Friendly: Portugal - Italy [06-02-08]

[Oliver_Kahn]

Deserved win for you, Portugal was good in the first half, but then completely lost control after Scolari's shit subs, you had more players in midfield so you dominated possession. We couldn't string 3 passes together during the first 20mins of the 2nd half.

Your goals came from mistakes of our defense, but you could have easily scored with the other opportunities you had.

@ Azzurri, can't understand your criticism towards Di Natale, he was one of your best players tonight IMO, if not the best, he was really dangerous when cutting inside from the left, he had 3 very good shots which Ricardo saved. Was very active on the flanks, I really liked him

@ jec, your football knowledge keeps impressing me, day after day. "Deco is crap and should be benched" WTF ???
You do realize that football is a lot more than scoring a goal right ?
There's many things behind, like tactics. Btw, did you even watch the match ? I guess you didn't, otherwise you wouldn't make such remarks.
We were absolute shit in midfield without Deco orchestrating the play, we had no organization, no one to hold up the ball and decide where to pass and to whom.

@ Jager, we don't have a Totti in our team, our most offensive midfield is Deco and he could never play as striker. The only player we can adapt to the striker position is Ronaldo, but he was again pretty poor for us.


Oh yeah, Quaresma is a fucking Legend, man of the match for the Portuguese side and by miles.


Congrats on the win, you're along with Germany, my favorites to win the Euro

[jec1]

DECO> Overrated!

Has he been consistent for us? No!

I know your pissed but were not good enough to play an elite team.

[Jager]

@ Jager, we don't have a Totti in our team, our most offensive midfield is Deco and he could never play as striker. The only player we can adapt to the striker position is Ronaldo, but he was again pretty poor for us.

Ronaldo has to know that the cross over foot moves is not going to work against two CBs and a DM. Sometimes I really wonder.

You have Nani, Queresma, Deco and a host of other players, there IS NO need to play everybody in their natural position, if you have holes in other positions.

So YES, play Ronaldo in the striker role.

[Jager]

Originally Posted by sinoy1

Cassano is the link that has sparked Doria to forget Quag.He's been great lately.I really think if he stays on track he'll be starting.

We'll see though.Time will tell.

For who??? No chance of this happening, and I don't want it to happen now.

The players that get you through qaulification must play..unless there is somebody injured.

Di Natale and Toni have a sense together. And the Azzurri have been playing much better in the last six months....way better.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Originally Posted by Jager

Ronaldo has to know that the cross over foot moves is not going to work against two CBs and a DM. Sometimes I really wonder.

You have Nani, Queresma, Deco and a host of other players, there IS NO need to play everybody in their natural position, if you have holes in other positions.

So YES, play Ronaldo in the striker role.

Well Quaresma, Nani and Deco are all playing in the positions they play for their clubs.

As for Ronaldo, I agree, his dribbling outside of the area in front of the CB's just won't work, he needs to be more intelligent and realize when he has to shoot, when to pass and when to dribble

[Jager]

he needs to be more intelligent and realize when he has to shoot, when to pass and when to dribble

That is his weakness I feel, is that he doesn't pass enough. I feel he has enough chances on goal. His FK taking ability is enough to have him on any team in the world.

But I have this strange feeling that your current coach will not make the necessary changes to turn Portugal into an elite team.

[jec1]

it's best if ronaldo was a complimentary striker. I'm not a coach but It doesn't take a genius to see that this line-up could be effective


Our attack should be


....................Almeida.................

...............Ronaldo.........................

Quaresma.............................Nani

....................Pele>Deco...............

.......................Veloso...................

[Oliver_Kahn]

Originally Posted by Jager

That is his weakness I feel, is that he doesn't pass enough. I feel he has enough chances on goal. His FK taking ability is enough to have him on any team in the world.

But I have this strange feeling that your current coach will not make the necessary changes to turn Portugal into an elite team.

It's really not a strange feeling man, it's the truth.

Scolari just doesn't change his game plan for anything, he rarely makes correct subs, usually his line-ups are messed up and he has way too many favorites. With favorites, I mean players that are in shit form but start nonetheless. Players like Petit should be dropped for someone like Pele who had 2 brilliant games with the U21, but it just won't happen as Scolari prefers to punch people rather than paying attention to what this team lacks

[Jager]

....................Almeida.................

...............Ronaldo.........................

Quaresma.............................Nani

....................Pele>Deco...............

.......................Veloso...................


We have a "winner"..........that is exactly how he should play. Some of the greatest players in Italian football and world football, have played in that position Jec. You get rep for that mate.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Originally Posted by Jager

....................Almeida.................

...............Ronaldo.........................

Quaresma.............................Nani

....................Pele>Deco...............

.......................Veloso...................


We have a "winner"..........that is exactly how he should play. Some of the greatest players in Italian football and world football, have played in that position Jec. You get rep for that mate.

I don't agree with that line-up, not one bit.

First off, 2 man midfield without a player who can orchestrate is useless, as they will just hoof the ball forward.

Nani-Ronaldo-Quaresma will never work, no one tracks back and too many dribblers and individuals don't work. Look at Barça

[jec1]

Nani-Ronaldo-Quaresma will never work, no one tracks back and too many dribblers and individuals don't work

It's all about taking risks....

[azzurri]

Kahn, I should have specified. In the formation Donadoni uses there are players who compliment it much better than Di Natale. He had a good game today, and it worked, but with the players Italy have, it could function so much better, but Donadoni either doesn't call them up, or selects players that dont deserve a call up and than play them out of position (Palladino). I remember vs France he played Del Piero as a left winger lol. He is clueless.

[Jager]

Though since that game, I cant' really give out too much criticism in his selections or how the team has been prepared or played.

I slammed him a lot, but I have to give credit to where its due. Di Natale is a hard worker from what I've seen, he runs back to help his defenders quite regularly, then hoofs it back up to get into attack. He also doesn't miss chances in the sense that he always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

At this moment, I really can't think of another player I would rather play with Toni, even Del Piero.

The only reason I would consider Del Piero on the team is for his FK ability, but we have Pirlo so I don't see the point.

[llewelyn]

di natale and pirlo both had big games. di natale saved the cross from ambrosini that set up quag for the third goal and I agree with Jager that he links up well with toni.

everything I'd read going into the game suggested italy would play a 4-2-3-1, with pirlo and ambro behind palladino, perrotta, and di natale. i wasn't surprsed to see the 4-1-4-1 to start the game that hadnt been used since the 0-0 france game in september. i agree with azzurri that if the makeshift 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 is used there need to be some changes.

I don't think donadoni likes pairing de rossi with pirlo and gattuso, but realizes that against such technically gifted teams like a portugal or a france, it really helps playing de rossi in that holding midfield role. if he goes with the traditional 4-3-3 then the lineup is more likely to resemble the one against scotland in november (with ambrosini instead of de rossi).

after de rossi left for perrotta it turned into a more traditional 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1.

overall, a good win, but there are still some question marks. we really miss materazzi's height in the box and i cringe every time there's a corner. it will be interesting how oddo and grosso play the rest of the way for their respective teams because i dont think either have done enough to secure a starting spot. the next friendly against spain will be a good test (they beat france today 1-0).

[llewelyn]

Amelia 7 - L`estremo difensore del Livorno si rivela all`altezza della situazione rendendosi protagonista di alcuni ottimi interventi sui calci piazzati di Cristiano Ronaldo (42` e 87`) e sui tentativi di Jorge Ribeiro (73`) e Nani (91`). Incolpevole sulla rete subita.

Gamberini 6 - Il centrale della Fiorentina subentrato a Barzagli al 53` non sembra commettere errori di rilievo.

Grosso 6 - Entra per Zambrotta al 29`. E` suo il cross dalla sinistra che origina in fase di recupero del primo tempo il gol di Toni.

Barzagli 6.5 - Il centrale difensivo del Palermo, in collaborazione con Cannavaro, presidia con sicurezza il centro dell`area.

Zambrotta 6 - Il laterale difensivo del Barcel