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June 14th Italy v Paraguay

13K views 385 replies 65 participants last post by  Deano  
#1 ·
I will not be on here from Wednesday for a week so I will start discussing this now :D

The team I think Lippi will inevitably start with is this:

Buffon; Maggio, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Zambrotta; Gattuso, DDR, Montolivo; Iaquinta, Gilardino, Di Natale.

Perhaps a fight off for the spot of Iaquinta and Di Natale with also Quagliarella and Pepe. Maybe Montolivo will not make the team and instead Marchisio will aswell. That said I would like a different team, I thought we did reasonably well with back 3, and Lippi should have tested this once more in 1 of these friendlies.

Buffon; Bonucci, Cannavaro, Chiellini; Maggio, Gattuso, De Rossi, Criscito/Zamb; Montolivo; Iaquinta/Pazz, Di Natale
 
#2 ·
I really don't like the 4-3-3, however it's clear from the recent matches that it seems to be Lippi's preferred formation.

I think perhaps Palombo might start instead of Gattuso, but otherwise that's pretty much close to what we will see, although Marchisio might get a start as he is a Lippi favourite. I also like the back three with Maggio and Zambrotta as wingbacks.

I really hope Marchisio is not used as a trequartista. IMO he is best utilised as a central midfielder who can push forward from that position and make runs into the box, but he really is not an advanced attacking midfielder who sits behind the strikers.
 
#4 ·
I like the 4-2-3-1 (the formation wasnt the problem against Mexico), it gives us offensive options and better defensive cover.

After yesterdays performance, I would not put Montolivo in the starting lineup....some here were impressed with his play, but I didnt think he was very effective.

Also, I would keep Pepe as far away from the field as possible
 
#5 ·
I don't think we will win against Paraguay...lets not forget how good they are....they beat Brazil and Argentina in qualifying and Italy is seemingly not close enough to peak form as what we can see from the friendlies. A draw would be a good result under the circumstances.
 
#6 ·
my concerns with zambrotta playing as a wingback is that i dont think he has the speed or tank to run out games against fast opposition and do all the work that is needed. Criscito can play this but how good is he at going forward?

Marchisio used in an advanced midfield role is an unknown...we havent seen him do it at juve..on the odd occasion he does go forward and has managed to create and score, but it doesnt seem to be his natural game.

I think Camo will start if he passes the medical tests...with di natale playing off Gilardino.

Pepe and iaquinta will definitely get playing time as camo wont last many games and di natale wont set the world on fire (hope i eat my words)

Key players...

Buffon - with cannavaro and zambro in the defence, he'll need to be at his best.
Chiellini - need him to hold it altogether and shine.
De Rossi - need him to really star in midfield and help that fragile defence.
Pirlo - the only creative player we have in midfield.

If those 4 players can play at their best, i think many other players will look a lot better than they really are.

Oh, last but not least..Marcello Lippi needs to rejuvenate himself and show the world why he is considered as one of the worlds greatest coaches and the only coach to win a WC and CL.
 
#7 ·
Given the squad we have, we cannot to even pretend to compete with the big guns through individual sill levels. It is even more important that we are very compact and well organized. That means that everyone on the pitch needs to work very hard and make their sacrifices.

Without Pirlo in the side, their is even a stronger case for a 4-4-2. Marchisio and De Rossi should be the central midfield pairing of choice here. When it comes to before the match, I think Lippi will opt for this too even if it would appear on paper that we are playing a 4-3-3. This is what I think he will field against Paraguay:

--------------------Buffon-------------------

Maggio----Cannavaro----Chiellini----Zambrotta

Camoranesi----De Rossi----Marchisio----------
------------------------------------Di Natale
-----------Iaquinta--------------------------
----------------------Gilardino---------------

If he wants to play it safe, I wouldn't be surprised if he uses either Criscito or Pepe on that left flank and uses Di Natale as the support striker to Gilardino.

To be honest, without Pirlo, we SHOULD refer to a 4-4-2 and use the wings more as we have no one in the center who can create anything meaningful and I doubt that he will entrust Montolivo to start with such responsibility for this game.

The other likely scenario is that he fields De Rossi and Gattuso behind Camoranesi, Marchisio and Di Natale supporting Gilardino. I wouldn't rule that out either.

Its a shame that Pepe and Camoranesi are not better wingers. If we had decent wingers, using Di Natale as the support striker would be best. But the reality is that we don't have good wingers.
 
#10 ·
Is there any chance of the 3-5-2 making an appearance in the World Cup seeing as how Lippi didn't even give it a shot in the two warm-up friendlies? I was hoping to see how this formation would work but it seems like Lippi would have wanted to try it out before the tournament.
 
#16 ·
I like Pazzini indeed, but really, we have just 3 World Class players in that team (Buffon, Chiellini and De Rossi) and 2 former ones (Gattuso, Cannavaro)... the rest have alot to prove still and many of them do not even play in the big teams while Gattuso and Canna are on the slide.
 
#21 ·
so? you don't need 11 world class players. this is a world cup. teams train for a very short time to prepare. It's not the quality of the players that will decide the few games that are played but the teams that gel the fastest. So having 3 world class players is fine by me. At least all 3 are on the defensive side of things...
 
#17 ·
Zambrotta wasn't world class? I think Zambrotta at his best was more classy than both De Rossi and Chiellini. Both of them have yet to reach the level Zambrotta was at once. Zambrotta proved himself in Serie A, CL and played well in at least three international tournaments. I'd say he was a notch above Gattuso too, in his prime.
 
#22 ·
I know there are the Greece comparisons but in WC terms how many teams have won this with not even a handful of WC class players?
 
#24 ·
Some players come of age in the WC and only then become recognised as world class.

Italy's problem is that it's an aging squad with not much room for improvement. Another thing is that the Azzurri's strength has always not been individuals or strength on paper but the collective and tactics.

I hope Lippi gets it right.
 
#31 ·
not at all..cambiasso was superb in his first 3 seasons at inter then got a bad injury and was still good but hes redisovered it over the past 18 months...cambiasso is far more clever of aplayer then de rossi..he moves around better..tackles just as well..passes more accuratly..de rossi is better in the air and has more hair?
 
#36 ·
he was very good but not WC. he moves better and is much more intelligent.

DDR on other hand is a good holding mid, better on the ball, more variety to his passing and attacking game, although he is pretty eratic if too much asked of him.

put cambiasso on roma and im pretty sure he will do not as well as DDr