ENGLAND v ITALY - WHAT IT MEANS TO US

A few observations from the England v Italy game last night.

Firstly, top marks to England as they seem to have woken up and realised that the game is not played at 100 miles an hour any more and hoof ball has died with the dinosaurs.
The implications for us - hopefully our lads who ply their trade in the English game will benefit from this new approach.

Secondly, when England are beating the Moldovas and Montenegros of the world on their way to qualifying, and we are, through no one's fault but our own, struggling against the Italians, Russians, Dutch and Germans in the same qualifying phase, it is just a little gratifying to see how England fare out against the same caliber of opposition (ie Italy last night).

Thirdly, Pirlo. I love the guy. It was the Pirlo show last night. He controlled the game from start to finish and will do so against many better teams than England. He is simplicity, brilliance, and brilliant simplicity all rolled into one. Simple as. The game is not complicated and he is the ultimate manifestation of that.

Lastly with Pirlo in mind, how far are we in Ireland from producing the next Pirlo. It's all about coaching and it's as simple as (1) ball control with first touch being absolutely crucial (2) shielding the ball as Pirlo does (3) changing direction. How hard is that?

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Originally Posted by mark12345

Lastly with Pirlo in mind, how far are we in Ireland from producing the next Pirlo. It's all about coaching and it's as simple as (1) ball control with first touch being absolutely crucial (2) shielding the ball as Pirlo does (3) changing direction. How hard is that?

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Very hard, I'd say. Otherwise there'd be loads of players of Pirlo's quality.

Mark I found a poster of a shirtless Pirlo on ebay. Im going to get it for you for fathers day.

Can you send one to me and all Crosbot? Think I went from football crush to love over 90 minutes last night...

Grazie Mille, Italia.

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Originally Posted by SkStu

Can you send one to me and all Crosbot? Think I went from football crush to love over 90 minutes last night...

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Ye should enjoy this so.

Pirlo just oozes class and just makes it look so simple. How can he create so much time and have the peripheral vision he has? Genius!

Just found this and it is pretty amazing. Pirlo made more passes than the English midfield quartet.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-30356213.html

What does England vs Italy mean to us? It meant my wife went to bed before me on Saturday night and was asleep when I came to bed after the game. That's what it meant to me.

As to the match itself, England did actually try to play the game at a much higher tempo than Italy and they should possibly have had a draw since Italy might have been penalised not once, but twice for penalties. Throw in Pirlo to the English side and I'd sooner watch their style of play with the high tempo game any day of the week.

The long ball game has worked for us against the Italians in the past but it needs to be supported by Dutch like aggression against the tippy tap game. No point knocking the ball long and not competing for it and dropping back to midfield. It has to be part of an overall game plan if you don't think you can play through them.

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

The long ball game has worked for us against the Italians in the past but it needs to be supported by Dutch like aggression against the tippy tap game.

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Can't argue with the Dutch approach either. But the performance of Pirlo against England is the standout performance (Messi, Ronaldo, Robben and Van Persie all considered) of the World Cup so far.

Ive commissioned a nude painting of pirlo.

I bet you have.

Went to get a key cut today in the little Italian owned shop across the street and there were three of them in there talking away about it, I spoke about Pirlo and how much I had enjoyed his performance and one of them said how he had just done enough, just enough for the occasion and opponent before him the other night but would grow as the occasions did through the tournament, the others readily agreed.

I scanned their faces for the wind up. It wasn't one. That's what Italy / England meant to me to answer the OP, envy, in a word, as they can have a guy play like that and it wasn't even their main conversation topic or concern about the game & the state of their side. The lucky bastar*s.

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Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke

Went to get a key cut today in the little Italian owned shop across the street and there were three of them in there talking away about it, I spoke about Pirlo and how much I had enjoyed his performance and one of them said how he had just done enough, just enough for the occasion and opponent before him the other night but would grow as the occasions did through the tournament, the others readily agreed.

I scanned their faces for the wind up. It wasn't one. That's what Italy / England meant to me to answer the OP, envy, in a word, as they can have a guy play like that and it wasn't even their main conversation topic or concern about the game & the state of their side. The lucky bastar*s.

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You should have compared Pirlo's skills and abilities to Paul Green, that would have ended their complacency!

It would have been fair to point out that Green has a 57.3% success rate in harrying in international football compared to Pirlos 36.4% success rate. And Green has completed more knee headys.

I am waiting for Sky to do statistics soon on how often Ronaldo looks at the stadium screen. Without fail, he is looking at it every time during a stop in play to see himself but he's not the only one I've noticed.

Anyway, 'Super Mario',
https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs...192820116.html

And today's Google Doodle is quite good too...just go their home page.

Pirlo's dummy for Italy's first goal was the second best moment of the World Cup. First being Martins Indi strop after the ref got some of that spray on his foot.