I worry about his stamina. I think along with only Buffon and Pirlo, Marchisio has played every minute of every game thus far. Sure, he's young and is always full of running, but the spacing between games isn't allowing much rest. I fear our midfield, especially Pirlo and Marchisio, may tire vs. Germany
Yeah I agree with Mancini on this. Balotelli in this game did much better than Rooney who was pretty much invisible until the pk.
The reason our fitness was not an issue against England was because we had so much possession. The team looked relatively fresh out there at the end. Why? They didn't chase the ball around all game. Possession is the key. That 120 minutes did not take the toll of say the Euro 2000 Semis or even the 2006 Semis. In order to win this tournament, Prandelli will have to roll the dice and make sure to rest some of our players. Diamanti, Nocerino, Giovinco all need more playing time. Hell, I would even think about Borini at this point for some supersub minutes. The player we can't afford to lose the most right now is Abate. I pray his injury is not bad. He's been a great motor on the wing.
Yeah, Semi is on 28th and final on 1st of July, 2 days rest is freaking ridiculous just so the game would be in the weekend. Imagine another 120 minutes semi and we somehow managed to make it, the players will fall flat halfway through the final lol
yea even the commentators were talking about the scheduling...its ridiculous to have 3 important games in 1 week for any team. Especially if they end up being 120 min. games. They need to space it out more next time....have the semis on weekends and the final a week after. Surely all the teams will be tired by then, not just italy.
I love that video, the part where Gattuso sings and everyone else laughing their asses off in the background always cracks me up lol
We could have used someone who plays with the fire and intensity that Gattuso did in his prime for this tournament.
Only few of those come every life time, such charisma and will, he almost killed Lippi with his celebrations in the WC lol Gattuso + Pirlo in the midfield was literally the perfect pair IMO, it was like a dream, beauty and the beast lol.
I don't understand the 3 days in between semi/finals... It's the most obsurd and ridiculous scheduling I have ever seen..... They could've had multiple 1/4 finals in one day then space semis and finals accordingly.. Or they could've given a full week rest for the final on Saturday..
Gattuso played with passion but i hated watching him play for italy.. he use to make some reckless, sometimes borderline dirty tackles that made me nervous. he could have easily been red carded and cost us some big matches in the past.
my 2 cents for formation... ---------------------Buffon---------------------------- Abate----Barzagli---Bonnucci/Chiellini----Barzagli ----------------------Pirlo------------------------------ --De Rossi (can he play a right mid?)----Marchisio -----Cassano------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------Balotelli-------- ----------------DiNatale------------------------------ for what its worth, even though I know we won't see it...a 4-1-2-1-1-1 or 4-1-2-2-1... *Roma fans would be able to answer here but can De Rossi play a right mid position? I think if he can, effectively at that, with Pirlo owning the mid and Marchisio on the left, our mids would shine... *Balo is not a prima punta--not in the NT--and he showed it again yesterday with England...sorry, but its too many missed opportunities...I think back to Inzaghi or ********, how about Cavani (who I know is Uruguayian)--they would have buried at least 2 of those chances. But, Balo can be quite creative and normally draws the dmen to him and has a cracker of shot from outside the box---all this means maybe some space opens for DiNatale who is perfect at exploiting a millimeter of space the D gives him and he is clinical in his finishing... just some ideas--would be interesting---with the team we have and the game yesterday, a "Cavani" would have ********ing filled the net with goals...
It is two games. That is it. Enough of this rest crap. You focus on the semifinal and if we go through, the final. Fatigue is not an issue at this point. It is about getting those next two wins. That is how championships are won. Excuses are how they are lost.
Is it only me who wasn't that impressed by Itay's performance? The attacking build up was relatively slow, most attacks were initiated by long passes and _only_ from Pirlo, their full backs look shaky in defense, Balo and Cassano couldn't score to save their lives. Buffon and Pirlo had stand out performances but this won't be enough. The whole team looked exhausted very soon and when they go out like they did against England I can see that getting brutal in the end for Italy when stamina will be finished. I might be bias (obviously) but I do not rate Italy's chances high to go through. It would be a great achievement for a rebuilding team, though.
Falc, We are just being realistic here. UEFA's scheduling is ridiculous. They should have had less time off between the group phase and quarters and allowed more time off between the semi's and final. TWO DAYS rest for the biggest football match played on the planet in 2 years is RIDICULOUS. You might think it is an excuse, but I think it is reality. I remember they had the same stupid set up for Euro 2000. We had to play the final (after the epic Holland match) with only 2 days rest. We played VERY well and then gradually got tired and made a stupid mistake at the end. Still stings.
Dage, There is no doubt the finishing could have been better, but anytime you outshoot England 35-7 and hold the ball 65% of the game, you are doing something right. The finishing was indeed poor. However, I don't agree with you about long balls. Most of the passing was on the ground. I think the build up should have been quicker though. It was tough remember because England had 8-9 men behind the ball very quickly. It was like playing Greece in Euro 2004 but with better talent on the other side. I thought our fullbacks were outstanding. Perhaps you don't see much Serie A, but there is a lot of talent on this side. Guys like De Rossi, Nocerino, and Marchisio are top notch players. It's not just the Buffon and Pirlo show. I hope Germany underestimates us the way you have.
I know it's easy to sell this team short. They don't have Totti, Del Piero, Gattuso, Zambrotta, Nesta, and Cannavaro in their prime. But they are playing well as a team, and sometimes the lesser known players step up. Who would have thought Fabio Grosso would have sunk Germany in Dortmund?
I didn't want to discredit Italy as team, sorry if it's read a bit like that. I just was more critical about the performance not about the potential of the side. I also have to say that this posting should've been posted in the Euro2012 forum but it seems that I mixed threads up out of the "Alarm" box. It wasn't meant as provocation or trolling.
So what. It is what it is. If being realistic means that we have no chance, then let's give Germany a few more days of rest and forfeit the semifinal. I am not ignoring that it is a difficult task but the bottom line is that when you reach the semi's, you use all that you have inside of you to reach the final. And then you try to do the same if you reach the final. The scheduling does need to be tweaked. But at this point, there is nothing that can be done about it. It should not be an issue in the Azzurri camp. And sitting around for too long does not help either. Germany came off a good win and instead of keeping the momentum going, instead have to wait a few more days.
Falc, All I'm saying is that Prandelli needs to factor in fatigue into some of his decisions. He just can't ignore it. Cassano really looked gassed yesterday. Do we go with Diamanti's fresher legs at this point?
Diamanti is an interesting choice. The man is hungry, fights for every inch out there. I'd be a little concerned with Cassano's fitness for sure. Tough decisions.
same can be said about germany. To concede 4 goals in 4 games...especially 2 from greece who didnt even belong in this tournament, let alone come into quarters, was a failure too in my eyes. People might be impressed by how germany dealt with greece defense but surely it wasnt as good as english or irish defenses italy had to deal with. If it seemed like the attack was slow in italy-england is because they were playing the chess game, they knew running endlessly and trying effortlessly wasnt going to pay off so they were taking their time, waiting for the english to slip. You see italy has had to deal with those types of teams in the past friendlies with uruguay, usa and ireland...so in those games, they kept attacking and attacking by rushing it and the results werent good im pretty sure italy can score on germany and germany will not be scoring many goals on italy either, it will be a tight game despite how much your team is favored by media and everyone.
Problem with Italy's attack is that most of the time they absolutely kill a potentially threatening attack's momentum, give way too much time for the defenders to get back in their position while they turn around and see what to do next. They kind of lack the individual skills to react and execute accurately when such opportunities come along.