Cesare Prandelli's Italy : the 60 minute team

The only player that had 90 minutes in him, Prandelli subbed out (Balotelli).
For me that was the crucial part of the game. People can say whatever that want about Di Natale and how good he is blah blah blah...im sick of it. Pirlo served him on a platter vs Spain and he had a good finish but after that he barely touched a ball. And against Croatia when Prandelli subbed out Balotelli off for `The Master` Di Natale, I think the only time I saw him on my screen was when he was offside.

 

Balo showed no signs of fatigue... so I'm not sure where Prandelli can use that as an excuse in the particular aspect. That was a tactical error on his part.

 

Maggio could have had at least one goal if he hadn't run offsides twice.

 

Well he dosent make any effort to get the ball either.
Cassano and Balotelli hardly get that much service either.

 

The two players who have shown signs of fatigue have been Cassano and Motta. Cassano, it makes perfect sense. He just came back to playing at the end of the season and it is not as if Milan played him full time on his return. Considering his history of fitness, it is unreasonable to expect him to have 90 minutes in him.

As for Motta, let's not forget that he is Brazilian. Brazilians love the game and love to play it. They are not known for their love of physical fitness. How many Brazilian starts have faded in their late 20's, early 30's? Motta played in France the second half of the season. Maybe the play is not as demanding as it is in Serie A. Now he is a hard worker and has given it his all on the pitch. But he does not have the legs in him in the last 30 minutes. And against Croatia, he did take a knock on the head.

Other than those two, fitness has not been a big issue of the other players.

 

Prandelli says he expects to make up to 4 changes in the starting roster on Monday, but assures DDR keeps his position - formation stays the same.

Also hints that Di Natale plays best when he comes in late in the game.

He said some of the decision process for the starting lineup will be based off of a fitness test tomorrow I believe. I'm crossing my fingers we see Giovinco and Balo start the next game. Cassano needs to recover and should only be used as a sub against Ireland, if used at all.

 

I`ve seen Udinese before and the team is built around him.

 

I can tell you as a Juventino that Marchisio is one of the fittest, if not the fittest, players on the Azzurri. He runs on both ends. But to play our style of ball control, when a player or two get gassed, it makes more work for the others.

 

I don't know if Maggio is showing "signs of fatigue" but he is not the usual little engine bombing down the right flank. So, whether it's fatigue or otherwise, Maggio looks different.

 

Never understood why Marchisio gets so much crap on here. The kid is a workhorse.

 

IMO the game against Russia killed any confidence he had and hasn't bounced back.

 

That was team wide... not just Claudio (Balo the exception... he wasn't slowing down).

 

Doping?

 

they're all cheatin bastards, i personally dont care if they dope, its the lame ass excuses they use when they get caught, oh it was something in the water, oh it must have been in a supp, no you're just a cheat, now mma fighters are getting prescribed trt in their 30's which is a load of bull, they're just covering up their cheating ways,

any way our fitness is worryingly poor

 

And, this is another reason why DDR needs to be pushed out of the backline and into the midfield. Start four at the back, and those three in the midfield.

I was hesitant when Conte began employing the 3-man backline at Juventus and it took a good few months for issues and communication between the players as far as assignments to be sorted out and the team to come full circle. Prandelli has never asked his Azzurri to play this before the tournament and besides the Juve and Napoli players on the team, most others are not used to this system either. If this is what Prandelli wanted, it should've been implemented months ago. I feel we have to revert to what is more natural.

 

i was gonna post in the fire prandelli thread but its closed.......soooooooooo who wants him fired now??