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I remember when...

1K views 19 replies 7 participants last post by  Morierinho 
#1 ·
... Italy had Baggio R, Zola, Del Piero, Montella, Vialli, Inzagji, Chiese, Signori, Ravenelli, Vieri, Totti and what's his name who scored in the 2000 euros.

Has a NT ever had as much depth in quality strikers?

How did Massero and Caseraghi get so many appearances?
 
#2 ·
I think Italian coaches are somewhat more stubborn than others. A characteristic that Lippi or Trap liked - hard working, keeping the ball up, opening space for the stars - made some players keep their spots. There is some evidence of the same in many and current Serie A coaches too. I see less of this in other nationality coaches but may be my imagination.
 
#3 ·
I respek them types of players but for teams with less quality.

For example, why play Kyut up front when you have Van Nistelrooy and/or Van Persie???

But back to the original question, has there ever been such a period when a NT had so much quality?
 
#5 ·
... Italy had Baggio R, Zola, Del Piero, Montella, Vialli, Inzagji, Chiese, Signori, Ravenelli, Vieri, Totti and what's his name who scored in the 2000 euros.

Has a NT ever had as much depth in quality strikers?

How did Massero and Caseraghi get so many appearances?
Fiore? Delvecchio?
 
#6 ·
Massero and Caseraghi >>

Perfect examples of the workmanlike strikers that so many Italian coaches stubbornly clung to, preferring a conservative approach and only a bit of fantasy, if any at all, and stifling creativity and loads of talent for decades. For example, the bastards never could handle Baggio's greatness. Like trying to get Sacchi to play both Baggio and Signori on the pitch at once in the 1994 World Cup. Finally, it happened and who could ever forget the winning goal they created vs. Spain in the quarterfinal? Then there's the stubborn pride of Maldini and Trappatoni in 1998 and 2002. The entire nation of Italy had to have an uprising before the coach called up and played Baggio.
 
#7 · (Edited)
There's some truth to that of course, but in a sense it went deeper than the coaches. Sure, the public demanded the flashy/brilliant players like Baggio, but not the tactics that would really accommodate him. If the coach had deployed such tactics, he would be regarded as careless, especially if the result didn't meat the demands of the public. And tbf, defensive tactics and "boring" players actually often were more likely to get the wins, probabilistically..

Regarding SAcchi with Massaro and certain other players, I think it was also the familar case where a formerly winning, but fundamentally insecure coach relies on "his" old guard.

Though Massaro had just gotten 2 goals in a CL final in '94.

And the "famed" Vialli-Ravanelli partnership was as workman as they come.

And of course it was Delvecchio who scored in that final and Del Piero who missed two sitters.
 
#15 ·
And the "famed" Vialli-Ravanelli partnership was as workman as they come.
Fantastic players back then though. Don't forget that in their final season with Juve, they also had a young DP...and of course, Padovano. Of the latter 2, it seemed clear that Juve fans wanted to experience a lot of DP action.
 
#8 ·
I'd say in terms of quality Argentina of recent years have been pretty insane too. I know Toni disagrees, but in the last decade or so they could have had most combinations of:

- Messi, Aguero, Higuain, Icardi, Di Maria, Tevez, D. Milito, Dybala, Lamela, A. Correa, J. Correa, Palermo, Bedenetto, Lautaro


I remember Holland at some point could chose from:

- Van Nistelrooy, Kluivert, Makaay, Hasselbaink, Van Hooijdonk
 
#13 ·
There is no way them Argies are anywhere close to what Italy had.

Btw, Van Hooijdonk :D he was my neighbour. He really wasn't that good. He had a free kick and little else. I remember he tried to get a move to the United '99 treble side from Forest.
 
#10 ·
Yeah they were lucky to have a very flattering farewell game against France, basically by scoring their chances and showing some belief, but that was a fluke. They should not have gotten out of that group stage, and it was not a strong group to begin with.

It was very predictable though, they were very bad in qualifiers. In Brazil 2014 they managed to somehow create a competitive team from even worse qualifiers, but they were riding on their luck. Sampaoli was a terrible choice for the moment in which they were IMO, and the whole atmosphere around their NT is rotten.
 
#20 ·
Are we praising Padovano now?

Btw, looked him, hadn't seen this. :D

In May 2006, Padovano was arrested by Italian police in Torino over allegation of his implication in hashish traffic.[9] He was later sentenced to 8 years and 8 months in jail.[10]
I guess it flew under the radar in the midst of Calciopoli.

Anyway, while Vialli-Ravanelli were better than Casiraghi and Massaro, they were still a duo based on hard work (doping helped).
 
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