Alert: COPA DEL MONDO BRAZIL 2014: GROUP STAGE (3) ITALY VS URUGUAY, Estádio das Dunas, Natal

I've said that I'd like it for Pirlo to carry on during qualifiers because from what I saw they certainly can co-exist in the midfield and Verratti needs to continue developing so who better to learn from? His tactical duties on the team, given the differences from club (if you watched some PSG games in CL) can't be blamed on him. A certain CT who wanted to emulate tiki caca has this guy who can hold the ball, sit deep, doesn't hurt you defensively and can make the metronome tick with sideways passing and he is not going to give him that exact role that he is perfectly suited for? It's clear that is exactly what Prandelli did.

Prandelli failed us trying to adopt a Spanish tactic into this team, then playing a wait for your opponent to make a mistake rather than attacking them directly. Only when the opposition opened up did this tikimerda work.

Same goes for Spain. I know that many people will defend their 8 goals in 7 games last World Cup because of the claim that other teams bunkered against them. And why was that? When you start your attack with a hundred 5ft passes at the center of the pitch, it gives a team ample time to get back and ample time to set up against you. What are opposing teams going to do when a team almost full of players that can dribble and hold onto the ball well is giving them time to set up with useless passing? Give them space to dribble into the net? Nope. So all that midfield possession is aptly named midfield catennacio (credit to @La Magica for that ... love that term) because when 50% of your goals come from set pieces and the only really effective thing about midfield possession is that you keep the ball away from your opponent, it becomes as much a defensive strategy as an offensive one.

That style started to deteriorate when Milan played Barca in 2013 and I give Allegri credit for putting two midfield destroyers high to disrupt the center field sideways passing scheme. It worked. Milan just didn't have the quality to do the same in Barcelona however a post denying goal on Niang would have probably seen Milan bunker and try to go for the tie rather than open up and let Messi dribble us twice.

I've repeated this elsewhere, it was after this display that I saw other teams mimicking this simple but effective tactic against Barca (and Spain) from Bayern, Nigeria and Brazil in the confed cup, even our fabled Prandelli using it again vs Spain at the confed successfully. All other teams seemingly followed up this year in Europe and specifically Atletico Madrid in La Liga and it looks like tiki taka is solved, so much so that I believe they are in transition having gone out and naturalized Costa to return to a hybrid direct attack mode still based on dominating possession but perhaps not as many useless midfield passes.Holland may have put the proverbial final nail in that coffin again with the exact same strategy this WC. I loved it.

Saying all that, for what? That mimicking their style, an open Prandelli objective, was a colossal fail and I hope the next CT learns from that and we can put that miserable dream to rest. So, given that was his objective, what role would you give to a player that can hold the ball, dribble and make quick short passes, give and goes, and doesn't hurt you defensively? Right, the one we saw him play. That's not his fault. It's Prandellis. In the first game, both Pirlo and Prandelli were open about their counter strategy to rotate the midfield in order to relieve the pressure that England was planning on putting on Pirlo. That's exactly what happened. It's hard to push forward, when you're told to cover deep, right? And I don't buy the conspiracy theory by Totti Fan that the flu was an invention to keep him out of the lineup. Moreso because it was clearly our worst game creatively. The team was horribly pedestrian and over run easily in the midfield, and most importantly when Prandelli has kept a player out of the lineup in the past he's always given an open reason for it. Why all of a sudden be sneaky about it? That's just imagination running wild, IMO. Then the game vs Uruguay where we did look better, but still he's sitting deep and we're playing this waiting game and not really going for a direct attack until the last 10 minutes when our backs are (once again) up against the wall. Certainly makes sense that there are more passes in the final 3rd at that point, no? Numbers may not lie, but how stats are used are almost certainly manipulated whenever possible. I did graduate work, and can attest to this.

All that said, sure there's going to be hype over a creative player when your team is looking for the next one. Where doesn't that happen? Remember how Robinho was supposed to be the next Pele. Or how many next Maradonas did we hear about before Messi came around? Does anyone remember Aimar?

I agree with you 100% that Verrati has skill but a lot to prove as well. 2 real competitive matches are hardly conclusive one way or another. If Montolivo could earn 50+ caps while largely accomplishing nothing, or Aquilani then Verratti deserves benefit of the doubt because while he didn't solve the games by himself (tactical positioning imposed on him and everyone else to blame) he made no errors and was one of the few people to blame for the loss, wasn't he?

So I'm neutral at the moment. I see a lot of upswing potential and am encouraged by it, ignoring the hype, but also the relative nit picking on perceived errors. I get it that you're not one of the ones nit picking and are just frustrated with the hype surrounding him. Same old media ploy. Hype or crucify. Look at the roller coaster ride Balotelli has been on in the media, and mostly his doing, but going from hero to zero again sometimes weekly and in many instances usually exaggerated.

So all that to suggest...ignoring the hype? lol

My cell phone keyboard is now lagging...it needs a break, ha.

 

First wall of text I decided to read in a while. Definitely worth it. Good analysis as always and hits pretty much everything wrong with this crappy WC.

Nothing else to be said.

/close thread

 

lol

 

Basically what this long passage is saying (amongst other things) is that we shouldn't blame Verratti for playing in the style of ticItalia because it was based on coaches instructions. This is an extremely dubious assumption and your repeated attempts to make excuses for his lack of creative contribution verge on borderline fanboy hysteria.

If we look at previous NT incarnations and we swap him for instance with a Montolivo, Motta or even an Aquilani (all central passing mids) we get something different. Now you can argue that Verratti is a more naturally gifted player than all of these three, but its how you apply that talent that is important. You can criticise the three I mentioned all you want but they will play vertical passes, they will launch a ball into the final third even if most of the time the ball is misplaced. If you play the ball into dangerous areas things will happen. If you pass the ball (or buck) sideways then shit happens. Pirlo was our best midfielder whilst also being the most heavily marked in this WC, if Verratti had stepped up then Pirlo would have been allowed to be even more effective.

And to say that we should give him a chance because he is inexperienced. Since when did the WC become a training ground for young players? If he is not ready for international duty then he shouldn't be picked. If we don't have anyone better then fair enough include him but then he needs to be scrutinised along with the other adults.

Finally, Verratti played the exact same way he plays week in week out for PSG. He played in the way I expected he would and thats why I was lukewarm about his inclusion in the squad. If fans want to see the next trequartista then this needs to happen at club level first. You cannot expect a 21 year old to improvise the trequartista role at a international level let alone at a WC.