Juventus, I fucking hate your guts sometimes. Everyone do yourself a favour between now and the last game of the season. Do not search for Juventus videos on Youtube and surf through twenty pages of content on La Grande Storia della Juventus, or La Vecchia Signora, because that will only make you infuriated with what’s happening to our team. Gone are the iconic members of football’s high society, as they’re replaced with mediocrity; players, coaches, and management alike.

The reality, one that I’m sure many of you are aware, is that we’re more than just a few pieces of the puzzle away from the glory days. We’re about 8-9 men short by my calculations which is mind-boggling considering the shit-load of resources we’ve spent over the last four years. We need to focus on building the team’s spine once again, and Chiellini can be the rock we can build our revival on.

‘And I say to thee. Thou art Giorgio, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ Matthew 16:18, sort of.

Marotta, for my money, was going good until the Diego deal. From now on, he’s got an uphill battle to win back my good graces after the costly Fabio loan, and the move for the Serie A unproven Armand Traore. However, he did manage to secure a capable partner for Chiellini in Bonucci, as well as a potential homerun for our midfield in Aquilani. Now if the Aquaman gamble pays-off, we’ll have finally made a solid start in our re-construction.

From top to bottom, the Serie A is the world’s most competitive football league, and for that I am truly proud to be a fan of Italian calcio today. But the taste in my mouth left after Calciopoli has yet to be purified, and thus, my overwhelming sense of anger looms. It’s agonizing at times being a Bianconeri fan because that bar was set so high decades ago. Not to mention just how tough it is to play for Juventus today as the jersey can weigh so much.

The truth is though; I will stand by my club even when it seems that there is no hope in sight because I’m sure that when we taste that success again, it’ll taste that much sweeter. I guess that’s the difference between a fan and a supporter.

IERI… OGGI… DOMANI… SEMPRE JUVE!!!

And how the hell do I stay?

Italy and Juve’s history and futures are inextricably linked, it seems. When Juventus wins, Italy wins. When Juventus concede record amount of goals and lose every game, so does Italy. Evidently, Pepe’s strange inclusion into the Nazionale, under 2 coaches now, meant he had to come to Juventus. And now, both Juventus and Italy are stuck with him playing just terrible, as he did today against Estonia, of all teams.

My conclusion on Pepe is this- Italy is so desperate for a naturally wide player, that he has gone from Palermo bench player to Juventus and Italy regular. Apparently no coach has ever tried to convert him into a fullback (as many young wingers in Italy are) and thus, he is the only “mature-age” winger we have. Seems Italy and Juve may have been a bit hasty in getting rid of a creative winger this summer…

So Fabio Quagliarella was sold to Napoli for about 18 million euros. The transfer amount was never released, but it was probably at least 16 million euros. If you look at Quagliarella’s career though, Napoli appeared to have paid considerably more than market value. This was because Quags would be more popular with the fans than others players, and second because it was assumed that he would post huge numbers playing for his hometown team. He had a very good season with Udinese, and he was expected to score even more goals that would send Napoli into Europe.

The transfer fee ended up being a heavy issue because the following season Quags didn’t really improve on his career best season with Udinese. His Serie A goal dropped from 13 to 11, and with Napoli not playing in Europe there were no other chances to shine. In two Coppa Italia matches Quags couldn’t find the net, and it was symptomatic of his whole season – when Napoli needed the big goal in a big game, Quagliarella’s performance often left something to be desired. Look at the calibre of teams that his goals came against…

Goals 1 & 2: at home to Livorno, week 2
Goal 3: at home to Bologna, week 8
Goals 4 & 5: at home to Bari, week 15
Goal 6: at home to Chievo, week 17
Goal 7: away to Atalanta, week 18

The second half of the season continues much the same way: all of Quags’s goal came against teams in the bottom half of the table. No goals for #27 in matches against Inter, AC Milan, Juventus, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Palermo etc. Also, from week 3 to week 14 he managed just one goal in twelve weeks. Based on last season his market value dropped from what it was before the season. Now it seems like Napoli had paid way too much.

Then there’s also the issue of Quagliarella being the highest earner on the team. If a player is going to make more than his teammates, he should be as good if not slightly better week in, week out. But too often last season Quagliarella wasn’t creating much offence when he wasn’t scoring. It reached a point where Mazzarri had to consider leaving him out of the starting lineup when he was healthy. I believe this happend for a game or two over the course of the season.

Even if a team’s star player accepts a spot on the bench, it creates huge problems when your top earner isn’t playing. Here is Mazzarri’s explanation for Quagliarella being shipped out. According to Mazzarri, Quags was pampered, and eventually being a hometown player couldn’t hide the fact that his performance on the field wasn’t what everyone was hoping for.

Speaking of Mazzarri, the managerial change didn’t help Quags at all. He had worked with Donadoni in the past and that was presumably a key factor in the timing of his move. Once Donadoni was fired, you can’t help but think that a player like Quags might have felt some responsibility for the firing. True, the entire team didn’t play well for Donadoni, but as one of the leaders Quags also led the way in not living up to expectations early in the season.

But when you look at expectations, you have to go back to the grossly inflated price Marino paid for him. This didn’t help Quagliarella one bit, in fact it put loads of pressure on him to justify his value. There was also an assumption that he would feel more comfortable at the San Paolo than anywhere else, and his career would take off. Since the story, had it unfolded as everyone hoped, resembled a fairy tale, it ignored the realities of being a professional athelete.

All of these issues combined to make it very difficult for Quagliarella to succeed. There was an enormous burden on him to score regularly to send Napoli fans into dreamland, but when this didn’t happen there were reasons to question him. Why was his transfer fee so high? Why is he Napoli’s top earner? Why can’t he score against top clubs? To summarize, underneath the surface the conditions of his move made it very easy to fail, and difficult to succeed.

And how did he end up at Juve? The Bianconeri were short on forwards, and perhaps they were attracted by his 45 minutes of greatness in the Slovakia WC game. They could also afford to overpay for his services just as Napoli did. De Laurentiis and Bigon saw a chance to correct a business mistake by Marino, and in the end the move went through. I don’t like saying this, but he may end up playing a little better for Juve than he did for Napoli. It’s a bizarre movie script that De Laurentiis the producer would never make a movie of. So if it’s fairy tales that Napoli fans want, just look at Gianluca Grava last year. Unlike Quags, he was never in a position to fail.

So it seems like as long as Mazzarri is manager, Quags won’t be returning home from Juve. Let’s try to forget all the bad stuff and remember the passion he brought whenever he played.

On the anniversary of Scirea’s passing last year, Aaron wrote a fitting tribute that I want to share with you again today. Enjoy.

It should not be surprising that the greatest defender in the world, comes from the land of the greatest defense, Italy. And thus, the greatest defender naturally would come from the dominant team, our beloved Vecchia Signora.

Like many of Juventus Legends, Gaetano Scirea was plucked from his youth side, Atalanta at the young age of 21. He made an immediate impact on the side, and alongside one of the meanest stoppers of all time, Claudio Gentile, the duo would form one of the world’s greatest defenses in front of Dino Zoff. With the other defenders, Cabrini, Cuccureddu, and Brio, the group dominated Italy for much of the 1970s. It was in this time that the Bianconeri added the first star to the jersey, and accumulated Scudetto after Scudetto under the management of il Trap. The team would also form the backbone of the 1982 World Cup winning side.

Scirea was a special kind of player. I would not seek to dismiss the prowess of Gentile, or the brilliance of left-back Cabrini, or the intelligence required for the defensive midfielder Beppe Furino. But his position required a special kind of genius. Scirea played as a sweeper, a libero in Italian, during the position’s transition from its’ catenaccio origins to one of a fulcrum of the squad. As a sweeper, he naturally would roam the defense and anticipate plays, breaking them up and distributing the ball, sort of as a deeper defensive midfielder. But this was only part of his responsibility. A sweeper had evolved from a defender to a playmaker. Often Scirea had the directive to build up play from the back, as well as pushing forward in attack. That explains, as a central-defender, his excellent goalscoring record over his 14-year career at Juventus. Scirea had a very intelligent role to play with the Bianconeri, especially given the fact that he was neither particularly pacey nor physically strong, and he played the Bianconeri tune beautifully.

Gaetano was an elegant defender, blessed by his god-given ability to intelligently read the offense, anticipate play, and then quickly start a counter-attack by pushing forward whether dribbling like a striker or passing out wide to a midfielder. He was, in many ways, the opposite of his partner Claudio Gentile, he was a “gentleman sweeper” who rarely committed fouls due to his calm temperament and innate technical ability, never receiving a red-card his entire career, despite often playing as the last man in defense. His performances on the pitch mirrored his personality; never one to seek the limelight, he shied away from the media for much of his career.

It was this personality that won him so many Juventus fans and earned him general indifference from much of the football-fan populace during his career. It was this calmness and personality that won him many accolades for his conduct, to this day, many tournaments in Italy give out trophies for fair play and sportsmanship with the Scirea name. His greatest moments perhaps were defending the Azzurri name in Spain in 1982. Playing alongside his Juventus teammates Gentile, Cabrini, Zoff, Tardelli, Rossi, etc, the team went all the way to the final, triumphing against West Germany 3-1.

His son presents the Scirea jersey at Juve’s 109th birthday celebration

As his career dwindled, Scirea made less forward runs and stayed deeper in defense. Juve’s all-conquering side began to age, and the results followed. Il Trap left in 1986, and Juve started trailing behind Napoli and then became shadowed by the all-conquering Milan of the late 80s and early 90s. Scirea decided to retire in 1988 after Juve struggled to finish in 6th place. He finished his career with 7 Scudetti, 2 Coppa Italias, 1 Uefa Cup, 1 Cup Winners Cup, 1 European Supercup, 1 European Cup, 1 Intercontinental Cup, and of course, a Fifa World Cup winners medal.

As a life-long Juventino, and the Bandiera of the squad, as the all-time caps record holder of Juve (until Del Piero in 2008) he was hired by his ex-teammate Dino Zoff to be assistant coach of the Bianconero. He was scouting the next team for Juve in the Uefa Cup, a team in Poland in 1989, when he died in a tragic and horrible accident on the highway after colliding with a gas tanker, 20 years ago to this day. In his memory, the Juve fans have named their Curva after him. It continues to be named so to this day, and when the new stadium is finished, it will still be called the Curva Scirea.

Scirea is a symbol of Juve. He embodies the Juve that the great Gianni Agnelli always wanted; determined with plenty of grinta, motivated, graceful, classy- on and off the pitch. Until April 6th, 2008, Scirea held the all-time presence record with Juve, until he was passed by our beloved captain Alessandro Del Piero. He had this to say about Scirea.

“When I broke the record attendance mark for Juventus, it was only important for me because it was his record. “Being able to achieve such feats with this club is an honour that I am very proud of, however it’s an incentive as well, because of the players who have been here before me, such as Gaetano. Last season the club had some significant objectives that we knew would be difficult to achieve. When it comes to people like Scirea though, he provides me with the inspiration I need to succeed, as we all know how he achieved things in his career.”

Fabio Grosso, who was just given Scirea’s #6 jersey, further paid tribute.

«Wearing jersey number 6 of Juventus – said Grosso contacted while at the Coverciano camp – will be an honour and a great privildge. Wearing the number of Geatano Scirea, a football legend, a man who is still of an example to all footballers, contributes to making me feel part of an extraordinary history of sports immediately. I hope to deserve the faith of the club and re-pay the supporters and my team mates for the affcetion with which they greeted me».

Comments from Dino Zoff-

«Gaetano? An extraordinary man and footballer. An example of style and class both on the field and off it. With him I shared great moments. During training camp we lived in the same room. I remember during the world cup in Spain, Tardelli could not sleep the night before the matches. To relax, he used to come to our room which he used to call “Switzerland” because it was the most tranquil room of the camp. In our way of being together we hardly needed any words. A look was enough. He would have been an excellent coach if he had the chance: he was convincing and loved to teach. He would have liked today’s football even though he was not the type to want to be a protagonist. He would have never become a “front page” person but he knew how to make himself heard by all. His heir? Up to yesterday Paolo Maldini. I wouldn’t know about today».

Winger Franco Causio pays tribute-

«He came to Turin when he was still very young while I was already much older. I can say I saw him grow: youngster, fiancé, husband, exemplary father. He was shy and a good man perhaps even too good. I often told him to react, to be a bit crueler with the opponents: his serenity made me angry. You know what his answer used to be? “I can’t”. He used to say so with a smile on his lips and it was disarming. I never saw him get angry. He used to say it was not worth it and in hind sight I must admit I think so too. We spent the best years of our lives together, won a lot and shared great joys. When I left Juve we still remained very close. It was impossible not to love him. It was impossible to speak badly of him. I loved him a lot».

1982 World Cup winner Marco Tardelli speaks of his teammate-

«He was one of the best players in the world but was too humble to say so or even to simple think so. His way of being quiet and reserved maybe took away his chance of being better known but it surely won him esteem, respect and the friendship of everyone, Juventus fans and not. This does not mean that he was weak or that he had nothing to say: on the contrary, he was very strong on the inside and knew how to speak through his silence. We had completely opposite characters but got along well. One day, he came to see me by the sea and we played hide and seek, a strange thing for Serie A professionals but it was part of our spending time together and enjoying ourselves in a simple manner. In today’s football I think he would have felt a bit lost but only on a personal level. When it came to football he was very competent and knew how to be authoritarian. Let us say that personalities with his character, nowadays, do not exist any more».

And finally from goalkeeper Stefano Tacconi-

«With Gaetano I only shared joys: together we won all there was to win. In the football annuals we are only 5 players who managed to win all the international tournaments: Blind of Ajax, Brio, Cabrini, Gaetano and myself. It is a reason to be proud having been able to write those pages together and having been his friend. In Turin we lived very close to each other and we often went to training together. Once I forgot to pick him up and made him arrive late for the first and only time in his life. When he arrived at the Combi he came up to me and said “bravo, bravo” but you could see he had already forgiven me. On Friday night us two together with Zoff had the superstitious rite of going to the same restaurant but in reality it was an excuse to spend time together. I will always be grateful to him because he was one of those who helped me recover from the dark batch when I was relegated to the bench. He used to tell me to insist and finally I won back my place. As usual, he was right».

[Former] Juve President Giovanni Cobolli Gigli also expounded on his greatness.

«The 3rd of September was a normal day for me until I got to know from the television the news of the tragic death of Geatano Scirea in Poland. Apart from my feelings, I remember that the whole of Italy joined the Juventus supporters in memory of a champion who had given so much not only by playing for Juventus but also for the national team».

Ex-Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli remembers Gaetano Scirea on the 20th anniversary from his demise:«He was a classy great player who represented Juventus by playing as a bianconero for many years in a role that does not exist anymore, the libero role, but which he interpreted in a very dynamic manner. He was very good with his footwork and was capable of imposing the game. As a child, in the Atalanta youth sector he had gained experience as a winger and this sowed in him the want to attack. He was even capable of scoring great goals: I remember two impressive ones scored against Torino which fill me with joy and satisfaction».

Besides the class shown on the field, Scirea perfectly incarnated the spirit that forever has been the soul of the great players in the history of Juventus and which is the basis of the Juventus style: «Today’s Juventus is also made up of memories of men who gave this team something and this perhaps allows our club to be different from others. Scirea’s style is the style of Boniperti, from whom he learnt it and is now the style of many others and definitely of Del Piero. This is what allows Juventus, besides the coaches and the management, to maintain its tone of a compact club which allows it to rise-up even in the hardest of moments».

2010 tribute from Juventus.com:

«An example for everyone: team-mates, opponents and fans. The greatness of Gaetano Scirea can’t be told solely in his gestures on the pitch, the statistics and the successes, because these were the children not just of his class, but also his character – reserved but strong, which allowed him to be loved by everyone who is passionate about football. He was an unquestioned leader, the master of Juventus’ defence, who played for 552 games, during which he was never once sent off. He won seven Scudetti, two Coppa Italia titles, a Champions League, an Intercontinental Cup, a Cup Winners’ Cup, a European Super Cup and a UEFA Cup. An immense trophy cabinet, like his talent».

A group of Italian journalists give out an annual award, the Scirea award, for being an “ideal footballing role model on and off the pitch.” Del Piero took the award in 2008, receiving a landslide 80% of the votes. Truly, for his class on and off the pitch, Del Piero deserves the award and to succeed Scirea as the all-time record holder for Juve.

Unfortunately, I was not alive to have watched Scirea’s grace on the pitch, and I’ve only watched the clips on the Amore Bianconero DVDs and the little bit I can find on YouTube. Of all of them…not surprisingly, Esoesgallo’s is the best. Today we commemorate the life of a great calciatore, who embodied the spirit of our great club and the pride of Bianconeri world wide. Just as importantly, we mourn the death of a great man whos life, tragically, ended far too soon.

Scirea sei grande, non sarai mai dimenticato, sempre nei nostri cuori!

The door has closed.

Tying up loose ends…

CL

Lista A: 1 Lobont, 2 Cicinho, 3 Castellini, 4 Juan, 5 Mexes, 7 Pizarro, 8 Adriano, 9 Vucinic, 10 Totti, 11 Taddei, 16 De Rossi, 17 Riise, 19 Julio Baptista, 20 Perrotta, 22 Borriello, 23 Leandro (Greco), 25 G. Burdisso, 27 Julio Sergio, 29 N. Burdisso, 30 Simplicio, 32 Doni, 33 Brighi, 77 Cassetti, 87 Rosi, 94 Menez.

Lista B (il gruppo dei giocatori cresciuti nel settore giovanile): 41 Pigliacelli, 42 Frascatore, 43 Montini, 89 Okaka.

List B is for youth system children under 21, hence Okaka. The only names off the list are Loria and iTunes, the former’s omission being something of a 26th man.

But if you add those two (technically), you get AS Roma 2010-11. She’s a beaut.

Photos That Make Your Day

Marco’s slightly creeped by Rosella’s unending cackles and Prade looks like lunch just dropped into his trousers without warning.

I might make this my screensaver.

(And would somebody get Prade a goddamn tie pin.)

Cash Money

[Link]

(Thanks to ForzaRoma for dropping this off for our enjoyment.)

These are gross numbers for this season’s salary, which means before the ~43% tax for this income bracket.

In the complete minority here I assume, but I see nothing wrong with this list outside of Adriano. Unless you’re prescient, hindsight gets left at the door.

Simplicio’s a steal at just over €1m, however, so maybe it was a Brazilian Bosman package deal for one fairly reasonable lump sum and Fabio just got screwed.

More Photos With Which To Brighten Your Day

I went to the website, perused the photos, curious to see where the ridiculous photos lie this year, and three minutes later I inadvertantly found a whole slideshow on YouTube. Just my luck.

Notes:

• I find the old photo of Cassetti sans sidepart an egregious and entirely unacceptable oversight.

  The site’s fine just the way it is (kind of like a mom and pop store – just like the team), but let’s keep the hair current.

• Paolo Castellini looks weeks away from appearing on an infomercial surrounded by flies. Get that man a sandwich.
• Simone Loria…he’s a little bit special.
• On whose mobile was Nicolas Burdisso’s official photo snapped on?

  Also: I think he’s a pirate.

• Fabio Simplicio looks like he could fuck you up. Bout it.
• I think we can safely say there is a severe shortage of razor cartridges in the Roman locker room.
• Borriello was superimposed onto Perrotta’s body, because I know you’re wondering.

Internationals

Mirko: Wales, 1930cet.

Yeremy, Philou: Belarus, 2100.

John Arne Riise wears short sleeves: Iceland, 2100.

DDR: Estonia, 2030.

And finally, to fill the time inbetween, new cdt.

“The transfer market campaign made by Juve is full of mistakes,” said Diego in an interview with Sky Italia. “They have lost so much money as well as stars. I hope that in the future they will have a winning project with the understanding that the quality not only belongs to Italian players and that you cannot exclude foreign champions. You cannot win like that. Del Neri was very clear with me, he said he wanted me to stay. During the Trofeo TIM, I scored a nice goal against Milan, I was very happy. Delneri called me into his room.” He said “Remember our discussion in May? I said you were part of my project. Now I am more convinced than ever.” “I interrupted. Mister, if you see me as a starter, I’ll stay at Juve, happily.” Delneri smiled and nodded. “Delneri said we’ll play 4-4-Diego-Striker, you are the man of quality in my system. Only if you played 10 bad games in a row would your position come into dispute.”

Marotta told me that per the wishes of Delneri, I’d stay. “However, I looked at Marotta and understood that he was working in another direction. He was doing everything possible to sell me. Then came the deal with Wolfsburg. A few days before the sale, Delneri came up to me with a disappointed face and said I had to go talk to Marotta. When Delneri told me Marotta wanted to talk, from that moment Delneri’s opinion didnt matter anymore. Marotta was not clear. I always said that I wanted to stay and the coach always told me that he would have played me. If Marotta wanted to sell me he could have done it two months ago (instead of three days before the final day of the transfer window) as it would have been simpler. If Marotta had comported himself in a different manner with me, then we both could have worked on a move and Juve would have netted more money The fact is that Marotta did not behave well with me or with other Juventus champions like Camoranesi or Trezeguet. “Marotta decided to sell me because he wants just Italians and that is the wrong road to go down. Juventus have made a mistake with their signings, a lot of good players have arrived but no champions. Juventus should have been much stronger. The players that have left would have been useful to the next technical project.”

D’oh.

“I received affectionate messages from everyone in the team, more or less. Buffon is a true captain, he will demonstrate again that he is the world’s greatest keeper. Felipe Melo needs to be kept close, and he will give his best. Chiellini is a champion defender, and I think Amauri will return to score many goals this year. As a Brazilian, it is strange to see him wear Azzurro, but you play for who loves you, not who ignores you. Del Piero was always very nice to me, he was a friend. He had nothing to do with my sale. With Alex, there was an incompatibility [in a 4-4-2, obviously] of us both being on the pitch, but this wasn’t an issue. There was no problem between us. When I left, Alex was the first to text me. He wrote, “I’m sorry you’ve left, I’ve never had a problem with you. I wished we could play more together. Best of luck at Wolfsburg.”

Strong words. Giovinco commented as well.

Interviewed on Sky Italia, Giovinco was asked to comment on Diego’s allegations that Juventus weren’t clear with him. “It’s true, the director should have been clearer and they should have been so from the first year that I arrived. Instead, it wasn’t like this. Amen, life goes on. I don’t know how the directors behaved with Diego I think about myself. I wasn’t treated as I expected, but I don’t think about it anymore. I am thinking about doing well here. We’ll see about the future. I hope to do well here to make Juventus change their minds with facts. What I have found here is better than Juventus, above all with respect to last year. Things went badly. It was a difficult period for me, for the team and for the club. It was the ugliest period Juventus have been through, so you can imagine what it was like.”

Z3BINA threw his hat in the ring as well. (Hmmm. Z3BINA, Diego, Giovinco, one of these things is not like the other.)

“It’s useless to rant against someone…..[but]… Although, I must say we didn’t expect any kind of recognition when we went to Serie B. But then we saw how they sent someone like Pavel Nedved home, and at that moment, we knew that we could not be able to expect anything from the club. Something at Juve last year didn’t go right [you think?], surely the players had some of the responsibility, but not as much as came out in the media. Why did the fans last year fight only with the typical players? I don’t know, I never understood it. [Giving the fans the finger doesn't help, JZ] I don’t think that there were only a few disagreements, perhaps it was under the influence of another.”

However, I am only looking to be happy. It only took 10 minutes to convince of Brescia’s project. I hope to follow in the footsteps of some other great Brescia players like Guardiola and Baggio.” [WHAT]

Evidently, there’s been some kind of communication breakdown.

My focus here is to hash out what made Allegri’s 4-3-3 from Sunday so different than Leo’s last season, which was often times porous, slow, and ineffective.

I want to start by mapping out Leo’s 4-3-3, as you can see in the diagram the ten outfield players cover a lot of space but the deployment of the formation leaves gaping holes in very attractive attacking channels for opponents. There is by no means nothing wrong with this formation, but its success depends solely on the players ability to keep their shape and to be individually talented enough, both offensively and defensively, to cover their space and quickly join into the attack.

When Leo relied on Seedorf to play the LM or RM role, he often times ended up in advance of Pirlo, forcing his opposite midfielder to cover ground behind Pirlo. So our midfield line of three, which was supposed to cover the entire field horizontally now looked like a vertical line of three creating acres of space for opponents to attack into. Throw in some marauding fullbacks and you have classic recipe for disaster. Players caught high up in the attack and opponents countering with pace and numbers leaving CB’s of any caliber at a disadvantage.

Fast forward to Allegri’s 4-3-3, the deployment of the attack was more compact centrally, but the actual playing shape of the team was more compact up the pitch as well. In classic Arrigo Sacchi fashion, Allegri wanted to make the field smaller for both his team and the opponents. This was the cornerstone of Sacchi’s Milan and appears to be the foundation that Allegri is choosing to build his Milan on. Yes, this system also requires a certain amount of tactical know-how and the ability to play quickly and more directly to maximize the number of players in the attack, but Allegri proved that this Milan is in fact capable of all those keys to success. Yes, the opponent was Lecce and often times their central midfielder players dropped so far deep that Pirlo was left wide open with acres of space, but with Milan’s new look attack, team’s will be forced to respect Ronaldinho, Pato and Ibra making that kind of space available more often than not.

The idea of a compact formation is nothing new, but if done properly can be devastating to an opponent’s tactical game plan. By moving the defense further up the pitch the moment Milan loses possession it puts every player in close proximity to the opponent allowing them to pressure the ball easily; but more importantly gives the opponent little to no space to operate or move the ball forward. Of course a good play-maker and a pacy forward can break this lack of space with a well placed killer long ball, but asking a team to make a bit of magic is far better than giving up acres of space on the defensive side of the ball! Opponents will then be forced to result to short, quick, lateral passes in which our midfielders can pounce and keep the ball well away from our goal and more often than not in the attacking third. A simple yet effective game plan that when deployed properly can have excellent results as seen here!

Simply put Allegri just added a bit of tactical know how to a classic formation to get this team firing on all cylinders. Will the desire and intensity last the entire season? I can’t quite say, but considering the fact that on the bench we have Robinho to cover Pato and Ronaldinho. Flamini, Rino and Boateng to cover in the midfield finding fresh legs and ball winners should not be a problem. If you don’t want to pressure the ball and fight for the cause, there is someone else waiting to take your place young or old! Add in the fact that Milan is playing with a new found directness towards goal and a speed I have not seen them play with since I was a child, the future looks a bit brighter than first thought.

FYI: There won’t be any updates until Monday or Tuesday. I am traveling to Cape Cod for a preseason soccer tournament which will make it very hard to post and the lack of news with the International break will make it all the worse. So I will leave you to your own devices, God help us all! If I can get something together before I leave it will post on the weekend.