Originally Posted by Locke
They were brutal the 2 tournaments before it and they were brutal in the tournament after it.
Like I said earlier, their coach before WC 2006 was Giovanni "The Trap" Trapattoni... the master of Catenaccio (Ironically, he coached some very offensive club teams in the 1970s and 80s). He picked lousy teams (specifically, teams that can play his ugly trap style) and played ineffective football... since teams need to score to win. Losing 1-0 is the same as losing 3-2, its still zero points. Lippi's Italy was far from defensive... playing a minimum of 3 bonafide offensive players, and another 3 players capable of solid offense and counterattack. It was a complete tactical game, and very enjoyable to watch, save for the US game and Australia game... both of which they were down to 10 men for most of the game, and forced into uglier play to force a result. Donadoni went back to that well when Totti retired from international play, rather that continue what Lippi started.
I also mentioned that the squad Italy brought to this Euro just wasnt that good. Combined with Donadoni it was a recipe for disaster.
The roster itself (before Cannavaro was hurt) was actually not that bad, albeit old. Once Cannavaro went down, it exposed the lack of depth at CB. To make matters worse, Donadoni picked the worst two possible to start. That result immediately demoralized and put them behind the 8-ball. The biggest issue is the team was way too old. While some teams experimented with "unproven youngsters", Donadoni employed the Darryl Sutter method and opted for tired veterans with decent resumes. Juventus and Fiorentina alone boast about half a dozen players under 28 that could have performed at least as well as the has-beens did... the advantage would have been experience for WC 2010. Many eyebrows were raised on Riccardo Montolivo's exclusion in favor of Massimo Ambrosini... its pretty obvious why that was so dumb.
But like Thunderball is saying, the visual difference between a 'good' Italian squad and the epic crapshow we were forced to watch for weeks isnt all that different.
Actually, I never said that. I actually said there is a huge visual difference between a good Italian squad and what we saw here. This team lacked control, tact, finish and poise. Lippi teams may have been "boring", but they certainly never looked afraid of their opponents like this one did.
With Lippi expect to see more of the same except for jerseys with different names.
Expect to be half wrong. Lippi would never rely on Toni as a lone striker. While Lippi uses a 4-3-1-2 often, it is much more offensively staggered, and he does not force his skilled strikers to the sides to feed a target man. In a word, he does not use the catenaccio defensive style, except in extreme cases to defend a lead. In WC 2006, Toni was never alone. He was either with Gilardino or Iaquinta. Totti was the target man, but not to finish... rather, to QB the attack and provide quality passes through to the two strikers... rather than scraping passes from anywhere in the fringe to one guy. It's no coincidence the three goals Italy got came from special plays where the players didn't have to adhere to Donadoni's ridiculously outdated tactics... a corner kick, a spot kick and a free kick. However, it will be a very different team... and from the sounds of it... a much younger team.
Lets talk about some good teams now: (you mean some VERY lucky teams surely?)
Germany vs. Turkey. As some may know, Germany has a very large Turkish population so I expect this game to be an absolute war, and hopefully the Germans dont make the mistake that the Dutch made and underestimate their opponents.
A half-strength Turkey is like a cornered animal.
My only beef with Turkey is that while their play has been entertaining and dramatic they have played with little to no discipline, and it just may cost them.
In all fairness it should have cost them already but Croatia dropped the ball. If the Germans dont come prepared to put this beast to bed they'll experience the same fate as the Croatians, the Czechs and the Dutch.
Respect your opponent.
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