No I didn't. I said it was Rossi. I said the following about Cassano. Cassano would probably be up there in the actions per game list though. His data wasn't given by @Calcio Pauly's chart though so I had no way to compare the statistics evenly. Seriously Pauly, what site did you get this information from? Its amazing.
Stats provide numbers. The interpretation is often spun. They are useful in determining where those interpreting put meaning into them. They're not completely useless however.
You're right. I didn't bother following Torino all that closely last season to take note of that statistic. My bad. Secondly if you're calling me out for using excessive "hyperbole" then I'm calling you out for picking at semantics. Who gives a damn about the type of adjective I used to describe Balotelli's performances at the club level, particularly in EPL??? In my opinion a young Italian kid being able to put up those kinds of numbers in the biggest league in the world for one of the biggest clubs in the world is pretty bloody impressive, no matter what spin you try to put on it in order to make it seem lesser than. Again, Immobile is the same age as Mario and has only ONE noteworthy season to his credit (in top flight football) in comparison with Mario who has managed to put up pretty damn impressive numbers for some of the biggest clubs in the world since the age of 19. You don't get sought out by clubs like Inter, Man. City, Milan, and now Liverpool, even in spite of your questionable character, unless there's something about your ability that really makes you worth the risk! I'll stand by my seemingly "hyperbolic" opinions of Balo while the rest of you can continue the same ol' "what have you done for me lately?" approach. I can say with the utmost confidence that it won't be long before people are jumping on his bandwagon once again in droves.
Prandelli should have benched Balo at the WC. Currently he doesn't belong on the NT because he hasn't done anything at club level or at the WC. Plus his attitude is all wrong. There are no free passes. It'a all about what have you done lately. Torres was at Liverpool, Chelsea and now Milan. He was also on the Spanish NT. Doesn't make him a good striker anymore. One difference, his attitude and the perception in the media is much better. I would have taken Llorente over him to WC for example.
You misinterpreted me. I'm not saying you said that about Cassano. I'm saying it about Cassano on the basis of similar stats on Cassano and co. b4 the World Cup.
People hating on him now are probably the same people who were crucifying Lippi in 2010 for excluding him.
http://www.football-italia.net/55701/bonucci-balotelli-must-work “The problem is he needs to understand to play for the Nazionale you have to work all together, run together and move constantly. “We’ve never had a problem with Mario. We know what his personality is like and during the World Cup I tried talking to him, but we know his character is his Achilles heel. It can make him strong and weak at the same time.” I think this can conclude it all… Am I the only one who wasn't? I have been doubt this talent kid since he played in U21.
As I said, I'm quite confident that the vast majority of people that are hating on him now were also singing his praises up until about a year ago.
If we're going to go by that criteria then at least half the players on this squad (both the current and under PRandelli) don't "deserve" to be there either.
We're two matches into Conte's tenure where we've beaten a 10-man Dutch team and the mighty Norwegians 2-0. A little too soon to start saying any plan is "working".
What about the 2 previous games vs Costa Rica and Uruguay??? I like where Conte is going. Leave the volatile type of players out. So far it's looking pretty good.
Question is how will we play against a cagey defensive opposition? How will the team respond when they are a goal down? Conte's approach has been tried before by countless other Italian coaches with vastly superior players. Our general results should improve and we will be much more difficult to beat but we'll never ever be able to win any tournaments playing this way.
Probably the same way they approached the Holland game that you clearly didn't watch, and attack them. You mean the catennacio that you somehow believe Conte will play? You are an amusing fellow.
You are a saggio my friend. When we gained possession, we looked quickly for open players up front. We did it well, and it caused the Netherlands great difficulty from the very beginning. The Dutch were forced into a red card because of this. I remember catenaccio very well, though I think the term was an exaggeration at times. What we have done under Conte looks nothing like catenaccio to me.
Balotelli is done. His talent level doesn't justify the team cancer he causes. He's a hype machine who is often more worried about twitter than improving his own game. Maybe if he was a CR7 or Messi, it might be worth it. But, he's not. Right now, Conte doesn't want him even within the same postal code as his team. Every chance he gets, he tears Balotelli apart. "Ho bisogno di giocatori che hanno fame, non fama". Like all of us, I wanted Mario to succeed and shine. I really did. But, that ship has sailed and he is nothing more than a Cassano who wastes his talent. Call me when he plays at a high level for 2 years without all the drama and bullshit.
What about the previous two years where we made it to the Euro finals and the Confederations Cup semi-finals??? I'll bet the plan appeared to be "working" back then as well, right? Again, a little too early to start saying that anything is really "working". Do you really think we would've looked as impressive against the Dutch had they not been a man down for 80 minutes? It's not like we were overwhelmingly dominant against a much weaker Norwegian side either. I honestly believe that even Prandelli could've gotten those results against those two teams under the same circumstances.
24 years old and he's "done" lmao. Knee jerk reactions are always amusing. How about we actually wait and see how he progresses with Liverpool within a completely different environment before jumping to conclusions? Secondly, none of us know exactly what Conte "wants". For all we know he has every hope of including Balo in his plans but is trying to find ways to motivate him to work harder and earn his spot back. It's worked for other players in the past so I don't see why it would be such an outrageous notion in Balo's case...
I agree! And so far there is little to no evidence that he's been relying only on a counter-attack approach, nor did I consider his 352 with Juve primarily counter-attack to begin with, not that I would have a problem with it if it were. I didn't watch all of Juve's games last year, probably a half dozen in Serie A and their European fixtures, so I defer to the Juventini faithful for more in depth analysis. I think some people wrongly interpret counter-attack as defensive only.
In the league we averaged just under 16 shots per game with 56% possession w/ ~85% passing completion. In the CL it was 20 spg, 51% possession and 83.5% passing. EL was similar with 16 spg , 54.5% possession and 84.5% passing. Hard to imagine how any of those numbers suggest countering as a major tactic. That said we had a much faster build up with Marchisio in over Pirlo. With Pirlo in we attempted possession as our main threat.
When I say done...I mean done as in Conte will not call him up. Conte wants team players and strikers that will work their tail off. He doesn't want crybabies and people who will not sweat for the shirt. Balotelli would have to change his work ethic and whole approach to calcio in order to be called up. I don't see it happening.
Happy to defer to your better judgement on this issue as you are a Juve fan and a more informed student of Conte. Perhaps I was too quick to judge. All of our goals have been on the counter though. In any case he is definitely more defensive and counter oriented then Prandelli. Perhaps just more sophisticated at it then previous incarnations of that style.