Alert: COPA DEL MONDO 2014: GROUP STAGE (1) ITALY VS ENGLAND, MANAUS, AMAZONAS, BRAZIL

Again all the shit talking aside (talking about me primarily) do you really think some people are worshipping him?

 

Guess not.

So I can't be sure you read my posts b4 you write yours, thats reassurring.

So why are we doing this then?

I'm a Vulcan doctor ruled by logic. And my religion says that a player who has the flu and then plays for an hour at by your admission an acceptable standard is over the flu.

Agree to disagree

Its okay for you to quote Cox but when I do it its irrelevant.
Seems like I need to get a direct quote from Rooney or Hodgson. That's probably not going to happen, we have to make do with the evidence we've got.
In terms of position on the field Rooney v Pirlo were direct opponents, Cox's opinion makes sense to me and he has provided evidence (yelling at Rooney etc).

Of course, and the word used was attacker, includes attacking midfielder/striker.

OK zonal rather than man marking. Fair enough. I'm not suggesting that the marking was in the Claudio Gentile mould, just that when England didn't have the ball they would pressure Pirlo.

Yep.

 

You're looking for differences. I was pointing out similarities.

Where did I say irrelevant?

I said it was an opinion piece and we could trade many that had different opinions, much like we do. I followed up by asking if you had actually heard Roy say this specifically, or if you're just saying it happened because you read it elsewhere? It's a valid question and you know it is.

BTW, is his opinion only relevant when you share it, then?

I think you missed the point on that.

Except they expected him to be in his usual central and deep position. He moved around, more than usual. How often do you see Pirlo working the touch lines?

It's really a simple concept to get, I think.

 

Would you like to lead the next dance?

Read it, observed it, made my own conclusions. Roy hasn't gotten back to me yet so that is the best I can do.

One of us did.

Agree with your comment that he moved around more than usual and that he played a slightly different role than in 2012, well played on that one. But what came first the chicken or the egg? Why was he moving around so much if not to get free from the attention of the opposition.

 

Saw this on the England board.

Doesn't surprise me. The De Rossi - Pirlo - Veratti midfield is technical but has a hard time winning the ball back. Lucky England was clueless with the final ball but I don't think Prandellli will use that again.

 

They had 467 completed passes.

I did a quick calculation based on FIFA official stats.
If "pass completed" is defined as a successful pass received in the opposition half:

England - 55% 256/467
Italy - 40% 242/606

Not sure about other countries.

 

After all of those paragraphs.....

Lol
You guys said Cox
Lol

 

Ironic when we're talking so much shit

 

When a useless video is made of him showing a few dozen 3-yard passes, yeah. I don't understand the need to go over the top when he only did his job. It is as if some need to validate his inclusion on this team. I'm not sure ER's are equipped properly when he actually does something spectacular.

 

this gave me the giggles pretty hard

he had th eflu before the england game was a doubt, he most likey was not 100% in teh england game but may have also had some meds to help against the flu, the bit you are not considering though is that when working out (footy game in this case) after an hour of hard exercise your immune system is weakened so its entirely possible and likely if he wasnt 100% that his flu has not got any better at all, what i find staggering is that you some how think its bullshit he may sit out the next game due to flu, why would prandelli just not drop him instead of saying he had the flu?

england had all of those passes simply because italy let them in the last 30 odd minutes and sat deeper and deeper otherwise the only time england would have got the ball is when the ball boys threw it back to them if thats what pirlo & co wanted

 

I'm a glass half full kind of fellow...you're 50% of the way to understand. Great success.

Tell you what. You think about that for the next few days and let me know.

Already answered that one, multiple time dude. Already said he had more focus of the opposition, many times too, just that he wasn't tracked or man marked by any specific player in any game. The point was that where he moved, someone else filled the space. Guess who?

Dehydration is a huge factor with the flu, but I changed my mind...it's just a big conspiracy.

 

Fair enough, so one dude by proxy in his video worshipped him. Can't entirely disagree with that.

 

I actually think he did it for our benefit rather than his own. I mean look at the shrine we've built to the player by virtue of the pages of discussion about him.

Thanks guy, you know who you are.

 

So the player can save face
To avert media/fan criticism
What you're saying is true about exercise and the flu, but we're talking about a flu that he has had for over a week now. He is still very young and fit, did you ever have a flu for a week when you were that age? (Don't answer if you don't want to).
I admit its very conspiracy theory though so I'm not expecting anyone to be convinced.

 

I have always been suspicious about how often soccer players get the flu. It seems more likely than a regular person. Makes me wonder if it has to do with something else.

 

i think its just a miss translation of a cold....

 

Pirlo had less of the ball, and more attention on him today.

 

because?

 

dont know if he had flu for a week at that exact age but i had it for a couple weeks when ever i had it, verratti's perfomance was not bad enough for an excuse to be made for him not playing the next game, if he needed to make an excuse then he's going to have to say 11 players have got the flu for the uruguay game lol,

i will say this though, if verratti had the flu then why was he allowed within the group and potentially spreading it? i've caught the flu of friends or family always as they are recovering from it, so maybe verratti didnt have flu

 

I don't think he has the flu. At his age in the shape he is in I doubt he would have it for too long anyway. I'm not saying he played bad just not the right good, if that makes sense.
He's not playing next up, if he doesn't come off the bench and we lose or if we get past Uruguay and he still isn't picked in the second round my theory is looking stronger.