Francesco Totti and Paolo Maldini have to be the best players in Italy, I mean come on, tell me what ya'll think.
Maldini, not anymore. Too old. Alessandro Nesta is the best defender. And Vieri is the best Italian striker. I'd agree that Totti is the best creator. And Toldo and Buffon are two of the best keepers in the world. Unfortunately, Italy's problem these days is a lack of world class midfielders although the recent addition of Camaronesi beefs up the pool, at least in terms of attacking flank players.
Vieri is overrated. I'd say Totti. He is probably the smartest and frighteningly instinctual offensive MF in the world. Not to mention physically strong and imposing for an average build footballer(in ITaly, I guess he'd be considered tall). Too bad he's stuck with a crap club and a crap national team. I don't think he's truly shined yet and there are loads more undiscovered potential hidden somewhere. He's just been unfortunate to have been coached by two of biggest morons in Italian football history. Cappello could f u- ck up a cup of coffee and Trappatoni is well... Trappatoni. Trap doesn't realize he needs to build the Italian national team's tactics based on individual characteristics of his players instead of making his players adapt to HIS characteristics and tactics. Under a manager like Hiddink, Del Bosque, Wenger, or even Koeman, Totti would be the world's greatest MF.
Vieri What about Il Mostro, I forgot to talk about him, come on guys, Christian Vieri is awesome, he plays for Inter and he is vicous, what do ya'll think abou him? tell me what ya'll think
Christian Vieri is not over-rated, he is a great striker but is constantly hurt and can't play a full season if his life depended on it. But he has a tremendous goal rate of a goal - a - game. As for Francesco Totti, he is definitely Italy's best player. I truly beleive that he is one of the Top 5 players in the game today. Del Piero is also a gifted player but Totti can read the field and play a bit better than Del Piero (in my opinion).
Vieri is actually the leader of serie A for goal made. In the last year (including FIFA WORLD CUP) he made a goal every 99 minutes played... Specially in Italy that's abslolutely over-human. About Totti, Buffon, Toldo, Nesta, Cannavaro... Everyone knows they are great players. I just wont to remember Roberto Baggio, Vincenzo Montella, Andrea Pirlo, Enrico Chiesa.
Christian Vieri! Without a doubt the most dangerous man that Trap has in his arsenal. Totti is fantastic ... especially when he kicks the ball to Vieri.
Re: Vieri I still blame that ugly Australian for screwing up the WC for Italia against South Korea. The Italian media wanted to bitch and moan about unfair refs, blah blah blah - but the real facts are glaringly obvious: if Vieri had finished ONE of his excellent opportunities on goal we might not have been talking about a Brazilian victory.
Montella: under-used, under-valued and under-recognized. Amen, let's give props to this classy forward. Baggio: a legend worthy of all good that can be said of him.
Re: Re: Vieri Totally true. Vieri had that one chance where all he had to do was tap it into the lower corner......yet somehow defying the laws of physics, he sent it up and over the bar from ground level w/ the goal at his mercy...
I would agree that Nedved is the best player in Serie A, but this discussion is about Italian players. I think Vieri is the best Italian player at the moment. Cannavaro, Nesta, and Buffon are also right up there. Totti is good when he wants to be, but as of late I haven't been too impressed by him. Still, when he's on he's pretty incredible.
"yet somehow defying the laws of physics, he sent it up and over the bar from ground level w/ the goal at his mercy..." does anybody know how that did happen. if i remember the thing right he was around 2yds from goal and stretched out his leg and kind of slid and popped it over. i can see it going wide but not over the goal. maybe i didnt see it right and he was actually able to put power on it
Nesta is the best overall player... he prevents more goals than Totti/Vieri score together (although they are both incredible). Anyway: 1. Nesta 2. Vieri 3. Totti 4. Cannanaro 5. Buffon (maybe)
While i think that vieri is an extremely good FINISHER, i really don't believe that he's the best player. For me a truly great player isn't someone who care score a bunch of goals. Look at Inzaghi, i seriously think that this guy is one of the worst players i have ever seen, but for some reason, he scores so many goals. He's always in the right place at the right time. Though he usually ets the chance to put 5 in the other teams net and scores once, but a 1/5 ratio isn't bad. As for The Best players in Italy goes, Del Piero is a sentimental favorite, but i have to hand it to Totti, he's pretty damn good too. I say they're about even
Francesco Totti is the best attacking player. Del Piero probably would be if he hadn't suffered his injury, I don't think he's been the same player scince then. Vieri is one of the top 5 goal scorers in the world. Totti is one of the top 5 attacking players in the world. Nesta I believe is the best defender in the World but I can't compare him to Totti as they have such different roles for the Italian national team. So I'll be biased and say Totti is the best .
Totti, yes. But the guy is very frustrating. He has never really achieved a consistent level of great play like Zidane or Nedved, even though he seems to have the talent. I blame it on Totti's attitude and mentality, which are typical of his native Rome, the Caput Mundi of fatalism, laziness and eternal excuses. There, I got that off my chest. Otherwise, I want to tip my hat to two outgoing greats: Roberto Baggio and Gianfranco Zola, two of the classiest players of their generation. Too bad they always had to compete for the same jersey on La Nazionale. (And here I again wonder why any coach in his right mind couldn't find room on the same team for two such geniuses. Ugh, Italian tactics!!) Also, I think both of them got screwed out of more Azzurri appearances with the arrival of Del Piero -- yet another "eterno incompiuto," a guy who has never really lived up to the admittedly enormous expectations that he generated as a 19 and 20-year-old, when he bumped Baggio off Juve. I mean, Baggio coming off the bench for the lump of flesh that was Del Piero nearly propelled an unworthy Italy over France in '98 -- oh how close was that last-gasp shot? Coupla centmtrs...and Italy was in the final. (Sorry, Croatia.) And Del Piero can be virtually credited with Italy's loss to France in 2000. He had two clean chances to double Delvecchio's strike and make it 2-0. He missed both. The thirtysomething Zola, still going strong, would have nailed one of those -- as would have Il Divin Codino. Well, just my two cents.... Italy is still loaded with talent, too bad the coach won't assemble it all on the same 11. Meanwhile, for my money neither Totti nor Del Piero has risen to the level of Baggio or Zola, either as players or personalities. Not yet, at least.
totti is great, but needs to calm down a bit and focus, his ego is getting in the way. vieri: a living soap opera, stays health long enough for people to start wonderign why he doesnt score when he should. inzaghi: i like ht litte guy, not pretty but puts the ball in,why do people hate on him? with a strong attacking middle who can pass so well, inzaghi is a dream as he will find the open spots!! usually!! zambrotta: i dont like this guy, i think hes over rated. what about: di biagio- solid defensive midfielder pirlo- good young playmaker in the wings panucchi- needs improvment, but looks promising fiore- i liken him to montella, tons of skill but undervalued. i think fiore is the perfect compliment to an advanced midfield of totti and delpiero. cassanno: fiery young hot head, with a good coach could be the next big striker niccoli: pure heart, like a younger di livio. camoranesi (sp?) : a young and complex player w/ loads of potential oddo: seen him play once, looked pretty good.
Di Biagio - outlived his usefulness at Inter and moved to Brescia. I suppose that move could revive his career a la Baggio, but I'm guessing we've seen the last of him on the national team. Pirlo - not my favorite personally but definitely a talented player with good distribution skills and a great free kick. I'm still amazed he plays "defensive" midfield with no ability to tackle though. Panucchi - I'm not sure who you mean .... surely not the Roma defender Panucci (promising??) Fiore - hopefully back in the good graces of Trapattoni after his good performance against Finland last time out. Cassano - needs to make more news with his skill and less with his attitude. If his head comes around, could be another Totti. Miccoli (I assume that's who you mean) - Agreed. He could be a real star. Way more talented than Di Livio ever was. Hope he gets the playing time he deserves at Juve. Camoranesi - also very talented but seems to get in and out of form quite often. Not in the good graces with Juve at the moment which can't help his national team prospects. Oddo - already 27 years old so running out of time to become a national team star. Has had a couple of opportunities with the Azzurri but hard to crack that defensive lineup.
yeah youre right, its miccoli. you dont like pannuchi? i think hes a more of a wing man put in the wrong spot at the back, but i kind of like him. true w/ the attitude, look at the azzurri in terms of big players w/ attitude problems: totti camoranesi cassano fiore (at least from trap's point of view) montella thats a young core of talanted guys who should shut the ************ up and play soccer before we turn into a Holland type squad w/ all this talent and no team work...
I don't get the comparisons of Cassano with Totti and Miccoli with Di Livio. Cassano's a pure striker, Totti's an A-mid; Miccoli's a withdrawn forward; Di Livio was a workhorse midfielder on the flank.
My comparison between Totti and Cassano was more along the "very talented but needs to grow up" thing. It took a long time for Totti to display all his goods, and I just hope Cassano matures similarly. And I believe borsato's comparison of Miccoli with DiLivio was based on both players' never-give-up attitude. Certainly, they have different positions, and as I alluded to, Miccoli has more pure talent than DiLivio ever dreamed up having.