Could this be one of the factors or (lack there of ) in popularity affecting our national team and our "A" league . Is this why we can't capture the imagination of the world with our Football. I envy the Brazilians and the Dutch with their style of play. A Latin country like ours where we thrive on the aspect of deceit and play....do we have no sense of trickery, a sense of playfulness? Does anyone see or believe their is a new mentality or revolution in italia inrespect to its football..... Could we say Italia with its national and serie "A" teams is beginning to adopt a new style of play....Can Italia regain it's stronghold with the world at large? In my opinion, i have always believed that the game of Football is won in mid-field. I believe where italia has always lacked in vision and play is in Mid-field....especially attacking minded mid-field. I've not been impressed and all is see is midfielders who try to push ( by brute strength )the ball and not play the ball up. Lets talk
I believe the mentality is changing for the best. You can see how Milan, with its new style of play, is practically running away from the others in Seria A. Also, with their sense of 'refusing to loose' they are bringing a new soccer to Italy as well as the national team. I always felt that if Italy played to its potential (not even full potential) they would probably have a few more world titles under their belt. We already know their catenaccio is strong but at the expense of going forward in numbers has always been their demise. They have quality forward but are underutilized so they can play more defense or at the half way line. The psychology of living on the catenaccio alone at the expense of the attach is dying. We will see if they employee the new phylosophy in Portugal. I hope so. Cheers
Well taken Bmw......... although we are seeing a better sense of play and style from AC Milan ( ac milan have always been a great team ), let us not forget that the team is composed of international stars....ie: Kaka ( who in my opinion has made a world of a difference for ac milan ). Who can you say or see has that talent in italia...or should i say... how many players can you get excited about that you see coming on to the scene both internationally or domestic for Italia. Italian Players that can make people really excited for italia...... i can maybe - pending on what mood i'm in count them on my right hand. I get extremely frustrated that a nation like italia.....traditional powerhouse for the sport of football - cannot at times get me excited. My expectations are ( yes ) high.... why? - because we breathe, eat, sleep, ********, football. So, with that culture in mind, being a part of our italian culture , should we not have the mentality or the pride to be the best and most progressive and dangerous in football. I like Trappatoni..... for one of many reasons - he believes in the killer instinct. And i hope that italia this summer goes with the killer instinct to not only to dominate the games but.... i hope they can entertain us a little - leaving us with a sense of joy and play and not be serious and controlling making us anxious and tense. Lets see what Trap has in mind..... do you think our national team has the ability to entertain and play for the fun of the game.... or do you see italia being serious and hard? (I know that we are extremely tough with our strength and mentality ) but can our national squad give us the " Doce Vita " with this new approach and sense of play? lets talk
Well taken Bmw......... although we are seeing a better sense of play and style from AC Milan ( ac milan have always been a great team ), let us not forget that the team is composed of international stars....ie: Kaka ( who in my opinion has made a world of a difference for ac milan ). Who can you say or see has that talent in italia...or should i say... how many players can you get excited about that you see coming on to the scene both internationally or domestic for Italia. Italian Players that can make people really excited for italia...... i can maybe - pending on what mood i'm in count them on my right hand. I get extremely frustrated that a nation like italia.....traditional powerhouse for the sport of football - cannot at times get me excited. My expectations are ( yes ) high.... why? - because we breathe, eat, sleep, ********, football. So, with that culture in mind, being a part of our italian culture , should we not have the mentality or the pride to be the best and most progressive and dangerous in football. I like Trappatoni..... for one of many reasons - he believes in the killer instinct. And i hope that italia this summer goes with the killer instinct to not only to dominate the games but.... i hope they can entertain us a little - leaving us with a sense of joy and play and not be serious and controlling making us anxious and tense. Lets see what Trap has in mind..... do you think our national team has the ability to entertain and play for the fun of the game.... or do you see italia being serious and hard? (I know that we are extremely tough with our strength and mentality ) but can our national squad give us the " Dolce Vita " with this new approach and sense of play? lets talk
A few points I would like to throw into the mix here are the fact that the displays given by Milan this year of extremely attacking football, especially for them, a traditional defence minded team is basically due to the opposition they are facing. The top teams in Italy have the means to adapt their style of play to that of their opponents. If you face a team like Deportivo last night the best thing you can do is go for the attack, because their stronghold in defence was missing. That was their weak point. If Milan is facing a team that just puts ten men in front of the goal and relies on the counter attack, they will not be going full trottle in attack but be carefull and just send two attackers into the penalty box on the long ball and still keep 5 in back just to be able to cope with the counter attack. That is something Italian teams have been doing for a long time, if you face a team that is attacking like crazy you keep a few players back, you don't go full out into attack as well like Madrid and Man U did last year.... Milan would sit back then and let them pound the goal and sneek the goal in through Inzaghi on a counter. It is not that Italian football is changing, it is just the opponents who force the Italian teams to play a bit more attacking because they know that when they go full on for the goals they will face an Italian brick wall that is really hard to pull down. In serie A you just see more goals lately because the difference between the top 5 teams and the rest has just grown bigger because of the number of averige players that would normally play for the other teams in Serie A can play now for top clubs abroad. This season the number of Italians abroad is the biggest ever, that makes it harder for the averige sides in Serie A to keep up with the top 5. Which explains the bigger scores in Serie A this season.
Good points............... that of which leads me back to my point. Lets take AC Milan as an example since we are talking a little about AC Milan - Why is it that AC Milan has been doing very well this season! One reason more than any other..... Who is in Mid-Field? we have the likes of Rui Costa, Andrea Pirlo, Seedorf, and the one and only KAKA!!!!!! My friends, the game of Football has to be played in Mid-Field. You can sport all the best forwards and defence but!! unless you have a creative, attacking Mid-field ( to feed your attack and to support your defence ) the outcome is a negative one. To which i now refer to our national team............. the one player that does appeal to me and gets my support is Francesco Totti ! He is a player that can change the nature of the game on a dime's twist. And yet, who else is there to do what he can for our national team. One thing that i do not support is building a team around one player. Italia must start producing and supporting young talents like the kaka's of the world. Not only does the game become playful, intelligent and interesting but more Entertaining! Our national team and the Italian system must start to adopt a more attacking creative mid-field or else we will continue to bore the world and ourselves and stress everyone that supports the Italians. There is change happening in Italia.... and i say it's about Time! Yes, Our serie "A" Teams are producing more, more goals. Will we sse change when we go to The Euro 2004 this summer. How many of us feel confident with the national team? Lets talk
I agree that things seem to be slowly changing for the better. Not only is AC Milan playing some attractive football, but so is Roma. The Roma attack is featuring two Italians Totti (who you mentioned) and Cassano among others. I hope that the success of Kaka and other internationals in Serie A will not only raise the level of play and restore Serie A to the top, but also inspire younger Azzurri players in Italy to not fear an attacking style but embrace it.
If they can keep Totti pushed up as an attacking midfielder or possibly a forward then the Azzuri would do well as far as attack-minded football goes.
Not with all the clubs falling in a heap of financial turmoil. About the thread, the truth is Serie A has always incorporated attacking football. If you've been living in a hole for the last decade than you wouldn't know that from the late 1980's to the mid 90's Serie A boasted the most profilic soccer names from around the world. All of them very skilled and talented...however with that talent there is needed a prone readiness for instruction. With basic skills and some discipline anyone can become great in Italy. Throughout these boards people continually perpetuate this false notion that Serie A is boring to watch and too defensive in nature, when in fact there is obvious attacking minded players who are rightly constrained by their coach's depending on the strategy. That's why teams like Juventus and Milan are soo successful because they implant strategies and tactics that will see them remain at the top for an entire season because of the rich depth that the league and teams provide. It is becuase of these powerhouse teams that smaller teams will never be permitted to play in glorious competitions such as the Champions League. To keep things contemporary, Parma (although they didn't make a CL spot) maintained some of the most attractive soccer in Europe. With players like Adriano, Mutu, Nakata, Lamouchi, and Brighi they were able to give marvelous displays of attacking football for the majority of the season. Of course most people here who are aquanted with Italian teams use Champions League as there medium for information (either becuase they dont have access to Seria A or just dont care to watch it.) My point is that even today the most known and remembered players (the majority anyways) have circulated through Italy at one time or another. If that is true than there must be large portions of attacking soccer to be found in Italy. Sometimes I get worked up about this issue because I'll misinterperet people's impressions about there opinions. Nevertheless people who give negative reviews are usually jealous hipocrites because the Italian league has either taken their favorite player away form their moneyless club, or they watch players who they insist are champions but are revealed to be slightly insignificant because of the abundant talent around them.
Amen too what................! What where talking about is not attacking forwards, but attacking style football. Seria A has always sported forwards that were dangerous in attack. But what we're refering to is an attack minded-style football. The " Catennacio" style - which in its respect was pratically unpenetrable. The Italians mastered the defencive wall and In effect, the counter-attack sprung from this approach. With this in mind - what it did was build a lazy way to get results. In other words, build a system where the other team does all the work. It's a very slick way to go about things...... but very dull and not very creative. My friends, football has to be entertaining..... enjoyable to watch. and most but not least - intelligent , creative and offensive. Tactically, The italians have mastered the game.....we have taught the world how to play the game of Football. Players come to Italia with the skills and we italians give them the brains to play! I am very proud of my colors , red,white and green. And if there is anything that kills me is that we according to Fifa " Ranking are not ranked in the Top 10 ...let alone top 5!!!!!!!!!! Italia has to stop playing the political game and start playing the Football game. I want to see our players play with a sense of the "Dolce Vita", a smile, a way of saying that we enjoy our football so come and have fun with us. Is that too much to ask for? Why do you think... a lot of international stars want top play in italia..... because in our system ( which is the best i think ) it can make you or break you. Our system seperates the men from the boys. It's one of the toughest football leagues in the world. So, that in mind... i expect alot from our national side!!! lets talk. Viva Italia!!!!!!!!!