Italy vs Holland

If only we signed him on one of the 4,685 occasions we were linked to him.

Drab game pretty much which came to life in the last few minutes or so.Far from an enjoyable game to watch tbh.

Barzagli Best defender on the night easily.And Mole thinks he doesnt belong in the list of Top 5 CB's

Great sub in from Prandelli to introduce Osvaldo for Balo.Did a far better job than Balo on the night and should've got his name on the scoresheet too.

Dont think there were any standouts for the MOM but there were quite a few players who i was left impressed with by both teams on the night.(Janmaat and Maher for the Dutch NT in particular).

The same Barzagli who couldn't deal with Boriello?

Of course he was the best defender anyway, his partner was f*cking Astori

TomJuve wrote:If only we signed him on one of the 4,685 occasions we were linked to him.

I don't no how gilardino still hasn't played for juventus he could still be our last day panic buy in the summer mercato .

as for veratti the kid is a beast insigne,veratti,florenzi italy taking a leaf out of spains book and building a team of midgets to take the world by strom

TomJuve wrote:If only we signed him on one of the 4,685 occasions we were linked to him.

What? Of course you will. Gilardino is a Marotta-esque marquee signing along with Acquafresca, Iaquinta, Massimo Maccarone, Plasmati, and the immortal Moscaradelli. Expect Mr. X to be Gila.

Surag wrote:Drab game pretty much which came to life in the last few minutes or so.Far from an enjoyable game to watch tbh.

Barzagli Best defender on the night easily.And Mole thinks he doesnt belong in the list of Top 5 CB's

Great sub in from Prandelli to introduce Osvaldo for Balo.Did a far better job than Balo on the night and should've got his name on the scoresheet too.

Dont think there were any standouts for the MOM but there were quite a few players who i was left impressed with by both teams on the night.(Janmaat and Maher for the Dutch NT in particular).

Can't expect a fun match from italia in a friendly. Their attitude typically was pathetic as usual in friendlies. Only wake up when they need too it seems.

Balo was good overall and unselfish along with getting into good positions. Looked lazy and rightfully was subbed.

MOTM were Abate (marked out the other guy and Robben when he came) and Barzagli by a mile for Italia. Other good players were SES, Santon, Florenzi and Verrati who lit up the midfield battle after a sluggish De Rossi was subbed off.

Barzagli completely and utterly nullied Van Persie. Read him like a book. Ridiculously good marking.

Arquitecto wrote:Barzagli completely and utterly nullied Van Persie. Read him like a book. Ridiculously good marking.

Barzagli shut down Robben too when he was ON.(Robben was constantly drifting in towards the center).

But no,Mole loves to nitpick instead and chooses to base of him off a game where the fault on the goal wasnt even entirely his.

Its simply criminal to not rate Barzagli as a Top 5 CB in Europe right now.Period

tbh shutting down RVP with Holland is no achievement

You would think me putting 2 Juve CBs in my top 5 was enough, but no Surag wants 3

Greed

Also what Ganso said and did you see this Holland side?

Surag wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:Barzagli completely and utterly nullied Van Persie. Read him like a book. Ridiculously good marking.

Barzagli shut down Robben too when he was ON.(Robben was constantly drifting in towards the center).

But no,Mole loves to nitpick instead and chooses to base of him off a game where the fault on the goal wasnt even entirely his.

Its simply criminal to not rate Barzagli as a Top 5 CB in Europe right now.Period

Tsk Surag Mole rates Barza very highly yet only says Cheillini is your best and most important CB. I think your getting mixed up. I seem to speak to mole more than my 6 elder brothers these days, he rights him as world class.


That scrub Robben kept drifting inside after his tricks weren't working vs Abate as drifting in wasn't a smart choice cause OH! Barza was there to nullify him after having a breeze vs RvP

Surag wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:Barzagli completely and utterly nullied Van Persie. Read him like a book. Ridiculously good marking.

Barzagli shut down Robben too when he was ON.(Robben was constantly drifting in towards the center).

But no,Mole loves to nitpick instead and chooses to base of him off a game where the fault on the goal wasnt even entirely his.

Its simply criminal to not rate Barzagli as a Top 5 CB in Europe right now.Period

if u don't play for madrid,barca,bayern or one of the top 5 in england ur not considered the best in ur position or anywhere near that. premier league fan and fifa logic

Ganso wrote:tbh shutting down RVP with Holland is no achievement

Not a very fun game to watch, the subs were mind boggling, happy we levelled it in the end. With the Holland team that was out, if the Italia weren't lazy, we should have won it. We do have a good future ahead of us though

I think Barza is 6th behind Chiellini, TS, Hummels, Bonucci and Pique....

I rate him i just think Bonucci is better and the other 4 are out on their own as far as i'm concerned.

Also hyping him after a friendly is a bit ridiculous

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I think Barza is 6th behind Chiellini, TS, Hummels, Bonucci and Pique....

I rate him i just think Bonucci is better and the other 4 are out on their own as far as i'm concerned.

Also hyping him after a friendly is a bit ridiculous

Incredibly.

He's better than Bonucci.No doubts there.I'd rate him higher than Pique too.

He belongs in the Top 5.End off.

Luca wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I think Barza is 6th behind Chiellini, TS, Hummels, Bonucci and Pique....

I rate him i just think Bonucci is better and the other 4 are out on their own as far as i'm concerned.

Also hyping him after a friendly is a bit ridiculous

Incredibly.

There's a reason why i was hyping him.Mole knows why i brought this discussion up here.

So all this is based over you rate him top 5 and i rate him top 6?

Bit petty no?

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:So all this is based over you rate him top 5 and i rate him top 6?

Bit petty no?

I think he really really really wants you to put Barza in your top 5.

Take my advice and do it

Onto more important things, Verratti with a great goal

Verratti costing Krul his clean sheet

Verrati completely lit up Azzuri when he came on as he was one of the few with desire to play. Which is why Italia gained back midfield dominance in his presence. Resembles like Xavi (in his playing style) more and more as he plays. It was interesting to see that he was playing in his original Trequartista role once Italia switched to a 4-3-1- as he excelled there quite well.

Krul saved Netherlands throughout yet had karma for trying to be the Prince of Persia with his time keeping.

ffs i overslept and missed the match

Arq LMAO.

Also thoughts on the system? i know Italy have used 4-3-1-2 for ages now but i personally believe going forward the players might suit a different system better not to mention in the modern game it can be exploited quite easily.

Ganso wrote:tbh shutting down RVP with Holland is no achievement

Related:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Arq LMAO.

Also thoughts on the system? i know Italy have used 4-3-1-2 for ages now but i personally believe going forward the players might suit a different system better not to mention in the modern game it can be exploited quite easily.

Prandelli's favourite systems are a 3-4-3 diamond modification and the 4-3-3 in which he played today. 4-3-1-2 was switched only when Gila, Osvaldo and Verrati came on.

Problem with Prandelli is that he is a tinkerman and a perfectionist in which he hasn't found his favourite system in which to utilize so far as this is due to the sudden emergence and use of the young Italian Azzurini talents.

Prandelli is a modern manager and its clear he doesn't want to stick to the old Italian and provincial methods. Only methods he uses from there is the Sweeper in his 3 man, a #Trequarista in a 4-3-1-2 or a #10 fantasista in a 4-3-3 as SES then eventually Diamanti showed when subbed in.

As of now, its too difficult to say which system he will favour given Prandelli is unpredictable and in the emergence of giving chances to a lot of young players (along with recently performing veterans). Typically of any Italian manager for the Azzuri they usually like to figure their system and optimize upon it right before the tournament which is frustrating as a whole and a testament to the perfectionism of most of the managers here on the peninsula.

What was displayed in this match? Abate and Santon literally were playing wingbacks. If anything it was like watching Allegri's new system at Milan which is why SES-Balo played together. Abate continued his increasingly attacking role while Candreva cut inside to provide passes. Santon was playing so high on the pitch and combining with SES continually you couldn't tell he was a Leftback. Pirlo was playing ahead of Montolivo and De Rossi in tighter spaces. Substitutions? 4-3-1-2 was arbitrary with Verrati playing a TQ supporting Gila and Osvaldo. Florenzi didn't have a role in particular but played a near Marchisio role with his end to end running and passing in tighter spaces to open up Holland.

As of now its too early to tell with Prandelli. 4-3-3 and a 3 man diamond 3-4-3 modification seems to be his favourite along with possibly a 4-2-4 which was used vs France.

Good post Arq

Interesting about the fullbacks being high, as Santon has been playing beyond the half way line in a lot of matches in recent weeks.

I like it personally because having 4 defenders back to deal with what is usually 1 forward is a waste IMO and having fullbacks that far forward helps maintain fluidity and pressure of attacks.

A lot of teams are realising this now and not just the very top teams even our selfs have Santon and Debuchy basically camped on the half way line in recent games

I used to favor fullbacks who were solid defensively and stayed back but as time has gone on i almost find them to be a waste and while they have defensive responsibility the large brunt of their responsibilities seem to be to maintain pressure of attacks and effect the game in an attacking sense.

I'm still honestly gobsmacked how cheap fullbacks are considering their importance to do what i mentioned above they are almost worth their weight in gold.

Be interesting to see how you set up going forward to 2014.

Don't get too excited about Gilardino. He either is an absolute clinical player, or complete shit. Usually complete shit.

Mole can I pls go in your top 5 pls pls pls.

Also Arq he will link up just fine with Moscardelli, perhaps Plasmatri can play as a winger

And Marotta yeah he'll come to Turin eventually, you mark my words.