obviously talented Verratti is, then I don't know what to tell you.
Not sure if it was agonizing because the game was already over, but Immobile missing the target completely on that wide-open half volley was pretty bad.
I would say you are in the minority on this one as evidenced by the article I posted from Italy's most well-respected sports periodical.
Where's that poster or something, that used to post pagelle for Verratti when Conte used him as a sub? Marco Verratti 'proved himself' in Italy attack - Giampiero Ventura Giampiero Ventura led Italy to a win over Israel on Monday. New Italy coach Giampiero Ventura says Marco Verratti "proved himself" in an attacking role as the Azzurri opened their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 3-1 win in Israel on Monday. Verratti was instrumental in Italy's 14th-minute opener, playing a good pass to pick out Luca Antonelli on the wing, whose short cross found Graziano Pelle to tap home. "People said Verratti couldn't play in that role, but he proved himself a player of great value," Ventura told Rai Sport. "He was out for a long time due to injury and proved how important he is to this team. http://www.corriere.it/sport/cards/israele-italia-pagelle-azzurri/verratti-7.shtml Verratti 7 - Prende possesso della sua zona, arredandola con l’apertura non banale per Antonelli nell’azione dell’1-0. Freddo anche nelle chiusure.
Tell me. I know you want to see him become the next great player. So do I. But praising him when he played terribly is not going to turn him into a great player. Maybe he is not a great player. Maybe he is just a good midfielder. Italia needs him to step up his game. If you don't see that, then I don't know what to tell you.
He did not play terrible. I don't know what else to tell you. He was our most creative player. Saved the CB's on more than one occasion. He single handedly makes the midfield without Marchisio look good because he's THAT good. Praise from Xavi and Pirlo themselves says enough about him.
Forgive me for having high standards. I expect Verratti to take hold of the game, not be the best among average midfielders. Is it too much to expect him to take charge of the team? Because we sorely needed that yesterday. If his outstanding quality is being an extra center back, that explains why our midfield was lacking yesterday. Get off the bandwagon and expect more from him. This team will not get far unless the midfield begins to take control of the ball.
Ventura should just call Cassano then if you want a player that can take control of a game. He can just play for the Azzurri. Leaves him to train and eat and live like a rockstar the rest of the year
We get it. You want him to be as dominant as Pogba was for France during the Euro's...when he was still a Juve player.
I just watched the game. In the 3-5-2 and particularly with the available combination of midfielders that Italy deploys there the regista role is key. That player's role is to be the fulcrum, dictating the tempo of the play, releasing players on penetrating runs, spreading the play, feeding the front men etc. In the recent past (eg qualifiers) Pirlo was obviously the benchmark, but DDR also demonstrated its importance in the Euros. There was a reason that Italy won every match he played in the tournament. He was a devastating loss for Italy vs Germany. The little runt put in his best performance in an Azzurri jersey v Israel. He was instrumental in the first two goals and his best moment, a pass over the top to Eder in the 1st half, earned him an massive ovation from the Italian bench. But no-one can deny that the Italian midfield often looked poor v Israel. As the "leader" of the midfield he has to wear a lot of that blame. Candreva had one of the poorest performances I can remember from him. Typically he sits out wide often on the sideline. DDR switches the play out to him giving him lots of space to run onto. Early in the 1st half there were a few attempted passes out to him but they were wayward and were intercepted. After that they pretty much gave up on the tactic and so Candreva was largely neutured. If DDR is there he hits those passes which releases Candreva and takes pressure off the defense and opens up space for others etc. In that starting 11 the player most likely to play a long penetrating ball is and was Bonucci. Verratti was often pushing too high because he favours short passing which left massive holes behind him which the Israelis often exploited. Of course it also paid off with the two goals but its poor percentages to have the regista pushing so high so often.
A 3-5-2 gives license to any of the central midfielders at any given time to get forward and get closer to the strikers. If there is space behind the person getting forward, the other 2 central midfielders have to cover that space. Verratti is not a slow footed Pirlo who just sits back and distributes. Asking him to do that is silly. He has to attack the middle. Look at the first goal. He takes a guy on with the dribble, cuts back left, draws a lot of defenders towards him and then finds a wide open Antonelli on the wing. He is tremendous at that kind of play. Think of it as a great point guard in basketball making penetrating runs towards the basket, drawing people in, and then finding the open man. Israel's "exploitation" of gli Azzurri came at the hands of one Giorgio Chiellini who was again terrible. Yes, I'm a Juventino saying that. Verratti is not Pirlo...nor is he DDR. He has strengths they do not have and they have to be maximized. What I loved about his performance vs Israel is that he mixed it up quite well. It wasn't just short passes. He also played very direct at times (ie. the great ball that Parolo flubbed) and that's when he can be very deadly because he does have great vision and passing skills.
You're not looking at things within the greater context. Ventura at this stage (things may change) is broadly using Conte's approach. That is, one central passing midfielder flanked by two wingers (Antonelli & Candreva) and two mids who are prepared to run between the lines (Parolo & Bonaventura). This has largely been the approach for the last 2 years under Conte (even with his 4-3-3) with a central playmaker sitting deep playing long balls that were either spread wide to open up space or played in front for players to run onto. In other words, this is not the possession 3-5-2 of Prandelli but a very direct approach where if the ball gets turned over the back line and the CDM/regista haven't pushed too far forward and so can cover for the turnover. Its not a very sexy role for the central player but it is vital. They don't necessarily provide the assist but they often provide the pass before the assist that begins the attack. Prandelli's midfield which included strong possession based players like Verratti, Pirlo, DDR all at the same time were able to retain possession and push sides back into their own halves. You seem to be forgetting that Israel's midfield overran Italy's. Bonaventura, Antonelli and co. are very direct players, they are likely to push forward as soon as they have the ball, their passing range is limited and there is a high probability they will turn it over. Players like DDR, Pirlo & Verratti are not as aggressive pushing forward but they are less likely to turn the ball over, waiting instead for the killer pass. After seeing the way he played I believe there may be some hope for Verratti. But he proved he is better suited as a center right mid. The regista role is just not the right position for him. Just look at PSG where Motta is preferred to him in that role. And Chiellini didn't have a great game, but then he was under an inordinate amount of pressure because of the lack of support from the midfield. In a 3-5-2, the back 3 will always have a spare man because the opposition striker/s will pick up a maximum of 2 of the centre-backs leaving 1 free. That is why so many plays (over the last 2 years) originate from Bonucci/Chiellini/Barzagli. Israel were very comfortable pushing very high up the pitch and pressuring BBC because the 5 in front of them were so ineffective. Verratti was only useful as an attacking option when he pushed high up the pitch which totally ruined the set-up.