Re: Serie A Thread - 2008/2009 Season
I'm curious to see what everyone thinks about the Spalletti vs. Prandelli debate. We've watched their careers progress of course and have them each make a big name for themselves with Udinese and Parma respectively before moving onto greener pastures but I personally rate Cesare higher and though a fan of Luciano and like the guy and respect him, sometimes I feel he's a little 'over-rated' in Italy and perhaps by some Italians and Italian media.
Definitely, still a very good coach though, someone I like and respect and wish all the best for and of course his resume and all the things he's done with clubs who don't have the greatest of resources (including Roma which is the biggest he's managed) speaks for itself. But give me a choice and I'll take Cesare and he's not the only Italian manager I'd pick ahead of Luciano. So I rate him highly but sometimes feel he gets perhaps EVEN more credit than he may deserve and I have some doubts about him. I'm not I guess AS confident in his abilities as the Italian media seems to be.
that sounds a bit surprising to me, as i tend to think quite the opposite, namely that the foreign media doesn't rate Luciano as they should.
i believe the main reason is coz people (and by "people" i don't mean u of course, Sina
) tend to consider roma on the same level of the likes of the other european top clubs....
thing is, roma is much closer to genoa and fiorentina than to the likes of inter, real, barca, the epl top 4. let me make this simple..
inter's global annual wages are about 140 million euros
milan - about 130 (but i'm not sure about this one)
juve - about 110
roma - 90 millions... wich is much closer to the likes of genoa (78 millions) and fiorentina (about 75).
now, given theese numbers, when u consider what roma did in the past 4 years, luciano's achievements become outstanding... even more than prandelli's ones.
we're all praising juve for its quick rebuilding process and its quick improvements..... but as a matter of fact, financially speaking, juve is already much more powerful than roma...
not to mention milan.
when spalletti took roma, the club was facing one of the worst moments in its history. the dressing room chemistry was completely non existent.. there was no discipline, no respect, between the players... and the staff.
the team was playing some horrible (and damn uneffective) football.
financially, they were quite close to bankrupt, as the sensi family wasted an awful lot of money during the "golden era" of serie a (franco sensi wasted a fortune in order to keep up with the big 3: milan, inter and juve)... and the banks didn't have much trust in them anymore.
there wasn't a single aspect of the club wich was going well.
in less than 4 months Luciano completely changed the situation... despite the lack of funds, he was able to rebuild the team with just a few millions, in 4 months he gave roma a specific gaming style, a well definined dna. the club played (along with sevilla and arsenal) the most attractive football in europe in the last 4 years (and if i have to be honest, i think it was THE most attractive football in europe)... and he was able to reach what most of coaches today consider an "eldorado": mixing beautiful football with results.
roma infact has been the most credible competitor to inter in the last 3 years (last season, till 45 minutes before the very ending of the season, they were champions).
and also in champions league, roma has been the only "poor" club which was able to keep up with europe's best 8 constantly for the last 3 years.
and mind u, it gets every season harder for spalletti to repeat this performances... because, while the other top clubs spend each year more money, strenghtening their squads, spalletti had to spend less money every year, coz every year, most of roma's incomes go to the banks to pay off their debts (
on this concern, i feel the football clubs-banks relationship would be an interesting topic to talk about.... maybe someone would finally understand platini ideas). and then there's another factor: when your coach is good enough to "raise" a new top class player every year... it becomes tricky for the club to renew their contracts... and it's not a coincidence if, in order to actually buy somebody, roma had to sell one of their main assetts each and every year (last season chivu, this season mancini....).
in theese conditions it takes some feat to keep up with the richests and most powerful clubs in europe..... and yet spalletti did it.
some people changed their mind about spalletti this season, given the "poor" results of the club so far.
actually i think this season spalletti finally proved he deserves to be mentioned among the greatests (namely lippi, capello, ferguson, ancelotti, hiddink, prandelli...).
the club had an awful start this season.... now i can't really tell the reasons... but i think that the frustration for playing such an amazing and effective football for 4 years, without winning any silverware (except some coppa italia and supercoppas) played a big part in it.
however spalletti realised that he had to "shake" his players. they needed a big "motivational shock".
so he basically turned upside down the team, in a few weeks he completely changed roma playing style... he also changed the starting formation and the gaming system.
till last season roma's gameplan was based on the ball possession; high pressure on the ball carrier, quick triangulations, a 4 men attacking setup, with 3 attacking midfielders\wingers moving around totti.
today roma plays it's game without the possession. it basically became a counter attacking team....
but jeez, would u look at that counter attack! it's absolutely delightful to watch. it's arguably the best looking counter in europe.
most of the coaches in europe.. even some of the top ones, play 1 precise kind of football. wenger, rossi, capello, hiddink, they all have "their own football"... it's like a trademark. it's beautiful... but it also makes u wonder "
would they still deliver, if they were forced to deny their tactical beliefs??"
spalletti this season proved that he's not tied to a specific gaming system... that he can completely change a team's shape, and still show some quality football... and still deliver.
this was like a final exam for spalletti to me. and that is why today i have no hesitations in mentioning him among the very best in europe.
but that's just my personal opinion, of course.
and btw, by saying that, i'm not impliyng that i rate spalletti over prandelli. infact i rate both of em as top class coaches.. they're different in some aspects, but also extremely similar in some others.
as for the substitution matter, sina, i guess i realised what u mean... but we also have to keep in mind that the coaches are the only ones who "live" with the players on a daily basis.... sometimes their choices, their picks, might look weird to us... but that's probably coz there's something we don't know (how the players faced the weekly training sessions? how motivated they looked to the coach? wich is their fitness condition?)
the game management is always a mistery, for those who aren't into the "clubhouse secrets" like us
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as for the 2 "marcos", yep, it's quite refreshing to see di vaio back on track.... last season too he didn't play bad at all, but since gasperini used to line him up in a different role (and given what borriello did last season, we can't really blame gasperini for that), he wasn't able to do what he's doing right now.
as for marco motta, the dude has been very, very good for the last 3 seasons.... but of course playing like that for a big club like roma, will give u much more attention and reputation than doing it for the likes of torino and udinese
Milanista said:
Anyway, who needs Prandelli and Spalletti.. its all about Gasperini
He's the new Spalletti
no need to get your coat for that mate. what u said is correct....actually i keep saying that since last year
and now mark my words: ballardini is going to be the next prandelli
i know that's a bit of a long shot, but i'm actually starting to believe he might become "the next best thing" (after gasperini, i mean).
