Re: Italian National Team worst ever since after Superga?

by S Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:58 am

Well lets not forget two of Italy's best midfielders(best players actually) are injured.

Again,too much emphasis put on age especially the defense.As far as i know, its still one of Italy's strengths.

The forwardline has looked cack for a while now.There's no denying that.But this squad is without a doubt 2x better than the trash 2010 squad.
Lippi picked a lot of Juventus flops who were coming at the back off trash seasons.

Not like now.Not comparable at all.

by sportsczy Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:16 am

Keep in mind, I grew up watching the Italy teams of the 80s... i mean the starting 11 was: Zoff, Scirea, Collovati, Cabrini, Gentile, Bergomi, Oriali, Conti, Tardelli, Rossi, Graziani (and Altobelli). Baresi was starting his career too and came on after 1982. Antognoni, etc.

It's almost offensive to compare those teams to the recent ones... and I've always hated Italy NT.

by Kaladin Sun Jun 12, 2016 6:05 pm

Laughable lineup, even more so when you consider Conte is going to play Motta and DDR together+Eder

by rincon Sun Jun 12, 2016 6:36 pm

sportsczy wrote:Keep in mind, I grew up watching the Italy teams of the 80s... i mean the starting 11 was: Zoff, Scirea, Collovati, Cabrini, Gentile, Bergomi, Oriali, Conti, Tardelli, Rossi, Graziani (and Altobelli). Baresi was starting his career too and came on after 1982. Antognoni, etc.

It's almost offensive to compare those teams to the recent ones... and I've always hated Italy NT.

Thats all good, those were incredible teams. Better than today, but that doesn't make this squad any worse than 2014 and certainly not worse than 2010.

People forget that Simone Pepe was probably Italy's best performer at the WC2010.

by Kaladin Mon Jun 13, 2016 3:16 pm

rincon wrote:
breva wrote:
rincon wrote:Disagree, the 2010 squad was worse no doubt.

The 2014 was probably better because of the injuries now (Marchisio, Verratti) but terribly mismanaged by Prandelli.

On the permanent decline it seems far too premature. Just recently there is 2nd place EC2012 and champions at WC06.

The generation that came after De Rossi (who is kind of inbetween generations) were a big letdown in terms of attacking talent, almost all flops. The new one seems more promising already.

The 2010 team was more talented.
They had the same defense plus Cannavaro, and they had a 31 year old Pirlo, a 32 year old Di Natale, 32 year old Gattuso, Camonaresi, Marchisio at 24 or so, a pre-injury Montolivo, Gilardino at his prime among others.

This team has a better defense than 2010. Cannavaro was done and then Buffon was injured. Bonucci was always sloppy before about 2011/12. Marchetti was a horror show for the azzurri.

Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Darmian of today is better than Marchetti, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Criscito of 2010.

31-year old Pirlo is pre-Juve Pirlo. He hadn't come back to life yet, he was trying to recover from an injury and couldn't start games. Montolivo is who Montolivo is. Don't want him now, didn't want him then. He actually played well in Euro 2012, that the only time he was legit for the NT. De Rossi was the man though, primer De Rossi back then. Marchisio wasn't who he is now either, Florenzi today is at least equal (I would say better) to Marchisio 6 years ago.

Iaquinta, Gilardino/Di Natale, Pepe was the attack. At CF 2010>>>>>>today, but the supports are worse. I would take Candreva and Insigne any day of the week over Iaquinta and Pepe.

What we could see at the EC:

Buffon

Barzagli Bonucci Chiellini

Candreva Florenzi De Rossi Parolo Darmian

Insigne Pelle

What we saw at WC2010

Gilardino Iaquinta

Marchisio De Rossi Montolivo Pepe

Criscito Chiellini Cannavaro Zambrotta

Marchetti

Today's team wins it without question for me.

Italia: Buffon - Barzagli Bonucci Chiellini - Candreva Parolo DeRossi Giaccherini Darmian - Eder Pellè - SkyItalia

rofl

Definitely 2010 for me

by Casciavit Mon Jun 13, 2016 3:51 pm

ES wrote:
Italia: Buffon - Barzagli Bonucci Chiellini - Candreva Parolo DeRossi Giaccherini Darmian - Eder Pellè - SkyItalia

Definitely 2010 for me

What a disgusting midfield and offense :facepalm:

Reminds me of prime Muntari-Flamini-Ambrosini Laughing

Who the *bleep* is going to have that one moment of genius to help win the game? Eder??

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:06 pm

SkyItalia has got this.

by Katy Perry Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:22 pm

Casciavit wrote:
ES wrote:
Italia: Buffon - Barzagli Bonucci Chiellini - Candreva Parolo DeRossi Giaccherini Darmian - Eder Pellè - SkyItalia

Definitely 2010 for me

What a disgusting midfield and offense

Reminds me of prime Muntari-Flamini-Ambrosini

Who the *bleep* is going to have that one moment of genius to help win the game? Eder??

Legit should have called Pirlo or Totti despite their age. With a midfield in such dire conditions where Motta has the #10 and Parolo and Giaccherini are starters and with a significant deficiency of genuine quality upfront they would have been like water in the desert.

I hope that we will change to a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 with the addition of Insigne/Elsha/Bernardeschi.

by Hapless_Hans Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:23 pm

Will still beat Belgium.

by VivaStPauli Mon Jun 13, 2016 9:35 pm

They seem decent enough.

by rincon Mon Jun 13, 2016 11:31 pm

There you go.

Beating Belgium like that is already better than losing to Slovakia and drawing New Zealand and Paraguay.

by rincon Fri Jun 17, 2016 5:28 pm

Casciavit wrote:
Who the *bleep* is going to have that one moment of genius to help win the game? Eder??

Eder

by rincon Mon Jun 27, 2016 6:52 pm

Belgium 2-0
Spain 2-0

You guys were right, worst Italy ever Thumbs up

by Luca Mon Jun 27, 2016 6:55 pm

We the worst

by rincon Mon Jun 27, 2016 6:57 pm

Conte the defeatist

by Lord Awesome Mon Jun 27, 2016 6:57 pm

No one seemed to realized how stacked Italy from the Mid towards the Defense.

Best Defense in the world right now surely.

by Luca Mon Jun 27, 2016 6:59 pm

Lord Awesome wrote:No one seemed to realized how stacked Italy from the Mid towards the Defense.

Best Defense in the world right now surely.

The mid would be stacked if marchisio and verratti were present.

The wingback depth is also excellent. A real strength to this team apart from the defence.

But I have to say, the attack has been the most impressive. Pelle and Eder have real chemistry and have been playing at excellent levels.

by titosantill Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:00 pm

umm i'm not going to go that far, i'm sorry. italy have had way better sides than this. that said, i absolutely loved that game. a lot of spanish players have been getting way too much unnecessary props of late. glad italy clipped them

by titosantill Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:00 pm

btw my response was to lord awesome... there aren't as many solid defensive sides for us to say who is or who isn't the best.

by rwo power Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:02 pm

How can Italia be the worst since whenever when they have Gigi in goal?

by sportsczy Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:03 pm

Talent-wise? I stand by what I said. BUT, I think that there aren't great teams except maybe Germany. So if you're super strong in one facet, you can still win this Euro while being deficient in others.

This Euro is going to be a lot more about coaching than the players because every team has significant flaws almost.

I think Conte deserves an enormous amount of credit.

by juvealbanian Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:03 pm

Threads like this must be locked and who posted this must be banned...to teach a lesson to all those who underestimate Italy and their ultimate Juve defense.It's disgusting to see some fans fapping over victories like against Turkey,but now the reality hits them so hard,out of nowhere of their limited knowledge about other countries except England & Spain comes Italy who suddendly has some world class defenders and a hardworking team.This Italy has Juve's mentality through Conte's spirit and grinta.

by Based Bonera Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:04 pm

They just play like a team. All props to Conte.

by rincon Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:10 pm

People just romanticize the past. I'll say it again now backed up by results and play, no chance the 2010 and 2014 teams were better. 2010 was just too poor and 2014 was a lot of good names with no gameplan at all.

If you watched Italy play this tournament the difference is huge from the tournaments we exited in the group stage.

by Lord Awesome Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:19 pm

I'm not talking about the past, only the present. Presently, I believe only Germany can come second to Italy's Defense or France could also contend this if all their players were healthy, perhaps.

Keep in mind tho, having the best at something doesn't mean a team can't be impervious to defeat.

Spain are, arguably, the best Technical team but we all saw what happened today.

by rincon Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:22 pm

Germany's weakpoint is their defense. Among the big teams the only defense that came close was Spain. France's defense I'd say is better than Germany's as well.

Germany will be extremely dangerous with their mid and forwards, not so much their defense.

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