The Official Azzurri thread 2

[juventino_italiano]

Again i say, fuck the media....
media blackout is the way to go and let the players focus on the fact that croatia has historically caused italy problems and howard webb is the referee...instead on focusing on who is gay and who is a gambler....for fucks sake!

[p_maldini_3]

who could it be?

i'd say that bonucci is catching chiellini's pitches.

[DCGweez]

[Lombardiamia]

[RomaShield27]

[Bagg10]

Watching it again... the blame for the Spain goal has to go to Chiellini. He left his position in the center to pressure Silva instead of letting DDR do it, consequently leaving room for a pass to Cesc. But then again DDR seems to back off to his right, so I don't know if Chiellini had much of a choice but to step to Silva. And maybe Giaccherini should've followed Cesc...

[DCGweez]

It was that dope Bonucci's fault. His sloppy pass led to the goal.

[juventino_italiano]

I'd say /iaccherini should have tracked Cesc given that he was the only player in his area.
Bonucci's pass started the whole play.

I don't what he was trying to....was he trying to be pirlo?
What ever happened to the basic saying "when in doubt, put it out" ?

[DCGweez]

Press conference today just Prandelli and Pirlo.

Pirlo "I gay? Parliamo Di Calcio"

Why is that so hard?

[fulhambob]

Why did this prick of an author even have to stir this up? Has he got a new book out, or is his last one selling like shit? The whole gay taboo in football is laughable, the idea that there are no gay players. Who gives a fuck if a player is gay, really? Criticise him for being shit, but not because of his sexual preference.
Speaking as someone who lives in England and Poland, I can tell you the Italian press are only different to the rest in that they really seem to enjoy sticking it to the national team even before and during a tournament. Even the uK press have gone slightly easier on the England team this time, almost too easy as not enough has been made of the inclusion of that racist c**t Terry in the squad. And God forbid if a Polish player was outed by some random nobody, here they don't even acknowledge the existence of a homosexual element.


But here's my real point. So far, and I've been in Poland, around Poznan specifically, since before the start of the tournament. There have been reports of scattered violence, mainly caused by the Russians, but many, many more stories of supporters getting together having a great time. Conspicuous by their small numbers have been the Italian supporters. I know their first game was in Gdansk, my good friend went and said there were a decent number of supporters, but there are far, far more Irish, Croatian, and Spanish fans here, all of whom seem to be mixing far more. I'll be at the games today and Monday and at the quarter final,should we gfinish second in the group, something i consider to be far from certain. It will be interesting to gauge the levelof support here, I can tell you the Poles are loving the Irish and even the Croatians as they're out having a good time, spending money, while the Italians seem to be nowhere. I hope this changes now that they are based in Poznan for the next two games.


Forza Italia!!!

[Lombardiamia]

Not strange to hear that the Italians are not spending much. True Italy has econo.ic problems right now, but that is a trend they offer as a tradition. Rarely have I seen a group of Italians spending decent money abroad like others do..

[DCGweez]

http://instagr.am/p/L24QpJxJxx/

For Fcuk sake...

[DCGweez]

Official line-ups

Italy: Buffon; Bonucci, De Rossi, Chiellini; Maggio, Motta, Pirlo, Marchisio, Giaccherini; Cassano, Balotelli

Croatia: Pletikosa; Srna, Corluka, Schildenfeld, Strinic; Rakitic, Vukojevic, Perisic; Modric; Jelavic, Mandzukic

Italy unchanged.

[juventino_italiano]

That news doesnt fill me with confidence.

At least Maggio will play well, because in a back 4 Maggio is average at best
I'd rather have Ogbonna there than Bonucci

Any chance Barzagli is back vs. Ireland??

[RomaShield27]

Ha can't believe you went with the same line-up, how has Balosmelly kept his place? Surely Di Natale deserved a start.

Crucial game for Italia cos Ireland will the last one, fact.

[DCGweez]

Supposedly he's back for the Irish.

Toto can't play 3 games in 8 days.

[Bagg10]

DDR has played amazing at the CB, but not having him in the midfield+ a true CB has really hurt us the first two games.

Chiellini messed up big time on the goal.

Prandelli should have left Balotelli on, taken off Cassano, and brought on Balzaretti(either switched to a 4 man defense or just had a more defensive left wing back)

I think todays game also highlighted a problem we all saw when the squad was anounced, which is that we don't have any CF target men. Against Spain, germany, and the rest of the bigger teams a small forward line will do alright. But against Big Croatian or Irish defenders we need a guy to attract one or two defenders up top, and the game went when Balotelli went off illustrates that.

It's Euro 2004 all over again... hopefully the outcome is different. As it stands we need to beat Ireland by 3 clear goals (if Croatia and Spain draw).

[Italiamia]

[fulhambob]

I'd be surprised if there were 5000 Italians at the game yesterday. There were more Poles than Italians, and the four Italy shirts in front of me were all from London. Embarrassing, though it does say something about the ticketing policy when there are 10000 poles at a match like that. The game however was lost by Mario and Cassano. Both incredibly wasteful. Chiellini did one thing wrong and we were punished. Pirlo did one thing right and we scored. He is treading water in the midfield and is a luxury player. Di Natale should have been on from half-time, fuck saving him for the Irish match, we need points on the board. The Irish are shit, yet I still don't feel confident about the match. Mario should start the match, just so that in the event that Pirlo manages to get even one cross beyond the first defender, we have some presence in the air.

[Lombardiamia]