I like the Azzuri yes, love the way the Italians play the beautiful games so much more stylish and sublime

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Italian football is often very tactical and they can be very defensive. If you're an impartial viewer watching a game it can be interesting to see how two teams try to wear each other down, but when I'm rooting for either side I find the slow pace irritating. I also can't stand their culture of play-acting.

If the Italians did a lot less diving I'd have more time for them.

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Originally posted by evil_bastard Italian football is often very tactical and they can be very defensive. If you're an impartial viewer watching a game it can be interesting to see how two teams try to wear each other down, but when I'm rooting for either side I find the slow pace irritating. I also can't stand their culture of play-acting. If the Italians did a lot less diving I'd have more time for them.

sure the italians started it, but the germans perfected it. (play acting that is).

you can't single out italians anymore, cos the fact of the matter is everybody does it nowadays. i think your comment would have carried more value back in the ninties.

as for the football, italy have the most stylish football team in the world, sadly that doesn't win trophies and recently i despair of their negative attitude towards the game when they have some of the best attacking players in the world.

i've always maintained that if italy had a brazilian coach, nobody in the world would beat them. there defenders are the best in the world, but the team just needs to be more positive, which i think would be brought about by a brazilian coach

however rino gattuso should be a strong candidate for european player of the year imo. he won ac the final single handedly with his constant battling and non-stop running. unfortunately the small minded tossers at uefa will probably give it to ronaldo or zidane cos they cost the most.

man i hate uefa.

anyway forza azzuri.

I don't know why you said that the germans perfected the diving tecnique. Germans aren't really the first nationality I think of when I think of divers. But I don't really have a problem with people diving, just face it its a part of the game. Everyone dives nowadays, Stam said that Ferguson encourages his players to dive and look at Owen, he falls alot. Its not a south europan or south american thing exclusively.
And yeah, Gattuso is a great player.

A big problem with the Italian national team is that they almost always lacks creative midfielders. Their midfield is always packed with watercarriers and you seldom see any natural wingers for example. Also I can agree that Italian football is far too defensive-minded.
As for the UEFA player of the year I think it definetly should go to Pavel Nedved.

Of course every nation tries to win penalties and so on, but some nations take it much further than that. I would say the worst culprits are South American and certain European teams. A bit of rule-bending is natural but some of these Italian sides have turned it into an art form. There is far more diving in Serie A than the Premier League, it's farcical at times. I think they should start pulling out more yellow cards for frequent divers, might make them think twice about rolling over 5 times because someone invaded their personal space.

I don't like diving because it, like persistent fouling, grinds the game to a halt. La Liga and Serie A have as much talent as the Premier League, but the reason I think Premiership football is more entertaining is because of more open, dynamic play. Nowadays defensive football won't get you anywhere in the Premier League, traditionally defensive sides like Arsenal have had to adapt to a more attacking game and long-ball sides like Sunderland have really struggled.

Creative Midfielders...

Just put Del Piero or totti there and play vieri and inzaghi up front..


I really like the italian national side just cuz they can handle anything thats trown their way defencly. And in my opinion if it wasnt for poor poor poor poor judging during the WC they would have atleast been in the finals

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Tune of the moment

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Originally posted by PacMan Creative Midfielders... Just put Del Piero or totti there and play vieri and inzaghi up front..

1.) They are are creative attackers and 2.) The chances of seeing Italy playing attackers in midfield are non existent.

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Originally posted by PacMan in my opinion if it wasnt for poor poor poor poor judging during the WC they would have atleast been in the finals

I really agree with you here. The refereing(sp?) in the last World Cup was a disgrace.

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Originally posted by King of Clubs I really agree with you here. The refereing(sp?) in the last World Cup was a disgrace.

Definitely. The worst incident was the first Brazil/Turkey game when Rivaldo got a player sent off by just falling over. That was one of the worst decisions I've ever seen.

i think the reason for the success of south korea and turkey in the last world cup is simple. (please don't start on at me cos i'm italian. this is just my view).

uefa seen that asia was relitavely untapped by the beutiful game. they also saw asia as the biggest market that had not yet been exploited by football. by giving japan, south korea, and turkey for that matter, a taste of success they have practically sold the game too billions of viewers.

by helping these teams, what with pathetic refereeing decisions (i think the final count stood at 4 perfectly legitamate goals italy had chopped off) they have opened up there biggest market yet.

don't get me wrong they all played well enuff. but they didn't have the skill nor the tactical awareness of the bigger teams whom they beat on suspicious grounds.

by the way totti is a midfield player who supports the front line. he sits behind the two attakers. his problem is his attitude towards the game.

italy need a baggio or a new zola to emerge soon.

that corradi chap that plays for lazio is fuckin ace.

Watching a game between two Italian teams can be painfully boring at time...witness the CL Final....the only player to excel was Rino Gattuso (and he learnt his trade in Scotland.

Italy is gifted with some of the worlds best players...for years now, but the defencive play in their games is shocking. The only exception is when they play attacking teams.....The games between Juve and Celtic two years ago being a prime example, brilliant games with stacks of goals.

The diving thing is a plague on European football, It seems that only British Teams and Scandinavian teams resist those tactics (although they have their moments)

Personally diving and feigning injury spoilt the UEFA Cup Final for me. Although Porto are a very good team with class players they continued to dive, roll about the floor as if they had been shot and basically cheated the referee.

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When Italian sides play attacking teams they have a tendancy to slow the game to a painful pace and frustrate the opposition by theatrical diving persistently. You may have guessed, I don't have a great deal of respect for Italian sides. Newcastle are well known as an attacking and entertaining team, in 61 games last season we didn't have a single 0-0 game, we were the first Champions League side ever to come back after losing half of their group games. The contrast with Italian sides was a painful one. Both Inter Milan and Juventus immediately slowed the game to a crawl, and we struggled. We did beat Juventus but were thoroughly cheated against Inter. With the exception of the Everton game at Goodison Park, Newcastle/Inter at the San Siro was the most disgusting game I saw anywhere last season.

Juventus played good games though, they played proper football on the pitch, were humble in victory and gracious in defeat. They admired our style of play and promised to help us qualify and I can say that they beat us fair and sqaure. Inter Milan on the other hand were nothing short of disgraceful. The Inter/AC Milan derby in the Champions League was a diving extravaganza.