[Giancarlo]

No Panucci and No Cassano. The Panucci one doesn't surprise me as he and Lippi don't like each other much. The Cassano one does, just a touch.

I would imagine that a couple of guys from the U21/U23 team may get called up for the next round (eg Giovinco, Rossi, Montolivo).

It's just a friendly. I think that he's testing out other players to see how they work out with each other. Cassano I'm confident will get the call up later on. He did manage to keep his temper under control in the Euro Cup... I think he's improving dramatically in that regards. And his performance I hear against Siena in that friendly was quite good.

[Tennie]

I'm not a big Cassano fan, to be honest. Yes, he did manage to behave during the Euros, but...I'm not convinced he's put his tantrums behind him. He's a gifted player but he worries me so I'm not particularly disappointed to see him omitted from the callup list.

It's nice to see some new-ish guys get called up (Dossena, Bonera, etc).

[Tennie]

Here are England's call ups:

Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Paul Robinson (Blackburn), Joe Hart (Manchester City)

Defenders: Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham), Matthew Upson (West Ham)

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), David Bentley (Tottenham), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough)

Strikers: Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth), Emile Heskey (Wigan), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

[Habitant]

No Panucci and No Cassano. The Panucci one doesn't surprise me as he and Lippi don't like each other much. The Cassano one does, just a touch.

I would imagine that a couple of guys from the U21/U23 team may get called up for the next round (eg Giovinco, Rossi, Montolivo).

giovinco as well.

one thing i thgouth we lacked at the euro was creativity down the wings. it's like the whole team was waiting for pirlo to make a killer pass to toni, and everyone else just watched.

This post has been edited by Habitant: Aug 16 2008, 10:52 PM

[kurtsimonw]

Here are England's call ups:

Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Paul Robinson (Blackburn), Joe Hart (Manchester City)

Defenders: Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham), Matthew Upson (West Ham)

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), David Bentley (Tottenham), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough)

Strikers: Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth), Emile Heskey (Wigan), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

No Ashley Young? You've got to be kidding me.. It seems like Capello is making the same mistakes that McClaren made, picking the players who have the bigger names, rather than the ones in form. Giw Stewart Downing, David Bentley and David Beckham get picked.. but no Ashley Young baffles me! When Cristiano Ronaldo is the only better winger in the league than you, I think you should be playing international football.

It seems like his previous, he's picking players on name (Beckham, Heskey) and on hype (Bentley, Walcott, Woodgate) rather than on performances (Young, Lescott).

This post has been edited by kurtsimonw: Aug 17 2008, 01:19 AM

[Tennie]

Marcello Lippi has called up Legrottaglie in place of the injured Chiellini.

[dst]

No Panucci and No Cassano. The Panucci one doesn't surprise me as he and Lippi don't like each other much. The Cassano one does, just a touch.

Not at all. Only Donadoni was crazy enough to take that lunatic with him! And that's the only significant mistake I believe he made.

[Jack Sparrow]

In the end it wasn't Cassano who turned out to be a mistake. It was Toni. He should have taken pippo instead. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)

[Fillipo Simone]

Not at all. Only Donadoni was crazy enough to take that lunatic with him! And that's the only significant mistake I believe he made.

Pippo?

Second mistake - relations with players who turned out to be crucial. Nesta and Totti, but also Pippo.

But the biggest mistake is that no one in his team knew his exact position and role. Buffon started as captain, then he lost the armband, then he got it back. Barzagli-Matrix started (altough he was warned), then he rotated to Panucci-Chiellini (who at that time rarely played together). No one knew his startin eleven. No one knew his sheme. And that's the worst thing a NT manager can do IMO. And that's why I belive Carlo could become a very successfull NT coach. He's the exact opposite.

It was Toni. He should have taken pippo instead

Toni wan't a mistake. It was a risk playing everything you got on one card.

[dst]

In the end it wasn't Cassano who turned out to be a mistake. It was Toni. He should have taken pippo instead. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)

Yeah except that Cassano is not a player that should be in a team that wants to win... Lippi knows that, I'd be very surprised if Cassano was picked again while Lippi's in charge.

But the biggest mistake is that no one in his team knew his exact position and role. Buffon started as captain, then he lost the armband, then he got it back. Barzagli-Matrix started (altough he was warned), then he rotated to Panucci-Chiellini (who at that time rarely played together). No one knew his startin eleven. No one knew his sheme. And that's the worst thing a NT manager can do IMO. And that's why I belive Carlo could become a very successfull NT coach. He's the exact opposite.

No Nesta, No Cannavaro! What should he do? Crap a couple of WC defenders out of his ***???

[acid911]

No Nesta, No Cannavaro! What should he do? Crap a couple of WC defenders out of his ***???

+1 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif) He was cramped for options, gotta give the man that. Particularly after the retirement of both Nesta and Totti. Not to mention the injury absence of Cannavaro. Someone like Lippi would have done marginally better, not much, in my opinion.

[Tennie]

Oddly enough, the Panucci-Chiellini CB pairing was..not all that bad, IMO.
--

The Azzurri are have just started a training session at Coverciano today. It'll be interesting to see how Lippi v2 does.

(Programming note: GolTV in the US is showing the Italy-Austria game on tape delay starting at 5pm Wednesday).

[kurtsimonw]

No Nesta, No Cannavaro! What should he do? Crap a couple of WC defenders out of his ***???

He could at least give it a try.

[acid911]

It'll be interesting to see how Lippi v2 does.

He shouldn't have come back, in my honest opinion. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) Not very smart of him. If things take a turn for the worse, he'll taint his legacy quite badly. I'd not have come back if I were him, keeping the state of the NT in mind. It's a very brave (and somewhat stupid) decision. Let's wait and see how it turns out.

[dst]

It'll be interesting to see how Lippi v2 does.

Yes it will. But he won the WC... he can't do any better and I doubt he can repeat that... still, kudos to him for taking the risk!

He could at least give it a try.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Who says he didn't?