Friendly: Italy - Ivory Coast (August 10th, 2010) [R]

Re: August 11 Friendly

i told u guys he's good....idk why most people on this forum hate on those players that are actually good

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Macheda has a lot of potential, but at 18 years old he is still very unproven. We will not know how good of a player he actually is for at least 3 years.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Has Prandelli said anything about his formation? My bet is 4-3-3.

Italy doesn't have Vargas...

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

If he is good enough to make Manchester United then he is already better than most Italian players.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

ya but he rides the bench, hardly every plays in meaningful games but like someone above said, hes only 18. Good luck to him! He would be nicely paired with Balotelli up to in 2014 down in Brazil if they both keep growning and improving!

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

I've been thinking about this kind of look. What do y'all think?



-----------------------------Gilardino-----

---------Balotelli---------------------------

------------------Pirlo----------------------

-----Montolivo-----------------------Abate--

-------------------De Rossi------------------

Chiellini-------------------------------Maggio-

-----------Bonucci------Ranocchia-------------

--------------------Sirigu----------------------

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

I think the formation will probably look a lot like that in terms of shape. Can Pirlo play that high up? No Cassano?

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

I suppose it would depend heavily on a level of clubs preseason preparations and European cup involvements. I like your squad except I'm entirely against Chiellini in a left back role. Due to Criscito's injury I can see two new call ups in that role. (Balzaretti? Santon?) I'm not sure about Pirlo as he wasn't called to Milan's exhibition tournament.

I can see something like this from Prandelli:


-------------Quagliarella----Gilardino----Marchionni---------

----------------De Rossi----Palombo----Montolivo----------

---Balzaretti----P.Cannavaro----Ranocchia-----Maggio-------

------------------------------Sirigu-------------------------

Of course I would like to see something different:


---------------------------Pazzini------------------------------

--------------Cassano--------------------Balotelli------------

-----------------------------Aquilani---------------------------

--------------------De Rossi--------Palombo----------------

------Santon-----Chiellini------Ranocchia------Motta--------

------------------------------Sirigu-------------------------

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Good question--I have Pirlo playing as a trequartista, almost, because I don't see him in the deep-lying defensive midfield role any longer. (De Rossi should play that role.) And I also don't think it's clear Montolivo and Pirlo will play at the same time; it may be that Monto is a deputy for Pirlo, while left midfield is vied for by the likes of Marchisio.

I left Cassano out because he's always a question mark, but I would be happy to see him in the side.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Balzaretti will never play on a Prandelli-coached team. Ever. Maggio? Tough to say. He said some bad things about Prandelli in the press (nothing like Balzaretti, though) and Prandelli responded in the press saying that when he arrived in Firenze Maggio was injured and so Prandelli never had a chance to properly evaluate him before selling him.

On the defensive side Prandelli is definitely an admirer of Gamberini, Bonera, Ferrari, Di Silvestri and Barzagli, too. Keep that in mind, though I have no idea how Ferrari and Barzagli have been the last couple seasons.

He also likes that defensive mid who was with Juve and had his bags packed to come to Fiorentina before Juve changed their mind. His name escapes me.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Per this report the 22 players for the friendly will be chosen from this list of 30

Other reports have the following 30 players:

GK:
Antonio Mirante, Salvatore Sirigu, Marco Storari, Emiliano Viviano.

Def:
Luca Antonini, Salvatore Bocchetti, Leonardo Bonucci, Mattia Cassani, Giorgio Chiellini, Alessandro Gamberini, Christian Maggio, Cristian Zaccardo.

Mid:
Daniele De Rossi, Daniele Galloppa, Cristian Ledesma, Claudio Marchisio, Thiago Motta, Riccardo Montolivo, Angelo Palombo, Simone Pepe, Andrea Pirlo.

Fwd:
Mario Balotelli, Marco Borriello, Antonio Cassano, Alberto Gilardino, Marco Marchionni, Giampaolo Pazzini, Fabio Quagliarella, Giuseppe Rossi.

.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

This is truly over the top stuff. Ledesma, Motta, really? I would take Poli over these two any day. Suppose it is a wild guess from media...............

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

I would these 23 out of the proposed list:

GK:
Salvatore Sirigu, Marco Storari, Emiliano Viviano.

Def:
Luca Antonini, Salvatore Bocchetti, Leonardo Bonucci, Mattia Cassani, Giorgio Chiellini, Alessandro Gamberini, Christian Maggio.
Mid:
Daniele De Rossi, Daniele Galloppa, Claudio Marchisio, Riccardo Montolivo, Angelo Palombo, Andrea Pirlo, Marco Marchionni.

Fwd:
Mario Balotelli, Marco Borriello, Antonio Cassano, Alberto Gilardino, Giampaolo Pazzini, Giuseppe Rossi.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Fiorentina is linked with Ledesma every summer (except this one) so I'm not surprised by this. Prandelli is definitely fond of him.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Nocerino's the guy I was thinking of, btw...

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Woot Woot...looking forward to this. I haven't been this excited for an italy game in a long time.

F*ck, a lot of possible formations, especially with the options up front. Cassano e Balo up top? Hehe, Lippi would have a heart-attack. Rossi/Quags with Pazzi? Interesting.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

If this is true then THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

in Gazzetta there's a link that Prandelli is restarting with Balotelli, Cassano and Amauri to bring fire and enthusiasm back to the team.

Linky : http://www.gazzetta.it/primapagina/

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Tonight I dreamed Ivory Coast went on advantage 2-0, then Italy drew the game 2-2. Then there was another goal that I think was from Ivory Coast, but by then I realized I was dreaming and changed the score intentionally the other way around.

It really does seem we are close to witness a revamped Azzurra. Balotelli and Cassano were given credit since long ago, but Amauri is a bit unexpected. Also, I have some worries as for Gilardino. Even though it's no surprise he'd be called to a Prandelli coached team, his performance on the WC leaves room for some disbelief.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

I think Amauri should come off the bench along with Pazzini.... The starting trio up front should be

.................Rossi
.....Cassano.........Balotelli

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Prandelli says that he will be mostly using guys that he is not as familiar with. And Cassano was just as unimpressive as Gilardino this last WC and for the same reasons. Neither got the ball.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Cassano? ^

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

And to think we could have this attack on this WC and performed so much better...

Well, at least it gives some hope for better times coming Euro 2012.

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

haha! we had an attack in the WC?

 

Re: August 11 Friendly

Theoretically.