lo zio
International
- 24 October 2005
- Palermo
Re: Serie A Thread
another week is gone and we witnessed many surprises, as in the past few weeks. i'd say the league table reflects pretty well the great balance of this beginning of the season. one of the most beautiful (and unique) aspects of this league is that our weakest clubs are trained by awesome coaches. People who doesn't reach the spotlight (but they would really deserve it).
this might look pretty obvious, as the italian coaching school is in a class by itself and nobody who really understands football would ever even try to compare the other european schools to the italian one, as the gap is really too big.
But till 5 years ago we couldn't really appreciate the real level of the italian school, coz of some sort of an inferiority complex of our little clubs. our little clubs coaches used to have a "loosing approach" to big matches (with our top clubs). they used to think that their only way to avoid the relegation was playing football just against their direct contenders (the other little clubs), while, facing the big clubs, they used to have a "scared approach", by playing a conservative football, wich was quite poor in every aspect (the tactical aspect and the entertaining aspect).
the tactical aspect is one of the most important issues in football. but it's not just a matter of knowledge, of creativity; it's also a matter of mentality.
just take a look at la liga, for example. the spanish league is probably the most intersting championship in europe, talking about tactics (after serie a, of course).... (even if bundesliga too made great improvements in the past few years).
honestly even the average level of spanish coaches is quite poor, if compared to the italian one; but till a couple of years ago, we couldn't really appreciate the difference. because Spanish coaches used to have a different mentality.
they were more corageous, more creatives than our coaches. they play their football always, no matter who they are playing against (barca or bilbao).
that's exactly what we (italians) didn't (till a few years ago). each time our little clubs used to face milan, juve, inter, they didn't really care about their game system; they just lined up a conservative formation, with 9 players always behind "the ball line", and they used to push just to try some sporadics counters.
that's what gave us that (deserved) reputation of "boring league". it doesn't matter how good a coach is, if he doesn't express his true potential.... it doesn't matter how good your players are, if u don't let them playing football.
that's why i said that tactic isn't just about knowledge, but also about mentality.
then, in the last 5 years, we witnessed a total revolution. a new generation of coaches was born. coaches who know football (as their predecessors), but who had the courage to show their abilities, the courage to explore new paths, the courage to unleash their creativity. theese coaches (from novellino, to prandelli, from mazzarri to giampaolo, from guidolin to di carlo, from baldini to del neri, from colantuono to rossi) started to really stategize against their opponents.... every opponent, from milan to reggina. they started to really teach football to their players, to explain how they wanted their players to play.
some of them reached the spotlights. spalletti earned a big credit with "his" udinese and went to roma; prandelli did the same with "his" parma; mazzarri with livorno and reggina; novellino with napoli and samp, colantuono with atalanta, giampaolo with ascoli, rossi with lecce, etc....
some of them are still almost unknown in europe (baldini, gasperini, di carlo, etc..) but still they deserve a lot of credit.
let's admit it, it's pretty easy to coach big clubs. it's pretty easy to reach great achivements, when u can count on abramovich's or berlusconi's money. the real challenge is trying to express a good football, when u can't afford great buys.
adapting your schemes, your game system to the players u have and trying to express your idea of football with players u didn't ask, who weren't picked by you.
if i would have to say who was the best coach in europe last season, i wouldn't pick mourinho, neither spalletti or ancelotti, or ferguson, or capello or juande ramos or prandelli..... i would pick mazzarri and rossi. 2 men who showed to europe what it really takes to be a succesful coach; u don't need a sugar daddy on your backs, you don't need a great, neither deep roster. u must have a real football knowledge, charisma (coz u have to earn your players trust if u want them to do what u ask them) and courage.
if i would have to pick the most brilliant coach in europe in the past 5 years, i wouldn't pick spalletti, netiher puel or mourinho... i would pick baldini. a coach who showed a football we never saw before. he was considered as a crazy freak till a couple of years ago... now everybody tries to "steal" his secrets, his methods.
another great merit of this new generation of coaches is that they "forced" some of our old style conservative coaches, to change their game style. just take a look at what cagni did last year with empoli. empoli chairman fired baldini 2 years ago, because he was too aggressive, too creative for a poor team like empoli. that little-minded chairman didn't want to see empoli playing football, he just cared about getting some points.... no risk, no weird traning methods, just an old style coach, to allow empoli get some points, playing a conservative football, playing with all the players in their own midfield... his primary aim was a 1 - 1 with milan.... so he picked cagni.
nowadays cagni is one of the most aggressive and creative coaches in serie a... that old, lazy dinosaur turned into a brilliant coach, with a risky gameplan, who gave some real football lessons to many top clubs last year (and he will repeat himself this year, even if he lost almiron).
the same goes for reja, who totally changed his style, since he's in serie a.
they have been "infected" by this new trend, they have been forced to change their mentality by this new generation of coaches.
the result is pretty evident. just take a look at our league table last year. look at reggina, lazio, atalanta, empoli final position.
and look at our league table this season. that's the real value added in serie a. it's not about pace, big stars, great individual efforts.... it's about football.
i wrote this because reading this forum, i see a lot of guys talking about individual plays, pace, great players, etc... but it's really infrequent to read about football. Now i think football is much more than this and i think serie a perfectly testify it, so i'd like to underline it... because i don't think english commentators really knows serie a...... neither football :mrgreen:
i didn't watch milan - catania yesterday, so i can't really talk about the match. i have to say i'm quite surprised by the result, as milan looked pretty good against palermo last week. anyway milan's problem is not ancelotti. milan just needs a scorer (and a good keeper).
firing ancelotti would be a suicide move imo.
first of all that's not the moment for a coach change... and of course galliani and berlusconi know it (they're not abramovich).
besides it would be really hard to find a better coach than ancelotti. Mourinho is a great coach, but he's not on the same level of ancelotti. the football ancelotti's team expressed from 2002 to 2005 could become a subject in an hypothetical football university. Nobody played that way before him. he gave a new meaning to the playmaker role, placing for the first time an advanced midfielder in that position (actually he wasn't really the first one.... the first one was baldini, who did it many years before ancelotti... but ancelotti did it on the intarnational stage). of course he had great players, and as i said, this helps a lot a coach..... but having great players is not everything. real madrid has always great players, but still i vever saw real playing good football. their matches are usually entertaining, as when u have so much quality, "the magic just happens"... but it was always just about great individual efforts, great individual plays, there wasn't a plot-line in real football.
and the same goes for barca. they are great to watch.... but it's not because of rijkaard... it's because of their players. there's no coach imprint in barca gameplay. it's like watching some great artist during a jam session.... it's a great improvisation, but there's not an orchestra director. in milan's football instead, ancelotti's imprint is strong...... well, it was strong.
finally, milan is not the right team for mourinho game style. and galliani wants just ex milan players to coach the team (donadoni, rijkaard, tassotti).
firing ancelotti could be a reasonable move just if ancelotti would loose his "grip" on the players. dressing room management is a key factor, and when the players doesn't listen to (or trust) their coach anymore, it doesn't matter how good he is, he has to leave.
but we can't say if this happened. that's something just milan knows.
if i have to be honest, i hope mourinho will find a new job in premiership. here in italy we have plenty of great coaches, while premiership would really miss him, so being a premiership lover, i would be happy if he would find a new job there.
talking about the toro-juve match, i agree with Sina's views (what u said about trezeguet is absolutely correct
. Honestly i couldn't deeply analize the match, coz there were many friends at my home yesterday and i wasn't really focused on the game.
anyway, a couple of minutes before the matche started, bergomi (commentator of the match for sky italia) said something very true. He said "here in italy, derbys are never beautiful matches to watch. too much pressure, too much stress. here in italy derbys are something important... a bit too much important. the players on the pitch feel it and can't play at their best levels"
it looks to me a pretty agreable statement and it could also explain why the worst match so far this season, were all derbys (as samp-genoa).
gotta go now... if i'll have some time, i'll write something about roma-inter too
p.s.
and empoli did a pretty good job yesterday. but palermo has just to blame itself for yesterday. we were really awful and we got what we deserved 
oups, almost forgot. congratulations Don and Juveboy
Don, i guess i will save that giovinco pic.... if he would score agaisnt juve too.... it might coming handy :mrgreen:
another week is gone and we witnessed many surprises, as in the past few weeks. i'd say the league table reflects pretty well the great balance of this beginning of the season. one of the most beautiful (and unique) aspects of this league is that our weakest clubs are trained by awesome coaches. People who doesn't reach the spotlight (but they would really deserve it).
this might look pretty obvious, as the italian coaching school is in a class by itself and nobody who really understands football would ever even try to compare the other european schools to the italian one, as the gap is really too big.
But till 5 years ago we couldn't really appreciate the real level of the italian school, coz of some sort of an inferiority complex of our little clubs. our little clubs coaches used to have a "loosing approach" to big matches (with our top clubs). they used to think that their only way to avoid the relegation was playing football just against their direct contenders (the other little clubs), while, facing the big clubs, they used to have a "scared approach", by playing a conservative football, wich was quite poor in every aspect (the tactical aspect and the entertaining aspect).
the tactical aspect is one of the most important issues in football. but it's not just a matter of knowledge, of creativity; it's also a matter of mentality.
just take a look at la liga, for example. the spanish league is probably the most intersting championship in europe, talking about tactics (after serie a, of course).... (even if bundesliga too made great improvements in the past few years).
honestly even the average level of spanish coaches is quite poor, if compared to the italian one; but till a couple of years ago, we couldn't really appreciate the difference. because Spanish coaches used to have a different mentality.
they were more corageous, more creatives than our coaches. they play their football always, no matter who they are playing against (barca or bilbao).
that's exactly what we (italians) didn't (till a few years ago). each time our little clubs used to face milan, juve, inter, they didn't really care about their game system; they just lined up a conservative formation, with 9 players always behind "the ball line", and they used to push just to try some sporadics counters.
that's what gave us that (deserved) reputation of "boring league". it doesn't matter how good a coach is, if he doesn't express his true potential.... it doesn't matter how good your players are, if u don't let them playing football.
that's why i said that tactic isn't just about knowledge, but also about mentality.
then, in the last 5 years, we witnessed a total revolution. a new generation of coaches was born. coaches who know football (as their predecessors), but who had the courage to show their abilities, the courage to explore new paths, the courage to unleash their creativity. theese coaches (from novellino, to prandelli, from mazzarri to giampaolo, from guidolin to di carlo, from baldini to del neri, from colantuono to rossi) started to really stategize against their opponents.... every opponent, from milan to reggina. they started to really teach football to their players, to explain how they wanted their players to play.
some of them reached the spotlights. spalletti earned a big credit with "his" udinese and went to roma; prandelli did the same with "his" parma; mazzarri with livorno and reggina; novellino with napoli and samp, colantuono with atalanta, giampaolo with ascoli, rossi with lecce, etc....
some of them are still almost unknown in europe (baldini, gasperini, di carlo, etc..) but still they deserve a lot of credit.
let's admit it, it's pretty easy to coach big clubs. it's pretty easy to reach great achivements, when u can count on abramovich's or berlusconi's money. the real challenge is trying to express a good football, when u can't afford great buys.
adapting your schemes, your game system to the players u have and trying to express your idea of football with players u didn't ask, who weren't picked by you.
if i would have to say who was the best coach in europe last season, i wouldn't pick mourinho, neither spalletti or ancelotti, or ferguson, or capello or juande ramos or prandelli..... i would pick mazzarri and rossi. 2 men who showed to europe what it really takes to be a succesful coach; u don't need a sugar daddy on your backs, you don't need a great, neither deep roster. u must have a real football knowledge, charisma (coz u have to earn your players trust if u want them to do what u ask them) and courage.
if i would have to pick the most brilliant coach in europe in the past 5 years, i wouldn't pick spalletti, netiher puel or mourinho... i would pick baldini. a coach who showed a football we never saw before. he was considered as a crazy freak till a couple of years ago... now everybody tries to "steal" his secrets, his methods.
another great merit of this new generation of coaches is that they "forced" some of our old style conservative coaches, to change their game style. just take a look at what cagni did last year with empoli. empoli chairman fired baldini 2 years ago, because he was too aggressive, too creative for a poor team like empoli. that little-minded chairman didn't want to see empoli playing football, he just cared about getting some points.... no risk, no weird traning methods, just an old style coach, to allow empoli get some points, playing a conservative football, playing with all the players in their own midfield... his primary aim was a 1 - 1 with milan.... so he picked cagni.
nowadays cagni is one of the most aggressive and creative coaches in serie a... that old, lazy dinosaur turned into a brilliant coach, with a risky gameplan, who gave some real football lessons to many top clubs last year (and he will repeat himself this year, even if he lost almiron).
the same goes for reja, who totally changed his style, since he's in serie a.
they have been "infected" by this new trend, they have been forced to change their mentality by this new generation of coaches.
the result is pretty evident. just take a look at our league table last year. look at reggina, lazio, atalanta, empoli final position.
and look at our league table this season. that's the real value added in serie a. it's not about pace, big stars, great individual efforts.... it's about football.
i wrote this because reading this forum, i see a lot of guys talking about individual plays, pace, great players, etc... but it's really infrequent to read about football. Now i think football is much more than this and i think serie a perfectly testify it, so i'd like to underline it... because i don't think english commentators really knows serie a...... neither football :mrgreen:
i didn't watch milan - catania yesterday, so i can't really talk about the match. i have to say i'm quite surprised by the result, as milan looked pretty good against palermo last week. anyway milan's problem is not ancelotti. milan just needs a scorer (and a good keeper).
firing ancelotti would be a suicide move imo.
first of all that's not the moment for a coach change... and of course galliani and berlusconi know it (they're not abramovich).
besides it would be really hard to find a better coach than ancelotti. Mourinho is a great coach, but he's not on the same level of ancelotti. the football ancelotti's team expressed from 2002 to 2005 could become a subject in an hypothetical football university. Nobody played that way before him. he gave a new meaning to the playmaker role, placing for the first time an advanced midfielder in that position (actually he wasn't really the first one.... the first one was baldini, who did it many years before ancelotti... but ancelotti did it on the intarnational stage). of course he had great players, and as i said, this helps a lot a coach..... but having great players is not everything. real madrid has always great players, but still i vever saw real playing good football. their matches are usually entertaining, as when u have so much quality, "the magic just happens"... but it was always just about great individual efforts, great individual plays, there wasn't a plot-line in real football.
and the same goes for barca. they are great to watch.... but it's not because of rijkaard... it's because of their players. there's no coach imprint in barca gameplay. it's like watching some great artist during a jam session.... it's a great improvisation, but there's not an orchestra director. in milan's football instead, ancelotti's imprint is strong...... well, it was strong.
finally, milan is not the right team for mourinho game style. and galliani wants just ex milan players to coach the team (donadoni, rijkaard, tassotti).
firing ancelotti could be a reasonable move just if ancelotti would loose his "grip" on the players. dressing room management is a key factor, and when the players doesn't listen to (or trust) their coach anymore, it doesn't matter how good he is, he has to leave.
but we can't say if this happened. that's something just milan knows.
if i have to be honest, i hope mourinho will find a new job in premiership. here in italy we have plenty of great coaches, while premiership would really miss him, so being a premiership lover, i would be happy if he would find a new job there.
talking about the toro-juve match, i agree with Sina's views (what u said about trezeguet is absolutely correct
. Honestly i couldn't deeply analize the match, coz there were many friends at my home yesterday and i wasn't really focused on the game.anyway, a couple of minutes before the matche started, bergomi (commentator of the match for sky italia) said something very true. He said "here in italy, derbys are never beautiful matches to watch. too much pressure, too much stress. here in italy derbys are something important... a bit too much important. the players on the pitch feel it and can't play at their best levels"
it looks to me a pretty agreable statement and it could also explain why the worst match so far this season, were all derbys (as samp-genoa).
gotta go now... if i'll have some time, i'll write something about roma-inter too
p.s.
that kid is really something special
and empoli did a pretty good job yesterday. but palermo has just to blame itself for yesterday. we were really awful and we got what we deserved sorry Van, i can't help u, as i don't watch the matches on internet.... i hope somebody will be able to help u
oups, almost forgot. congratulations Don and Juveboy
Don, i guess i will save that giovinco pic.... if he would score agaisnt juve too.... it might coming handy :mrgreen:
Last edited:
??).
:oops: