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> Is Serie A changing for the better?

 
m1ke
post Jul 18 2005, 12:59 PM
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In the past few years Serie A has fought back to the summit of the European stage, including an all-Italian final (2003) and Milan’s stunning game against Liverpool last season. The emergence of Italian teams dominating in Europe again is great to see, especially given their poor efforts in recent years. The reasons for the renaissance are intriguing, considering the fact that the quality of players in top Italian teams is at the level it always was. My theory is very simple, but I still see it as a fundamental aspect of Italy’s quest to reach the peak of European soccer.

The once defensive strength of Serie A is now rapidly altering its image, moulding itself into a league more famous for its large score lines and entertaining football rather than a league with watertight defences. The race for the Scudetto last season was quite emphatic, and there was much tension to keep our eyes glued to the screen.

But aside from the battle between Milan and Turin, I feel it is necessary to exploit the weaknesses that can be found within this fabulous league that is, ironically, sacrificing its famed qualities in search of a more entertaining style.

The man that is Lucarelli finished a Capocannonieri last season. Lucarelli of little Livorno, basking in the glory of topping the goal charts ahead of superstars such as Trezeguet, Shevchenko, Gilardino, Vieri and Adriano. It is evidently clear that statistics like this prove that Italy no longer revels in the art of Catenaccio. Instead Italian teams are adopting a more familiar style to the rest of Europe, focusing their energy on approaching their attacking prowess more than anything else.

Judging by Milan’s performance in the European final, their eagerness to sustain their attacking verve led to, ultimately, their devastating downfall. Towards the end of the season in the domestic scene, various players were hitting four for the good for their clubs, Gilardino epitomising this with his superb overhead kick in the dying weeks of the season.

Despite these very entertaining games it must be mentioned that the cream of Italy no longer possess that unique ability of suffocating the attack of the opposition. That aura of impregnability is what Italian teams were proud of, they were famed for it for so many years.

Now, when a team falls behind to Juventus, Inter or AC for that matter, the belief is still heavily there that a positive result is still on the cards. Parma this season in the UEFA Cup never really looked like an Italian team. In what they lacked real quality, through the team as a whole, we still did not find a stubborn defensive unit that one would expect from the Italians. Instead they looked just like any other European team, whether it be a French team looking to counter-attack, or an English team battling through sheer grit and determination. The result was, in the end, a quite disappointing season in Europe that did not reflect well on Italian soccer.

So last season Italy’s finest also showed the good aspects of their altering game, and simultaneously produced the negative aspects; Juventus succumbing to Liverpool, a team lacking in strength and depth, not to mention overall quality, compared to the vastly experienced and superior overall ability of the Turin giants. I believe that had Juventus been more occupied with preventing a Liverpool goal, they would have softened the sting of Liverpool’s early onslaught, instead of trying to level with Liverpool’s attacking aggression, and thus we would not have seen the disorganised and panicking Juve. Perhaps they were stunned, but in the press leading up to the game, Capello stated that he was worried about the opening fifteen minutes or so, hence the defensive fragility of Juve in the most intense of situations.

If we look back to one of Man Utd’s greatest achievements it is that win against Juve in Turin. Why? Because coming from two goals down to win against a top Italian team was virtually unthinkable. How times have changed. This, I believe is not down to the inability of Juve’s backline, as Buffon, Cannavaro, Thuram and Zambrotta are in the world’s top bracket. I think it is the result of a changing league, whereby they have adapted to a less defensive and more attacking mentality against their weekly opponents. And so we have the tactical approach of managers now in Italy employing formations geared towards more goals than clean sheets.

Lecce’s tactician Zdenek Zeman deployed a very attack-minded team, that, despite electrifying entertainment, did not really conjure up the results necessary. I must say, though, that I don’t think this is the result of Capello’s thinking, as he is famed for producing tough, disciplined backlines. Instead, Juventus cannot enter their domestic league games with less emphasis on attack to protect the defence, instead they must come out attacking with a lot of intent. Recently, I watched their game against Lecce; both teams terrible in defence, yet so entertaining in attack. Some preparation for big European games!

Even Carlo Ancelotti uses a very attack-minded approach to games. As Italian journalist Gabriel Marcotti claimed, AC Milan are not an Italian team; they will attack and attack, thus inviting the opposition to exploit their defence. Had Milan and Ancelotti reverted to the old methods of Italian tactical approach in their second half with Liverpool, The Kop, with all respect, wouldn’t have had a hope in hell. But, as we all witnessed, AC continued to attack and release Liverpool’s players from the suffocation of the congested midfield, and how dramatically they exploited Milan’s fragility when under intense pressure. Even when looking at Milan against Ajax, in the season leading up to their European success, such luck was needed to scrape through to the latter stages. They even let a 4 - 1 home win against La Coruna slip away, in a devastating away defeat. Then last season we saw a collapse against PSV, when 2 - 0 up on aggregate, followed up by that disastrous match against Liverpool. Surely Ancelotti needs to re-assess his tactical thinking before he can dream of lifting the coveted trophy again, and not to mention Lo Scudetto next season.

There is one club that I have found to be reverting back to a very Italian based formation, and at the same time possessing superb play going forward, at the back it is found to be just as strong.

I think that Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea play more like an Italian team than Milan do. For one reason, it seems apparent that defensive duties are priority duties at Chelsea. The opening game of The Premiership season was a very proficient defensive display against Man Utd, a 1 - 0 victory, a result that cropped up many more times during the season. It was even Mourinho’s thinking that a 2 - 1 loss away to Barcelona would not prove fatal, as he believed his team’s defensive qualities would suffocate Barca and expose them to weaknesses at the back in the return leg, and this was subtly hinted in his prediction that Chelsea had a 51% chance of progressing.

The fact is I am not discussing English football, as that is a completely different story, but I feel that Chelsea resemble the team all top Italian teams should try to emulate. Juventus are evidently close to that level, exemplified by their five clean sheets in the Champions League group one phase last season, so the old habits are still very much present.

So to finish off I feel it is necessary for you to understand that I don’t feel Italian football is changing for the worse, because the last thing a supporter wants, or a neutral, is boring 0-0 draws etc. Italian football is far more exciting now, games are played to score goals, or as one Real Madrid supremo put it, Madrid’s philosophy is “to score more than the opposition. If they score three, we will score four.” A philosophy for entertainment, but ultimately there will be drawbacks and disappointment.

By Chris Macleod

Interesting article (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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amancik
post Jul 19 2005, 08:34 PM
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absolutely ... i enjoyed reading it ... it's true that ancelotti needs to re-considere his options ...
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