Don't you guys find it worrying that 4 players needed to cover for Pirlo at WC2014? He's a legend of the game, but Italy needs to move forward without him. I also get very very confused when I hear that Verratti is Pirlos successor. Their styles aren't the same at all IMO. Verratti reminds me more of a midfielder in the mold of a Modric, or perhaps moreso for our Serie A fans from early to mid 2000s, Veron. If a successor happens to Pirlo, its gonna be Jorginho in that mold of all our current prospects for Italy.
with pirlo its kind of like taking ferrari out in a race against fiats instead of a fiat but the breaks are jammed on the ferrari, was pointless in the end, center mids on the wings lol, prandelli you are the 2nd biggest douche in calcio history, no prizes for guessing the 1st ameh cough cough walter
I just think people are gonna get disappointed at Verratti when he isn't playing the role Pirlo did when he doesn't play that way. Not at PSG and it won't be at Italia either if Conte is smart. He plays comfortably more advanced from what I've seen of him at PSG.
Exactly. And this is what I have been begging to see with Verratti for Italia. I do not see this happening unless Conte somehow gets the team to lean less on Pirlo. And I do not see how this can be done unless he plays less, or not at all.
well do not forget pirlo has retired from the azzurri shit and will only come back if he is needed, i dont know how conte could say his is needed at this point so i hope he doesnt all him, the boys have to shed their nappies/diapers and move on to potty trainin.
There is no right or wrong answer on the Pirlo issue. I can understand both arguments. In regards to Verratti, the reason many call him the heir to Pirlo is because they are both elite in one category: passing/vision. Pirlo moreso due to experience, but both are incredible passers and can see a play three or four steps ahead of others. You can prefer Verratti more advanced up the field (I think many do on here), but he's also a great defender (very underrated in this regard) - tough and relentless. For this reason (and the fact he can start play from the back), I prefer Verratti right in front of the defense.
My starting 11 in September would look like this: Buffon Donati Camporese Chiellini Antonelli Pirlo DeRossi Verratti Florenzi Insigne (both wide) Rossi Have Florenzi protect Pirlo on the central right side, link Verratti and Insigne up, have De Rossi defend in the middle and start play from back there, and play positive football.
Verratti was making too many unnecessary back passes today. He needs to turn around instead of passing it back to the defender who then passes it right back to him. He also needs to stop using the 5-yard pass as his first option.
psg already played today? my biggest gripe with verratti which i've been quite vocal about in the past is his almost complete refusal to shoot on site, against uruaguay he had a great opp to shoot it was just asking to be curled in and he waited and waited then passed it to immobile who was clearly offside and immobile clearly didnt want the ball as he was just making space, that annoyed me quite abit, DDR is another one i want to see gone, no more slow coaches in midfield, this was a huge contribution to out failure in brazil, bonaventura needs to be given a chance now, if he works out we can acall him ace bonaventura - test detectice, totti will shit his pants.
Bonaventura is definitely a top talent....for me, one of the top contenders to make the squad regularly...only question is, is he a LW or LCM? This season will be telling in that regard.
They defeated some unknown French side 2:0 today. Ibrahimovic had to leave with an injury to his hip or something. Verratti took a quick free kick and sent it down field to Cavani for the second goal. He sent him a good ball but Cavani did some nice work to control it and set himself up. But often, we saw unimaginative passes from Verratti when in truth, the kid has the ability to give more. I kept saying to myself why do you pass that ball to your center back when no one is pressuring you. Sure enough, that centerback gave it right back to him. It is as if he has mastered the small possession game that is done in training. Put players in a small grid, 3v3 oe 4v4 and then play keep away. While that is a useful training technique, it does little playing that style on the pitch.
Yes, I want to see Bonaventura get some caps. A key player for the future. For the love of god and Padre Pio….I hope Inzaghi plays Poli more this year as well. Another player that could make a difference. My XI… D: Darmian. Bonucci. Chiellini. De Sciglio. M: Pirlo/Marchisio. De Rossi. Verratti. W: Berardi. Gabbiadini. F: Immobile.
Trap survived a second round exit in 2002 with a team that was at least twice as good as the 2014 mob.
I said something similar above. I actually agree with you. I would hope he goes with 4 3 3 or 4 3 2 1, but I think 3 5 2 is what he's comfortable with. We will find out soon enough. All the evidence points to that formation.
The thing about Pirlo is: Is it worth building a team around him when we should be thinking of 2016 or even 2018? Moreover, however good he may be, is it worth taking him when we have no really top-quality Gattuso-style defensive mids who can cover for him? We need to rebuild around wingers because that's where our talent lies these days. DDR should remain, but as a center back, where he won't slow us down as much. I don't understand any first 11s that don't include Darmian. He was the only good choice Prandelli made. I don't really know what formation Conte will play. Those who say he is only comfortable with 3-5-2 have clearly only seen him with Juventus. He is a smart man and I expect he will choose a different formation with the NT. Personally, I like a 4-2-3-1 with the current crop of players: Sirigu Darmian Rugani DDR De Sciglio Jorginho Romulo Berardi Verratti Bonaventura Rossi
He's probably still our best player. Which is pretty sad when you think about it. But you need to ask yourself do we really want to be carrying around a 37 yo in 2016. Everything Conte does from now on needs to based around building a side for Euro 2016. As it is now he is already a slow player. Nor could he possibly play 90m of every match in a summer tournament. And the side needs to be structured around his deficiencies. So potentially we lose an attacking option because we need to include a player that can cover for his defensive frailties. Only reason to include him atm would be to help transition some of the new inexperienced players. But if Conte is planning to field a side from the usual suspects he should drop him asap.
We didn't go out of the last WC because we we relied too much on Pirlo. As others have said, so long as he continues to be the best player in his position, he should participate.
Pirlo has been playing at a slow pace for years now. Hasn't made a difference as nobody can get the ball off him anyways. I don't find it sad that he's our best midfielder. We have so much quality there - Verratti, DDR, Claudio, perhaps Jorginho, some prospects like Baselli, Viviani, Cristante, F. Rossi, etc rising through the ranks. There's some talent there. Pirlo is still so effective that I don't mind him going on. Especially considering Euro2016 is in France, great weather conditions for the Azzurri. We don't need to center our whole team or strategies on Andrea. Do we need the defense to cover for him? Yes. Perhaps he plays more to the right, allowing DDR to play a modern sweeper role in the middle in front of defense, Florenzi tracking back offering protection and someone like Donati or Darmian playing as a conservative RB, not making any drastic moves forward. How is that so bad, considering we will have Pirlo's elite passing, vision and spot kick ability at our disposal. With all that said, I'm perfectly content with moving on without him as well. But it just doesnt feel like the right time for that..