Comments on: Ukraine v Azzurri: What, Me Worry?

By: Sofia

Sofia — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:07:27 +0000

donadoni must have horseshoes up his ass or something because damn the players saved his ass from being fired yesterday!

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:38:18 +0000

Panucci and Barzagli? uhhhhhh, not sure how i feel about that.

By: Francesco

Francesco — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:20:22 +0000

Against Georgia the center pairing will most probably be Panucci and Barzagli.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:19:11 +0000

A win is a win and that’s great. Really. The Azzurri played well enough to win but they could’ve easily lost. Francesco, you are absoultely correct. Donadoni hasn’t created anything close to a ‘team.’
* Twice now he has called in Del Piero and played him in the first match of a qualifier and then moved him up in the stands for the next after another poor performance. Listen, I don’t think ADP has it anymore for the Azzurri but make up your mind.
* Lucarelli did nothing to deserve another call up. Then when he does call him up he only gets him in for less than 20 minutes.
* Why didn’t he play Quagliarella in these matches. I know he got a little time against Ukraine but holy crap. He was a monster against Lithunia and then barely gets a sniff even after Toni goes down.
* Is it just me or could the Azzurri really have used Pippo yesterday? I’m not a huge fan but I think his nose for the net could’ve paid dividends yesterday.
* Starting Camoranesi twice? Good God. That is a fireable offense right there.
* We need to start giving the young guns some real opportunities here. Guys like Aqualani, Quagliarella, Montolivo, etc…should get some playing time with the Azzurri. And why didn’t De Rossi play?

The squad did well to win without Toni and Gattuso. Two wins against Georgia and Scotland (much more a Herculean task than any of figured on 12 months ago) and we’re in.

By: tentonipete

tentonipete — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:47:17 +0000

What has happened to Quagliarella? Last time I watched Italy he scored two amazing goals.

By: ricci

ricci — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:32:08 +0000

zaccardo really got a bad rap in the WC for that own goal. he actually moves forward very well and is solid defensively. oddo is no spring chicken and i think zaccardo should really get a call up to play right back.

francesco, great point on getting another creative player to help pirlo. i think aquilani is that kind of player, alessandro rosina is definitely that kind of player. donadoni should really field a lineup consisting of pirlo, aquilani, rosina and quagliarella. but he won’t.

By: rose

rose — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:58:37 +0000

i hope zaccardo gets called back up. he and barza work great, as they have the history.

By: Louise

Louise — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:36:12 +0000

Sounds uninspiring and unconvincing, especially as good as it seems Scotland’s defense was against an unrelenting French attack today. Hopefully, Toni will be healthy for that one, but we still need some more creativity in the midfield.

So any speculation on who will be at centerback with Barzagli for the Georgia match?

By: Francesco

Francesco — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 23:11:45 +0000

Donadoni still hasn’t created a team. A win is a win, but we are still not playing well. We still lack that true number 10 to relieve Pirlo of all the pressure that is put on him to create every single chance.

By: Martha

Martha — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:34:10 +0000

You and me both, Paolo — I was actually pacing through most of the game, which I haven’t done since the World Cup. It was exhausting.

And thanks, mele, I’m very, very happy to be back! Yep, the top two teams go through from each group; as far as I know there’s no World Cup-style “best of the third-place teams” playoff, either, so it’s top two or nothing.