ITALIA - LA SQUADRA AZZURRA 2008-09

bluenine wrote:
Cassano is now similarily hurting Lippi's ego. By selecting Cassano, Lippi will have to admit that he was wrong... and Lippi is no longer that big a man.

abundance wrote:Regarding Cassano, it's also true that Lippi never liked his kind of player.

At Juve he got rid of Baggio after one season. Ok Baggio had frail knees and there was Del Piero ready to boom, but dropping Baggio for Del Piero it's a bit like dropping Cassano for Rossi or Di Natale.

bluenine wrote:

abundance wrote:Regarding Cassano, it's also true that Lippi never liked his kind of player.

At Juve he got rid of Baggio after one season. Ok Baggio had frail knees and there was Del Piero ready to boom, but dropping Baggio for Del Piero it's a bit like dropping Cassano for Rossi or Di Natale.

Lippi also got rid of Baggio at Inter... I remember Baggio accused Lippi of not playing him coz he refused to divulge names of players who were bad mouthing Lippi in the locker room... Lippi can be petty.

abundance wrote:

bluenine wrote:
Cassano is now similarily hurting Lippi's ego. By selecting Cassano, Lippi will have to admit that he was wrong... and Lippi is no longer that big a man.

He was never a big man actually =D

When he came to Inter he ordered Moratti to get rid immediately of Pagliuca, Bergomi and Simeone.
You know, a still great keeper, a club legend, and our best midfielder - all gone because he couldn't stand such fierce former opponents in the locker room apparently.
He demanded also big boy Peruzzi to guard his ass.
Pussy.

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:

abundance wrote:

bluenine wrote:
Cassano is now similarily hurting Lippi's ego. By selecting Cassano, Lippi will have to admit that he was wrong... and Lippi is no longer that big a man.

He was never a big man actually =D

When he came to Inter he ordered Moratti to get rid immediately of Pagliuca, Bergomi and Simeone.
You know, a still great keeper, a club legend, and our best midfielder - all gone because he couldn't stand such fierce former opponents in the locker room apparently.
He demanded also big boy Peruzzi to guard his ass.
Pussy.

He brought a number of his favourites to Inter, not only Peruzzi, but Jugovic and Vieri aswell. Moratti pretty much let Lippi hand pick his players and this was at a time when Moratti was spending like there was no tommorow. Lippi pretty much changed the whole team to get the players he wanted, yet he still failed.

Calidad wrote:Are Italy lacking a genuine quality CF for the upcoming WC?

Iaquinta, Giladino, Toni, Floccari, Rossi...all have ability but none of them are reliable goal scorers or even performers. Out of those Giladino is probably the best, but he seems very much like a confidence player and scores in fits and bursts. Maybe Pazzini deserves a callup. In terms of prospects...Balotelli? But he's miles away at this point in time.

But why aren't they getting caps at senior level? Motta is defintely better than Zambrotta who is simply past it now (can't remember the last time I've seen him have a good game), and while I like Grosso, I think Criscito has more balance in his game. Bochetti is just a beast, the type who looks like he'd break his granny's leg to stop her from scoring. Better than Canavaro/Legrotellie. There's obviously Santon too.

I only seen the first 20 minutes of the game last night, but why is Pirlo playing as a trequartista, when there are other options? Lippi will have to stop sucking the cocks of his 2006 WC winners sooner or later.

borocooper wrote:Whats the problem with Cassano exactly?

Super Cassano wrote:

Ade wrote:Cassano, yes Can't say the same for Foggia as I've only seen a few games which he's featured for Lazio.

What's the story if there is one between Cassano and Lippi/playing gor the Azzurri... clash of personalties? Lippi doesn't rate him or is Cassano really fussed about representing Italy anymore and Lippi can't call him up for tha reason?

Seems a bit similar to Trapattoni and Reid for us would that be fair to say.

I think it is a mix of 2-3 things:

1) Cassano is known to be a bit crazy allthough he has settled down a now. And Lippi loves to have control of the dressing room.

2) Lippi is very stuborn and the italian media has a campaign to get Cassano in the national team and continues to put pressure on Lippi. Some of the hype Cassano is getting is overboard but he is the best player Serie A imo. It is a similar case to Aragones vs Raul where the media pretty much forced Aragones into not including him in the squad because in the end it became about principals. The italian media have made the same mistake that Marca/AS made back then.

3) Lippi has lost it.

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Those are probably the most likely explanations. Also read that Lippi doesn't like one player taking all the glory, hence he also had problems with Baggio. Lippi wants people wants people to remember how he created a great team and made great substitutions rather than one player dragging the team to the final.

It really is ridiculous though. I mean who the hell leaves out their best player? It would be like England leaving out Rooney or Argentina leaving out Messi. Only in Italy.

abundance wrote:Then there are the rumors... the most talked about are:
- Some years ago Cassano rudely refused an offer for being represented by Lippi's son, who's a players agent.
- Some years ago Cassano and Davide Lippi had a clash in a club and Cassano slapped him in the face.

The latter is 99% myth, the former could be true.

Ricardo Wetzel wrote:are you guys in for a revenge?

Ricardo Wetzel wrote:are you guys in for a revenge?

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Glad to see Pazzini back. I thought perhaps Miccoli might be called but that was always doubtful after his time with Lippi at Juve. Also was hoping to see Ranocchia given a go.

bluenine wrote:Italys new squad, loads of new players but still no Cassano. That said, glad to see Candreva being rewarded for his awesome performances...

Italy squad
Goalkeepers: Buffon (Juventus), De Sanctis (Napoli), Marchetti (Cagliari)
Defenders: Bocchetti (Genoa), Cannavaro (Juventus), Cassani (Palermo), Chiellini (Juventus), Criscito (Genoa), Grosso (Juventus), Legrottaglie (Juventus), Maggio (Napoli), Zambrotta (Milan)
Midfielders: Biondini (Cagliari), Camoranesi (Juventus), Candreva (Livorno), De Rossi (Roma), Galloppa (Parma), Marchionni (Fiorentina), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pirlo (Milan)
Forwards: Di Natale (Udinese), Gilardino (Fiorentina), Palladino (Genoa), Pazzini (Sampdoria), Rossi (Villarreal)

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Camoranesi is a doubt for the World Cup

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Hopefully he will select Marchionni instead

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:Seems like Borriello and Nesta are in line for a recall tommorow. Lippi has also said he hopes to count on Totti, though that will probably be later.

Apparantly Lippi is thinking of playing a back 3 of Canna, Nesta and Chiellini.