Re: Serie A Thread - 2008/2009 Season
). First, let me confirm something, what the hell is trequartista? I always thought a trequartista is a postion employed by the playmaker of the team, who operates in the "hole" behind the stikers, and between the defence and midfield of the opposition. His role is essentially to create goal scoring opportunities with deft passing, nifty moves, and smart positional play in the final 1/3. Thus, he shouldn't be bogged with defensive work, instead dedicating his time and efforts on 'creating' and pulling the strings from his position in the hole. Using this description I would consider players like Deco, Riquelme, Zidane, Totti, Aimar, Hleb, Rui Costa, Joe Cole and Kaka pure trequartistas. Then you get players like Roberto Baggio, Maradona, Cassano Cantona and Bergkamp who played along side the main striker but had no defined role, instead their only responsibility was to use their genius to create scoring chances. Then you have players like Veron, Sneijder, Xavi, Inesta, Seedorf, Pizarro, Gerrard, Ballack, Lampard, and De Rossi who on occasion operate in the hole and are comfortable playing in the postion, but are not born trequartista. They commit a good percentage of their time and effort into defending, marking, tracking, pressing, ball retention and other defensive duties. For me Fiore falls in the latter category. Is my description incorrect?
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Once again, I'm going to have to disagre with you (bet you didn't see that coming
). First, let me confirm something, what the hell is trequartista? I always thought a trequartista is a postion employed by the playmaker of the team, who operates in the "hole" behind the stikers, and between the defence and midfield of the opposition. His role is essentially to create goal scoring opportunities with deft passing, nifty moves, and smart positional play in the final 1/3. Thus, he shouldn't be bogged with defensive work, instead dedicating his time and efforts on 'creating' and pulling the strings from his position in the hole. Using this description I would consider players like Deco, Riquelme, Zidane, Totti, Aimar, Hleb, Rui Costa, Joe Cole and Kaka pure trequartistas. Then you get players like Roberto Baggio, Maradona, Cassano Cantona and Bergkamp who played along side the main striker but had no defined role, instead their only responsibility was to use their genius to create scoring chances. Then you have players like Veron, Sneijder, Xavi, Inesta, Seedorf, Pizarro, Gerrard, Ballack, Lampard, and De Rossi who on occasion operate in the hole and are comfortable playing in the postion, but are not born trequartista. They commit a good percentage of their time and effort into defending, marking, tracking, pressing, ball retention and other defensive duties. For me Fiore falls in the latter category. Is my description incorrect? Consider if Milan paired Inzaghi and Kaka as their front pairing and then employed Seedorf as the trequartista? To me that is a defensive line up. Another thing is Totti at the time wasn't as much of threat in the penalty area as he currently is with Roma. The fact that Italy entered the pitch with this mindset/lineup implies their defenisve intent. What game other than the final (when they needed a goal -- and for that I applaud Zoff for taking the initative) did they play with 4 attackers (I don't like that word 'attackers' -- it wasn't anything close to a 4-2-4)? Whenever an attacking player come on, it was like for like i.e. Del Piero for Totti, Delvecchio for Inzaghi.
I agree. But think how slow pokes like De Rossi and Palombo will be over run in midfield by quicker, more pacier players. They would be forced to sit back close to the defence or risk leaving gaps if they ventured too far forward to support the forward players. Italy would need a quick physical and quick player Yaya Toure or Essien or Mascherano to cover the gaps and contest well in 1v1 situations.
Agree completely, but i would prefer players how can provide a link between midfield and attack. Iaquinta and Quagiarella play too far forward. Pepe isn't good enough, Foggia is too hot and cold. That leaves Balotelli, an 18 yr old, and Giovinco who is currently struggling for minutes with Juve. IMO ITaly is wasting its time with this formation. They don't have the right players at the moment and WC 2010 is right round the corner. I think counter-attacking 4-4-2 diamond midfield (like how Roma played for a while this season) would suffice. Pirlo as metodista, De Rossi on the left, Gattuso on the right (Palombo would be nice but he's too similar to Pirlo) and Brighi playing further ahead. Then Cassano as the creative fulcrum. A very defensive Italy but better to work with what you have
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blue is better
).... and yet, year after year, it was an endless disappointment.
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