In a training match this afternoon, Trap selected Pirlo and Gattuso in midfield with the trident of Totti, Vieri and Del Piero. I want to see Pirlo in midfield and I think he 'needs' Gattuso with him there.

I would start with:

Buffon
Oddo, Cannavaro, Nesta, Zambrotta
Gattuso, Pirlo
Camoranesi,Totti, Cassano
Vieri

Too offensive for Trap though.

 

Whoever starts is ok, as long as there are NO injuries sustained by any of our star players! :dazed:

 

I think this is where we fall a bit and why the midfield of Gattuso and Pirlo does not work like it does for Milan.

Having a midfield with Gattuso, Pirlo in the centre and Camo right and DP left is nothing like the way Milan play so it makes Pirlo's role much more harder than it is for Milan.

At Milan, Pirlo is the in the centre, receiving all the balls and at times winning them, but not too often... he then has Seedorf to the left and Gattuso to the right, both playing as side midfielders almost but a bit more cental.

In the Italy set up Pirlo has to play as a left central midfielder who also has to cover Zambrotta's runs forwards and with DP being the left attacker, DP wont be tracking back too much to help Pirlo.

If Italy consist on Pirlo and Gattuso as the midfield they need to swap them positions and play Pirlo in the playmaker role once more, Gattuso as a slightly left sided mid covering Zambrotta and Camoranesi or Fiore as a right midfielder, but when defending they play in a more central role to help out Pirlo. With this, Panucci must not be allowed to go forward, only as a surprise at times as I do not expect Pirlo to be the one covering him.

 

TRAPATTONI TRIES OUT
THE TRIDENT
TOMORROW JERSEY
NUMBERS ASSIGNED


Rome May 26, 2004

Italy continues to prepare without any problem in Coverciano for the upcoming European Championships.
The Azzurri had their physical this morning and confirmed an overall good physical condition. The players underwent urine controls as part of the anti-doping protocol signed between Coni and the Sports federations.

In the afternoon, the players coached by Trapattoni had their regular workout. After the athletic training, the usual test match with the head coach divided the team into two: the green (Peruzzi/Buffon, Panucci, Ferrari, Materazzi, Zambrotta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Camoranesi, Totti, Del Piero, Vieri) and the orange (Toldo, Oddo, Cannavaro, Nesta, Favalli, Zanetti, Perrotta, Fiore, Cassano, Di Vaio, Corradi). In the end, the greens won 2-1 thanks to goals scored by Vieri and Totti. Fiore scored the only goal for the orange team that almost scored with Cassano hitting the crossbar.

Tomorrow morning, Thursday, the team will pose for the official picture. The players will be assigned the numbers they will wear on their jerseys in Portugal. In the afternoon, the team will have another workout and a test match against a youth team.

What do you think the numbers should be?

Here are mine:

1. Buffon; 2. Panucci; 3. Favalli; 4. Zanetti; 5. Cannavaro; 6. Ferrari; 7. Del Piero; 8. Gattuso; 9. Corradi; 10. Totti; 11. Camoranesi; 12. Toldo; 13. Nesta; 14. Perrotta; 15. Zambrotta; 16. Oddo; 17. Fiore; 18. Cassano; 19. Di Vaio; 20. Pirlo; 21. Vieri; 22. Peruzzi; 23. Materazzi

 

1 Buffon, 2 Panucci, 3 Oddo, 4 Zanetti, 5 Cannavaro, 6 Ferrari, 7 Del Piero, 8 Gattuso, 9 Vieri, 10 Totti, 11 Corradi, 12 Toldo, 13 Nesta, 14 Fiore, 15 Favalli, 16 Camoranesi, 17 Di Vaio, 18 Cassano, 19 Zambrotta, 20 Perrotta, 21 Pirlo, 22 Peruzzi, 23 Materazzi.

These are the official numbers....

 

When is this match? I cant find it on any sites.

I expect Gattuso and Pirlo to be tried out, but what good is seeing them against this oposition. The timing of that friendly with Spain was poor. It should have been swapped with this match.

 

It is played on May 30th - sunday...

I too expect Pirlo and Gattuso to play but I'd prefer pirlo to play on the right centre and Gattuso left centre as my post before suggested.

Otherwise Pirlo gets caught in the role where he has to cover Zambrotta and this should not be his role... he should be the playmaker from deep with gattuso covering Zambrotta and Panucci and Fiore/Camoranesi working together on the right side... allowing Pirlo to play his game

The current tactics do not suit every player

if we want to win this we need every player to feel comfortbale in their position and the roles they perform... just like Porto...

 

Well i've watched Tunisia a lot before so i'll provide you guys with some analysis regarding their formation and best players etc.. But i'm busy now so later

Just one tip. They play aggressive, violent football so beware of injuries. It'll surely be a full house and their players will give their all. Tunisia did manage to salvage ties with France and Portugal so this game won't be easy. I Know that the result doesn't count in such games but still, a win would be good for the overall team morale with just days to go untill Euro 04 kicks-off.

 

Not that it will happen, but I would love to see Trap form the team after the players, instead of choosing the players after the formation.

D.P and Camoranesi are only good solutions with the 4-2-3-1 solution, but I would much rather see a 4-3-1-2 formation where these players are replaced by Cassano and Fiore.

As a Milan fan I know I am biased, but leaving Pirlo out of the starting 11 and including players of Camoranesis calibre is plain stupid.

Why not:

---------------Cassano-Vieri
---------------------Totti
-----------Perotta-Pirlo-Fiore
Zambrotta-Nesta-Ferrari-Cannavaro
-------------------Buffon

This formation is asymetric in the sence that the wingplay on the left comes from the Zambrotta and the the wing on the right is covered by Fiore

 

Come on N4L Violent?


In Nefti and Bouazizi Tunis has two lions in the CM but I can't recall Tunis ever being a dirty or 'violent' team.


Bottom line Tunis never lays down and admires teams who are clearly surperior, and that's why over the years we've drawn against the likes of France, Portugal, Holland and England.

Of course the Azzurri are a better team but while it may be a friendly it would be a major diservice if Tunis were simply in awe of the Italians and indure a 5-0 trashing. Win, lose or draw Tunis will give Italy a very Competitive 90 minutes.

 

Friendly match
IN TUNIS THE AZZURRI
TRY OUT TECHNICAL
SKILLS FOR THE EUROPEAN
CHAMPIONSHIPS


Rome May 29, 2004

Everything is ready for the match against Tunisia, the last friendly match scheduled for the Azzurri before their debut in the European Championships. Most of the team coached by Trapattoni will reach Tunis in the early afternoon of today. The head coach, together with the rest of the Juventus players (Buffon, Del Piero, Camoranesi, Zambrotta, Di Vaio) will reach the rest of the team before the finishing workout at the November 7t stadium de Rades, after paying their last respects to Umberto Agnelli in Turin.

After the recent positive results, the National team is expected to give further confirmation against the African champions as far as both the module and the individual players are concerned in order to gain confidence for the debut match against Denmark. Since the base scheme is the well-tested 4-2-3-1 (but the head coach is ready to use a certain amount of flexibility is necessary), the coach will try to experiment the alternative within the module. On defense, for example, where captain Cannavaro, after eliminating any doubt about his physical condition, will pair up with Nesta, both Ferrari and Materazzi will have a chance to play. The same can be said for the midfield where Pirlo, Gattuso, Zanetti and Perrotta will alternate as central midfielders. Stefano Fiore, after a slight injury to his left calf muscle, will be on the best for precautionary measures. Up front, the wonder-threesome Totti-Del Piero-Vieri should guarantee goals and spectacular plays, but the enthusiastic Corradi, Cassano and Di Vaio will definitely have the chance to show what they can do.

On the whole, the team is in good shape and this time the only problem Trapattoni has is deciding who to put on the field. A nice problem to face after the hot Tunisian

 

Lucky this is our only friendly and after this the only test matches I hope are against each other or against the U18.

I dont want Italy to play any little crappy sides in Portugal like we did when we were in Japan because this put the team in a relaxed mind set which is why are performances turned bad I believe.

I think Trap needs to give them hard traning for a week and then the week before the comp, he realises his first team and works tactically towards that team and formation with the players.

Instead of playing little silly matches against jubilo Iwata or whatever...

 

I just hope no major injuries happen..

 

not on RAI international it seems :fero:

 

The team it seems will be back to normal:

4-2-3-1:- Buffon; Panucci, Nesta, Cannavaro, Zambrotta; Perrotta, C Zanetti; Camoranesi, Totti, Del Piero; Vieri

I predict 1-0 for Italy... Totti with the goal on the 26th minute.

 

yeah, that team seems to be the set one for the tournament.

deano mentioned the pirlo-gattuso partnship not working well as milan play differently with seedorf being to teh left of pilro at milan. its so true, and this is why i was upset when ambrosini or maresca were not chosen, as they are probably the players to do that role. but then again, perrotta is able to take that role also in this squad.

anyway, totti, del piero and Camo (if in form) willl be good supplying vieri.

all these games etc...are just to see what works or not. come game 1 of the Euro, we could be very surprised and see something totally different.

 

I predict 1-0 for Italy... Totti with the goal on the 26th minute.

Did you look into a crystal ball or something?

 

RAI International is showing the match at 5 pm eastern time in the USA

I think Zanetti and Perotta is the best choice, but Panucci over Oddo ?????

When Fiore is 100% he should start over Camo

DP should also start over Cassano IMO......

This game concerns me though. Why are we playing Tunusia ?? They are the African champs, and will play with something to prove.

This could become a chippy game, and could lead to injuries.

We dont need injuries now !!!!

We should have taken an easier team, like San Marino or something

All we want to do right now is get a good run out there, and continue to find our form as a team, plus build some confidence

case and point- France just played Andorra

 

I would see no point of playign someone like San Marino or Luxembourg or whatever because what sort of test is this? What exactly would we learn from it?

At least with Tunisia we can learn alot against opposition which will play well and want to win...

The only bad thing is this is in Tunisia... I think it should have been kept in Italy.

 

Camoranesi and Del Piero over Cassano? Please

 

What can we learn that we dont already know ?????

Our Azzurri are not a new squad of players, they have all played together before.

I almost look at this like a boxer getting ready for a big fight. He doesnt spar against guys who are his equal(or better) before their championship fight. Rather, they train against guys who they can work on their form with, try some new things , and most of all NOT GET INJURED !!!!!!!

 

My point exactly.. we absolutely do not need any injuries now. As much as I respect and like watching African football, their players are very tenacious and play with a lot of heart, especially against strong European opposition. So I think we will have a very hard time in this game and there will be a lot of physical battles. I hope Trap does the right thing and change the entire team during half-time (like what Ericsson famously did to the England team) or pull off any player whom he suspects may be suffering early physically. I think we would have done better playing against a fellow European team who did not make it to this year's finals, like Turkey or Ukraine. At the very least, we should have arranged a warm-up game against European opponents, because we are preparing for a European Championship finals, not a World Cup.

 

Camoranesi and Del Piero over Cassano? Please

Thats the Romanista in you coming out !!!!!

Fiore over Camo any day of the week IMO

 

Yes but what would be the point of Italy wooping San Marino 6-0? We may as well just play the U18 team or something.

BTW there is a lot to learn... Can Pirlo-Gattuso play in the NT... Is Zanetti-Perrotta better... Camo or fiore? DP or Cassano?

Trap needs all of these answered, they wont be answered in this 1 match alone, but he will get better answers from this, than against Andorra.

 

I'm so worried...... if they hurt Alex, I'll killlll them I think Trap should start with Corradi or even Cassano or someone else and if they go for their legs, then not jeopradize Del Piero so there'll be no danger for the euro... I'm scared, I have a bad feeling about this match, that some injury WILL happen to someone.